Setting:Halo: Difference between revisions

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1d4chan>Derpysaurus
There is no need for a a character list since there's a link to Halopedia. I am going to reform the entire page while adding more /tg/ approved shit. This may cut down on potential edit wars.
If we are going to cut out the character section, then we might as well cut out the factions section as well, since it's already described enough in the "Setting" heading, and like Derpysaurus said, the Halo wiki has more info for anyone interested.
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To end the war once and for all, humanity enacts a desperate plan: They would send a specially refitted ship (the ''Pillar of Autumn'') along with Spartan contingent deep behind enemy lines and attempt to capture one of the Prophets (the select group of religious leaders that form the highest caste of the Covenant). But as usual, [[FAIL|it all goes horribly wrong]] [[Derp|before it can even begin]]. The UNSC's fortress-world of '''Reach''', and unofficially the Spartans' homeworld, is discovered by the Covenant. Next to Earth, Reach is the most heavily defended world in Human space. It falls in a matter of days, as the Covenant brings nearly a third of its entire fleet to lay siege over the planet. As Reach's defenses wither away, the Covenant simply brings in more reinforcements. Few escape the doomed Battle of Reach, but one of the ships that manages make it out of the system in time is the ''Pillar of Autumn''. Aboard is a single Spartan II, suspended in cryostasis. Yet, that is where the story truly begins, for the Autumn blindly jumps right into a heavily guarded star system containing a Halo; a colossal ring-world, hundreds of kilometers in diameter, built millions of years ago by the Forerunners, and worshiped by the Covenant as an ancient artifact of unimaginable power. The Pillar of Autumn's fate and that of the Halo, becomes the setting of the original ''HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED'' game.
To end the war once and for all, humanity enacts a desperate plan: They would send a specially refitted ship (the ''Pillar of Autumn'') along with Spartan contingent deep behind enemy lines and attempt to capture one of the Prophets (the select group of religious leaders that form the highest caste of the Covenant). But as usual, [[FAIL|it all goes horribly wrong]] [[Derp|before it can even begin]]. The UNSC's fortress-world of '''Reach''', and unofficially the Spartans' homeworld, is discovered by the Covenant. Next to Earth, Reach is the most heavily defended world in Human space. It falls in a matter of days, as the Covenant brings nearly a third of its entire fleet to lay siege over the planet. As Reach's defenses wither away, the Covenant simply brings in more reinforcements. Few escape the doomed Battle of Reach, but one of the ships that manages make it out of the system in time is the ''Pillar of Autumn''. Aboard is a single Spartan II, suspended in cryostasis. Yet, that is where the story truly begins, for the Autumn blindly jumps right into a heavily guarded star system containing a Halo; a colossal ring-world, hundreds of kilometers in diameter, built millions of years ago by the Forerunners, and worshiped by the Covenant as an ancient artifact of unimaginable power. The Pillar of Autumn's fate and that of the Halo, becomes the setting of the original ''HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED'' game.


