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Well, I love PF and didn't really have any problems picking up the game, learning to play it and teaching it to others. Rulebook had some issues that needed ironing out and it could definately be laid out better, but the game itself is fine. Feel free to nitpick all you want about layout etc, i'm not buying a wargame for how I think they laid out their rulebook, i'm buying it for the game and the miniatures. And Spartan's PF has a decent ruleset and absolutely gorgeous miniatures, the fact that more gets put on to the board for the same cost that DZC costs you isn't a problem for me! x) The armies look gorgeous to see and play with, DZC I really really just took one look at miniatures and said "Nope".

Looks awesome. Halo is an cracking IP have been interested in a fleet game for a while.

 sourclams wrote:
I'd be more excited if it wasn't Spartan Games. They make nice models, some of them are even great models, but their rules-writing is terrible and I predict the second edition of rules within a year of the first print.

I was burned so badly on Dystopian Wars that even though I want to like it, I'll be waiting a good long time before giving this a shot.

Unfortunately I feel the same way. I bought into DW heavily (and Uncharted Seas), but the first edition rulebook was one of the absolute worst I've ever read (maybe third place, after Myth and Magic Realm...), and the second edition wasn't much better. The comically bad "flavor text" and amateurish drawings only served to rub salt in the wounds caused by reading the darn thing...

A bit more info on the Spartan blog today, including the details of the bust painting competition. There was also this:

"Unable to make Salute? You will be eligible to receive the FREE Commander bust if you pre-order the Halo: Fleet Battles, The Fall of Reach two player battle box from the Spartan Games Online Store on 25th April 2015 (all time zones). All pre-orders made after this date will not be included in this special offer."

So if you buy direct on the day, you get the bust of your choice shipped early (might be good for overseas orderers). Not sure the bust is worth the extra £16ish difference with Wayland, but I might email them and see if they're open to doing the same if I order on the day.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Message sent to Wayland, let's see if they respond...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/04/halo-fleet-battles-boxed-set-contents-unveiled.html


Anyone else counting 23 ships and not 49?

pancakeonions wrote:

 sourclams wrote:
I'd be more excited if it wasn't Spartan Games. They make nice models, some of them are even great models, but their rules-writing is terrible and I predict the second edition of rules within a year of the first print.

I was burned so badly on Dystopian Wars that even though I want to like it, I'll be waiting a good long time before giving this a shot.

Unfortunately I feel the same way. I bought into DW heavily (and Uncharted Seas), but the first edition rulebook was one of the absolute worst I've ever read (maybe third place, after Myth and Magic Realm...), and the second edition wasn't much better. The comically bad "flavor text" and amateurish drawings only served to rub salt in the wounds caused by reading the darn thing...

Well each to their own, I absolutely hate 40k these days and gave up playing/collecting the game last year and am enjoying reading the continued repeated cries of doom and broken codex balance after codex balance from the 40k rumour threads, so choose your poison I guess? x) As said, never play DWs, so can't comment but FSA and PF is a great game rules and mechanics wise. Again, it could be laid out better, sure, and at launch it definately needed some sections clarifying, but they fixed all that within FAQs in a few months and now it's pretty solid. If you wanna judge the game based on how they chose to layout a rulebook, fine, be my guest, all I can say is you're missing out on a great game with equally great minis, based on not liking the format and such..?

 warboss wrote:
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/04/halo-fleet-battles-boxed-set-contents-unveiled.html


Anyone else counting 23 ships and not 49?

Those are oooold pics, months and months ago when it was first announced. Can probably bet is more than just those in there.

Those were the older pics, and so far all we have. Either there are more designs we've yet to see, or they're doubling up (ie. multiple battle groups per side)

Paradigm wrote:A bit more info on the Spartan blog today, including the details of the bust painting competition. There was also this:

"Unable to make Salute? You will be eligible to receive the FREE Commander bust if you pre-order the Halo: Fleet Battles, The Fall of Reach two player battle box from the Spartan Games Online Store on 25th April 2015 (all time zones). All pre-orders made after this date will not be included in this special offer."

So if you buy direct on the day, you get the bust of your choice shipped early (might be good for overseas orderers). Not sure the bust is worth the extra £16ish difference with Wayland, but I might email them and see if they're open to doing the same if I order on the day.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Message sent to Wayland, let's see if they respond...

