RazorEdge wrote:
Who will be the first one building a "Blood Gulch" Table?

I hope we will see soon pictures of the starter Set content. I wounder if we will see later a Starter Set "light" the like Halo Fleet Battle "Ensign editon"?

http://thingswotido.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/salute-2016-halo-chat.html

The initial idea with HGC is to get the basic rules and models pout and get people playing before they look to expand the rules. Neil mentioned that they will be introducing additional rules and such for various environments, such as Arctic fighting, desert fighting, urban fighting and shipboard fighting. In the same way as the Fighter game can be used to expand the wing phase of HFB, HGC can be used to expand the boarding phase. But this will be later on in the time-scale of things, and will be part of a larger campaign system they are looking to introduce, which hopefully will tie all the games together cohesively.
However, the commanders for HGC are likely to start out as “generic” personnel before named characters are brought in. But don’t worry - apparently there is already a 15mm Sgt Johnson!
Regarding how the forces can be played out: essentially it is up to the player. You can do a list which is pure ODST’s or infantry, or you can do a pure Armoured list. When asked about a pure Spartan list, Neil said that the intention of HGC is more on the wider scale of the battles, and not on the “heroic characters” or similar. As he’s said several times: if you want to play pure Spartans, you might as well just play the video games. But it does look like the game will be pretty flexible.
Aerial units will play a good role in the game with the ability to support and resupply units as well as possibly being able to swap out special weapons in some cases. Hero characters like Spartans and Elites will be used in most cases to “bolster “ units and make them more effective, once again, playing on the whole “synergising” aspect of the games.
When asked out what type of units they will be releasing for HGC, it looks like they have a good range of things to play with. Neil pretty much confirmed the appearance of units from Halo Wars - specifically naming the Grizzly and Wolverine. When asked about the Vulture, Neil went silent for a bit and replied “we have something better”. And they are very happy and excited about the Scarab, for obvious reasons.
Overall, the feel and design of HGC is one of large battles where nothing is fully safe. Based on what I've heard about the “reaction engine”, there is a chance that whilst you’re moving your units into position, the enemy has an opportunity (made easier if that unit hasn't activated yet) to take an immediate action against your unit. Some units, such as the Warthog, are designed to be better at reacting than others. Also, from what I've heard, the rules for HGC are similar in design and nature as HFB, but a bit more polished and brought down to a scope that feels right for ground combat. Units are split into three broad categories (Infantry, Armour and Aerial) with weapons being more effective against one type than another.
When asked about future developments for the game, Neil mentioned that they will be including “every type of Spartan there is” and also mentioned that there will be a Noble Team box coming out. In terms of terrain and such, Spartan Scenics will be making some stuff, but Neil mentioned that Spartan Games will be working with “others” to get stuff made for the game. In a similar fashion to how they've been progressing HFB, we’ll be seeing stuff from later games as time goes on. However, with both games starting at the Fall of Reach, it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing much in the way of Insurrectionists, but that remains to be seen (after all, the Insurrectionist issue does arise again in the Kilo-Five trilogy of books set between Halo 3 and 4).

http://community.spartangames.co.uk/index.php?/topic/17709-halo-ground-has-anyone-heard-anything/?p=323348