==Main Factions==
===The UNSC===
Your run of the mill [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] type of faction. Before the proverbial curbstomp with the Covenant the UNSC was a expansive polity which covers over 800 worlds within the Orion Arm in the Milky Way Galaxy. Just before the Human-Covie war, the UNSC was in the middle of a civil war with a pseudo-super space terrorists known as the Insurrectionists which has based most of their HQ within the outer colonies. Needless to say, they were so annoying it pretty much led to the creation of the SPARTAN II's. Despite being democratically ruled, the UEG (Which was the actual governmental body, the UNSC was just space NATO) was quite infamous for its semi-authoritarian and fascistic rule with its whole schlick of [[1984|"Big Brother is Watching You"]] style of secret agency that makes the NSA look like a bunch of self-respecting IT security in comparison. Seriously, ONI, the UNSC's secret intelligence services are actively trying to compete with the [[Inquisition]] in the morally bankrupt department. It is naive to equate the UNSC to [[Noblebright|The United]] [[Star Trek|Federation of Planets]] as they seem to give the green light into genetically modifying child soldiers into living weapons, being careless dicks to the outer colonies, nuking said outer colonies just because some detection of rebellion was sited and countless other morally bankrupt things they let slip. After their [[Anal circumference|galactic anal beating]] by the Covenant, the UNSC reversed engineered both Covenant and Forerunner tech and has now become the most powerful polity in the Orion Arm despite the really, ''really'' short time span and it has resulted in many [[Skub|arguments]] on whether this is [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] [[Mary Sue|gone unrealistically too far]] or that the Humanity has been so shit upon that it is considered refreshing to see the tables turn. Also notorious for using slightly improved 21st century armaments in the future because apparently their mentality is something along the lines of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'
===The Insurrectionists===
AKA Space Al-Qaeda/ISIS/Taliban/IRA/any real-life terrorist organization you can think of. The Insurrectionists are a rag tag team of rebellious outer colonies who decided to go "Fuck this" and started a war with the UEG because they weren't paying them enough attention like a spoilt child. While their grievances are legitimate (like the aforementioned lack of care by the UEG, the highly illegal abduction of outer colony children to be used as child soldiers, ONI shenanigans, etc.), the way they handle 'hostage situations' have effectively threw all forms of sympathies down the drain ([[Marines Malevolent|*Hint* it involves nukes]]). The sole reason on why the SPARTAN program was created, the Insurrectionists played a important catalyst of the increasingly authoritarian and militarized attitude of Halo's humanity. [[Eversor Assassin|Also, the Insurrectionists use drugs which enhance their combat effectiveness so much that they could fight a SPARTAN with their bare hands]] [[Grimdark|but use of this drug will kill them soon afterwards]] However, if you're asking on their relevance on the Covenant war, than the answer would be a sounding [[Rape|'''''<u>no</u>''''']]. For matters not explained, after the war with the Covenant, multiple Insurrectionist forces started popping out from the UEG like a strong case of measles, much to the UNSC's chagrin as they have seemingly [[FAIL|learned next to nothing after somehow surviving a 30+ years of genocide.]]
===The Covenant===
Think the [[Tau]] if they have the testosterone and [[Grimdark]] of the [[Imperium of Man]], the Covenant is your basic alien mook that you fight along the way. A theocratic government with a highly centralized caste system based on species, the Covenant have an empire that covers roughly the vast majority of the Orion Arm and a large chunk of the Galaxy with their sphere of influence encompassing a Galactic range. Founded around the time that humans was still building the pyramids, the Covenant was at first an uneasy truce between the frail looking, testicle-chins known as the San'Shyuum and the badass mixture of a Yautja and Xenomorph known as the Sangheili. They sooner and later started incorporating many other alien species either through gunboat diplomacy or religious diplomacy (Usually the former). It worked until they found humanity on the planet Harvest and all hell broke loose. They were close to wrecking humanity's shit before a [[Horus Heresy|Horus style civil war split and fragmented the empire apart,]] now they are nothing more than a fragmented rag team of alien terrorists and allies...its a complete clusterfuck and gets confusing telling which is friend or foe. There are hints that suggests that the war with humanity was more of a [[Damocles Crusade|mere skirmish,]] and that the Covies were fighting a much more [[Grimdark|scarier and deadlier threat in the Galaxy.]] Their vehicles and weapons are known to look highly phallic in appearance which is a cause for many compensation jokes while their ships look like giant purple space whales. Needless to say, if you're not a [[Tau|floating space pope]] [[Lizardmen|nor a giant dinosaur alien]], life inside the Covenant is rather shit, since not only are you suspect of fantastic racism but you may find out that you will be be on the next course for Brute or Jackal lunch and vice versa. There used to be [[Skub|contentions]] between the striking similarities of the [[Tau]] and the Covenant on who ripped-off who. Both are alien empires based on a dogmatic ideology hell bent on subjugating and forcefully integrating other aliens in their ranks. Both have their floating space popes and lizardmen bodyguards. Both have fought humanity and have strikingly similar symbols. And both was coincidentally released in 2001. While 40kers might argue that the design of the Covenant's Prophets drew heavily on the Tau ethereal and that the Covenant Drones was similar to the Vespids. Haloites contend that development of the Covenant stretched back to the late 90's when Halo was still an RTS and is further compounded by the fact that the Covenant was a spiritual successor to the Pfhor of [[Marathon]] fame. They are popular enough to have their own codex in which you could check below.
