Spartan Games Land You In The Action With Halo Pelican Dropship
June 17, 2016 by brennon
Spartan Games took a sneaky pic of one of their prototype Pelican Dropships that will be making their way into Halo: Ground Command over the summer. You can see one of their painters here holding the beast.
As you can see it's quite the monster and while it's very pretty the Spartan team actually ended up taking a hammer to this to smash it up a bit for a scenario table they are building. The mission will be called Pelican Down which sounds like it should be a lot of fun.
You can see the trailer for Halo Wars 2 up above too to help get you into the spirit for Ground Command.
Will you be delving into the world of Halo when it hits the tabletop?
"... the Spartan team actually ended up taking a hammer to this to smash it up a bit for a scenario table they are building"
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I’ve never played any of the Halo games, which makes me somewhat inoculated against getting into the war games set in the universe, although damn, both the space combat game and the ground combat one both look really cool.
I’ll definitely get some of their miniatures to paint up 😎
Looking forward to this!
Really excited for this, Just over a month away.
Kinda makes me want to throw my Valkyrie in the trash!
I agree it looks amazing but maybe a bit small scale wise for 40k? Certainly the cockpit wouldn’t look right.
However, because you often make unfavourable comparisons between the Valkyrie and other dropships makes me think that maybe you might be happier playing a different game; something with a different aesthetic. This or Infinity would seem to be the best match for you.
I don’t play 40k. I used to play Striker, and am currently waiting on the near future Battlegroup rules (which I can hopefully contribute to). Most 40k vehicles don’t suspend disbelief for me, but I always get one or two for Christmas or birthdays, and am compelled to turn them into something useable… or incur the wrath of the residential sergeant major :-). I mention the Valkyrie because A) it’s a dropship a lot of people are familiar with, and B) I built one, so feel I am qualified to comment on it.
Finished model here:
http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/painting/forum/topic/its-friday-im-in-love/?topic_page=6&num=15
A lot of thought has obviously gone into the Spartan design. It has a stealth pedigree and actually looks like it could fly. I don’t think the cockpit is too small, but on closer inspection it does suffer from the same ‘wrong’ leading edges on wings and stabilizers.
When it’s time to put together my dropship fleet of three (for a platoon of infantry) I will likely go with Marvel quinjets, of all things. They are only $12, and can easily be turned into something believable with the addition of bits from elsewhere, maybe even some from GW (they make some good affordable weapon bits). I think this version has a droppable ramp and interior detail:
http://www.tesco.com/direct/marvel-ultimate-avengers-quinjet-vehicle-assortment-colours-styles-may-vary/215-7799.prd
Their escort gunships will come from Technolog, the Robogear Condor. It is similar to GW’s Talon, which I mention because a lot of people will be familiar with it, but it only costs $8.00. I’ve got two flights of them awaiting parts:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Condor-Assault-Flyer-by-Tehnolog-from-Robogear-line-/131740207064?hash=item1eac5407d8:g:ERUAAOSw~1FUVidR
The missile launchers on the bottom look wrong. I may extend the wings and add hard points, and strap on a chin mount chain gun.
@onlyonepinman Just noticed something. Some ‘scaling’ based on a known distance (who said my army photo interpreter course would never get me anywhere? 🙂 ) : the left thumb runs roughly perpendicular to the viewer, and we can estimate the length of the thumb from the tip to the fleshy part where the skin stretches to the knuckle of the forefinger at roughly 2″. Lengths may vary with individuals of course.
Stop looking at your thumb :-). At a guesstimate, that would make the cockpit roughly 1 1/2″ long, possibly longer, given that it’s shown at a bit of an angle. That’s plenty of room for a single-seat cockpit, and there’s enough room behind him to tuck in a RIO, who doesn’t need to look outside as much as he needs to monitor his screens. Note that the pilot’s cockpit on the Valkyrie measures 1 1/4″.
Now that I look at it, I think I would swap out the chin armament, and put in something more robust. Are you listening, Spartan Games? 🙂
I was only messing with you dude. I hadn’t really looked at the thumb, i just assumed it might look a bit out of scale because it’s scaled for a 15mm rather than 28mm
Cool soundtrack on the trailer.
That’s a very cool model!
Are the dropships actually going take part in battles in the game, or are they just for show?
That is a lovely model, and would fit in nicely with any number of sci fi game universe, like Warpath, Infinity, or even some of the less technologically sophisticated factions in Beyond the Gates of Antares, like some of the Freeborn or Determinate cultures.
looks good.
Not being a computer gamer I know next to nothing about Halo, but that trailer was so good! Wow.
The Pelican dropship has a crew of 3, pilot and co-pilot seated in an tandem cockpit pilot in front with Co-pilot seated behind and off set to the left. Crew chief in the rear cargo area which can seat up to 10 passengers in crash seating or 15 passengers with some standing. It is armed with a 40mm rotary chin turret and has mounting for up to 12 ANVIL-II ASM missiles in 2 pods of 6. Length of 30.5 meters and a wingspan of 23.4 meters, troop bay is 6.19×4.64 meters. It has a cargo capacity of 70 tons on an external hoist located behind the passenger compartment or the option for a troop deployment pod which can double passenger carrying capacity.
@lcpl210 You just brought a tear to my eye. Forgive me if I collapse and hug your knees. Believable sci-fi! After sifting through countless articles hyping idiotic chainswords and bellbottoms, I’ve find the true path 🙂
Could I please have rounded leading edges on the wings? I know it’s asking a lot. Love the model 🙂