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Is there a link for this? I went to page one don't see a link to the store. Who makes this?

Sorry, an oversite on my part! It used to be there, must have gone in an edit. This is made by Spartan Games:
http://www.spartangames.co.uk/

Or a direct link to this product:
http://shop.spartangames.co.uk/SearchResults.asp?Cat=2107

This stuff all looks really nice, although I think it's a bit of a misstep to show pictures of game models with the painting guides, as opposed to showing the actual minis.

I thought that too, thought it would be nicer to have actual minis and maybe include those game renders elsewhere as an inspiration pic or something

So, here are some initial thoughts on the box (Haven't played a game yet, still building the models)

- After years of GW, I'd forgotten how irritating metal models are to prep, especially when the pegs are cast right next to the sprue (god damn grunts). seems an odd choice to go resin/metal when Fleet was all plastic
- The resin is all perfectly cast and easy to clean up. honestly if this set was all-resin, I'd be up and playing by now
- As I mentioned, the acrylic bunkers are great. I was a little surprised that the cardstock is actually integral to the structure rather than just surface detail, but it works. The instructions could do a better job of distinguishing between what's cardstock and what's plastic though. I would love it if Spartan released blank PDF templates of the card elements so we could alter the designs of the bunkers
- The tokens are annoying to push out, if I start enjoying the game I'll definitely shell out for the £15 acrylic token pack

I've skimmed the rules and they seem a little like fleet battles (but my only experience of fleet battles was a short demo at Salute last year). Alternating activation, reaction fire, short/long range bands etc. Seems pretty solid

The only unit rules you get is for what's in the box, and you only get rules for two battle groups per side - the standard one, and one for forces that haven't been released yet (the covenant one is Wraiths, the UNSC one is tanks). This is kind of annoying as it means I can't plan my future purchases. How do I know if I want a Wraith when I don't know what a Wraith does? I don't play the Halo games, so the only way I'm going to be hyped for a release is if my gf tells me something's good in-game, or if I really like the model.

I think the painting guides are pretty much fine, they give you individual paint codes for the vallejo paints to use, and the CG models show off minute detail better than model pics would, but I can appreciate the other side of that argument.

Yes please, i really wanna get into this....

 ONI-S3 wrote:
Sorry, an oversite on my part! It used to be there, must have gone in an edit. This is made by Spartan Games:
http://www.spartangames.co.uk/

Or a direct link to this product:
http://shop.spartangames.co.uk/SearchResults.asp?Cat=2107

Thank you very much.

Charax wrote:So, here are some initial thoughts on the box (Haven't played a game yet, still building the models)

- After years of GW, I'd forgotten how irritating metal models are to prep, especially when the pegs are cast right next to the sprue (god damn grunts). seems an odd choice to go resin/metal when Fleet was all plastic
- The resin is all perfectly cast and easy to clean up. honestly if this set was all-resin, I'd be up and playing by now
- As I mentioned, the acrylic bunkers are great. I was a little surprised that the cardstock is actually integral to the structure rather than just surface detail, but it works. The instructions could do a better job of distinguishing between what's cardstock and what's plastic though. I would love it if Spartan released blank PDF templates of the card elements so we could alter the designs of the bunkers
- The tokens are annoying to push out, if I start enjoying the game I'll definitely shell out for the £15 acrylic token pack

I've skimmed the rules and they seem a little like fleet battles (but my only experience of fleet battles was a short demo at Salute last year). Alternating activation, reaction fire, short/long range bands etc. Seems pretty solid

The only unit rules you get is for what's in the box, and you only get rules for two battle groups per side - the standard one, and one for forces that haven't been released yet (the covenant one is Wraiths, the UNSC one is tanks). This is kind of annoying as it means I can't plan my future purchases. How do I know if I want a Wraith when I don't know what a Wraith does? I don't play the Halo games, so the only way I'm going to be hyped for a release is if my gf tells me something's good in-game, or if I really like the model.

I think the painting guides are pretty much fine, they give you individual paint codes for the vallejo paints to use, and the CG models show off minute detail better than model pics would, but I can appreciate the other side of that argument.

Thank you heaps for the write-up, it's nice to hear your thoughts on the contents and I'm glad to hear the resin went so well! As for the rules for other models, because the rules are given on stat cards, I believe Spartan only prints them when they have final figures built, painted and photographed. If you're interested in seeing what a figure does before purchasing it, there are always a ton of unboxing videos on YT. I know that's probably not ideal for you, and you'd prefer knowing in advance (as would we all!) but at least this way you're able to see whether you like the stats before you grab it.
Totally agree on the tokens, it's much better to have solid ones in my opinion! Too easy to knock the card ones with a stray dice, etc

ChaosxVoid wrote:Yes please, i really wanna get into this....

Give in, give in to the Great Journey!

And you're most welcome, Davor

Looks brilliant!

That USNC dropship just went on the "must have to paint up" list!

All of those pics, and yet not a single size comparison (unless it was one of the broken links?) Come on, we need some comparisons against other lines, here!