Thanks for that Paradigm! I'll update the main post. Wayland has free shipping (still confirming if this is true for overseas people) but you have to make the order in person, this costs a bit extra, but it goes straight to the developer and is free worldwide for orders over 100 quid!

warboss wrote:http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2015/04/halo-fleet-battles-boxed-set-contents-unveiled.html


Anyone else counting 23 ships and not 49?

As others have stated, those are ooooooooold. The newer info all lists 49.

PF is fantastic...the only thing comparable to drpzone commander is the scale. The games couldn't be anymore different. I am a huge fan of 10mm and fleet combat games which makes me a natural fan of Firestorm. Spartan hits snags that small successful and growing companies hit. Enjoy their games...super great and easy to paint models.

AkhilleusK42 wrote:
As others have stated, those are ooooooooold. The newer info all lists 49.

GenRifDrake wrote:
Those are oooold pics, months and months ago when it was first announced. Can probably bet is more than just those in there.

You guys crack me up. It's so "oooooold", like "months and months ago".... you know... when they announced the game in February which was TWO months ago... and the pics are STILL the current pics on the spartan site on the only web page devoted to the game which is also linked on their main site in the giant scrolling banner ad.

http://www.spartangames.co.uk/spartan-games-is-to-produce-halo-tabletop-miniatures-games

LOL.

Yea.. because your assumption that those pics shown to flaunt new models when it was first announce mean it has to be all the ships the box will come with, really is a much better and sound assumption than reasonably assuming a company wouldn't outright blatantly lie that their box contains twice as many ships as they say it will.

Seriously matey..?

Seriously... we'll find out tomorrow. Which you'll probably think was SOOOOO long ago next week and that the info won't be current in May.

Spartan knows how to make fun games, and I don't see how Halo: Fleet Battles will be an exception. I'm really looking forward to it, as well as the Halo ground combat game.

Apparently, there will be demos of HFB at Salute, and I hope to get a game in.

Can I trust Wayland games?

Or can you just get this straight from Spartan? I actually trust spartan games, so my jimmies are rustled for this.

warboss wrote:Seriously... we'll find out tomorrow. Which you'll probably think was SOOOOO long ago next week and that the info won't be current in May.

Haha, for me (who has been habitually f5ing Spartan Games and other news sources) that is a while ago, especially as so much has come out since then. Of course a length of time being colloquially referred to as ages ago is, of course, an entirely subjective notion; and I am an impatient and excited man. I would like to point out that I was not actually trying to be mocking or derisive towards you, I was adding vowels in hyperbole. :-P

That being said, I have read numerous comments about the box set, and am unsure if it will be a doubled up sets of ships (Paradigm and I are of this mind), a product with less than the stated 49 ships (as it appears you believe) or even, as another suggested, that they could be putting multiple tiny fighters on one base and counting each of them individually (can't recall which poster stated this, but it was either here or in the Salute thread)

Cannor wrote:Spartan knows how to make fun games, and I don't see how Halo: Fleet Battles will be an exception. I'm really looking forward to it, as well as the Halo ground combat game.

Apparently, there will be demos of HFB at Salute, and I hope to get a game in.

Yes! And then, to prove your love to Dakka, you're going to report back here and let us know what you thought of it!



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Stormwall wrote:
Can I trust Wayland games?

Or can you just get this straight from Spartan? I actually trust spartan games, so my jimmies are rustled for this.

You can order this straight from Spartan Games. If you pre-order on the 25th you will also get a free bust of either the UNSC or Covenant leader. Copied from a FB post I made on the Spartan Games Halo community page:

Hey guys,
Want that bust but live overseas? Spartan Games to the Rescue! If you pre-order Halo: Fleet Battles on the 25th of April (all timezones - their words, not mine, I actually don't know what this means for me as an Australian) and you will be eligible to get a bust! Orders worth over 100 quid will be shipped free worldwide, so grab a blister to push you over that 100 pound thresh hold and you'll be laughing.
This does, however, mean you will be purchasing Halo: Fleet Battles at full RRP rather than Wayland's 20% off.
Source:
http://www.spartangames.co.uk/halo-fleet-battles-at-salute

Ooooooohhhhh I am so tempted to throw down the money to pre-order it right now! I still have some 40k/30k models to paint, but this is Halo. What to do, what to do...

