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I want to see some more pictures of the ground battle stuff. I was skeptical about it being 15mm scale, but those looked like fantastic sculpts for the scale. The elites looked particularly well sculpted to the source material.

Having seen quality and detail of Spartan's 10mm Firestorm Planetfall, doesn't surprise me at all!

Tyran wrote:

 ONI-S3 wrote:

The Flood would add heaps! I think fleshing them out would be amazing. I agree Forerunner ships would be so harsh, but maybe they'll make them as ultra powerful ships. Given their size, I can see it being financially viable for a limited run, providing they're at a premium price. I will admit, however, that this is my inner fan hopes potentially biasing my perception.

You don't understand the size difference. Some Forerunners ships, using the scale, would still be larger than a human.

Haha, when I say a limited run of Forerunner ships, I don't mean all of them! That would be insane(ly cool but totally infeasible), in the same way High charity is obviously out. I'm talking about some of the bigger ones, bigger than the ones seen in Halo Wars, but much smaller than ships like the Didact's.

Cannor wrote:The two Halo tables at Salute were basically divided into a demo table with the contents of the starter set, and a "coming soon" table with the Pillar of Autumn, Covie assault carriers, MAC platforms etc.

Everything in Halo: Fleet Battles is going to be made in plastic. The huge assault carriers at the show were actually resin (I tried to lift one and it had a fair bit of weight to it), but Derek from SG confirmed that it'll be plastic on release.

On the subject of bases, they're not magnetised. Each flight peg simply slots into a hole on the base (much like X-Wing) and you can use different bases to change up formations.

From what I gathered talking to various Spartan bods at Salute, HFB is not going to only have two factions, and it looks like the Flood and Forerunners are going to make an appearance in plastic at some point.

Oh, and about the ground game, I heard "sometime next year". Take from that what you will.

Thanks for that! Gives me time to brace myself for the coming model storm. I'll also correct the magnetised bases statement in the OP, thanks again Cannor!

Paradigm wrote:

Cannor wrote:

Oh, and about the ground game, I heard "sometime next year". Take from that what you will.

I take from that a nice sense of relief that I have a year to collect a fleet or two before the ground stuff steals all my money!

I know. This is going to suck me dry, then I am going to borrow from relatives and suck them dry too. All of the Fleets, all of the Ground Forces. I'm hoping they don't stager the releases too much, I can only afford to get stuff with free postage in general. If they stager stuff I'll have to convince mates to go in until we get to the 100 quid free postage threshold.

DrRansom wrote:One thought about wave 1 expansions, I'd like Spartan Games to include some smaller ships as well, another UNSC destroyer or Covenant destroyer.

As small ships will be the most common on the table-top, I think it would be good to have greater variation there.

Yeah! Especially as Halo-philes start amassing truly gargantuan fleets, as things are I'm going to have access to three fleets, that's a lot of the littlies. Which I'm okay with, because I love them. Here's hoping for teeny, tiny broadswords!

angelofvengeance wrote:I wonder how they've balanced this game, given that UNSC ships usually get their asses kicked pretty hard by the Covenant.

I'm with BurningSky93 on the points thing, not so much about generals being more overpowered UNSC commanders thing

BurningSky93 wrote:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
I wonder how they've balanced this game, given that UNSC ships usually get their asses kicked pretty hard by the Covenant.

In the books, the UNSC were capable of winning with the use of superior tactics and/or numbers. Numerical superiority is easy to do, just have the UNSC ships cost fewer points (and you can tell from the screenshots that this appears to be a direction theyve taken). As for superior tactics, they could possibly make the UNSC Admirals' abilities better than the Covenant Fleet Masters'?

I don't think that's likely, seeing that we can already see fleet numbers heavily skewing towards UNSC, I think that should be more than enough for the moment.

CatMines wrote:I want to see some more pictures of the ground battle stuff. I was skeptical about it being 15mm scale, but those looked like fantastic sculpts for the scale. The elites looked particularly well sculpted to the source material.

