Adepticon saw a full court press of Halo: Flashpoint marketing, including boxed set reveals and demo games. Let’s take a look at what we know so far.
Halo: Flashpoint, the upcoming tactical miniatures game from Mantic, is set to release in fall of this year, but it is already up for pre-order on Mantic’s website. The game looks to be a new take on tactical skirmish games, focusing on fast, cinematic action and fun gameplay (as opposed to the “CAN I SEE THAT GUY?!” gameplay of other futuristic skirmish games). There are two core boxes that will drop at release.
The Recon box comes with two identical, 4 man Spartan teams, a game mat, pre-colored card terrain, and all the dice, cards and counters you need to play the game. The Spartan box contains all this plus more terrain, more dice, cards and counters, 4 more Spartans for each team with unique weapons, AND 4 Elite minis. The boxes seem pretty reasonably priced at $75 for the Recon box and $125 for the Spartan box.
So what is gameplay like? Fans of the video games should instantly recognize that this is not a narrative game. The setup and gameplay are meant to represent the frenetic pace of the video game’s multiplayer matches. That means small battlegrounds (2’x’2) and extra weapons and power ups spread all over them. To make the game move faster than your average skirmish game, Mantic has eschewed tape measures in favor of a “cube system” whereby the board is divided into cubes for the purposes of measurement and movement. Attacks against enemy minis are performed by rolling a number of 8 sided dice against your relevant characteristic and adding or subtracting dice for things like cover (or the lack thereof) and weapon modifiers, sort of like Star Wars: X-Wing.
The minis look great and Mantic has got some truly awesome paint jobs done on their publicity models. Are you excited for Halo: Flashpoint? Let us know in the comments!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