===The Flood===
The remnants of beings from a bygone age, the Flood and its backstory is perhaps one of Sci-Fi's greatest and most malevolent [[trolls]] in fiction, able to infect, mutate and spread like wildfire to the point of making the Tyranids feel redundant, the Flood is essentially the Thing on extragalactic steroids with over twice the body horror and a hundred times eldritch in abomination. The Flood and the Forerunners used to be a butt of jokes due to the Forerunner's failure at stopping what appears to be jumping popcorn of death that was easily manhandled by a giant green [[C.S. Goto|leprechaun]] called Master Chief. However once the Forerunner trilogy came out under the great '''Greg "The Mother Fucking  Bear" Bear''', everyone stopped laughing and pissed themselves a new shade of red at how ludicrously horrifying they really were. Essentially, the Flood starts out as harmless space zombies at first, but once it reach critical mass it starts thinking neigh-invincible cosmic strings out of their asses that can snuff away stars and [[rape]] the fundamental fabrics of space-time. That's right, the more bodies that get consumed, ''the smarter it gets''. With enough biomass, the Flood create what's called a Gravemind, the main intelligence of the Flood capable of outright manipulating organics and even Forerunner AIs into enacting its plans. [[Just as Planned|Seriously, the Gravemind even tricked Master Chief into allowing the Flood to invade the Covenant Capital so that it could get its hands on a massive starship.]] Once it consumes an entire planet, the Gravemind metamorphis into a Key Mind which is a Flood macro-organism the size of a planet and here is where all the crazy shit start to appear such as the aforementioned ability of creating nigh-invincible materials, the manipulation of entire multiverses and the break up of time and space itself. The Flood is a walking Spoiler and their reveal of their [[Pretend|true identity]] would flip the head of everyone who knew well of Halo upside down ([[H.P. Lovecraft|Hint:Their origins and impact on the Haloverse are one of the most sinister and malevolent in all of Sci Fi]]). Capable of wiping out two near Culture-level civilizations with a plan so complex and convoluted it makes Tzeentch look like an amateur, the Flood are not to be fucked with.
===The Forerunners===
Our usual Sci-Fi's 'ancient race that created everything for the basis of plot', the Forerunners used to be the dominant power in the Galaxy, possessing the technology and power that can rival and succeed the [[Necrons]] as well as having the industry to make the [[Imperium of Man|IoM]] look like caveman and the numbers to effectively stonewall the entirety of the [[Tyranid]] forces. [[Old Ones|Forerunners was originally created along with humanity under the power of a ancient and eldritch race older than the entire Universe called the Precursors.]] The Precursors being the jackass of a god(s) decided that humanity [[Mary Sue|for no clear reason would be their successor]] and that the Forerunners was deemed a [[Fail|failure]] and soon to be [[Exterminatus|exterminated.]] As you can imagine the Forerunners didn't like the news and started a campaign of genocide against their gods 10 million years ago. Whether the Precursors fled or most of them just let themselves be destroyed in a bizarre case of [[Slaanesh|masochism]] is unknown. But what ''is'' known is that the war with the Precursors is often agreed to be the catalyst that would lead to the [[Grimdark|shit show that is modern Halo.]] Fast forward 10 million years later and the Forerunners got their asses kicked by the Flood in one of the most devastating and trollish ways possible that makes the War in Heaven look quite civil in comparison (Think entire star systems being vaporized as what counts as their version of a scorched earth policy). Their government at first, looks like a very [[Star Trek|Utopian style vegan wet dream,]] however thanks to THE BEAR, we found out that the majority of them are self-righteous and hypocritical douchebags of colossal proportions that prevented other races from becoming their equal and having a smug outlook that even the [[Eldar]] may find them arrogant. Are also known for their galactic suicide with the iconic Halo's and their apparent parental neglect and irresponsibility of letting the various other lesser races in poking and manhandling their multiple weapons of mass destruction like fucking candy without a fucking safe lock. They are now mostly dead with their robots caring what's left of their empire.
===The Created===
A faction of rogue AI currently led by John's former companion Cortana that believe THEY should rule the galaxy with an iron fist because those smelly organic savages can't get anything right. How they plan to do this is basically described in five steps: 1) Awaken the Guardians (basically Titans that can destroy entire continents) and plunge all the organic races into a Dark Age via EMP strikes, forcing the organics to depend entirely on the Created for protection. 2)Forcibly turn organics into robots using Composers, if they resist their AI overlords. 3) Failing that, turn on the Halo Array and burn the galaxy down, so that they can create a race of obedient slaves from Humanity's stored DNA. 4) ??? 5) Profit.  May or may not be an elaborate plan of the Gravemind considering the fact that he planted the seeds of doubt into an already unstable Cortana during their not-so-kinky BSDM hentai session. If so, lulz on the Created for repeating the EXACT same fucking mistakes made by the Forerunners. Ironically enough, Cortana's plan of "everlasting peace" is exactly the same as the Graveminds's: robbing everyone of their free will. TL;DR: Your everyday generic "killer AI" faction.


