Halo Tabletop Game Coming In 2024, Including Halo-Themed Miniatures
Mantic Games and 343 Industries have announced that they will be releasing a tabletop game featuring Halo-based miniatures later this year. There are scant details about the forthcoming game except that it is a “Halo miniatures combat game”.
Preview In March 2024, Launch In September
Mantic Games’ announcement states “we’re extremely excited to be partnering with 343 Industries on bringing Halo to tabletops everywhere” before going on to say players will be able to have “a firefight play out on the table while moving Spartans in and out of cover”.
Mantic also said, in a post on their website, there would be a preview of the game coming in March 2024 and that it would go straight to retail release in September. That means no waiting around for Kickstarter campaigns and prolonged delivery times.
The Halo Franchise
Halo: Combat Evolved launched in 2001 as the original Xbox console’s main launch title. Having originally been designed as a real-time strategy, the game evolved to a third-person shooter before Bungie launched it as a first-person shooter.
There have been six main games in the franchise, as well as various other titles. Such has been the popularity of Halo, that there are also animated series, graphic novels, and even a live-action TV series.
The upcoming tabletop game isn’t even the first Halo board game. As well as a RISK: Halo Wars Collector’s Edition, there have been several other tabletop games, although none have really set the board gaming world alight.
The Partnership
343 Industries, the Microsoft team charged with heading the Halo franchise will hope to tap into some of the popularity of the video games by partnering with Mantic Games.
The British tabletop gaming company has previous when it comes to publishing miniature-based games. They launched Hellboy: The Board Game, Epic Warpath, and the mass-battle wargame Kings of War. Kings of War sees gamers moving armies of soldiers around the board while Armada is a fleet-based game that can be expanded with additional vessels.
A combination of these two types of games would give players control of Spartan armies as well as iconic vehicles like the Warthog.
The Halo Tabletop Experience
There’s a lot of potential to turn Halo into a viable and popular tabletop game. The most likely outcome is that the game will be similar to Warhammer and will see players managing their own customizable armies in skirmish-type battles. Throw in some energy swords, plasma pistols, Warthogs, and Pelicans, and there is the potential for a hugely popular game. We should know more by March this year.