1) Hijack! - yes, certain units can take over vehicles. Elites and Spartans mainly from what I remember. This is so cool I don't know where to begin. Oh - you are driving that Wraith right in to my force - I'll GTA that thanks!
2) Weapons have specialist rules within them. So the Scorpion has Piercing weaponry which I believe reduces the DR rating of the type of unit listed. So I think the Scorpion was "Piercing 2, Armour" so against other tanks, it's a beast.
3) There is 'Suppression' in the game also. Certain weapons have better suppression ratings: HMG etc. Suppression is you roll 2D6 and add how many casualties you've taken/suppression ratings and if it's over 10 you get a cooldown marker. Which I believe stops you from over watching etc.
4) Certain weapons have cool down. So it's quite a tactical choice of when to use it. Fuel Rods, Snipers, etc have it.
5) Spartans are insanely good but not OP. They did eat dust in a couple of games with sustained attacks and unlucky dice rolling. There is a reason they are 180 points! They can re-roll up to 7 misses in combat so DON'T LET THEM GET THERE!
6) Air Drops are possibly my favourite aspect of the game and provide something VERY unique compared to ANY other table top game at this scale. You can reinforce depleted units with units from your dead pile, you can drop NEW weapons off and much much more. Example - Unit of Warthogs has taken 2 loses. You can call in a Pelican to drop 1 off next turn to reinforce it. This is awesome. It means the field is always changing and you have to react and think on your feet. Or is your Spartan up against an armoured column? Cool - call in air drop so he can change his weapon to a Spartan Laser! Good bye tank!
Some more info from Bruce H over on Facebook:
Right you start by making a force, you must have a HQ and a minimum of 2 basic infantry units(Only infantry hold objectives) You can then put 9 build rating of each (Armour/air support/infantry etc) on top but you must stay within the points.There are exceptions to this for example I was told the UNSC can take an armoured force that starts with 3 scorpions
It is unit activations, units work together how they are bought, so an example would be a marine infantry unit which consists of 4 bases, these bases move together and fire at the same target combining their attack dice from the relevant target (AP/AT/AA)
A dedicated AT weapon like a missile launcher can fire at a separate target from the rest as long as the rest fire at infantry while the rocket targets a vehicle etc
Damage track works just like in fleet battles
Reaction is like a permanent over watch, everything can try to react when the enemy does something infront of them, they must roll over their react stat, if the unit attempting to react hasn't been activated yet it'll be easier as once activated they use the 2nd (higher) number on their react stat
Command dice allow for extra boosts to units during games, the starter set will have commanders that use 3 dice and this will be the tournament standard I was told. Lightning bolts can be used to give +1 dice to the combat pool of a unit during an attack, shield symbols can be used to -1 from an enemies combat pool... I can't remember what the Spartan helmets do sorry

After the tumult of Salute (which was great fun, despite losing my voice!) I thought it would be a good idea to open up a little on the Halo: Ground Command Game from a war-gamer's perspective.

As I have mentioned before in previous articles posted elsewhere, we have worked really hard to maintain the tactical first-person-shooter feel you get in the Halo 1-5 Video games as well as the strategic real-time-strategy feel of video games like Halo Wars. But how does that translate in real terms to wargaming? In the following articles I will discuss how we hope this has been achieved.


Firstly, bear in mind the challenge of creating a game that can exist in both video game genres. One is singular, fast paced, bloody, and has no lull in the action at any point... the other is more general, measured, careful in asset focus, and requires intense forward planning to execute perfectly. Both have the wonderful Halo Universe as a backdrop of course, but provide entirely different experiences within that backdrop.

To simulate the diversity of gameplay that exists in the Universe, we looked at dividing Halo: Ground Command (in our heads at least) into two key gaming spaces Pre-Game and In-Game. Pre-Game being the Strategic/RTS part of the game and In-Game being the Tactical/FPS part of the game.


In the Pre-Game, players can flex their RTS muscles, building their Battle Groups as they perceive to be best for completing the tasks presented. In general play, all scenarios are encouraged to be rolled PRIOR to forces being chosen, so players can go away and plot their enemy's eventual demise - this gives the game a planned-outcome-feel since players have had time to reflect on the mission at hand and have brought the right tools for the job (hopefully). The greatest challenge presented by this will be in the competitive/tournament sphere of gaming where players will often have to submit their lists WITHOUT knowing the scenarios being played - this will lead to many unusual lists being posted (something I am particularly looking forwards to...) as competitive players attempt to build their best-fit-army given the points available.

Choosing a Battle Group (or multiple Battle Groups) is a simple process that uses the Build Rating method we use in Fleet Battles. All Battle Groups have Requisites and then gain access to Optional Units. Requisites MUST be taken for the Battle Group to be considered to be legal. These vary from Battle Group to Battle Group - the ODST Battle Group must take ODST Units as Requisites whereas a UNSC Army Battle Group must take Troopers, for example).