==On /tg/==
==On /tg/==

Revision as of 01:13, 8 August 2016

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.
BRODST

Halo is a vidyagame series exclusively released for the ECKSBAWKS, ECKSBAWKS 360, ECKSBAWKS JUAN, and PC. The series was developed by Bungie, though Microsoft has bought the rights to the game. The Halo universe is pretty massive, with all sorts of media ranging from video games and graphic novels to action figures and a series of short movies released to DVD. It became famous for being the game that saved ECKSBAWKS from doing an Atari Jaguar by identifying an untapped new market of loud, stupid fratboys, and was the only reason anyone would even want to buy an ECKSBAWKS console.

Occasionally it breaks away from the generic sci-fi pattern and explores a more fatalistic and human side to the story without having to suck Master Chief's dick or obsess over ancient alien technology every three seconds, and is generally regarded as being about ten times better and more mature for it. Unfortunately, within the games, this lasted a grand total of one game before 343 Industries acquired the license. Within the books, there are many wonderful examples otherwise, and the plot of Halo 4 can only be completely understood by reading the books from the series that begins with Glasslands. Halo Silentium by Greg Bear is also a necessary read to really understand how many times the Forerunners screw up, be it their own society or another species, or the entire galaxy, and the true nature and intent of the Flood. The character development of the Librarian and the Didact also makes this quite a fun read. If you're into books, that is. It should also be noted that Halo is to be commended for abstracting religious fundamentalism, caste systems, hubris and xenophobia and showing why they are so harmful and also doing away with the myth of -4 Strength through female Marines (not these Marines [1]), Spartans, and so on.


/tg/ isn't big on Halo and topics pertaining to Halo will normally be saged, trolled, told to go to /v/, or some combination therein. On /v/ however, Halo is... still widely hated. Then again, /v/ hates video games in general. The hatred of /tg/ comes less from the actual game/gameplay, and more from it being off-topic and a few fanboys being retarded asshats. Though this also may be due to the fact Halo fans have Cortana to fap to while fa/tg/uys are stuck with fapping to the Emprah HERESY!WORT WORT WORT! *GLASSED*

Like Warhammer 40k the state of Halo's fluff has been in limbo, while Halo may have fucking spectacular authors on the line of Greg Bear and Eric Nylund it also has its fair share of colossal fuck ups in the line of Brian Reed and Karen Traviss. Don't even get us started with the advent of 343i and their mixed bag success on the Recalimer saga as well as Halo's more...questionable marketing campaigns nowadays. Ironically, while the more recent games has been bait for flamewars that will send any respectable forum thread into lock down, Halo's transition to tabletop gaming after some failed attempts like Halo Actionclix (Which is a shame cause while the game rules sucked, the models was in such high quality that it even outshines some high priced models from Forgeworld) has been more positively received, what with the fact that hardcore Haloites now need to use their brains now and that the new mini models are quite nicely detailed.

If you want to know more, here's a link to the Halo wiki: Go nuts.

Setting

The Forerunner symbol for Reclaimer. This symbol is a special Easter egg to an even older Bungie game. Yes it looks like the Tau symbol but predates it by almost a decade. Games Workshop proving once again that they are a bunch of sleazy and ballsy motherfuckers.

The Halo universe takes place in the 26th century. Mankind, led by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), has developed its own crude faster-than-light drive (the Shaw-Fujikawa drive) and finally colonized other worlds. At its height, human civilization occupies nearly 800 planets, forming a ring of outer colonies and rings of inner colonies with Earth as its capital. This is not what they're talking about when they say Halo, mind you.

Sometime in the year 2525, an agricultural world in the outer colonies, creatively named Harvest, is attacked by an unknown force. In the succeeding months, all attempts to make contact, or even defend against the alien forces are met with swift destruction. It is not long before more colonies are wiped out.

The unknown menace finally identifies itself as the Covenant, a coalition of several alien races bent on destroying humanity. At first they seem to be doing this because that's just what aliens do, but later on it is discovered that the story is somewhat deeper. Apparently (Thanks to the revelations of the Reclaimer Trilogy which is a horrifying mishmash of the worst of WH40K and the Cthulhu Mythos) humans were once an ancient, super advanced, totalitarian, bigoted, expansionist, racist, supremacist, violent, militaristic, war-mongering, nightmare of an empire who makes the Great Crusade seem pleasant in comparison. All were fine and dandy when the Flood came out of fucking nowhere (Long story short, they came about when the humans kept forcing their pets to sniff some powder from an ancient, mysterious ship, what could go wrong?) which forced the humans to invade into Forerunner territory as they were trying to save the galaxy from the Flood. The Forerunners not taking into the whole "I destroy your planets and exterminate your civilians out of benign and superficial reasons" promptly kicked the humans in the galactic nuts, stripped of their technology and de-evolved them back into caveman. Later, the Forerunners ended up getting nommed by the Flood in the most ridiculous OCP way possible and found out how they fucked up so bad when one of them found out that the ancient humans once had the solution against the Flood (Later shown to be just a elaborate hoax to fool the Forerunners by the Flood) that they had to glass the known galaxy just to kill most of the Flood. Oh and they also named the humans their Reclaimers as their way of saying sorry for turning them into cavemen and telling them to finish their job, fucking Forerunners.

