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If the bases and stands are the same as in Firestorm Armada, then the clear stems don't fit into the clear square bases without forcing. I used a hammer, and gently tapped them in; I had no problems with my Terran Patrol Fleet, and they are rock solid.

 Charles Rampant wrote:
If the bases and stands are the same as in Firestorm Armada, then the clear stems don't fit into the clear square bases without forcing. I used a hammer, and gently tapped them in; I had no problems with my Terran Patrol Fleet, and they are rock solid.

The bases are NOT like FSA's bases. They're designed to be removable for the various formations each class can use.

Ok, you're all to blame. I got the game. I also emailed their customer support about two questions. The first was about why the Sabre antiship fighter has no anti-ship capability at all and the answer was that they're planning on upgrading it in the future as they advance the timeline post Reach. The second question was sent later and so still no response; in the examples on pg 70 and 74, the bombers have a 3 damage track but on the cards they're both 2.

Nice, warboss . And thanks for the info!

No worries and hope it helps. I got an answer back in the meantime about the damage track of bombers and Neil said to use 2 (he also answered the above question). I'll probably be clipping and priming some frigates tonight hopefully and maybe trying out a paint scheme on one of the tiny buggers.

It looks like Halo is going the X-wing route and including new formations in the expansion packs that aren't available in the core set similar to how there are certain upgrades and pilots only in the boosters of the same fighters in the X-wing starter.

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/new-formations-for-halo-fleet-battles

Also, did anyone here have issues with their sprues in the Halo starter set? I had one small piece missing, a few more knocked off the sprue, and two of the covenant frigates with those tiny broken pegs on the back of the model. I've emailed spartan with the issue but I'm not sure how they are with defective parts for the ones missing/broken.

Not sure I'm behind the new limited bases in expansion packs. I was planning on buying a second starter, but now it will make more sense to get the expansions instead.

On broken or missing parts: I've had to deal with them a couple of times over miscast resin pieces (nothing major). They've always been really good about making good on the problem right away, so I suggest you contact Spartan support and they'll get you sorted.

Thanks for the advice. I've already sent them an email with some pics and I'll report back here with any developments.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the xwing model of cards being used here but I can see why they're doing it. I too was planning on getting a second starter to beef up both my forces but instead I'll probably just get the boosters to beef up one instead so I have the extra cards and leave the other force as a "demo" small fleet only.

ONI is really taking his time about that video.

Update about the missing overlays from the GenCon box. A package with three sheets of Overlays (1 Covenant; 2 UNSC) came in the mail today from Spartan. Much more fleet building flexibility now.

Got mine last night, too! Very fast service . I'll probably pick up one each of the expansions, are they out on this side of the pond yet?

Spartan Games


Spartan Games would like to apologise to customers who have just bought the new Halo: Fleet Battles Core Upgrade Boxes for the UNSC and Covenant. It has come to our attention that there is a printing error on the Overlay Sheets that has resulted in an incorrect Formation Base Overlay being supplied.

If customers who have received a box with this error could please email dispatch@spartangames.co.uk with their name, delivery address and, if possible, an image of your incorrect Overlay Sheet we will post out the missing item to you.

The following parts codes will help identify the incorrect sheet:

P1107 UNSC Overlay Sheet
P1108 Covenant Overlay Sheet

Again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused by this error.

Spartan Games

 OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:

Spartan Games


Spartan Games would like to apologise to customers who have just bought the new Halo: Fleet Battles Core Upgrade Boxes for the UNSC and Covenant. It has come to our attention that there is a printing error on the Overlay Sheets that has resulted in an incorrect Formation Base Overlay being supplied.

If customers who have received a box with this error could please email dispatch@spartangames.co.uk with their name, delivery address and, if possible, an image of your incorrect Overlay Sheet we will post out the missing item to you.

The following parts codes will help identify the incorrect sheet:

P1107 UNSC Overlay Sheet
P1108 Covenant Overlay Sheet

Again, we apologise for any inconvenience caused by this error.

Spartan Games

That's a bit confusing. Were there supposed to be the additional formations and they forgot to include them or did they only include the new formations and forget the old ones? Anyone who has purchased one of the core boxes who can give a rundown of the overlays included? Was debating whether to pick up the core boxes or not.

That's a bit confusing. Were there supposed to be the additional formations and they forgot to include them or did they only include the new formations and forget the old ones? Anyone who has purchased one of the core boxes who can give a rundown of the overlays included? Was debating whether to pick up the core boxes or not.