Requisites are deliberately kept to the bare minimum needed to truly represent the nature of their Battle Group because we want to give players the ability to flexibly innovate within their own Battle Groups, finding new and interesting combinations to play with. Of course players wishing to exist in cannon might decide to add more of the same Requisite units into their Battle Group, creating massed infantry formations that become companies of UNSC or Battle Lances of Covenant....and that's cool, it looks great and plays really well. But others might want to play with more diversity and that is possible too. The Requisite system allows for both competitive and cannon players to comfortably coexist.

Once Requisites are taken, players have a number of Optional Build Rating points to spend in each of the following categories: Infantry Units, Armoured Units and Aerial Units. The number of points available also varies depending on the Battle Group chosen, giving certain Battle Groups greater access to certain types of unit - A Covenant Dark Hunter Battle Group (made up of Elite Rangers) has more Build Rating Points allocated to it in its Infantry Allowances but gives up Armoured Build Rating Points to do so..... etc. If your are thinking as a Covenant player that you will want more armour.....simple take an Armoured Fist Battle Group to go with it, the Requisites in that Battle Group are ALL armoured elements and there are more Build Rating Points allocated to Armoured Elements as well (although you lose access to any infantry and a lot of Aerial Build Rating Points as a balance).

All of this leads to an incredibly flexible army building mechanic that gives great longevity to the game. There are literally thousands of combinations, giving players the chance to execute their plans in a prepared way (especially when using the Force Selection After Scenario rules). Inside the core rulebook we will be putting the rules for 4 Battle Groups, and will release numerous others for free (in our Downloads Section in our website) as the weeks and months develop. I would also expect there to be a number of Blog articles that discuss the various merits and drawbacks that new Battle Groups present.


Finally, when we discuss Force Building, it is important to differentiate between Force Points and Build Rating Points. As many players of Fleet Battles will be aware, we have a system where an element costs Force Points to purchase and is worth Build Rating Points when destroyed (or when added to Battle Groups). This system continues to be used in Halo Ground Command, so those of you with experience in space will be well versed when it comes to fighting on terra-firma. For those of you who don't play Fleet Battles yet (...shame on you!... ....) the differences between the numbers are designed to make totalling Victory Points easier and enable simple Battle Group building.


While we are still within the Pre-Game sphere of Halo: Ground Command, lets discuss Terrain.
All Terrain is placed using mutual consent to encourage fair and reasonable battlefields to be constructed. We have created a system (similar to H:FB) for terrain to be generated in competitive play, but in truth we expect most players to be able to come to mutual agreement on the type of table they want to fight over. This brings Terrain firmly into the narrative and mirrors the Halo Universe better than a strict Placement-Regime. Terrain is binary in its nature in rules terms to make it simple to use and fast to play within - You can or you cant move through it, or you cant or you cant shoot through it, or a combination or both, etc..... This makes Terrain nice and simple to play with but still gives players a strategic view of the battlefield and allows for a planned route of advance. With the game being 1/100th scale, Terrain is readily available in the general market and of course you can expect Spartan to make some cool looking terrain that will be available to buy. Look to the Halo Video Games for an insight into the sorts of battlefields you might want to play on and maybe make a start making some cool terrain of your own! Yogurt Pots, Fuse Boxes, Toothpaste Tops..... everything is viable for terrain construction if you have some imagination.....


So far I have talked about Force Building, Requisites and Optional Units within Battle Groups, and Terrain. As a final observation in the strategic/RTS leaning for the Halo: Ground Command game, lets look at Commanders. In Halo: Fleet Battles we went a narrative route, giving players the named characters that were present at the Battle For Reach: Stanforth, Hood, the Minister, etc. These were set with a narrative as opposed to a balance focus.

At the time of writing those characters into rules, we didn't really have any inkling of how successful the Fleet Battles game would be, and were pleasantly surprised when players started to clamour for competitive/tournament rules. Not that it is difficult to write a tournament pack of course, these things tend to be self governing, but the speed with which the game was embraced in the competitive sphere means that when Halo: Ground Command came to getting its final touches we decided to launch the game with 'competitive' commanders instead of named/narrative ones (which we will bring out later on down the line).