WOOOO!!! Those Covy ships look AMAZING!!!! MUST HAVE!!! MUST BUY!!!

Although, not a fan of the paint scheme, I'm gonna use the silver base color-glaze airbrush trick to make them look better.

Hotrod wrote:Ooooooohhhhh I am so tempted to throw down the money to pre-order it right now! I still have some 40k/30k models to paint, but this is Halo. What to do, what to do...

Go on, you know you want to. The bigger this gets, the more models and support they give it. "The seeds of [its future], are sown in [your buying habits]." - The Arbiter

PlaguelordHobbyServices wrote:WOOOO!!! Those Covy ships look AMAZING!!!! MUST HAVE!!! MUST BUY!!!

Although, not a fan of the paint scheme, I'm gonna use the silver base color-glaze airbrush trick to make them look better.

Tell me more about this technique! Keen to try and get this done. I've ordered some HS mini+small hexgrid stencils from Anarchy Models to get that Covenant hex fetish going. and yes, they are indeed amazing!

Ooohhh... @AkhilleusK42, that hex-idea is briljant!

So i think i will steal it. Because this is the kind of thing i can steal without anyone missing anything... ;-)

And additional: the pre-order that is on Spartan Games now still says 49 ship models. So i still don't know what these are, but the number seems to be 49. And it a good number :-)

Feel free to Orick, they actually still have a like to their kickstarter prices if you want to get in on the cheap, I can send you the link and you can make an account from there and save a little money, if that's of interest? It's the reusable stencil variant

 AkhilleusK42 wrote:

Hotrod wrote:Ooooooohhhhh I am so tempted to throw down the money to pre-order it right now! I still have some 40k/30k models to paint, but this is Halo. What to do, what to do...

Go on, you know you want to. The bigger this gets, the more models and support they give it. "The seeds of [its future], are sown in [your buying habits]." - The Arbiter

PlaguelordHobbyServices wrote:WOOOO!!! Those Covy ships look AMAZING!!!! MUST HAVE!!! MUST BUY!!!

Although, not a fan of the paint scheme, I'm gonna use the silver base color-glaze airbrush trick to make them look better.

Tell me more about this technique! Keen to try and get this done. I've ordered some HS mini+small hexgrid stencils from Anarchy Models to get that Covenant hex fetish going. and yes, they are indeed amazing!

http://en.gundam.info/movie/white/139

There's the link to a lot of helpful Airbrush techniques, you basically spray with the kind of silver you need, for Covy ships, I'd use a silver with a nice reflective quality, then use some rich color glaze, like Tamiya clear. And you spray several coats across the silver letting it dry before putting the next coat on, you should get a nice glossy finish too like an actual metal surface.

Thank you for that, it looks like a wonderful effect. What is clear blue? (Have you got an analogue in Vallejo or old citadel paints preferably, haha) Just an ultra thin pigment heavily watered down? A purple with that effect would be so very, very Covenant-like

 AkhilleusK42 wrote:
Thank you for that, it looks like a wonderful effect. What is clear blue? (Have you got an analogue in Vallejo or old citadel paints preferably, haha) Just an ultra thin pigment heavily watered down? A purple with that effect would be so very, very Covenant-like

It's a Tamiya color, I haven't encountered the Tamiya glazes in any other paint-line, so you might need to look online. They're kinda syrupy too, so they'll require much watering down for airbrush use. I use Tamiya Clear Red for my blood/gore effects, gets a nice glossy sheen like fresh-spilled guts!

It's looking very much like the ground combat game displayed at Salute will not be 28mm, but will be 15mm. 28mm will indeed be coming, but it seems unlikely they will be on display this weekend. If they are, it is unlikely that they will be in the majority, although this is just what I've been able to piece together from hints from someone who knows definitively


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 PlaguelordHobbyServices wrote:

 AkhilleusK42 wrote:
Thank you for that, it looks like a wonderful effect. What is clear blue? (Have you got an analogue in Vallejo or old citadel paints preferably, haha) Just an ultra thin pigment heavily watered down? A purple with that effect would be so very, very Covenant-like

It's a Tamiya color, I haven't encountered the Tamiya glazes in any other paint-line, so you might need to look online. They're kinda syrupy too, so they'll require much watering down for airbrush use. I use Tamiya Clear Red for my blood/gore effects, gets a nice glossy sheen like fresh-spilled guts!