The problem seems to be that they gave equal numbers of the new formations on the sheet. That's a problem because you can only have one of the new double cruiser bases and you need three of the new frigate bases (not 2 & 2). Just a little hiccup which they will fix.

Good to see they're handling it quickly! I haven't yet ordered the upgrade boxes - would be great to know when the US ones are sorted with these overlays (although my replacement shipment of overlays from Spartan was Really fast).

Edit: Also, Wehrkind pointed me to this quick reference sheet that MrDWhitey originally linked to in the Misc Games forum - it seems really great!

 MrDwhitey wrote:
I've played two of the intro scenarios, Covenant winning both. The games were enjoyed by both players and that to me is the important thing. I wish I had this prior to playing though, but I'm glad the chap made it:

http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/15400-quick-reference-sheet-my-fourth-attempt/

I absolutely love Quick Reference Sheets.

New fleetbattles feature on Waypoint.

Covenant CAS Assault Carrier and UNSC Punic Class Supercarrier - that looks a bit too Infinity-like for my taste. Apparently these big ships are in resin.
Confirmation of Valiant, Halcyon(both Autumn refit and early war variants), Halberd Classes and ODPs. Covenant ADP Escorts and DSC Support Ship.
Covenant Admirals the Elite Xytan ‘Jar Wattinree and the Prophet Minister of Etiology. UNSC Admirals Lord Hood and Cortana (still no Keyes wtf!)
Tease of potential Flood rules and templates in the future.
Some early details on the ground game.

Just a quick update on my broken bits in the starter set. I sent spartan pics of the broken and missing bits on the sprue and they got back to me within 48 hours. I sent them the little QA number on the smaller boxes and got the replacement parts this week. They were both generous and quick with the replacements. I've been putting off assembling more than a token 1 tiny ship for each faction as a proof of concept for the paint job but should get the ball rolling hopefully soon if the new Tau releases don't grab my attention instead. I should be able to get my test pieces for my paint scheme posted up on dakka this weekend.

I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want to play UNSC in this. I could see it in a ground battle game, but in space Covenant are massively more powerful/cooler.

 Harriticus wrote:
I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would want to play UNSC in this. I could see it in a ground battle game, but in space Covenant are massively more powerful/cooler.

Well, "cooler" like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As for massively more powerful, the same can be said of space marines versus renegade guardsmen and the solution is the same. It's a wargame and everything is assigned a points value* to quantify that power. Most games you fight equal points so that difference in power on a ship by ship basis is made up by giving the UNSC more ships. Halo Fleet Battles is a wargame afterall.

*except for Age of Sigmar because who knows why.

age of sigmar is hardly the first (or last) game to forgo a points system... although most at least implement some balancing mechanic somewhere to keep some semblance of parity.

In any case, while the covenant is more powerful, I like the ugly utilitarian aesthetic of the UNSC more.

chaos0xomega wrote:
age of sigmar is hardly the first (or last) game to forgo a points system... although most at least implement some balancing mechanic somewhere to keep some semblance of parity.

In any case, while the covenant is more powerful, I like the ugly utilitarian aesthetic of the UNSC more.

Yet most if not all games that don't have points are historic games where it's easy to work out the strength of dude with spear vs dude with sword....rather than strength mystical man vs strength of mythical beast.

I am on the fence with halo, how does it compare with something like BFG? As I am tpted to put £80 into that (via eBay) rather than BFG. I wasn't blown away with the rules for Dystopian they felt very clunky

My local got a copy in, was taking a look at it, the minis are pretty large (well the larger ships anyway, easily the length of my hand, if not longer), having a lot of trouble justifying the price point though, especially considering the expansion costs.

I played my first few games last Wednesday, and I have to say I absolutely LOVED it!

For me it seems like a cross between X-Wing and BFG, which in my mind is not a bad thing.

Rules are simple and balanced. Both sides have their advantages and disadvantages. My first game I was able to put two supported marathons and 2 Paris elements on an ORS and the MACs just tore it apart. The second game, I let him get to close and it was game over. I like how the wing phase is basically a minor turn in itself, and bombers are capable of taking out smaller elements by themselves, but will struggle against the larger ones. Fighters are important to keep the bombers flying or to tie up the fighter/ bomber elements of your opponent.

Inertia is taken into effect too, which helps balance the game a bit more. Each ship size turns differently, and every ship has to move forward. The covenant ships can 'glide' which allows them to move sideways. Like most games, movement is the make or break time but the alternating activation really keeps it from getting wrapped up in one shooting phase like some sc-fi 28mm game I play...