Wouldn't we all! I think the Elites are amazing, as are the marines and grunts, and the vehicles. In fact, I am in admiration of everything but the Spartans. I'm going to send an email to Spartan saying something along the lines of "We've seen some of the pics from Salute, and we are impressed. However, the models are not able to be appreciated in their entirety because of the glass cabinet; please give us some clearer pictures of the stuff we've already got pictures of"

GenRifDrake wrote:Having seen quality and detail of Spartan's 10mm Firestorm Planetfall, doesn't surprise me at all!

Not really relevant to this particular post of yours, but thanks for all that info you posted on the last page!



Automatically Appended Next Post:


Side by side of the Pillar of Autumn and a regular Marathon, source; Cody Pelletier


Automatically Appended Next Post:
From Dakka user NAVARRO, source: http://mr-bugman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/salute-report-2of6-hawk-wargames-halo.html

 ONI-S3 wrote:

Haha, when I say a limited run of Forerunner ships, I don't mean all of them! That would be insane(ly cool but totally infeasible), in the same way High charity is obviously out. I'm talking about some of the bigger ones, bigger than the ones seen in Halo Wars, but much smaller than ships like the Didact's.

Actually the Didact's Mantle's Approach would be larger than my house using the scale (16 meters tall IIRC).

But yeah I guess we could see some smaller Forerunner ships, but even the Keyship (the civilian Forerunner ship that powered High Charity and shrugged off everything the UNSC threw at it) that appears in the games would be around 70 cm (2.3 ft) tall.

Those ground models at 15mm (if that is their scale) look excellent for their size. Will make awesome looking epic scale battles far easier to achieve and let us fit more vehicles on the table too, which is awesome.

Not to mention now I can see who would win in a fight, the covenant, or my SU 152 Battalion from FoW

I always had a hard on for those Marathon classes due to the Autumn (Not same class but, design is the similar.)

I love it, they've kept them so close to concept.

I wonder if the Spirit of Fire from Halo Wars will make an appearance?

Looks similar to the largest ship, but not the same.

Love that MAC cannon emplacement! Anyone know why one of them is vertical, though? I know in space it would make no difference, but I'm wondering about the in-game application. Maybe they have to rotate between firing (horizontal) and moving (vertical) or something? It would potentially make them quite cumbersome if you have to go up-turn-down fire, which would offset their (presumably) massive firepower somewhat.

 Paradigm wrote:
Love that MAC cannon emplacement! Anyone know why one of them is vertical, though? I know in space it would make no difference, but I'm wondering about the in-game application. Maybe they have to rotate between firing (horizontal) and moving (vertical) or something? It would potentially make them quite cumbersome if you have to go up-turn-down fire, which would offset their (presumably) massive firepower somewhat.

IIRC, when the gun's not in use/on standby, they're vertical and rotate into position when being used. I believe we saw them in both positions in Halo 2.

Edit: Yep, here's one and provides the reason for why they go vertical:

https://meeples.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/meeples-miniatures-episode-144-salute-2015/
Meeples podcast interviews a couple of the nice folks from spartan from around 1 hour 10 minutes in.
Quick summary-assault carrier is 10 inches. For gameplay it has fore/mid/aft all of which are damaged separately, and can be crippled with knock on effects to the whole model.
covenant hold the overall advantage in war as per lore on the macro-scale, on the table-top micro-scale battles represent the UNSC engaging on reasonably favourable terms and thus standing a fighting chance.
MAC platforms are easy to turn from horizontal to vertical on the flight stand.
Some kind of combat effectiveness table to replace statistics for ships, I wasn't clear on this.
Only 2 double sided tokens- damage marker/activation.vulnerable/sabotage
Wing phase is important. Bombers are good at finishing ships, Interceptors kill bombers etc.
Represented by card to keep costs under control, but if game does well there should be a luxury version of the fighters.
Infinity and Spirit of Fire on the way, UNSC super carriers and much much more to come. Lots of reassurance about the close working relationship between 343 and Spartan.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
I wonder if the Spirit of Fire from Halo Wars will make an appearance?