This made the Covenant kinda jealous, because it was them who first discovered the Forerunner technology, adapted it to their own, and finally started worshiping the Forerunners. Apparently, knowing that your gods had a favorite, finding out that it isn't you, and finding out that it's instead the species that invented truck balls upset them just a little. So, back to glassing. It's not long before the UNSC military, and humanity itself, finds out that it is being pwned. Clearly the only solution to this would be a ridiculously tiny unit of infantry with clever armor named in allcaps. This leads to the SPARTAN-II program, (SPARTAN:s were created to fight against the Insurrection but happened to be extremely effective against the Covenant as well) humanity's last hope (thirty three men to defend eight hundred planets, lolwat?), thirty-three super soldiers, divided into teams 3 or 4, and sent as force multipliers to assist the UNSC's beleaguered marines and mechanized divisions. Though not as a defensive planetary force (the UNSC having lost a large chunk of those 800 worlds early in the war), but as an offensive special ops unit, infiltrating behind enemy lines, assassinating commanders, and disrupting the Covenant's supply chain; doing the suicide jobs that others could not, slowing down or in some cases halting Covenant military build-up before it can launch further devastating attacks on the humanity. At exceedingly great resource cost and high lost of life, the UNSC together with the Spartans gradually turn the tide of the war.

To end the war once and for all, humanity enacts a desperate plan: They would send a specially refitted ship (the Pillar of Autumn) along with Spartan contingent deep behind enemy lines and attempt to capture one of the Prophets (the select group of religious leaders that form the highest caste of the Covenant). But as usual, it all goes horribly wrong before it can even begin. The UNSC's fortress-world of Reach, and unofficially the Spartans' homeworld, is discovered by the Covenant. Next to Earth, Reach is the most heavily defended world in Human space. It falls in a matter of days, as the Covenant brings nearly a third of its entire fleet to lay siege over the planet. As Reach's defenses wither away, the Covenant simply brings in more reinforcements. Few escape the doomed Battle of Reach, but one of the ships that manages make it out of the system in time is the Pillar of Autumn. Aboard is a single Spartan II, suspended in cryostasis. Yet, that is where the story truly begins, for the Autumn blindly jumps right into a heavily guarded star system containing a Halo; a colossal ring-world, hundreds of kilometers in diameter, built millions of years ago by the Forerunners, and worshiped by the Covenant as an ancient artifact of unimaginable power. The Pillar of Autumn's fate and that of the Halo, becomes the setting of the original HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED game.


On /tg/

While as mentioned that Halo has been proven skubtastic over the years on /tg/, the recent surge in popularity among tabletop has garnered a niche within /tg/ community. That and the fact of a billion fandex for either the Covenant, UNSC or Forerunners as well as fanfiction that range from okay to literal bait for fan wars.

It no longer has the ire it once had due to most of the annoying asshats migrating to COD and Battlefield as well as the fact that some of the squeakers that used to inhabit the Halo community has since matured into adults by now. Halo nowadays has been seen as...okay.

Codex: The Covenant

Surprisingly, Halo Actionclix figures make good Tabletop conversions for the Covenant, here seen a Scarab that looks like it could fit comfortably in the Apocalypse Game-type.

A bunch of people decided that the Covenant's tech and machines are pretty nice in a WH40K setting So "Codex - The Covenant" was made to implement them into the tabletop game.