Inside the starter box, players will get a generic commander that is limited to three standard orders and a Factional Order. These commanders will be used in the competitive sphere as they are very similar, Faction to Faction, whereas those players who wish to play more narratively will have access to all sorts of named commanders (.....I'll leave you to speculate as to the heroes in question!....). Generic Commanders are considerably cheaper than Named Commanders, so narrative players are able to choose them too if they wish. This takes some of the pressure off Force Building in smaller games where a Commander must be present.



I know there is a lot to take in here as regards the Strategic/RTS side of the game, but in summary:
Forces are made up of Battle Groups, which can be of varying types: Company Battle Groups, Crusade Battle Groups, Armoured Fist Battle Groups, etc.
Inside each Battle Group are Requisite Units that MUST be taken, then Build Rating limits are set to allow players to build in Optional Units later.
Forces can (and probably should!) be made up of multiple Battle Groups.
In narrative play, all Forces should be chosen AFTER the Scenario is determined allowing players to tailor their lists to fight out the mission.
Terrain is placed by mutual consent and is designed to be simple to use, speeding up gameplay. There is a table generator included for those who cant agree, but I'm sure it wont be needed too often as we are a reasonable folks
As in H:FB, commanders MUST be taken, but unlike H:FB in Halo: Ground Command players have access to Generic Commanders that cost considerably less. These Generic Commanders have standard orders and a Factional Order. They are the only Commander available in competitive play.

 Siygess wrote:
I saw the Pelican in the flesh at Salute and honestly I thought it would be more expensive. It's a massive chunk of resin!

 Siygess wrote:
I cant remember what they said at Salute but I'm pretty sure the dropships have very little purpose in game. As such, there's probably nothing that needs to be done in terms of rules and balancing (unlike the armour) and the Pelican has an appeal outside of the game as an iconic collectors piece (I think the comment about the plaque wasn't far wrong).

So I can see why they would want to get these ready to go as soon as possible. Once it's on the shelves, Spartan can pretty much forget about it and concentrate on the game proper. My only worry is that once the initial run of these sells out, I can see them being unavailable for months at a time.

You are absolutely right about my experience with 15mm, though, MLaw. This will be my first game at that scale and I hadn't considered how abnormal such a price might seem in an otherwise affordable market. Hm.

To start with, I think it’s important to tell everyone the mechanic we have carried over from our Fleet Battles game. That way everyone can have a handle on some of the terms I will be using in the upcoming article.

Firepower Rating and Halo Dice – As with Halo: Fleet Battles we use Halo Dice along with the Firepower Rating Table to control modifiers and drive the statistics in the game.

As with H: FB, we use Firepower Rating 4 as our starting point with the Rating modifying up and down accordingly. This means that when rolling a Spartan Die, a TWO result counts as two hits, the ONE result counts as one hit, the NEAR MISS result can be re-rolled if you have rolled a TWO, and the SKULL result is a definite miss. Certain weapons will gain a positive bonus to the Firepower Rating whereas Terrain conditions and Scenario effects might cause the Firepower Rating to suffer a penalty.


Tokens – In H: GC we use 3 of the same Tokens as used in the H: FB game – Activated (placed when a Unit Activates or attempts a Reaction), Damage (for when an attack equals or exceeds a value on a Damage Track) and Cooldown (which is used to represent a situation where a weapon or even an entire Unit cannot fire!)


Statistic Profiles – We have used a simple visual presentation mechanic to show people the various statistics used by Units. These cards will be large enough to fit in your hand and should have all pertinent rules (as well as paraphrased notations about Loadouts, etc.) on them, making reference in H: GC even easier.


Commanders and Command Dice – As with H: FB, we use the Command Dice for each Faction to drive the Command and Control side of the game engine. The Command/Attack/Defence symbols allow players to execute orders from their Commander’s Profile Card that can often be the difference between success and failure in battle.

Just like in the Fleet Battles game, we assume these lofty individuals are far removed from the action taking place on the battlefield, but their orders can be issued with immediate effect!

