Get ready Spartan, combat just evolved. We recently covered the 2 starter sets for Halo Flashpoint, the Recon Edition and the larger Spartan Edition. Both of these sets included a variety of Spartans with which to battle it out with your opponent using a drafting mechanic for force construction, but now, with the release of Halo Flashpoint War Games, points lists are unlocked for full list-building flexibility. In this article, we’ll take a look at how the points list building works and what else you get in the box.
Halo Flashpoint is a brand new miniatures game from Mantic Games, of which we’ve covered several of their products over the years, from the sci-fi skirmish game Deadzone, the sports battler OverDrive, and their awesome fantasy mass battle game, Kings of War. In this article, we won’t be going over how to play Halo Flashpoint, you’ll have to check out our Recon Edition Review for that.
Combat Evolved
For those new to wargames, or have only experience with the drafting system out of the Halo Flashpoint boxes, points-based systems give you full flexibility for your force list building. To do this, each unit has a points value, and currently there are 2 starting weapons for each of the 8 Spartan types (plus Master Chief, who has a set weapon). These point values range from 35 points up to 50 points per Spartan. You can only select each weapon option twice, but as each Spartan type has 2 options, you can have 4 of each Spartan type in each team. The Banished work the same, but there is currently only 1 unit type with 4 weapon options until they receive further releases later this year.
After picking your Spartans, you can add additional upgrades in the form of extra weapons, grenades, items, Fireteam command upgrades, and special orders to flesh out your force and adapt to your own playstyle. Even with the small amount of units currently available, these list-building options open up an extra dimension for lists with a lot of flexibility, and this will only grow as the releases increase.
Even when using the list-building rules, you will still get weapon drops in the game, and if you’ve given extra weapons to some of your Spartans, you will need to choose which to pick up or drop as you play. The weapons you load your Spartans out with don’t drop onto the battlefield, and respawn with your unit, so you don’t have to worry about missing out on your weapon selections if your unit is taken out.
Upgraded Loadouts
The Halo Flashpoint War Games expansion doesn’t just include the rules for using points for list building, it also includes 4 new Spartan miniatures with new loadouts and updated stat cards. The 4 new Spartans are:
- Spartan CQB with Energy Sword — Previously, the only Spartan who started with the powerful energy sword was Master Chief; now your CQB can start with one as standard in draft games, or list building (or you can purchase it separately for any Spartan in list-building games).
- Spartan Gungnir with Plasma Launcher — The Gungnir, along with carrying the lethal sticky grenade launcher, also comes with 2 new key words, Guarded, which means your opponent doesn’t get bonuses for headshots on them, due to the extra head armor they wear, and Stable, which lets them ignore the long keyword if they advance and fire.
- Spartan HAZOP with M45 Shotgun — The lethal 2 shotgun with knockback is pretty decent, but the HAZOP also comes with flight for getting to enemies in those hard-to-reach places.
- Spartan JFO with Concussion Rifle — The JFO has scout, but you don’t need it with the range 5, blast, frag 4 energy depleting concussion rifle. Launch it at range and watch your opponent’s units scatter, ready to be mopped up by the rest of your team.
War Games comes with a stat card for each of the above Spartans in the new format, and also updates those found in the Halo Flashpoint Spartan Edition (2 of each of the Spartans and 1 of each of the Sangheili Mercenaries). There’s also an updated card for Master Chief for those who pick him up in the Paint Set and Special Order reference cards for the UNSC Return to Sender and Banished Alliance (which you can buy when using the list-building rules).
The expansion also includes item and grenade tokens to reflect those you can purchase when list-building, 38 weapons cards (same as those from the starter sets, but to allow weapon purchases when list-buidling) and 10 new weapon cards (and randomisation tokens) for 5 new weapons, the M6 Spartan Laser, Heatwave, Needle Rifle, Plasma Repeater and M6G Magnum. The rulebook closes out with 2 new scenarios, Total Control, with extra tokens to show the controlled areas, and Attrition, which caps the number of respawns you can have.
Halo Flashpoint War Games Expansion Pack Final Thoughts?
Halo Flashpoint War Games is a great, but odd expansion pack. Most players will want it for the list-building rules, for which the updated stat cards, tokens, and weapon cards are very useful, and most will be picking up the new miniatures as well, but not everyone will want both. The new Spartans (who you can also pick up in Fireteam Cerberus with different loadouts) are very decent, the updated stat cards look great, the new scenarios are fun and the addition of new weapons is a nice touch, so the pack as a whole, if you want it all, is great value.
If you only want the miniatures, then it’s not a huge stretch to pick up the lot, but if you only want the rules expansions, they feel locked behind the miniatures in this set. It feels like a weird complaint, because the miniatures are fantastic (especially the ‘Come at me bro’ Energy Sword-wielding Spartan CQB), but I feel that this set would have benefitted more including the Master Chief miniature, and the Spartan’s releasing in their own pack as the others have (especially if you want 2 sets of them, as you’ll have to get 2 War Games expansions).
The copy of Halo Flashpoint War Games Expansion Pack used to produce this review was provided by Mantic Games.
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