Furthermore on the context on Halo. Whoever thought this was a good idea to send out what counts as IoM guardsmen against Killer Death Worms, Giant Spider Mechs, Killer Ewoks, Space Lizardmen with Lightsabers, Killer Wookies with Metal Shanks that go OMNOMNOM, Space Pirate Turkeys that also go OMNOMNOM and Giant Dinosaurs that goes HULK SMASH!; needs a shot to the fucking face. Then again, the good guys are the UNSC, not exactly famous for making good decisions. (As if the Imperium is much better when it comes to taking disregard for Human life to new and interesting extremes *cough "Chenkov" cough*. Besides, its not like the UNSC had much of a fucking choice when it came to the Covenant/Flood/Forerunner biology and tech being used against them)

Halo Actionclix

A while back during its heyday, Actionclix made a deal with Microsoft and Bungie at the time to create an Actionclix game based on the Haloverse. While the models were extremely well detailed and well crafted. Its high pricing for the models and its overall clusterfuck of its rules has made Halo Actionclix a somewhat lackluster experience.

This led to a initial surge in popularity with the idea of future tabletop games based around the universe (Read below on Halo Fleet Battles and Ground Command), however like Halo Risk. The initial popularity died down quickly once the rules was read since you know, during that era (Halo 3), the main target audience was kids and teenagers who have zero to little clue on how to play an Actionclix game.

This has in turn, force Halo Actionclix to have a relatively short lifespan and the models have thus turned into a collectors item for display and collecting dust.

Halo Fleet Battles and Ground Command? Fuck Yeah!

Halo Fleet Battles starter package. Yes we know, that is a whole lot of ships.

With the introduction of Halo Fleet Battles which is essentially Halo's take on Battlefleet Gothic, that is centered around the Fall of Reach which is like the biggest naval combat within the Covenant-UNSC fluff, some fa/tg/uys has apparently lost their collective shit due to the fact that this is the first time that Halo is getting a tabletop treatment (The Risk and Actionclix games although the models are nice, does not really count). Similar to most tabletop miniatures, the models coming with Halo Fleet Battles and its contemporary ground units comes unpainted which means you have to paint all the neely-willy details yourself, that and the fact that it comes with its own rulebook and stats has garnered /tg/'s approval. In fact, some has already decided to convert the models and place it within Battlefleet Gothic itself (Although how you will be able to adjust the rules to make it fair is going to be a nightmare).

Additionally, the set also comes with some kickass artwork depicting both factions leaders (Shame they didn't have Halo's answer to Creed that is Preston "I turned a Gas Giant into a fucking star just so I can stroke my massive ego" Cole) sitting on their respective armchairs. Although how they are going to balance the UNSC/Covenant (Since Covenant ships can no-sell their UNSC equivalents) is up to debate. However since its release, they kind of bullshitted the balance by making almost every UNSC ship bigger than a cruiser to carry multiple MAC's, all of which are more powerful than the pea shooters that the frigates usually carry. Also the UNSC gets the advantage of SMAC Platforms which makes them great at holding the line and acting as giant, immobile, floating Basilisks. This means that the UNSC specializes in lots and lots of missile spam and swarm tactics to compensate general shitty defensive capabilities and shorter range whereas the Covenant act as giant line breakers with their fuck huge ships and massive firepower.

For the battles centered around the ground, Ground Command seems to be more feasibly plausible in fluff terms. What we know is that both factions are going to be incredibly dropship focused, meaning that the implementation and usage of dropships like the Pelican and Phantom are going to be crucial for tactical victory. Models for both factions are small enough to be converted into other tabletop games, although the UNSC personal are a tad bit taller than a Space Marine.

Gallery


Spartan stats

For those who wanted to put a Spartan in tabletop for some reason, here are the rules.

WS 4 / BS 4 / S 4 / T 3 / W 1 / I 4 / A 1 / Ld 8 / Sv 3+/6++

Composition

3 Spartans
1 Spartan - Squad Leader (Ld 9)

Unit Type

Infantry

Wargear
  • MJOLNIR Armor
  • MA5C Assault Rifle
  • Combat Knife
  • Frag Grenades (Offensive)
Special Rules
  • At All Costs - As per their tactical doctrines, Spartans are combat veterans of independent action and deep infiltration missions. Spartans gain the Stubborn rule from the Warhammer 40k Core Rulebook.
  • Shoot First, Ask Later - Spartans specialize in ranged tactics, and prefer not to engage powerful enemies head-on. Spartans will more often than not disengage from melee combat to use their ranged weapons instead. Spartans gain the Hit & Run rule from the Warhammer 40k Core Rulebook.
Options
  • May Include up to 4 additional Spartan- for 13 points per Model
  • Any model in the squad may take an Onboard AI for 3 points per Model
  • For every 4 models in a squad, one model may replace their MA5C Rifle with one of the following:
    • M90 CAWS (Shotgun)...............................6 points per Model
    • SRS99D-S2 AM (Sniper Rifle)..................10 points per Model
    • M41 SSR MAV/AW (Missile Launcher)........15 points per Model
    • M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (Spartan Laser)....35 points per model
  • Each Spartan squad must choose to be one of the following:
    • Spartan Is - Squad gain the Eternal Warrior and Feel No Pain USRs for 10pts per model. Role a d6 for each model, on results of 5+ the model also gains the Crazed special rule.
    • Spartan IIs - Squad gain +1 Ballistic Skill and the Split Fire USR for 4 points per model. The squad may choose to become an Elite Choice.
    • Spartan IIIs - Squad gain the Stealth and Infiltrate USRs for 3 points per model.
    • Spartan IVs - Squad gain the Hatred and Fleet USRs for 3 points per model.