In the beginning, there will be two Generic Commanders – one for each side, after which Named Commanders and Heroes can be fielded to add more narrative depth to games.

Right, that’s the elements that we have carried forwards from Halo: Fleet Battles covered, lets talk about the innovations that you can expect in Halo: Ground Command.


Reaction
The first and most important new part of the game is Reaction Fire. Halo is at its core a First Person Shooter (FPS) where the action is fast and furious, gunfire rains down from all sides, and death is an ever present companion! Of course that can be difficult to translate to a tabletop where we need the structure of Game Turns, Activations, Segments, Actions etc. to allow us to create the structure of the game itself.

To change this, we have created a Reaction Statistic for each and every element in H: GC to allow us to represent a persistent form of Overwatch where every element on the table is assumed to be engaged in the battle at all times.

The Reaction Statistic has two numbers shown as X / Y on their Profile. The X number is used if the Unit hasn’t Activated yet, and the Y number is used if the Unit has Activated. If you want to react to an enemy activation simply roll 2D6, add the results together and try to equal or beat the relevant number… if you do, you get to fire in your opponent’s activation, either at the start of their move or at the end!

Attempting a Reaction is not without risk however as you are only permitted to attempt a single reaction to an enemy activation and whether you succeed or fail you gain an Activation Marker as a result, meaning that you have to choose your Reacting Units carefully! Sometimes it is better to React with a Unit that has already gone, especially if the Unit has a relatively good Y-React number….. Warthogs for example excel at this, creating mini-fire-bases upon which the UNSC can base their advance/defence. Sometimes you might be unwilling to React, as it will affect your ability to surge forwards (since making a Reaction attempt gives your Unit an Activation Marker that effectively halts any chance of taking a Movement Action!)…. This means that the simple rules for Reaction brings the tactics of the FPS to the tabletop.

As you might expect, not everything has the same React X/Y.

A Spartan. the paragon of war for the UNSC, might be capable of multiple feats of arms in a turn, firing in all directions as he/she attempts to defend a wounded soldier, but a ponderous Hunter is far more measured and lumbering, taking time to line up shots and gear themselves for combat. This is represented by the Spartan having a React Score of 5/6, whereas a Hunter Unit is limited to 10/13.

Sharp eyed gamers will notice that the Hunter’s Y-Reaction stat is technically impossible on 2D6! This is intentional (Hunters are pretty slow at reacting once they have acted) ….. but through careful marshalling of Commanders and Orders it IS possible to lower a Unit’s Reaction Stat to a point where the Hunters COULD pull of a once in a blue-moon-reaction…. making the impossible, possible… and cementing them into legend.

How does this change things?
Think about the other wargames you have played. Each attempt to be cinematic, trying to bring you into the action, but how many truly achieve that lofty goal? All are stymied by the need for Game Turns, Activations, Segments etc.…. With Reaction Fire, everything is technically in the game and can respond…. Assuming you can roll high enough on 2D6 of course!

In a FPS you don’t hang around waiting for your opponent to move, shoot or charge before you get your turn, and then find yourself taking off your models before they got a chance to do anything! ... And in Halo: Ground Command you don’t have to… Instead you have the chance to blast them to smithereens with SMGs, Plasma Rifles and Rocket Launchers, holding out against impossible odds!
YOU CAN’T GET MORE HALO THAT THAT!


Multi-Use Weapons
Let’s talk weapons! In Halo there are a plethora of cool and exciting weapons with which you can blast your enemy into little bits. To represent ALL of these weapons would have been an impossible task, requiring players to buy so many different models, identified by a single weapon that gameplay would have been slow and cumbersome. Instead we have chosen to create a general term – Small Arms, into which we are able to merge a multitude of weapons within a Faction – Plasma Pistols, Needlers, etc. all merge into Small Arms when in the hands of Grunts, and a different set of Small Arms Stats when in the hands of Elites. This makes the game flow much better and gives each faction diversity without the minutiae of looking directly into the hands of each and every model.