All in all I really enjoyed it and look forward to playing more in the future. The way they're doing expansions is a bit of a bummer but I feel like you'll be able to choose which ones to buy based on your play style, although as long as I have a few guys to play I'll probably at least pick up all of the UNSC expansions and keep fighting the good fight!

Can't wait for the 15mm game!

Unfortunately for me, the nature of my gaming group is that, barring certain exceptions, any game I want to play that isn't Warmachine/Hordes/40k/Infinity/Wrath of Kings essentially requires me to collect two factions, otherwise I'm just not getting a game in.

Also, I really *hate* it when people compare games to BFG. That really isn't a good thing, take off the nostalgic rose-tinted glasses for a bit and you'll realize that it really *wasnt* a good game. In fact, it was pretty poorly designed, poorly balanced, clunky, and slow.

I'm in that same boat chaos, but I absolutely plan to have both factions for this game, give my second rulebook to a friend to read up on for a week, and then force them to game using my minis

chaos0xomega wrote:


Also, I really *hate* it when people compare games to BFG. That really isn't a good thing, take off the nostalgic rose-tinted glasses for a bit and you'll realize that it really *wasnt* a good game. In fact, it was pretty poorly designed, poorly balanced, clunky, and slow.

Well, I had fun with BFG and still play it from time to time, so not so much 'nostalgic rose-tinted glasses' talk about it from me. There were a lot of issues with the game, sure, but there were a lot of good parts to it also.


BUT that's just, like, my opinion man, and I for one am glad to see some decidedly BFG like elements in H:FB.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Unfortunately for me, the nature of my gaming group is that, barring certain exceptions, any game I want to play that isn't Warmachine/Hordes/40k/Infinity/Wrath of Kings essentially requires me to collect two factions, otherwise I'm just not getting a game in.

Also, I really *hate* it when people compare games to BFG. That really isn't a good thing, take off the nostalgic rose-tinted glasses for a bit and you'll realize that it really *wasnt* a good game. In fact, it was pretty poorly designed, poorly balanced, clunky, and slow.

I'm pretty much in both the same boats (can't really convince anyone to buy first with me nor did I enjoy 1400's galleons in space that was BFG). I did a bit of work on my test pieces so while watching the paint dry tonight I took a peek at some spartan news that I missed in the meantime. It looks like they announced the first massive ships, the Covie Assault Carrier that we already knew about from Gencon and the Punic Class UNSC supercarrier that is newly previewed. The Punic is supposed to be the middle step between the epoch carrier and the Infinity and also carries smaller ships like frigates just like the Infinity in Halo 4.



While I think it's cool, I'll probably pass on it. I'm already planning on getting an Infinity for the UNSC (and the CAS for the covies) and don't need two massive ships for each fleet and I'd rather have the Infinity. You can also see previously previewed upcoming ships like the Covie support and UNSC destroyers in the lineup.

I really want to buy into this game, but thus far the pricing is pushing me out... I can only imagine how stupidly expensive th3se new ships will be.

I agree about the starter. I wish they had used that as a loss leader or just cut back on the ships inside until it fit in at the $100 price point instead of $150. If they make the rules a free download like x-wing, the individual fleet box is an OK alternative at $100 (or $77 with the warstore discount) as it has a few more ships than half the starter plus all the rest of the stuff (except the rules) that you need to play one fleet. That doesn't help you since you need both sides to convince others to play but figured I'd mention it.

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/september-2015-release

As for the massive ships, I'm guessing they'll be priced similar to the biggest Firestorm Armada ships plus a few bucks (to cover the license fees for Halo). The prices on the Spartan site for the biggest dreadnoughts in Firestorm Armada are 28 GBP and $54 full retail/$44 discounted according to the warstore. They'll be from the look of it about the size of a Space Marine Predator (a bit longer but also thinner) and a bit cheaper than a predator if they go with that. Who knows, maybe they'll come in cheaper. *fingers crossed*

Well, I imagine the massive ships will be packaged with others, similar to how the core and large fleet upgrade packs are.

Re: the $100 fleet packs, do they contain anything new in them? I mean it was bad enough before when it was a 2 player starter, plus a core and large fleet pack for each faction, plus a commander pack for each faction, but if you're adding an extra $100 on to that (per faction) to buy a fleet pack to get an exclusive commander card or battlegroup type or whatever, then I think Spartan is about to price themselves out of the hobby.

But yes, they definitely should have gone in with a loss leader on the starter. I dont know how much they are paying in licensing fees to microsoft or whomever, but the price of the box in far in excess of the value included in it.