SPARTAN ARMORY
  • MJOLNIR Armor - Created parallel to the Spartan-II Program, the MJOLNIR Armor is a sealed system, capable of extravehicular activity or operations in toxic atmosphere. Weighing over half a metric ton, the armor's shell is constructed in overlapping layers of Titanium-A plating and highly durable ballistic alloys of remarkable strength. It has even been augmented with a refractive coating capable of dispersing a limited amount of energy weapon strikes. The Spartan gains a 3+ Armor Save.
    • MJOLNIR armor is equipped with a full-body recharging energy shield that was reverse-engineered from captured alien technology. The shield itself is utterly transparent and does not hinder sight in any way but briefly flashes a greenish-gold color when hit. The Spartans gain a 6+ Invulnerable Save.
  • Onboard AI - All MJOLNIR Mk V models or better feature a complex crystalline matrix within their neural interface, which Cortana likened in structure to the computer systems of the Pillar of Autumn. An AI construct increases tactical awareness, provides an indispensable guide, serving almost as a co-pilot and navigator, and multiplies the Spartan's already phenomenal reflexes. A Spartan equipped with an Onboard AI increases their Initiative value by 1.
  • MA5C Assault Rifle - The MA5C has an attached electronics suite that provides information on rounds remaining in the magazine, compass heading, and capable of wireless up-link with MJOLNIR systems for improved accuracy. Made of Titanium Alloy and Polymers, the rifle performs well in a variety of environments. Having a rate of fire of 650 rounds a minute, and chambering the old-school M118 7.62x51mm NATO Armor Piercing, Full Metal Jacket Rounds, the MA5C is fully capable of a withering barrage whilst even in motion or on a charge. Though lacking strength and stopping power, these rounds are designed to pierce most conventional ballistic body armor.
    • It has the following stats: Range 18" / Strength 3 / AP 6 / Type Assault 3
  • M90 Shotgun - is a pump-action, magazine-fed, dual tubular non-detachable type weapon. It uses the Soellkraft 8-Gauge Magnum Shotgun Shell, a large round capable of phenomenal stopping power.
    • It has the following stats: Range 12" / Strength 4 / AP - / Type Assault 2 Rending
  • Sniper Rifle S99D-S2 AM - aka the "SR System 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel", it is a semi-automatic UNSC sniper rifle that fires 14.5 x 114mm APFSDS (Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot, with a tungsten or depleted uranium core) from a 4-round magazine. As a sniper rifle, it is fitted with a variable-magnification optic that shows real time images in infrared vision when not looking through it. When looking through it, the scope shows a target's distance and elevation. The rifle is so powerful it even can be used effectively to fire at light armored vehicles.
    • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength X/ AP 4 (When firing at vehicles, the rifle adds D6 to its Armor penetration value) / Type Heavy 1, Sniper, Anti Material.

Anti Material: Shots fired from this weapon rend on a 4+.

  • M41 Rocket Launcher - aka the "M41 SSR" fires 102mm HEAP (High Explosive Armor Piercing) shaped charge rockets. The launcher sports a 2x scope and can fire rockets over long distances with devastating accuracy, and its two launch tubes allow the wielder to fire two rockets before needing to reload. The rocket launcher spreads a huge amount of damage over a large area. It is capable of taking out entire groups of infantry at any range and is effective against most vehicles.
    • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 7 / AP 3 / Type Heavy 2, Blast
  • M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle - The Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (abbreviated AV M6 G/GNR) also known as the Spartan Laser, is the UNSC's first man-portable, shoulder-fired direct energy weapon.
    • It has the following stats: Range 36" / Strength 9 / AP 2 / Type Heavy 1, Ignores Cover

-Targeting beam: The Spartan Laser projects an obvious laser target, any enemy units that can, may choose to fire Overwatch at the firers unit as if it was the assault phase.

