Weekender: Spartan Grabs Halo License & Bustin’ Ghosts On Kickstarter!
February 14, 2015 by dignity
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Happy Valentines day! Hopefully you're spending this Saturday with loved ones or getting some hobby done, maybe even a bit of both! This Weekender we're going to be talking about the awesome news that Spartan Games have grabbed the license to make wargames for the Halo Universe!
As well as that we'll be talking about the awesome new Special Characters for Dropzone Commander which we got to check out at Invasion 2015 too! Talking of events we'll also be putting a call out for bloggers at Salute 2015 AND another Game Designer Challenge!
Cryptozoic have also bought a Ghostbusters Board Game to Kickstarter and while we've had a few reservations it hasn't stopped people busting through the target and getting the thing funded! We said it would be awesome to see the boys with proton packs in a board game ages ago!
Last but not least we're chatting about a new article series coming your way next week from Oriskany. Once again he's back to rock our collective worlds with a really interesting series all about World War 2.5. Want to know more? Watch and find out!
Have a great weekend!
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Happy Weekend!!
Spirit of fire is in halo wars if memory serves.
Warren why not do what we do at my Local Club (2nd Legion) Play the 15mm game with 28mm Mini’s. Looks great but you need a tonne of stuff
And a ton of space 🙂
Tons of space needs tons of ships…
..oh wait wrong space.
hey warren you could use the ghosts for your scooby doo game
Hey I just wanted to let you guys know that there are actually 3 other main armies in the Halo Universe that could easily be put into action. The Prometheans, the Flood, and the Sentinels.
All of which have their own ground and space forces.
Also there are 2 variants of the main 2 armies, for the UNSC there are the Rebels and for the Covenant their are the Rouges.
There is a rebellion against the unsc also. this happens before halo 1 but it is essentially the reason why Spartans are created. Rebel Humans with stolen or repurposed spacecraft. Masterchief actually fights them Before the covenant even make contact and they persist after the halo game timeline.
Well another interesting show…cannot say that I have ever played Halo… but on the scale issue well 6mm or 10 mm are the kings of the mass battle effect. 15 mm looks good but even then it’s just not aways perfect.
Will be at Salute but already going to be doing a parti game 1/3000th first world war Naval game based on Dogger Bank.
I chose PHR. Nothing to with luck and everything to do with good taste 😉
That make 2 of us.
And there is an other hades based command unit coming for the PHR – Which will be tournament legal unlike the special ones
Looking at what Spartan are aiming for with their own game universes – Firestorm and DW we may see Halo in both 10/15 mm and 28 mm as well as the space game.
Which would leave us with 3 levels of gaming 🙂
I heard Neil Fawcett (Spartan Games head honcho) say the land battle game will be in the scale you would expect, which I take to mean 28mm.
28mm will be sexy for sure, I just can’t help shake the feeling that with today’s manufacturing capabilities 15mm is the sweet spot for this kind of game 🙂
For a company known for producing smaller scale games, he might mean that it would be in a scale to expect from them? I’d personally prefer a smaller scale for it but I wouldn’t mind building and painting a 28mm scale warthog…
When they did this type of game for Dystopian Wars, they did it in 28mm (Dystopian Legions). They were going to do the same for Uncharted Seas (it was called something like Shore Clash) though it never got released. I think they’re doing the same for Firestorm Armada with Spec Ops.
I dont think 28mm is the right choice if from what I hear Halo is ,in thatit being the stage for some big armoured battles
On the Meeples & Miniatures interview with Neil from Spartan, he says the Halo space combat game is going to be in coloured hard plastic and the covenant assault carrier will be produced and be over 20cm long!
That should tick a few boxes.
Hey anyone at beast of war want to know about halo universe email me at [email protected] I will include pics, I only know about the games and live action minimovie’s but I been keeping up because halo 1 was my first videogame And I love it BIG FAN OF HALO.
HALO/MS/Spartan: see no reason why they could not produce a 28mm skirmish tabletop game where the minis could also be used in a Space Hulk style board game, in addition to a 10mm or 15 mm epic battle game allowing much larger forces and the big land/air/sea fighting vehicles to be included.Keeps everyone happy.
This could potentially be much, much bigger than any other sci-fi game as the paradigm is familiar to so many players over such a long time period.
The vast bulk has to be in hard plastic. Whether specials end up in resin is another matter.