Looks similar to the largest ship, but not the same.

I expect it would, probably both as a "hero" ship like the PoA, and other normal Phoenix class.

I also expect we have some normal Halcyon ships.

And I also expect the eventual release of Post-War UNSC ships.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Paradigm wrote:
Love that MAC cannon emplacement! Anyone know why one of them is vertical, though? I know in space it would make no difference, but I'm wondering about the in-game application. Maybe they have to rotate between firing (horizontal) and moving (vertical) or something? It would potentially make them quite cumbersome if you have to go up-turn-down fire, which would offset their (presumably) massive firepower somewhat.

ODPs platforms are vertical as they try to be between the enemy and the planet they are defending.

The Inifinity looks like a good size fit equivalent to the carrier assuming this one pictured below is the same one modelled.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:
Love that MAC cannon emplacement! Anyone know why one of them is vertical, though? I know in space it would make no difference, but I'm wondering about the in-game application. Maybe they have to rotate between firing (horizontal) and moving (vertical) or something? It would potentially make them quite cumbersome if you have to go up-turn-down fire, which would offset their (presumably) massive firepower somewhat.

IIRC, when the gun's not in use/on standby, they're vertical and rotate into position when being used. I believe we saw them in both positions in Halo 2.

Edit: Yep, here's one and provides the reason for why they go vertical:

We only saw them in vertical position in Halo 2.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 warboss wrote:
The Inifinity looks like a good size fit equivalent to the carrier assuming this one pictured below is the same one modelled.

I expect the Infinity to do horrible things to the Assault Carrier.

Cheers for the answers on the MAC platform positioning!

@Tyran: I expect Infinity to do horrible things to most things!

Will the busts be available later? I really want the covenant one :(

Will probable buy into both games by the looks of it. uhoh D:

From the sound of it the bust were just for pre-orders at Salute,

so unless the put them out at another show/convention you'll need to look on ebay or other re-sale sites

So that being the case, would it be safe to assume that Miranda Keyes' In Amber Clad and Lord Hoods' Forward Unto Dawn ships might make an appearance too then?

I imagine most of the named ships from the series (at least the games) will make an appearance.

I'm torn on the ground game - I'm going to buy into it since it looks pretty awesome but I'm a little disappointed about 15mm as it means we can't re-use DZC/Planetfall terrain.

 Tyran wrote:


We only saw them in vertical position in Halo 2.

Technically, it's all relative.

My point was, the MAC is built into the long portion, so they're designed to rotate around to aim.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Tyran wrote:


We only saw them in vertical position in Halo 2.

Technically, it's all relative.

My point was, the MAC is built into the long portion, so they're designed to rotate around to aim.

The MAC doesn't rotate, the whole platform does. Look at the pics in page 1, the horizontal ODPs is exactly the same model in a horizontal position.

 Tyran wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Tyran wrote:


We only saw them in vertical position in Halo 2.

Technically, it's all relative.

My point was, the MAC is built into the long portion, so they're designed to rotate around to aim.

The MAC doesn't rotate, the whole platform does. Look at the pics in page 1, the horizontal ODPs is exactly the same model in a horizontal position.

You realize we're arguing the same thing, right?

The original question was asking why the MAC model was in different positions on the base. Most people have been referring to the entire station model as a MAC emplacement, not the technically accurate ODP name.

Well, its your fault for not being technically accurate.

 Tyran wrote:
Well, its your fault for not being technically accurate.

Honestly, I completely forgot it was called an ODP.

UNSC Infinity is the Halo 4 ship right?

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Tyran wrote:
Well, its your fault for not being technically accurate.

