COMMAND AND CONQUERING!

We’ve avoided our own Winter Contingency here in Redmond due to a lack of city-destroying snowfall, but the UNSC forces engaged with Covenant legions on Reach have only just started the fight for their world in Halo: Ground Command! Next week we’ll be previewing upcoming models that collectors and gamers alike will want to snag, but this week let’s take a look at what has been released since the holiday break!

COVENANT COMMAND PACK

This expansion adds two Elite command bases to your War Host, and is another step on making an all-Sangheili legion or augmenting a mass of lesser warriors on the march to glorious salvation. The Officer himself is a new sculpt, armed with a Plasma Repeater and a bad attitude towards humanity. And if you’re thinking ahead to Halo Wars 2 and preparing a mercenary troop loyal to Let ‘Volir, these can be an excellent investment. The storage crates are added freebies.

Sangheili who advance in rank among the ground troops are seasoned and battle-hardened soldiers first, officers (by human reckoning) second. They lead by personal example, exhorting their comrades to press the attack from the front lines while displaying the martial qualities that the Sangheili perceive as invaluable for their commanders. Combat losses among these veterans are high, but there is also much honor to be won for family and clan while carrying out the Prophets’ orders to exterminate humanity.

The promise of honor and glory ensures that there is no shortage of Sangheili looking to prove their worth on the Great Journey’s path. Sangheili that survive and temper their enthusiasm for violence are promoted to the host of Obedientaries, taking on missions that require both cunning and courage in equal measure. The Sangheili term for these acolytes roughly translates as “lesser chosen” or “charged with glory,” but among humans they are known as simply “Officers” or “Majors.”

Spartan Games put in a lot of work to match the distinctive combat harness of the Elite Officer from Halo: Reach. The amount of detail captured in the final model, despite its comparatively diminutive size, is very impressive!

COVENANT GRUNT LEVIES

Grunts are the backbone of any Covenant assault, providing seemingly innumerable bodies to crash against the failing walls of humanity’s final fortress word, Reach. It’s hard to pick out, but in this unit shot you can see Yam-Blim’s nephew and fifth cousin. Yes. THE Yam-Blim, who later went on to be a thrall-taskmaster under the command of Decimus, shortly before his fateful encounter with Alice-130 on the Ark. This particular release was created as a booster pack for existing legions, and as a way for new players to get basic troops without requiring purchase of the entire starter box.

COVENANT ASSAULT JACKALS

Equipped with an energy pavise that protects them from incoming projectiles, these Kig-Yar can methodically advance on fortified UNSC positions. Though we did try and get Spartan Games to make the energy shields cast in clear resin, it turns out that they were a bit too small to get high-quality results in the volume needed. We specifically wanted Kig-Yar to be added ASAP both because they iconic, and we want to give Covenant commanders the option of building highly specialized mono-species War Hosts (or Raiding Parties, in the case of Kig-Yar), if they so desire. The Banished do not employ Kig-Yar mercenaries on the Ark, but wherever there is plunder to be had the Kig-Yar will find a way to get a piece of the action.

The Jackals are a fractious species who serve the Covenant out of a well-developed sense of self preservation and opportunism rather than any particular religious fervor. Were they to cooperate, the Kig-Yar could be a deadly threat to the Prophets, but blood feuds and other internal rivalries continue to undermine long-term gains. Nevertheless, while their matriarchs plot and scheme, Jackals selected to fill the Prophets’ endless tithes as foot soldiers are always on the lookout for information and resources that could be of benefit to kith and kin once the Covenant’s attention turns elsewhere.

COVENANT MARKSMEN JACKALS

Many Kig-Yar scout-executors who honed their craft on Reach would later be deployed to Earth, perching in buildings to pick off unsuspecting humans that dared to impede the Covenant’s holy tasks. These guys are new to Halo: Ground Command, and we absolutely love them. You’ll note that these are armed with Needle Rifles rather than Focus Rifles or Beam Rifles. That’s intentional, but as is tradition you can expect the terrors of New Mombasa to appear when you least expect them.

“Jackal” is the human nickname for the diverse Kig-Yar species, who are often encountered in scouting and sniper roles among the Covenant ground forces. Loyal only to their families and matriarchs, the Kig-Yar serve the Covenant for their own ends, with service to the Great Journey a distant consideration. Those with demonstrably superior dexterity and a controlled bloodlust are elevated from the ranks of shock infantry to serve as scout-executors, ranging throughout the war zone to eliminate impediments to the War Host’s advance. These ruthless assassins have no rules of engagement, no laws of war they must adhere to, only targets of opportunity.

UNSC ARMY COMMAND TEAM

The Army has been running planetary combat operations since the UNSC Marine Corps was fumbling for the door hatch of their first drop pods, and they’re not going to let Reach fall without one hell of a fight. This pack includes a UNSC Army officer (wearing a soft cap for ease of identification) who has the clearance to call upon a team of Spartan-III super-soldiers if the situation warrants deployment of WMDs. This can augment the command team and Spartans included in the starter box, or be the start of a new army! Two weapon storage crates are also included to use as objectives and diorama building.

UNSC ARMY INFANTRY

Take and hold! The Army may not be the prestigious UNSC branch of service, but none can deny that their valor and resolve brings great credit to Reach and the Unified Earth Government. This expansion augments the troopers provided in the starter box, or can be used as the starting point of a UNSC task force that is starting from scratch!

UNSC ARMY WEAPONS TEAM

Grade-A bang-bang, delivered fresh to the Covenant, no questions asked. We couldn’t resist approving an expansion pack that gives the UNSC player even more heavy firepower to bring to the table.

UNSC ARMY RECON TEAM

Even if the Covenant smashes the UNSC’s main field forces on Reach, they will have to spend valuable time, resources, and troops rooting out the Army snipers and marksmen who can live off the land indefinitely and have planned for this terrible contingency for years. This is a new unit for the UNSC commander in Halo: Ground Command, and we think you’ll agree they are very cool looking!

All UNSC snipers receive similar training and equipment, but their method of employment varies by service and unit. Army snipers are arranged into specialized reconnaissance units at the battalion level, and are scouts and forward observers first, snipers second. Though they provide valuable anti-infantry and anti-vehicle capabilities to the teams they work with, the recon unit’s primary job is defined as augmenting the main strategic effort of their task force by placing sensors and extending the UNSC battlenet into enemy territory.

If your interested in starting – or adding to – an army of your very own, remember that all of the amazing miniatures from Halo: Ground Command (and Halo: Fleet Battles) are available at https://shop.spartangames.co.uk/ or can be ordered at most local gaming shops. These are highly detailed resin and pewter 1:100 scale models and do require some assembly before you paint them in your army's color scheme.