WW2.5: this could be interesting for all sorts of reasons, not least because both sides would have access to a residual amount of German technology, and the Soviets had US and British supplied weapons and equipment like Shermans, halftracks and trucks.
my 15mm gaming pretty crowded at the moment armada and fow ,and of course the excellent dropzone commander so if 15mm will probably give this a miss .now 28mm is a different matter be great see a genuine mainstream rival to 40k hitting the shelves and shaking things up .never really caught the gw 40k bug more into their fantasy (sob,sob).but would be willing to give halo a go at 28mm .Spartan do geat models and if their smart they would sell it at a slightly lower rrp than 40k
Great weekender ( as usual 😀 ). Given the massive size of the vehicles from the HALO universe, I am definitely in the 15mm camp. In those examples used, you would not see them on a 28mm scaled table, they would just be too big, 15mm would do them the justice they deserved.
Now off to Kick Starter and check out the Ghostbusters game, that is looking really sweet, but as warren said, got to get those mini’s right.
Why not 3 scales of HALO, combinable in campaigns?
Epic scale – battle fleet: spaces battles with ships attacking planets..
…dropping 10/15mm units/models for large scale battles, including assaulting objectives…
…which can zoom into 28mm skirmish mode in buildings/terrain inaccessible to the big vehicles/craft (although units can be dropped).
Play one, two or all three modes.
i hope for 3 lvls of gaming for halo – space, 15mm large battles and 28mm skimmish
Compromise Halo ground wargame 20 mm 🙂 I may be biased as it’s the only scale I’m not playing in!
20mm is a great scale
Although something like Halo in a similar scale to Ogre would look pretty cool
@johnlyons – I 100% apologize if I’ve come off as “that” guy who’s always picking apart details or “correcting” people. Lord knows I got corrected plenty by the community during the first article of the Bulge series, and also a Market Garden thread I ran in September. 🙂 I’m also the buffoon you had to straighten out when I thought the Chieftain was armed with a 120mm smoothbore instead of a rifle. I also opened a thread about the A43 Black Prince “super Churchill” variant, which mistakenly labeled A34. 🙁 (thank you, edit function in the forums!!)
I DO love me some JS-3s. 😀 Suffice it to say they will feature prominently in the series, along with Pershings, Comets, Black Princes, etc.
I’m also bringing in some Sturmtigers and Jagdtigers, which have been painted with the technique you told me about some time ago (three-colored German camouflage . . . without airbrushes – you provided me with a link to a Facebook page that showed the steps). Thanks once again for that!
@oriskany You guys all keep each other accurate. @johnlyons meant it as joke as I’m sure you know. I think it’s excellent that we have this level of expertise in the forums and enjoy reading all of you experts.
And yes, very good show today. Really enjoyed it.
I feel like I need to give you a hug! You know I am totally pulling your leg when I mention your little black book 😉
You and me have a great back and forth when we get going, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Because neither of us can be 100% right all the time and I love a debate, so long as it doesn’t end in handbags at dawn over the river Volga!
You better be heading our way at some point. We need to compare “Libraries” 😛
Trust me, @johnlyons , I WAS coming to Salute 2015 – had hotel reserved and was lined up as one of Warren’s historical commentators, etc . . . Suffice it to say I had to cancel. I’m still in mourning, and if I “needed a hug,” it would be for that. 😀
Thanks for the reply. I figured you and Justin were kidding, and others on the site like @brianparker confirmed this . . . but we all know how the internet is. I could by typing one thing and the reader takes away something totally different. Thanks again! And yes, one of these days (sooner rather than later) I’ll get across the water.
@oriskany – Its due to men and women like yourself that are willing to share your knowledge and dreams with the rest of us that we have such great content. It takes a lot for someone to write about history as errors can so often make the fool of you. All the more reason I respect your posts about history as you and others place yourself under scrutiny of the public. Keep up the contributions to BoW as I’m confident many of us do get some joy from them.
Awesome, @manpug ! Wow, thanks very much! 🙂
Battlegroup and Oriskany… a match made in heaven!
Battlegroup? Battlegroup? Do I hear Battlegroup? And 20mm? Yes gentlemen, do it and extensively! Your viewers will be delighted and it will open a completely different view on WWII gaming. Great game. Real WWII feeling.
Hello Beasts of War, what a great show! With Halo Lloyd is absolutely right: To have such a rich background and story is a great opportunity for a tabletop game. It’s much easier to get dragged in.