Honestly, I completely forgot it was called an ODP.

In fairness, even the model itself says'MAC Cannon Emplacement' on the base!

AoV, yes, Infinity is the Halo 4 ship.

You guys realize the Infinity has shielding too right? Because the elites got involved with it's R&D in the lore.

Whole lot of hurt coming from that...

I'm actually super hyped for both games. I just really hope I am able to find someone to play with at my LGS that will be the UNSC to my Covenant.

 angelofvengeance wrote:
So that being the case, would it be safe to assume that Miranda Keyes' In Amber Clad and Lord Hoods' Forward Unto Dawn ships might make an appearance too then?

I'm not sure there'd be a reason to, since both of those ships are stock-standard frigates. The Pillar of Autumn is a special case being a one-of-a-kind heavily refitted Halcyon Class.

MrMoustaffa wrote:Those ground models at 15mm (if that is their scale) look excellent for their size. Will make awesome looking epic scale battles far easier to achieve and let us fit more vehicles on the table too, which is awesome.

Not to mention now I can see who would win in a fight, the covenant, or my SU 152 Battalion from FoW

Haha, hopefully the Covenant can at least take some humans with a 600 year disadvantage!

Stormwall wrote:I always had a hard on for those Marathon classes due to the Autumn (Not same class but, design is the similar.)

I love it, they've kept them so close to concept.

They really have kept the aesthetic close, makes me even more excited for 15mm and 28mm ODSTs!

angelofvengeance wrote:I wonder if the Spirit of Fire from Halo Wars will make an appearance?

Looks similar to the largest ship, but not the same.

I am almost certain it will, given the kinds of things Spartan has been saying

Paradigm wrote:Love that MAC cannon emplacement! Anyone know why one of them is vertical, though? I know in space it would make no difference, but I'm wondering about the in-game application. Maybe they have to rotate between firing (horizontal) and moving (vertical) or something? It would potentially make them quite cumbersome if you have to go up-turn-down fire, which would offset their (presumably) massive firepower somewhat.

It will be interesting to see, but I am also of the opinion that this will be a case of showing whether it is ready to fire or not.

David Clarke wrote:https://meeples.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/meeples-miniatures-episode-144-salute-2015/
Meeples podcast interviews a couple of the nice folks from spartan from around 1 hour 10 minutes in.
Quick summary-assault carrier is 10 inches. For gameplay it has fore/mid/aft all of which are damaged separately, and can be crippled with knock on effects to the whole model.
covenant hold the overall advantage in war as per lore on the macro-scale, on the table-top micro-scale battles represent the UNSC engaging on reasonably favourable terms and thus standing a fighting chance.
MAC platforms are easy to turn from horizontal to vertical on the flight stand.
Some kind of combat effectiveness table to replace statistics for ships, I wasn't clear on this.
Only 2 double sided tokens- damage marker/activation.vulnerable/sabotage
Wing phase is important. Bombers are good at finishing ships, Interceptors kill bombers etc.
Represented by card to keep costs under control, but if game does well there should be a luxury version of the fighters.
Infinity and Spirit of Fire on the way, UNSC super carriers and much much more to come. Lots of reassurance about the close working relationship between 343 and Spartan.

Thanks heaps for that! Means I will be getting my broadswords! Banshees will be too small, I dare say though, so maybe the Covenant will be limited to Spirits and Phantoms, possibly some slightly up-scaled Seraphs?

Tyran wrote:

 angelofvengeance wrote:
I wonder if the Spirit of Fire from Halo Wars will make an appearance?

Looks similar to the largest ship, but not the same.

I expect it would, probably both as a "hero" ship like the PoA, and other normal Phoenix class.

I also expect we have some normal Halcyon ships.

And I also expect the eventual release of Post-War UNSC ships.

