Halo Flashpoint Battle Report
14th March 2026
Barry
15 mins
Introduction
So whilst there were no X-Wing or Armada events to participate in at CanCon this year, I was free to roam around the convention without any particular purpose. Usually Rosco and I would go diving through huge excess stock boxes of LPG’s stalls in well-rehearsed routine, however, this year there is no Rosco and all the boxes were full of Power Rangers games.
Why there’s so much Power Rangers is honestly beyond me – maybe someone at LPG is a big fan and thought it would be a sure thing. I mean we all have that one childhood show that we think is going to be the next big thing on the gaming table.
I mean while I’m here I might as well pick up something…
But I’m distracting myself with my own crapulence…
All this is to say I was convinced to buy Halo Flashpoint while there was a demo of it running. Specifically, I picked up the Banished box because I seemed like the fastest way to get a complete faction in one go. And it is…kind of. It actually lacks a lot of the tokens needed to play the game and fortunately Ando was able to provide what was missing.
Another reason I chose the faction was that I deluded myself into thinking they’d be easy to paint- and it’s been well established that’s not my strength when it comes to the hobby. Fortunately the models don’t require any assembly, though I will say some of the poses are not the easiest to paint – and the detail on the Elites does seem to disappear on their torso’s.
Close enough is good enough…
Why is this important?
Well I had to pick something to paint to get on the table for a competition and for my chosen list I needed 5 figures, 2 Elites with pulse carbines and 3 Brutes – a sniper, and two reasonably generic looking troops.
Is that a good list? No idea, I’ve got no reference really – Rosco sent me a link to the podcast Truth and Reconciliation to try and boffin up for all the good it did. Nope, seems like I’m going in cold with no plan (as usual) and worse no understanding of the rules, or the meta. So with my units painted, I go into a local tournament at Jolt.
Round 1 Ops Brief
Situation:
Factions: Banished (me) vs Spartans (Ando)
Location & Objective: UNSC Base – Husky Extraction
Description: Teams compete to secure vital assets before the enemy claims them all.
Conduct
As always, I don’t have a plan. Though I did have a theory that more units would help with achieving objectives. That’s not really the case as I immediately learn about the value of command dice, as Ando has more than me which gives him more flexibility.
The next thing I learn is how fickle attack/defence dice are as the first round we both attempt to shoot each other for no effect. The other thing is realising that shields don’t seem to really do too much for you when the enemy weapons automatically strip it – so another learning experience as my blue Elite loses his shields pretty handily to even a mediocre attack.
The hard learnt lesson here though is movement – Brutes do not move. My sniper even less so as he spends his two actions an activation (Long Action) just to shoot his primary weapon. So getting him setup in high positions to ensure an unobstructed shot is difficult at the best of times. This is juxtaposed against Ando’s Spartans that move rapidly, shoot with impunity and generally seem super-efficient with their stats.
However there is a point to my extra bodies - which does help to some extent with the objectives – but it’s really the Elites doing this work with heir movement and ability to move (evade) after dodging a ranged attack. The sniper does however manage to really punch hard when the crits start flowing and providing extra dice to keep punching through damage. With all of this, I somehow manage to take this game 7-2 however there’s the other element for scoring... achievements.
Just like on Xbox you earn achievements which also are tallied and contribute to your score overall. Hence my initial focus on painting my list, that’s a gimme objective. The others can be extremely challenging requiring kills with a level of specificity or multiple kills in a round. Honestly, they can be quite frustrating to track when they’re an after-thought at the end of the game.
Perhaps that’s just a matter of routinely checking? Anyway these don’t sway the score here in any meaningful way.
Round 2 Ops Brief
Situation:
Factions: Banished (me) vs Elites (Evan)
Location & Objective: UNSC Base – Husky Siege
Description: Teams compete to retrieve the flag and return it to their designated zone.