Great work from all the contributors as well, those latest articles all are a great read.
the SALUTE game design challenge…
might be cool to use the dice from Imperial assault or the Star Wars RPG in the rules.
I’d love to see halo ground warfare in 28mm, but i agree at the you’d lose so many iconic vehicles if you went that “big.” Maybe a “heroic” 15mm? Or would that just be called 20mm?
@warzan if you listen to the meeples and miniatures spartan interview, they say that the covenant assault carrier model is 26cm long!
Aha! Another M&M listener. I have to say that was quite some news on my Monday morning commute.
M&M was unknown to me till this last week, the Spartan games interview got my attention to them, but i will be listening to them again 🙂
1:72 was the first scale of plastic kits I ever built. Airfix Sdkfz tow and Flak36 (that’s an 88mm Warren). I believe the Panzer IVF2 was the next one. Enamel paints (oh the smell…)
I am perfectly happy with 15mm/1:100 – you can squeeze more into the same amount of storage and have bigger battles (BGK works with 1:100 as well as 1:72).Modern CAD design and improved moulding technology mean the new kits have more detail even in smaller scales.
Simply thank you, really unwound the builders electricians and the plumbers left yesterday cleaned down a little today, sat watched the weekender unwound. Could I please be a little cheeky here and say anyone around Huddersfield tomorrow there is an IPSA model show if you want 1/72nd stuff etc then don’t miss it, these shows are real gems that sneak around under the gaming radar. Thanks.
Now to look forwards to the plasterer on Tuesday deep joy.
CG
Battlegroup and 20mm on BOW!? You just got another follower.
Very excited about the WWII 2.5 project.
Love Battlegroup! Simply my favourite WWII rule system. We play it exclusively at 15mm with our FOW armies. Simple but fantastic ruleset that has great tactile depth. Very excited to see it on BOW.
I was thinking 28mm for Halo, but when you guys mentioned all the other vehicles, 15mm makes much more sense to capture the essence of a Halo game. And all those vehicles/ships will be much cheaper at that scale too, lol. I think if they were going to have specific characters like the Master Chief and Cortana, then you’d want to see them in 28mm. But for a wargame where you get to play with everything right away, 15mm is the way to go.
I love Ghostbusters (I even put the film on the other night after learning about the game!) so I’m hoping the minis will be good quality pieces too. I was going to wait until the KS is over though, and see what the finished product is like, but I’ve just noticed extra stretch goals like Janine Melnitz and Gozer which is tempting me even more to take the plunge and buy now. Another reason I had wanted to wait was because I’d just ordered Angel Giraldez’ book and the Dust RPG book and wanted to save some cash for Salute. Hopefully, if I miss out on the KS the retail price and game contents won’t be far off the Kickstarter’s.
I kinda hope that Ecto-1 will be in scale with the minis and not a token piece, but I guess that wouldn’t really fit on the board (use a bigger board, or go off the grid and use a whole table!). I’d also like to see a properly shaped P.K.E. meter, as that 3×3 square is rather boring. I would’ve made it the shape of the P.K.E meter and had the antenna on the side slide up to indicate the proximity of ghosts and as a danger/threat level in the game (maybe I’ll make my own :D).
I do love the cartoon style of the game though, like @lloyd, I was a massive fan of the cartoons (I’ve never read the comics that were in that art style of the box art and minis though) so it’s great to see they’ve brought in the different versions of Ghostbusters.
I wonder if it’s possible to add a lighting kit to the proton packs and neutrino wands and trap? That would be one helluva fiddly job but very awesome to see!
Oh yeah, @lloyd I found this channel full of ghostbusters cartoons! 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1K06uAB1xGdwcCZ-LNdVUw
Well if we do get on BoW for a vhinwag… maybe we will let the guys reveal what we have lined up for our secret Battlegroup release this autumn… 😉
Battlegroup Mars?
@piers Are there plans to reprint battlegroup kursk, since it’s out of print now?
not sure if it was answered but I think they’re talking about releasing Kursk in PDF form now that its out of print.
Glad to see the Battlegroup rule set get a mention, a great set of rules. Cant wait to see your reports
@piers is definitely the expert on Battlegroup. He’s got some great threads of some beautiful tables going in the historical forums.
Should be I write the books with Warwick Kinrade!
