The Halo franchise will return to tabletops in 2024 thanks to a new partnership between Mantic Games and 343 Industries. The announcement, made Friday on the Mantic Games website, has set a retail launch for September. The first preview is expected in March.
“We’re extremely excited to be partnering with 343 Industries on bringing Halo to tabletops everywhere,” said Ronnie Renton, CEO and founder of Mantic Games in the announcement. “Having a firefight play out on the table while moving Spartans in and out of cover connects players to the action in a new and special way. We have a thrilling and competitive game, from a passionate team of talented sculptors, artists, and designers who have been building an incredible Halo experience.”
No details about the game were shared other than stating it is “a brand-new Halo miniatures combat game.” But, given the larger above quote and Mantic’s existing product lines, we expect it to be a small-unit skirmish game with 28 mm-scale or larger miniatures. If that’s the case, it would compete in a crowded field alongside Cyberpunk Red: Combat Zone, Necromunda, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team, Star Wars: Shatterpoint, and Corvus Belli’s excellent Infinity.
Halo is no stranger to the tabletop, with many licensed board games under its belt. But it also has a history in miniatures wargaming. Halo: Fleet Battles is a spacefaring wargame first announced by Spartan Games at Gen Con 2015. Polygon reviewed it favorably, noting that the quality of the miniatures (which rendered massive warships at 1:20000 scale) and the scope of the ruleset made it a remarkably affordable product. Later it was followed up with Halo: Ground Command, a more traditional 8 mm-scale wargame — akin to the newly released Warhammer: Legions Imperialis.
Unfortunately, both games have been hard to find of late. Spartan Games sold its catalog to Warcradle Studios in 2017, and the announcement made no mention of either Halo game. Meanwhile, the Halo Tabletop Community — a fixture of wargaming convention AdeptiCon, held every March in Schaumburg, Illinois — appears to be cautiously optimistic. They have a slate of events planned that include both legacy Halo tabletop games.