That is not to say that all weapons are in this category. Certain Units can upgrade one or more of their bases to be specific Fire Teams, like Grunts wielding Fuel Rod Cannons, UNSC Troopers manning HMGs, etc.

This brings us on to Weapon Loadouts. Every weapon in the game (including Small Arms has at least one Loadout. These can be as simple as Suppression (+1) in the case of UNSC Small Arms or Point Blank in the case of Covenant Small Arms, to Loadouts such as Devastating, Pinpoint, Indirect Fire, and many others. Each of these Loadouts is summarised on their respective Stat-Profiles for ease of reference.


The Weapon Spread
This is an important innovation that becomes apparent the more you play the Halo Video Games. Each and every weapon, if you are willing to shoot long enough and have enough ammo you can technically destroy anything in-game when it comes to Halo. This meant that we had to come up with a new system for weapons that allows for this incredible flexibility. So we designed the Weapon Spread System to do exactly that.

The Weapon Spread divides the Attack Dice available to a Weapon into three distinct categories, each citing the weapon’s effectiveness against specific targets.

Anti-Personnel (AP) refers to a weapon’s ability to damage Infantry Targets. Anti-Tank (AT) refers to a weapons ability to damage armoured targets (including Hunters!) and finally Anti-Air (AA) refers to a weapons ability to damage (yes…. you guessed it!) Aerial Targets, be they standard flyers or flyers on an Aerial Mission.

So a UNSC Trooper might be armed with Small Arms with the following profile (apologies for the crude layout…. I can’t upload the actual stat cards yet and trying to put a set of tables into the forum interface is next to impossible…. But you should get the idea of what I’m talking about…)

Weapon - Small Arms
Short 10"
Long 20"
AP 3
AT 1
AA 2
Loadout = Suppression (+1) - Add +1 to any enemy Suppression Test triggered by this weapon.

Whereas a lowly Grunt might be armed with Small Arms with the following profile:
Weapon - Small Arms
Short 12"
Long -
AP 2
AT 2
AA 2
Loadout = Point Blank (This weapon adds +1 to its Firepower Rating at Short Range)

The UNSC Trooper can shoot further and is much better at engaging Infantry targets (but isn’t too shabby at shooting at Aerial Targets either!). The UNSC use a lot of bullets to attempt to suppress the Covenant, so even their Small Arms get a Loadout to facilitate this by use of the Suppression (+1) Loadout!

The Grunts are normally armed with a collection of pistol-weapons in the video games, and so it is reasonable to give them a shorter range, but the commonality approach to their weapons makes the Grunt pretty effective in large numbers against all targets. This is especially true when looking at their Point Blank Loadout which greatly increases their effectiveness at short range…. which is handy cos they only have a Short Range….

When firing, we use a combination mechanic (the same as in Halo: Fleet Battles) so if I have 4 bases of Grunts shooting at a Unit of UNSC Troopers in the open (always a bad thing for the UNSC!), I would roll 2+2+2+2 = 8x Halo Dice using Firepower Rating 5 (the best I can get!)…. Probably expecting to get about 6 Hits….. It’s really that simple.


Melee
As I mentioned before, Halo is at its core a First Person Shooter, which means shooting takes precedence over hand to hand combat. But its not true to say that melee doesn’t exist…. There are few truer gaming-pleasures than eviscerating an Elite with his own power sword….or clubbing a Grunt to the ground with your Assault Rifle….

In the Halo: Ground Command melee system, each element rolls a number of Halo Dice equal to their Melee Statistic, and unlike ranged combat, all players are looking to do is roll SKULLs!....all other results are ignored.

Roll a SKULL, and you automatically do a point of Damage (or in the case of melee vs vehicles, roll 2x SKULLs for a point of Damage!). Heroic Saves can be attempted after that, but essentially that’s as complicated as Melee gets. If each side rolls the same number of SKULLs in a round of melee, the survivors keep fighting until someone wins…or until both sides are wiped out. There is no quarter asked for or given in Halo!