Yeah, I think SoF will make an appearance, maybe even in a Harvest themed pack. I wonder if Humans can ally with Separatists but cannot ally with Loyalists. Might be fun to have UNSC + Separatists taking on a brute fleet, like at Installation 00, but with more than a Frigate of human representation.

warboss wrote:The Inifinity looks like a good size fit equivalent to the carrier assuming this one pictured below is the same one modelled.

This has me hugely excited. Can't wait to see the stats on that bad boy!

ckig wrote:Will the busts be available later? I really want the covenant one :(

Will probable buy into both games by the looks of it. uhoh D:

Sadly, I don't think they will. Though they have not actually said that they are limited edition, it has been somewhat intimated, but perhaps they'll be offered at a later date. If we pre-ordered on the day of Salute we got a free bust, I'll recheck but I'm not sure they actually said this will be the only opportunity. There was mention of "while stocks last" but that wasn't necessarily conclusive proof of limited edition.

angelofvengeance wrote:So that being the case, would it be safe to assume that Miranda Keyes' In Amber Clad and Lord Hoods' Forward Unto Dawn ships might make an appearance too then?

I'm with Aus Askar on this, they could certainly be, but they'd likely just be the stock standard ships with a different paint job and card. I think it's more likely we'll see characters such as these ones appearing as commanders, maybe even with their own busts! If only Buck was a Fleet commander...

Aus Askar wrote:

I'm not sure there'd be a reason to, since both of those ships are stock-standard frigates. The Pillar of Autumn is a special case being a one-of-a-kind heavily refitted Halcyon Class.

Exactly! And I think that the Spirit of Fire was pretty unique in that it was a colonisation ship that was also heavily modified. Also, congrats on joining Dakka and good choice the first thread in which to post

caylentor wrote:I imagine most of the named ships from the series (at least the games) will make an appearance.

I'm torn on the ground game - I'm going to buy into it since it looks pretty awesome but I'm a little disappointed about 15mm as it means we can't re-use DZC/Planetfall terrain.

That's a bit depressing that you can't use your terrain. Maybe your forces found a Forerunner size-increasing array and are now giants until they can shut it down

angelofvengeance wrote:UNSC Infinity is the Halo 4 ship right?

Stormwall wrote:You guys realize the Infinity has shielding too right? Because the elites got involved with it's R&D in the lore.

Whole lot of hurt coming from that...

The tonnage and armour of the UNSC with the Elites and weaponry of the Covenant... *wistful sigh*

ultimentra wrote:I'm actually super hyped for both games. I just really hope I am able to find someone to play with at my LGS that will be the UNSC to my Covenant.

I'm sure you will, here in south of South Perth I don't really even have a lgs, so if you can't find someone we can exchange commiserations

I have pre-ordered my HALO: Fleet battles this weekend.
I wanted to get the Covenant buste and want to have the ship models anyway.

And now i see the ground combat models, i am both surprised a bit as well as VERY interested.

Surprised because I kind of expected 6/10mm or 28/32mm, not 15mm.
Normally i am not that fond of 15mm. It is too much an in-between scale. Infantry looks best on 28/32mm and vehicles look just as well (but we can field more) on 10mm.

And understandable: a 10mm game competing with Planetfall would not be in Spartan's interest.

But what i see here, the grunts and spartans, they look very good. I look forward to more info...


Back to HALO: Fleet battles and space in general: It really seems to be space combat game season...
Spartan's Firestorm Armada is getting more and more models (i too am building fleets).
X-Wing stays strong.
Star Wars Armada is here and that seems to do well enough. Played it, liked it, but not getting into it, too simple and predictable for my taste.
And Drop Fleet Commander is also announced. Nice ships, but i personally don't find the DZC game system good enough. But i will keep informed on this.

HALO: Fleet battles in any case has great miniatures and a level of combat that is, to me, more interesting than Star Wars: Armada.
And if HALO's special dice system is done well, it can also be easier for the non-wargamer or new-wargamer.

Interesting times...