I preordered one from my FLGS a month ago or more, but after demoing it at Gencon, I bought another there.

The demo is great. Loved how fast it was.

Got home and built it all. Took about 3-4 hours or so. Lots of cleaning the metal bits. I love the terrain, easy to build, the cardboard overlay saves a lot of time on painting. Id love to get lots more like it

Will get to play a game Friday.. Gives me some time to paint this up

Wargamers, is this actually going to be a good game or is it just flying on the strength of the halo IP?

AncientSkarbrand wrote:
Wargamers, is this actually going to be a good game or is it just flying on the strength of the halo IP?

It may be a good game. But it's banking almost entirely on the IP.

Spartan Games does not have a good reputation for supporting their products. Most games tend to have crippling rules flaws and a history of poor support, even though I really liked some of their earlier offerings. They move from modestly successful game to the next thing that catches their eye. They've put out another, virtually identical ground combat game called Firestorm Planetfall for example... and that thing's dead in the water as the Halo game's cannibalizing their own genre! Same with the Halo Fleet Battle cannibalizing Firestorm Armada, and now Firestorm Taskforce... all the same genre of games.

Yeah, Spartan is horrible at following through with their rules, jumping from one release to the next, only to come back in a year or so and completely renovate the rules (you often feel like buying a first edition of the Spartan ruleset is akin to paying to beta test them).

Luckily, there are plenty of other rules that you can use these minis with. I'm planning on using Gruntz and fiddling with the stats for each unit.

After going through the Halo GC rulebook, I will say this is one of their cleanest rules. I never got a "huh??? wtf?" moment in the book like I have for their planetfall and dystopian wars rules.

These are very straightforward and clear

I do have friends who wont touch Spartan with a 10ft pole as for the reasons mentioned above.

The combat in this seems to be very clear though and fast. I bought into planet fall when it came out and the combat was rather horrid and drawn out. I was in the same boat with friends but because of the IP it drew me to it.

I'm thankful it did as this seems like a very fun game from the demo I got to do.

I got to speak to one of the rules creators and he said next after this is more ground force packs to boost them up, then the tanks, then emplacements and terrain scattered inbetween.

Thanks for the responses guys, I'll keep my eye on it but wont jump in right away.

The problem I have here, is like Planetfall, I LOVE the scale, the minis, etc... but fully expect Spartan to abandon the game within seconds if it doesn't instantly have a community of 50k players plus.

They can only pump and dump so many times before I am the idiot for buying in.

I got to chat with one of the game devs at Gencon, Im not a big fan of Spartans business practices and failure to support their own products, but from what I have come to understand, 343 is very very closely involced in the development of both HGC and HFB, which leads me to believe that they will continue to support their games for quite some time (as they are essentially being forced to do so by the terms of their contractual obligations to 343). That being said I intend to hold off on buying into HGC. The game looks phenomenally fun, but Im not the biggest Halo fan and will likely only be interested in constructing very specific list.

Sadly distribution of this remains a mess, with Spartan still blaming distributors for the mess, how they have handled it has completely put me off investing in this. I hope their gencon sales will get them their player base because that's where the stock went :(

 TwilightSparkles wrote:
Sadly distribution of this remains a mess, with Spartan still blaming distributors for the mess, how they have handled it has completely put me off investing in this. I hope their gencon sales will get them their player base because that's where the stock went :(

The war store has been shipping them. People have posted pics of conformation of the item being shipped on the FB group.

Also E Figs distribution has them in stock and are sending them out this week.

I don't see it as a huge issue. Sure I was hoping to get it end of last month as they said it would but I got one at Gencon so that will tide me over until the second one comes.

I am getting into this game ASAP!

 ONI-S3 wrote:

happygolucky wrote:Models are gorgeous.

Cannot wait to see more releases, hope to too Mantis' and Grunt Goblins in the future.

And Prometheans... Oooooh yes.. That would be my pride and joy haha

A Mantis would be epic. I don't normally like the look of Mechs, but I guess I've spent so long piloting a mantis it has grown on me haha. A goblin would be hilarious, every time you moved it however, you'd have to say something ridiculous

"You're dead and I'm not sorry" Is my particular favorite, as well as that deep bellowing echo it brings, reminds me of the heavy mech sound files in Wolfenstien..

Yeah with both of these I'm struggling on what I would want first, but because I'm a fan of Mechs and the Scorpion tank I would just get both and wait for the Prometheans. I hope they bring out other races after they give some love to the UNSC and Covenant.

While I would like the Mantis to be there, the Grunt Goblin is overpowered. That thing can take a small army by itself.

Barzam wrote:All of those pics, and yet not a single size comparison (unless it was one of the broken links?) Come on, we need some comparisons against other lines, here!

Here's one from Chris Smith, my good man:

infinite_array wrote:Yeah, Spartan is horrible at following through with their rules, jumping from one release to the next, only to come back in a year or so and completely renovate the rules (you often feel like buying a first edition of the Spartan ruleset is akin to paying to beta test them).

