HALO landing

[Vanvlak]

The UPS man came with a box.
Here it is opened up:



Opening the box in the box - you get 2 boxes! - and some printed planets, debris etc.



Opening one of the two smaller boxes:


And the other - shiny!


And here are 2 of the sprues.


This is going to be a busy summer....

[pocoloco]

Looking good!

Do post pics of the vessels once you get to build (and paint) them

[Vanvlak]

Looking good!

Do post pics of the vessels once you get to build (and paint) them

I will, but don't wait up tonight 

[pocoloco]

I will, but don't wait up tonight 

But surely you have something built already?

[Vanvlak]

(shame)

No 
It's been a busy day.

But now I'll go off and cut a couple of escorts off the sprues 

[Vanvlak]

Which I didn't do until now.

I had to go through the Campaign to see which formations to assemble, as each ship type can be modeled in different formations on a base, with different capabilities.
So DO NOT GLUE the spacecraft support struts to the transparent bases! Luckily I realised this before I started off (looking at the assembly leaflet helps too.... )

The bases are a bit of a pain to get off the sprues, they have large thin tabs keeping them on-sprue which can leave a bad mark on the base if not removed carefully (the instructions also warn about this). The stand pegs are square, which ensure the ships are nicely aligned in a neat formation and not pointing at all points of the compass.

I have to admit I was sceptic about the multi-ship bases, but after seeing the first one assembled I've converted - the small corvettes look good as a squadron.

No pics - because I want to paint them before  

[pocoloco]

No pics - because I want to paint them before  

It's ok... if you are currently painting them!

[Elbows]

There was an entire hour long Beasts of War video with the producers/designers and it looks pretty cool - lots of neat little touches.  While I won't bother because HALO makes me drool from boredom this looks like a genuine wargame and not some "capitalize on the name" crap game.

[Vanvlak]

There was an entire hour long Beasts of War video with the producers/designers and it looks pretty cool - lots of neat little touches.  While I won't bother because HALO makes me drool from boredom this looks like a genuine wargame and not some "capitalize on the name" crap game.

It looks like it.
I am not a video game fan, and only took interest in Halo when the game appeared (as something by way of post-BFG). The only link to the game is the background, and the possibility to choose Spartans in boarding actions (I believe these chaps feature in the computer game). Being a fleet-based game, I have the impression it has very little similarity to the first person shooters on screen.

Looks a litte like BFG, but has several different features - it's not gothic, which makes for a better space battle background in my book - and it enforces the fleet-working-together concept. The ships come in battlegroups, and are often (but not necessarily, in the case of the larger ships) fielded in squadrons or capital + escort, and the choice makes a difference - as does the formation chosen for the ships. Command rolls seem to have a very important role, and it's not just up to the dice as you can save up actions for when they are needed. The rules give some basic scenarios, and the 'Fall of Reach' booklet adds others specific to the background of this campaign.

[The_Beast]

As I said elsewhere, my love of Halo is pretty much restricted to Red vs Blue, and I've admitted being leery of Spartan offerings, but even if the game ends up less than thrilling, those ships look sweet.

So much for 'fool me once...' 

Is there a good explanation of movement anywhere?

Doug

[Vanvlak]

On the Beasts of War video there is some indication of movement. I've not delved into that part of the rules well yet.

[Sir_Theo]

As I said elsewhere, my love of Halo is pretty much restricted to Red vs Blue, and I've admitted being leery of Spartan offerings, but even if the game ends up less than thrilling, those ships look sweet.

So much for 'fool me once...' 

Is there a good explanation of movement anywhere?

Doug

From the videos I've seen ships move a set distance and turning is dependant on the size of the ship. Large capital ships can turn up to 45 degrees at the end of their move. Medium sized ships can turn up to 45 at the beginning or the end of their move, and the smallest ships can turn up to 45 degrees at both the beginning and the end of the move. Something like that anyway.

I've never played a Halo computer game. Know almost nothing about the background, but I do like the look of the game.  I have a slot in my collection for a nice straight forward Space opera style battle game and I am sorely tempted...

[Connectamabob]

I've played a bunch of the games. They don't really deal with the space ship combat as anything other than background scenery. The books get a bit more into it, and IIRC, it surprisingly has a lot more of a hard S-F streak than most space opera. It's space opera made by sprinkling bits of unobtanium into a hard S-F ruleset in order to inflate/distort the variable values without changing the overall equations, if that makes sense.

Ships have engines that are more powerful than anything "real", but still operate by Newtonian rules. Stealth ships exist, but work via a combo of magi-tech short term radiation sinks and active sensor jamming, and so have harsh limitations (sort like WWI submarines: super scary risky, but successes have enough strategic value to make having a small number of them worthwhile).

Ship-to-ship combat is close range, but IIRC this is because stuff like defense system reaction times and relativistic problems with leading targets makes long range nonviable. IIRC ship to ship combat is brief but complicated: more like speed chess or a kung-fu match than just brute force broadsides. Space fighters exist, but they play an orbital-to-ground or orbital-to-air role rather than ship-to-ship.

I've only read one of the books though, and it was a long time ago, so that may be inaccurate, or it may vary from book to book.

[Vanvlak]

The BoW video link:
http://www.beastsofwar.com/the-weekender/weekender-halo-fleet-battles-special/

[rwwin]

FYI - Miniature Market is having a sale on Halo (and other Spartan Games stuff).  The core box is sold out but everything else looks to be in stock.

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/table-top-miniatures/spartan-games.html#/?_=1&filter.category_hierarchy=Table%20Top%20Miniatures%2FSpartan%20Games%2FHalo%20Fleet%20Battles&page=1