Hardened Fighter (Value) – This is the most important Loadout in H: GC. Through this Loadout, certain Units can re-roll a number of Melee Dice equal to the Value listed in their parentheses. This means something really scary like a Covenant Zealot with 8 Melee Dice and Hardened Fighter (6) may re-roll up to 6 of their Melee Dice that failed to roll a SKULL…. Which means you simply don’t mess with a Zealot Mano-a-Mano. Unless you are a Spartan of course…. Spartans can actually re-roll ALL their failed Melee Dice as they have a Hardened Fighter value that is equal to their actual Melee stat!


End Phase
In the End phase we simply tally up scored Victory Points for the turn. Victory Points are scored by destroying enemy Units, where their Build Rating directly translates to VP.

VP can also be scored according to the conditions stated in any particular scenario you might be playing. The Assassination Mission for example gives you bonus points for taking out anything with the Commanding Presence Loadout. Take and Hold gives additional points for holding placed Objectives (usually Buildings of importance on the battlefield), and so on…..

The scenarios all last a certain number of Game Turns, after which the person who has scored the most Victory Points has won.


Air Missions and Flyer
Finally, I really should talk about flyers in Halo. All flying vehicles are separated into common Flyers and Aerial Mission Flyers.

Standard Flyers are treated in the same way as any other battlefield element, moving shooting, reacting (although only against other aerial targets) in the same way as any other model. They are targeted using a weapon’s Anti-Air (AA) Statistic and tend to be fast moving and pretty aggressive in their use. Examples of these tend to be Banshees or Falcons, which may operate in Units with more than one model, or be individuals, depending on their Build Rating.

Aerial Mission Flyers tend to be far larger than their standard Flyer counterparts, dominating the air with their bulk and durability. These flyers are simply too large to remain on the table turn to turn, and instead resolve their movement, execution of their mission and extraction in a simple strafing method. Examples of these flyers include the UNSC Pelican or Covenant Phantom.

When using an Aerial Mission Flyer, players activate the model in the same way as any other, nominating a Mission for the Flyer. This Mission will have an attached Victory Points cost, which is given to the enemy directly after the Mission is announced. This give-and-take element to Aerial Mission Flyers makes the taking of these large models very balanced – you get a huge reward, but your opponent gets a strategic bonus if you saturate the battlefield with too many.

This means that protracted use of aerial assets will cause a drain on the player’s chances of winning an outright victory, but execution of these Missions will often be vital for continued success in the combat operation. So balancing if, when and how you bring in your Mission Flyers is a skill that will take time to develop.

There are a variety of Missions available to Flyers of this type ranging from simple Combat Drop Missions where players can bring in reserves into the battlefield right into the fighting, Supply Drop Missions that allow the placement of a Supply Drop Marker that will increase the Reaction Statistics of all friendly models within range, Ground Attack Missions that allow you to target ground elements with increased effect, Reinforcement Missions that allow you to bring a damaged Unit of Infantry (and in rare cases Armour) up to full strength, and Air Patrols that allow you to place your Flyer ‘on-station’, ready to intercept enemy flyers when they activate…..

The aerial aspect of the Halo: Ground Command game is really interesting, flexible and allows players to use their combined arms thinking to translate onto the tabletop with great effect.


Conclusion
With existing rules like the Firepower Ratings, Halo Dice, Command Dice, and new steps forwards with Reaction, innovative Weapons Mechanics, the Weapons Spread, streamlined and bloody Melee, a fast and effective Victory Points system and of course Aerial rules that are simple, tactical and effective, Halo: Ground Command is really coming at you full on!

So, that’s quite a lot for everyone to digest, so I’ll give it a rest here and let folks ask a few questions!

Cheers
Spartan Derek

The set will contain one highly detailed, multi-part resin model, as well as a number of additional pertinent pieces, including large acrylic flight stant, faction miniatures (it is a Dropship after all), weapon fits, ownership certificate and full assembly instructions. Please note some pewter components may be included.

Please Note: These contents have been modified since the original pre-sale announcement, but the value of the contents has been matched for customers.

Charax wrote:
changing the boxed set contents after already taking money for preorders? not cool Spartan...

Charax wrote:
changing the boxed set contents after already taking money for preorders? not cool Spartan...