Luckily, there are plenty of other rules that you can use these minis with. I'm planning on using Gruntz and fiddling with the stats for each unit.

As chaos said, Spartan is in close talk with 343 who has outlined a 3 year plan, so support for this is guaranteed for the next 3 years.

str00dles1 wrote:After going through the Halo GC rulebook, I will say this is one of their cleanest rules. I never got a "huh??? wtf?" moment in the book like I have for their planetfall and dystopian wars rules.

These are very straightforward and clear

I do have friends who wont touch Spartan with a 10ft pole as for the reasons mentioned above.

The combat in this seems to be very clear though and fast. I bought into planet fall when it came out and the combat was rather horrid and drawn out. I was in the same boat with friends but because of the IP it drew me to it.

I'm thankful it did as this seems like a very fun game from the demo I got to do.

I got to speak to one of the rules creators and he said next after this is more ground force packs to boost them up, then the tanks, then emplacements and terrain scattered inbetween.

Thank you heaps for your input! I'm glad to hear the rules are intuitive and well thought out

NewTruthNeomaxim wrote:The problem I have here, is like Planetfall, I LOVE the scale, the minis, etc... but fully expect Spartan to abandon the game within seconds if it doesn't instantly have a community of 50k players plus.

They can only pump and dump so many times before I am the idiot for buying in.

See chaos's comment for more on this

russian69hitman wrote:I am getting into this game ASAP!

Welcome aboad!

happygolucky wrote:

 ONI-S3 wrote:

happygolucky wrote:Models are gorgeous.

Cannot wait to see more releases, hope to too Mantis' and Grunt Goblins in the future.

And Prometheans... Oooooh yes.. That would be my pride and joy haha

A Mantis would be epic. I don't normally like the look of Mechs, but I guess I've spent so long piloting a mantis it has grown on me haha. A goblin would be hilarious, every time you moved it however, you'd have to say something ridiculous

"You're dead and I'm not sorry" Is my particular favorite, as well as that deep bellowing echo it brings, reminds me of the heavy mech sound files in Wolfenstien..

Yeah with both of these I'm struggling on what I would want first, but because I'm a fan of Mechs and the Scorpion tank I would just get both and wait for the Prometheans. I hope they bring out other races after they give some love to the UNSC and Covenant.

Prometheans are already in the planning pot! I think there will be some love showered on the main 2 yes, but you can bet your bottom dollar that other factions will be out in the (semi) near future!

Tyran wrote:While I would like the Mantis to be there, the Grunt Goblin is overpowered. That thing can take a small army by itself.

Haha, I just find it hilarious that it was even designed and built by the grunts in the first place. Grunts rule

 ONI-S3 wrote:

Barzam wrote:

happygolucky wrote:

 ONI-S3 wrote:

happygolucky wrote:Models are gorgeous.

Cannot wait to see more releases, hope to too Mantis' and Grunt Goblins in the future.

And Prometheans... Oooooh yes.. That would be my pride and joy haha

A Mantis would be epic. I don't normally like the look of Mechs, but I guess I've spent so long piloting a mantis it has grown on me haha. A goblin would be hilarious, every time you moved it however, you'd have to say something ridiculous

"You're dead and I'm not sorry" Is my particular favorite, as well as that deep bellowing echo it brings, reminds me of the heavy mech sound files in Wolfenstien..

Yeah with both of these I'm struggling on what I would want first, but because I'm a fan of Mechs and the Scorpion tank I would just get both and wait for the Prometheans. I hope they bring out other races after they give some love to the UNSC and Covenant.

Prometheans are already in the planning pot! I think there will be some love showered on the main 2 yes, but you can bet your bottom dollar that other factions will be out in the (semi) near future!

Tyran wrote:While I would like the Mantis to be there, the Grunt Goblin is overpowered. That thing can take a small army by itself.

Haha, I just find it hilarious that it was even designed and built by the grunts in the first place. Grunts rule

Good I'm already looking forward to the idea, I love the concept of them in-game and I cannot wait to see knight models go toe-to-toe with Hunters.

As to the goblins being OP, I never found them OP.. A few rocket launchers and they go down fast.

But Deacon Pipap? I really hope they make him in model, hes a damn in game surrounded by 12 Knights or something. I want his frustration to bring on my opponents when I do 'Covies .

Has anyone gotten in some games? Is there a release schedule? Are these going to be blisters of what you want or a bundle, like fleet battles? I'm really digging the figs and setting.

griffen127 wrote:
Has anyone gotten in some games? Is there a release schedule? Are these going to be blisters of what you want or a bundle, like fleet battles? I'm really digging the figs and setting.

Yup, few games with 1 starter, then a game with 2 starters. Really good and fast.

Releases are the dropships in SEP, then more types of infantry then tanks. Blisters of units.

Thanks stro. Are there any weaknesses with the rules or lag points? That you have noticed so far?

PReorders up for the first wave of halo!

http://shop.spartangames.co.uk/mobile/Category.aspx?id=2126

Bearing in mind the starter set comes with 2 Hunters and 3 Scout Ghosts, those are some pretty bold prices!