Absolutely, sir. I saw your name credited in core rulebook and of course on the Battlegroup website. This is why I’m trying to direct some of the attention that’s building in this thread toward your great forum posts and kicka$$ tables I mention above . . . (a) you deserve it, and (b) I’m hoping you can help with any rules questions people might ask. 🙂
You should link some of your historical forum threads below! 😀
Well you will like a project Warwick and I have long discussed… Battlegroup 46…
The way I see it, I can see a 28mill skirmish game, and I hope they do this because I really want to play as Prometheans fighting off the Flood and Arbiter with his merry elites..
I can see 15mill Mass battle game that would be interesting but I really do hope they add more factions than just USMC and Covenant, as if your saying that they are adding completely new units then I have a good feeling that other factions that have not been introduced yet that could get new goodies which I am excited to see 😀
The spaceship combat is an interesting move to see first, and I love the stuff so far and hope to see more stuff coming soon 🙂
Great show guys, what’s the general opinion on the ghostbusters KS looks good I think. Just pledged hope it turns out as good as it looks.
great show guys the halo & Ghostbusters stuff looks good, good to see @oriskany starting a new series if they are as good as the others he has written cant wait.
if anyone is interested in a WW2.5 / 3 type book in a previous post I recommended RED STORM RISING by TOM CLANCE & oriskany recommended RED ARMY by RALPH PETERS having read both books they are very good reads one from the NATO side the second from the soviet angle.
“Red Army” is indeed an awesome book, @zorg , and although it takes place in the late 80s, I’ll freely confess it’s been a big influence in projects like our upcoming WW 2.5. The approximate size of the campaign, the divisional-scale, the approximate area of Germany and the cities “in play.”
Another great book on this approximate subject is Sir John Hackett’s “The Third World War – August 1985.” Of course at the time it was written (1977), it was a warning of a possible future, But given that Hackett was the former commanding general of BAOR, and the book was written with four or five other flag-grade NATO officers, it still remains a great work of “alternative history.” This especially true since the book was written in a historical non-fiction style (not a “technothriller” novel), as if the war were a historical event (complete with re-purposed training photos to depict “combat” at the front.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Third-World-War-August/dp/0425101924
The setting was so compelling and authoritative that the American novelist (and former armor officer) Harold Coyle used Hackett’s “big-picture” setting and premise when he wrote “Team Yankee,” WW3 from a tank-turret perspective . . . and another truly awesome book on this war that (thankfully) never was.
another book for the to get list I think their @oriskany
I am off to salute and have an iPad 2 and iPhone 5s if you need more bloggers.
Spartans are, traditionally, almost excursively squad based. The only reason that the Chief fights alone is because there essentially aren’t any other active Spartan II’s left. There are a few, but it gets a bit complicated. Example: There were actually two spartans on the Pillar of Autumn. The other one, Linda, was just in cryo because she decided it would be a good idea to take a fuel-rod blast to the face prior to the Pillar being launched and its flight from Reach.
I believe 28mm is the only true way to go with Halo at the moment, MS is clever to allow a wargames company give ideas and create new stuff for Halo franchise, it is deceptively poor (and this comes to much surprise to anybody I explain it) in proper military units and equipment, such as vehicles, making a 15mm or smaller scale (wider scope) particularly poor in presentation.
This is entirely understandable given both the scope of the Halo franchise (FPS) and the state of the background (essentially an ultimate last stand) in the game, as is a skirmish 28mm game has enough rich source material given there are 39 variants of the Mjolnir armour but only 3 ground and 3 air vehicles throughout the games for humans.
I am not saying that with love care and research and creativity a bigger scope game cannot exist far from it and Halo licence will be richer from it, but as is skirmish is were it best is.
The guys on D6G say X-Wing is the exception that proves the rule on multiple factions, so it’ll be interesting to see if that’s true or not. But seeing as Halo is played on the X-Box, it’s hard to imagine them not doing it at 28mm, where the individual soldiers can shine. 15mm sounds more fun really, but you lose all appreciable detail for the infantry. They can always make up new tanks and so on.
I like the sound of the Battlegroup series and look forward to seeing in on BoW in the future.
