The Big Update - Episode 2: Halo Flashpoint

Hey folks. So Ronny and I are chatting Halo Flashoint. So Ronnie, when I was last around, Halo was in a fantastic place, but it was in a very different place. I think uh War Games had just released. Banished were about to release. I see there's been a lot of new stuff since I was last. Few things have changed. >> So bring me up to date, tell you where we are. >> So I think at its core, it's still what it was, which is a low model count sci-fi skirmish game. It's dead easy to get into and then it levels up as you level up, but it it's no le no more than half a dozen figures. Yeah. You know, it's not turned into a war game of the 3 hours, 200 tanks variety. It's fast, it's great fun, very intuitive, get higher, get your extra dice. The core mechanics are all still there. >> Yeah. >> We have however not only released the banished. Yeah. >> But ODST pointing at them. So, they've landed. We've done things like noble team where we've gone into like and they're in this um master crafted resin that we use which is a really premium for the painters. You know, we've we've been able to dabble into it without it yet becoming a kind of overwhelming over [snorts] >> organized plays going well every weekend. There's half a dozen events all around the world. I sort of been playing in Australia, it's been in America, it's UK, everywhere we're starting to get OP. There's in store packs. Um, we've got uh the app which is called the index for all it reasons. The Halo index has the rules on it so you can help spread the word. It's got all the up-to-date cards and information, everything else. And also when you're doing tournament, it runs it on there for you. So we have rankings. Someone's going to get their head sculpted on the Spartan statue. Um, so it's in a really really good fun growing place. >> Yeah. >> Excellent. I guess what I'm hearing there is it is the same fantastic game as it was when I was around but with a lot more options and a lot more choices. >> You start to get a bit of crunchiness. You can start adding this and adding that and tweaking. It's not it's not four Spartans versus four Spartans anymore brawer thing. You've got some army selection which comes in so we can take it to the next level. And when we did noble team there were so many points we had to do a 4x two mat and there's big battles. So brilliant, you know, it's got that, but it's still at its core a lovely as well as game. You're going to play two games in an evening. It's a lot of fun. >> Amazing. So that brings us up to right now then. So what's what's what are we expecting right now? What's what's imminent? >> So the big thing I think the first one is this the Spartan 1.5 and the rubber 1.5. >> Yes, >> we launched Spartan and then we put a War Games expansion out. Yes. And that just gave you points and it gave you some of those things, but it meant there was another hurdle to to to get into. So with 1.5, we've put all that content back into one book. >> Yeah. >> We've also because we've got now some more rights, we've resigned the license, we can actually look further down the road at some of the cool things we're going to do >> and we future proof the rule set. >> Brilliant. >> So we put everything together. There was a few artistas all went in there. So, if you've played and you're enjoying it, there's a rule book which you can get or you can just have a a subscription to the index and that'll be updated. >> And this card pack gives you all the cards you need >> updated to the 1.5. >> Correct. One pack all done. >> Yeah. >> And we're going to have that round. If you are new, then you start with the Spartan edition. >> Yeah. >> You'll see that it's got this little logo here. And that logo just means that is already 1.5. >> Okay. >> So that's a a 1.5 edition. And you can see on the grunts and jackal that are about to arrive, the reinforcements, they've already got that. So it's either compatible with 1.5 or upgraded to 1.5. So over the next coming months, everything will become this. >> Yeah. >> Um and we've made as much of it as easy we can to just step across in. >> Yeah. >> You've got new releases coming out. A lot of people have pre-ordered these. These are going to be in stores in about two weeks time, a week's time, end of September. You've got your grunts and jackals, which are beautiful. Very cool shields by the way. And you've got the UNC Marines. What that means is for the first time now, you've got two complete factions. >> Yeah. >> Spartans, ODST, and Marines. