Chronique:Canon Fodder - The Art of War(s)
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BY GRIMBROTHER ONE - 01/18/2017
ISSUE 96
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Greetings, and welcome back to the first Canon Fodder of 2017! It’s been a while since we last met like this, with understandable cause of course – with the Halo Wars 2 Blitz Beta nigh upon us, and the full game launch itself barely a month away, the studio has been abuzz with activity on a myriad of fronts.
With these things in mind, we thought it prudent to kick this year off the right way – with a salvo of salivation-inducing sweetness that we hope will satisfy the many lore-leaning fans who love to linger around these parts. We’ve got awesome new Halo Wars 2 Blitz art, an in-depth look at some rad new recent additions to the Halo: Ground Command arsenal thanks to fellow 343 lore liaison Kenneth Peters, cool community contributions, and more. Shall we begin?
KICKSTART MY ART
While the “standard” Halo Wars 2 arsenal of incredible vehicles, weapons, and characters is already epic enough, the game’s bandied-about Blitz Mode will feature a crazy cadre of additional variations, sometimes in form, sometimes in function. With the mode’s beta experience at our digital doorstep, I thought it might be fun to share just a few of my favorite pieces of art that adorn the various cards that make up one of Blitz’s key components. These gorgeous swaths of eye-candy are brought to you by the talented team at Creative Assembly alongside 343's Art Director for Halo Wars 2, Jeremy Cook. Of course, we can’t just leave you hanging without some all-important context in relation to the greater Halo universe, can we? Let’s check out some of the new (and old) favorites!
Banished Banshee
The earliest models of Banshees were fashioned after the ’sKelln, a leathery winged flying predator from the Sangheili homeworld, Sanghelios. However, the Banished have since twisted this ancient ancestry to incorporate design details more closely related to an aerial predator hailing from their own homeworld of Doisac. Many of the Banshees in Atriox’s fleets have been modified with brutal and experimental weaponry, usually designed to inflict maximum damage from both a physical, and psychological, perspective.
Brute Warlord
Favored chieftains in Atriox’s retinue have the unique opportunity to be promoted to the status of Warlord – vicious agents positioned to intercede on the Banished leader’s behalf to bring recalcitrant packs to heel and direct critical faction operations. Answerable only to Atriox and Decimus, Warlords are no doubt feared by lesser Brutes and hated by the Let ‘Volir’s troops, though none can deny the Warlords’ loyalty or violent proficiency in culling the Banished ranks of weaker links. Indeed, many a prideful chieftain has forgotten who their work should be enriching and have wound up on the receiving end of a Warlord’s personally-fashioned gravity hammer.
Grunt Infantry
Unggoy may not always be strong, brave, intelligent, hygienic, or even particularly fearsome warriors, but those pledged to serve the Banished have a healthy enough fear of their Jiralhanae leaders to stay on-task and motivated. Even if their fellows are used as target practice by bored Brutes or disintegrated by Forerunner sentinels, these seasoned survivors can at least look forward to a full food nipple and an occasional brief nap in the methane atmosphere they call home.
Suicide Grunts
Truly aggressive and violent Grunts are rare, but without Covenant oversight or the environmental hazards of Balaho to cull them from the population, the number of aberrant Unggoy has increased dramatically in thrall colonies. The Banished have adapted existing indoctrination protocols to turn the aggression and natural cleverness of these legions to their own violent purposes.
Condor Gunship - G81 Heavy Gunship
The Vulture is still currently “officially” the heaviest standard combat air unit the UNSC has to offer – but rest assured, there’s nothing official about the Condor Gunship. This imposing flying fortress is actually a repurposed and highly weaponized civilian dropship. While the Condor Gunship does break a large number of UNSC weapons platform regulations, its effectiveness in battle is truly undeniable. The G81 is a slow-moving but powerful craft armed with multiple pulse-laser turrets and a light magnetic accelerator cannon (MAC) – all of which are capable of independently targeting enemy units. The pulse lasers offer a high rate of fire, making the Condor effective against mass units, while the light MAC provides devastating burst damage for hard target elimination.
The Shroud
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Our friends over at the awesome lore-focused site, ForwardUntoDawn.com, recently released a really great piece on a rather important San’Shyuum: Ord Casto – or as most would know him, the Prophet of Truth. The article is an insightful and well-thought out look at Truth’s early days, motivations, and eventual undoings. Definitely pop over and give it a read!
Red-y for the sequel
There’s a lot of great preparatory pieces out there in the Halo lore community that are priming fellow fans for what to expect with Halo Wars 2. One particular stop that you might want to make is at the ever-awesome Halo Canon YouTube page. Toa Freak has put together some really awesome Halo Wars story primers that will help you catch up on the adventures and upcoming adversaries of the Spirit of Fire. Check out the deep dive on the history of Red Team right here…
Speaking of community, you might want to keep an eye this week on a few of the Halo community’s best story-stop shops for some additional exclusive details on a few more Halo Wars 2 units. I’m not saying you should keep an eye out on Hidden Xperia, Covenant Canon, and the aforementioned Halo Canon YouTube channels… actually, yes I am.
Oh, and one more thing on the community front: 343's own aforementioned Art Director for Halo Wars 2 put together a little Community Content Care Pack featuring official logos and assets for the upcoming RTS title, all to help out community content creators as they look to put that extra bit of polish on their YouTube videos, blog posts, and more. You can head over to the forum post we made about it to learn more and download the files for yourself. Check it out!
Aaaaaand that will do it for us this time around. Be sure and stay tuned though, as I don’t think we’re quite done with the Halo Wars 2 goodness just yet. After all, we still have a month to go…
Until next time…Live well, play Halo, and Happy New Year!
<3
Grim