The WW2.5 is a very interesting “What If”. A bit like “Fulda Gap” on a bigger scale, but instead of Cheiftains/Leopard 1’s/M60’s, vs T-54/55’s/T-62’s?T-64’s, you have Comet’s/Centurions/Pershings/Sherman E8’s vs T34/85s/IS-2/3’s, etc. Being stationed in West Germany back in the day I am looking forward to this. Also being there is some good info out there from the Korean War on engagements between E8’s/Pershing’s/Centurion’s vs T-34/85s, The Centurion in the Korean war had the 20pdr gun, not sure that the 20pdr would have been around in “46”, so you might have to stick with the 17pdr.
A good idea’s all round and good luck with it, cannot wait.
Thanks, @y51c . Like Warren says, first article comes out tomorrow, second is already underway. 🙂
Great idea about the 20-pounder (84mm). I ran a quick check and it looks like it came out in 1948. Who knows, though? That was in peacetime, maybe in a WW2.5 scenario the British have had to speed up the project?
the Firefly II ?
early-model Centurions. 🙂
Must admit mate from the limited reading I have done on the Korean war (reading “To the Last Round” at the moment), the version of the Centurion was still on the secret list, so not sure how much quick they could get the 20pdr out. From seeing you build the Black Prince, I did read a “rumour” from some where that one was shipped to Korea for trials, but again that is a “rumour”.
Also the T-34/85 vs M26 (duel) book has some good info on tank clashes.
I am still trying to catch on your Battle of the Bulge article as I am reading it along side another book I got called Battle of the Bulge Then and Now, all good stuff.
Keep up the good work.
Yeah, I’ve also gotten mixed results when quick-researching whether the Black Prince (the six prototypes they built) ever made it to Korea. I know some “Churchills” did, but I also read these were Crocodile flamethrowers that simply ditched the flame fuel trailers and fought as gun tanks.
in our scenario, the British hurl the Black Prince into production, desperate to put heavy tanks up against Soviets and their dreaded Independent Guards Heavy Tank Regiments (Josef Stalin 2s and 3s).
I’ve just started a 20mm German army for Bolt Action so I’ll be interested in the What If 1946 WW2.5 articles. It’s a great scale and the choice of kits is massive. A major plus factor is the advancement of better casting and use of hard plastic for troops. I recieved a box of 24 German Paras (multi part) by Valiant Miniatures the other day, they are on par with 28mm miniatures.
The Halo news looks great, if Spartan go down the 28mm route I can see a lot of the 40k community switching across to the game.
Great show guys! Very undicided about Halo’s scale… but just thinking about painting elites in 28mm, that would be awesome!
Warren: for your Star Wars battle, i have a cool Imperial Probe Droid (the one that explodes after Chewie yells at it lol) that has been just sitting on my shelf for years in case i play SW rpg and it’s not gonna happen so, i’m gonna send it to you guys but, i just need your mailing info, can you PM me?
No Black Prince sent to Korea, was on the scrap heap by then.
Bovington have full records for all six prototypes, only number 4 remains, rest were scrapped in 48 I think. Would never have got anywhere in Korea, its powerplant was too underpowered.
The reference comes from a very poor documentary where the ‘expert’ mistook a Churchill in Korea for a Black Prince.
That sorts, that one out then 🙂
That’s what I figured, @piers . 🙂 The only reference I could find specified a handful of Crocodile-variant Churchill flame tanks, which were quickly freed of their flame trailers and used as gun tanks. Apparently, despite their very slow speed, the Churchill/Crocodile’s great slope-climbing capability (demonstrated in Tunisia and Italy) made them a pretty good asset in Korea. But again, we’re talking a handful of tanks. But no Black Princes. 🙁
I wonder if the Halo space battle game rules would be comparable with Firestorm Armada. Not exactly cannon and balancing could be a bit tricky though it could open Firestorm up to a larger player base.
I’m in the same camp as Lloyd, I’ve always looked at it but never taken the jump I to it. As a fan of old Battlefleet Gothic, it’d be fun to return to space battle gaming.
more on the halo game this time from 343 industries (the code monkees behind halo 4) forum https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/canon-fodder-in-the-loop
Looking forward to some Battlegroup action. It really is a great system with some intuitive workings combined with a straight forward system.
A very nice show guys. I love the Dropzone Commander miniatures.
Another excellent show guys. Some really exciting times with large IPs embracing our hobby and all the community involvement with Salute, Bootcamp and game designs. I think we will be able to look back and say that BoW contributed a lot to the golden age of tabletop that we’re enjoying now 🙂
Good show, good to watch on a Friday night 🙂