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And and of course, Master Chief. >> You've got Atriox, you've got the Banished. >> Yeah. >> You've got the elites, and you've got, sorry, elites and and the um grunts and jackals. So, you now got some spam. Great for taking, you know, you've got your core units, you've got your premium elite units. So, it really is becoming a kind of complete war game. >> Yes. With lot with lots of options and people can tailor things rather than just that those first few models that were released. Correct. >> We've taken our time to do this. Yeah. And we are purposely doing this so that everybody has a chance to come and join us. And we've just done our second biggest print run of the Spartan edition that we've ever done. >> Fantastic. >> We've done, you know, more than 10,000 copies of that rule book. um because we're finding more and more people are willing to join it now. It's becoming a bit more interesting now. It's become a bit more of a war game, they're seeing it, the people that are still playing it, it's not become so complicated. There's already 20 factions and so it's still very approachable. It's still um >> great time to jump on. >> It is. It sounds sounds like the perfect time to jump on. And 1.5 is is literally 1.5 because it's not a new rule set. Correct. It's basically it's a tidying up of a couple of little bits of rules that were maybe eroted a little bit or something tweaked or in different places as well and a little bit of a >> little bit of points balancing. Correct. Um and also just an amalgamation of all those keywords that released with new new releases. >> Correct. We didn't we didn't it's not a new addition. There is no new rules in it. Just there's clarity clarification and when something was OP or underpowered we pulled them back to a better balance point. So there's a great place to jump on now if you're new to it. Um, and if you're existing player, you you'll probably already know about the 1.5 stuff. So that's exciting to see what's coming exactly right now, September. >> Let's talk future stuff a little bit. It's this is always the bit you want to listen to, isn't it? So let's find >> So the first thing is excited about this. Um, we've got something called the fast. >> Yeah. >> Now I think we've all participated in our time in a fair few slow grows. And when you're playing Kings of War, you know, a slow go is going to take you three months to paint the army. >> We've always said that you can be playing Halo within 15 minutes of taking the shrink wrap off. Yes. You can assemble the terrain, use the reverse of the map for two on two and you will know and you'll be playing the game red versus blue within 10 15 minutes. >> Yes. >> And I said, let's let's leave Alex said, let's lean into that idea and just show how easy it is to get from from cellophane off to painted. >> Yeah. So from the 23rd of October, Friday night, >> perfect >> to 1st of November, everybody here at Team Mantic and a few of our fans and people we love are going to literally take the shrink wrap off some of the new releases, some of the new faction that'll be coming. Some of the existing stuff, some that are new and beginning that have never tried it before are going to unwrap one of these >> and some are going to do it in a day. >> Yeah. we are going to take and we're going to say look let's see how far you can get towards a fourman fire team >> within the nine days >> I think most people are doing it in the weekend get it based get it painted be a lot of fun a lot of people looking at it a lot of people think about joining on you can just jump in with the rule book now if you want so >> that's the fast grow >> sounds great >> we've got a new battle report coming which is featuring the original dead zone terrain yeah with the um Halo terrain added together to it. When we first built the Dead Zone engine, which is what powers the Halo Flashoint game, it was built with terrain in mind. The whole idea is you are in an urban um battlefield with grenades going and you ducking behind. So, it was written as if you're in cover and all those things are factored in. If you want to take your games to a whole new level, um we're going to do we've got a whole uh video where Clive built the inside of a spaceship and it's a 4x2 and it's amazing battle. So, we're going to have a look at that. got a battle report and then we've got oh >> campaign involved. Come here. >> Yep. >> This is the literal board game of Master Chief smashing his way through the first few levels of fighting the Covenant jackals and other baddies. Um designed for those that haven't yet discovered the joys of miniature war gaming or those that have. It's a solo game and you also get a unique Master Chief and a unique um Covenant model in there. >> So, so great as a stepping point, but also great for Halo fans as well. >> And if you want, you can probably use that and the new faction to make a really compelling experience, but we'll have to come back and tell you about that shortly. >> New faction. Yeah, that was a bit of a mic drop moment there, wasn't it? Well, it's it's definitely exciting times. Fantastic time to get your friends involved in this. If you're new, somebody just looking at this for the first time, get involved in that uh slow slow grow. Get involved in the fast grow fast, not a slow grow. >> Yes, get involved in a fast grow and make sure that you pick it up with the 1.5 in mind as well. So, exciting times ahead for Halo Flashoint. No doubt we'll be back to see you at some point with information about that that mic drop there. So, thanks very much for watching. We'll see you next time. Cheers.