Thank you for that! I'll check them out at my local hobby store. Can't wait for Fleet Battles, going to do up an Innie Fleet, an ONI Fleet, a Separatist Fleet and a Loyalist Fleet

I hope we get some smaller craft, like the Phantom and the Pelican.

At that scale I'm almost certain we will. I hope we get those at 28mm... *drools*

Confirmed by Wayland that they will only be offering the bust at Salute, so if you don't go and want the bust you'll need to order from Spartan.

Personally I'll go Wayland, I don't think the bust is worth +£16 to me. That said, I'll be keeping an eye on eBay over the next couple of weeks to see if anything pops up there.

Again, it could be laid out better, sure, and at launch it definately needed some sections clarifying, but they fixed all that within FAQs in a few months and now it's pretty solid. If you wanna judge the game based on how they chose to layout a rulebook, fine, be my guest, all I can say is you're missing out on a great game with equally great minis, based on not liking the format and such..?

Uhm, no. Since the release of the recent Errata we are now plagued by Drone-Spam. Total unnecessary, but still we got it. Quite some clarifications were for the better, but we also got quite some rule changes that look like they were just made for the sake of change. And don´t get me started with Dystopian Legions... The game was guite fine, but with the new rules it became a nightmare. What e.g. did we need the new LoS-rules for?

DZC and PF differ in the way they tackle the game. If you are in for modern war combined armies than go for DZC. The design is more technical feasible orientated, while PF is more SF-eyecandy orientated. PF also goes for the classical more open field battle while DZC prefers a more decorated table. DZC is very mission-based, while PF goes more in the battle it out-direction. There are objectives/missions in PF but they do not dominate the game in a way they do in DZC. Ruleswise DZC is way better written than PF and quite tightly so. PF definitely needs some straighting-up and condensing, which we right now experience on a monthly base. DZC also introduces the dropships, which are quite different from any other game outside, they are not only transports, but also fighting material though it differs from faction to faction how they are used. Scourge e.g. use their dropships to hunt down the smaller enemy units, while Shaltari use them as quick-relocators to hit and run with the whole army.

Nothing new design-wise, but I just came across these in the Spartan blog. Individual renders of each seen ship, showing off a bit more detail than the fleet pics




There was also this article linked, which goes into some detail about how 343 and Spartan are working together on this project (short version: very well!). Hints at a few more things we might see appeasring in future (the words 'Pillar of Autumn' and 'Infinity' make appearances), confirms that the new ships/fluff/characters in the campaign book ect are canon, and talks briefly about 'blue-on-blue' games. No word on whether or not the Insurrectionists or split Covenant factions (eg The Great Schism in H2) will get unique rules, but at least it means same-faction games make sense.

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/canon-fodder-in-the-loop

Hurry up, Salute, we need more info!

 Paradigm wrote:
Nothing new design-wise, but I just came across these in the Spartan blog. Individual renders of each seen ship, showing off a bit more detail than the fleet pics

Spoiler:

There was also this article linked, which goes into some detail about how 343 and Spartan are working together on this project (short version: very well!). Hints at a few more things we might see appeasring in future (the words 'Pillar of Autumn' and 'Infinity' make appearances), confirms that the new ships/fluff/characters in the campaign book ect are canon, and talks briefly about 'blue-on-blue' games. No word on whether or not the Insurrectionists or split Covenant factions (eg The Great Schism in H2) will get unique rules, but at least it means same-faction games make sense.

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/canon-fodder-in-the-loop

Hurry up, Salute, we need more info!

That is some fancy linking. I can only have 10 images because I upload them to the message, I need to get better at doing them like you have. I'll copy paste those ones into the main post, already had the images but remember that people don't like renders, haha. So I figured if I can only have 10, I should stick to actual images, so thanks for linking them like that! Wizardry