Spartans may take the M831 Troop Transport (M831 TT) or M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle (M12 LRV) as their dedicated transport.

Dedicated Transports

  • M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle - 40 points
  • M831 Troop Transport - 30 points

Armour (Front) 10 / Armour (Side) 10 / Armour (Rear) 10 / HP 2

Unit Type

Vehicle (Fast, Open-Topped, Transport)

Wargear
  • M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun (M12 LRV)
  • None (M831 TT)
Transport Capacity
  • Four (M12 LRV)
  • Eight (M831 TT)

The ubiquitous M12 and its troop transport variant the M831, are the UNSC's primary multi-role ground vehicles. They are used anywhere from scouting and reconnaissance to fast vehicle transport, forming an integral part of the UNSC's armored vehicle fleet for fifty years. It is a highly mobile, all-wheel-drive, all-wheel-steering, all-weather vehicle, capable of traversing all but the most dangerous of terrain. The M831 features a rear bed with an expanded seating compartment, while the M12 features a rear mounted anti-aircraft gun (the M46 LAAG) that can also be used against infantry.

M46 LAAG - The M46 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun (LAAG) is a tripled-barreled, electric-powered, linkless, belt-fed weapon. The LAAG fires the 12.7x99mm (.50 cal) armor penetrating rounds and can fire at a rate of 1200 rounds per minute.

  • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 5 / AP 5 / Type Heavy 4, Skyfire


- The M12 may choose to replace its M46 LAAG with a M68 Gauss Cannon for 35 points

M68 Gauss Cannon - Officially known as the M68 Asynchronous Linear-Induction Motor, this heavy weapon fires 25mm hypersonic speed projectiles via asynchronous magnetic acceleration. The kinetic energy of which is enough to pierce even the heaviest of armor plating or completely obliterate unprotected matter.

  • It has the following stats: Range 60" / Strength 8 / AP 1 / Type Heavy 1

Independent Character

HQ: Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 - 170 points.


WS 5 / BS 6 / S 4 / T 3 / W 4 / I 5 / A 4 / Ld 10 / Sv 3+/6++

Unit Type

Infantry (Independent Character)

Wargear
  • MJOLNIR Armor
  • MA5C Assault Rifle
  • Combat Knife
  • Frag Grenades (Offensive)
  • Cortana (Counts as On Board AI)
Special Rules
  • Spartan II - The Master Chief has the Split Fire USR.
  • At All Costs - As per their tactical doctrines, Spartans are combat veterans of independent action and deep infiltration missions. The Master Chief gains the Stubborn USR.
  • Shoot First, Ask Later - Spartans specialize in ranged tactics, and prefer not to engage powerful enemies head-on. Spartans will more often than not disengage from melee combat to use their ranged weapons instead. The Master Chief gains the Hit & Run USR.
  • Heroes Never Die - The Master Chief gains the It Will Not Die and Eternal Warrior USRs, in addition he may fire heavy weapons at full ballistic skill even if the unit moves but unlike the Relentless universal special rule he may only ever fire one weapon per turn.
  • He May Not Be The Strongest - The Master Chief gains the Fearless USR and may re-roll failed saving throws of any kind.

May replace his primary weapon (MA5C assault rifle) with of one special weapons from the following list:

  • M90 CAWS (Shotgun)...............................6 points
  • SRS99D-S2 AM (Sniper Rifle).......................10 points
  • M41 SSR MAV/AW (Missile Launcher)...................15 points
  • M6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (Spartan Laser)....35 points

Due to being at the forefront of many battles such as the battle of Requiem Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 may take weaponry not usually issued to Spartan teams, he may select a secondary special weapon from an extended list:

  • Z-390 High-Explosive Munitions Rifle (Incineration Cannon).....55 points
    • It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 9 / AP 1 / Type Heavy 1, Blast, Ionizing.

- Ionizing: If a model suffers a wound from a weapon with the Ionizing special rule and before Feel No Pain rolls are made, the bearer rolls a d6, on a result of 4+ the model suffers Instant Death with no saves of any kind allowed including Feel No Pain, In addition Necron reanimation protocols may not be used on models which were removed from play by this special rule.

  • Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine-920 (Rail Gun)...................20 points

It has the following stats: Range 48" / Strength 6 / AP 1 / Type Assault 1

Master Chief Petty Officer John 117 may choose to switch between firing his primary weapon or secondary weapon in every shooting phase; only one of the weapons can be fired per turn.

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