Conduct
Now that I know the speed of Elites I know that I have problems with this objective – which is essentially capture the flag. This one is going to really hurt. I try to use my Elites to get the flag, with the Brutes providing coverage.
And so its time for a new lesson, grenades – or more specifically their ability to blast and pin units. While my Elites are off contending with their counterparts in a vain effort to fight for the flag, his green elite manages to pin my guys in place with a plasma grenade and another pins down my blue elite in melee. So my sniper cannot really help, and so I have one Elite against two of his now.
Another lesson, it’s not always worth taking a shot. Especially against Elites.
The pissy little, “just because I can” shot is a terrible idea. The chance of missing is incredibly high, they’re going to evade into cover, up to higher ground, towards the objective, or worse still into you.
Evan is extremely adept at moving his Elites, and he manages to get to the flag first whereas when I get to him its because I’ve respawned and gotten the jump on him from above and completely overkill him. But on the other hand, I’m also completely exposed for subsequent activations though I’m feeling good with the score at 2 apiece.
While the two Elite’s are stuck in a fight where nobody seems to be able to succeed with either killing the other, or getting away, while elsewhere one of the Brutes is completely wiped out by a double tap from a rocket launcher he’s picked up.
In the mix of it all I forgot my most recent lesson – I shot at an Elite who dodges, grapples to take the flag and takes off like a bandit with it. I struggle to him down, and despite my best efforts to stop him – I really can’t. While I do kill him he’s able to respawn and collect the flag quickly and the score gets away from me 9-3 and the achievements are 5-4.
It felt like a close game for a moment, but that’s because I don’t have a clue about anything…
Round 3 Ops Brief
Situation:
Factions: Banished (me) vs Spartans (Andrew)
Location & Objective: UNSC Base – Husky Stronghold
Teams compete to control three zones worth different point values.
Conduct
Spartans again. The areas with the highest value points are out in the open surrounded by higher ground. One of the Spartans takes the 3-point zone quickly whilst my Elite isn’t able to establish a shot and in turn is nearly killed by Gungir. Fortunately, the Sniper is able to return the favour and leaves Gungir on 1hp.
In all of this another Spartan takes 2-point zone – if he holds he’ll be off to the races really quickly so I’m left trying to take the 4-point zone but his CQB with a Gravity Hammer takes the zone leaving me with combat as the only option. With the combined fire of my Brute Warrior and blue Elite I manage to get him down to 1hp.
The score is 9-0 to Andrew.
Next round his Spartan with the sword kills the sniper and uses a teleporter to get back to the 2-point zone. I activate two units to kill the Spartan and claim the 4 point-zone, but together they start attracting grenade attacks.
The sniper respawns but can’t really shoot effectively since the Sniper shot is the long action. Gravity Hammer guy rushes in and kills an Elite and manages to gravely wound red. The trading fire between units over the 4-point zone makes it difficult to track here – Andrew keeps collecting a Spartan laser but never seems to be that successful with the shots. Alternatively, his shots with the grenades and rockets are just crushing.
The game ultimately ends 18-11 Andrew’s way.
The lesson this game? Command dice – or the lack thereof. With the limited amount I have I lack a lot of utility in how I employ me list and that became highly relevant here. I never had the initiative to get in and kill his units and clear space.
Conclusion
So having 5 units in this context whilst it seems helpful for objectives and combat has been handily overtaken by more tooled up units with command dice delivering flexibility which the three Brutes do not offer. So having only having a banished box I’m hoping Mantic have plans for perhaps some cheaper units like Grunts and Jackals to give that greater volume like the ODST do – though I haven’t seen anyone consider mixing them with Spartans.
Look, despite not really having a clue about what was going on I had a good time and started to get the hang of things quickly, however, it will take some time to figure out how to best employ these guys against the variety of scenarios available. I do recommend getting hold of a copy – even just a Recon Edition which will give you just enough to get a taste and offer a decent avenue to expand from.
Stay Salty.
- Barry