Here’s a call out to fans of Halo: Ground Command (HGC) looking to dress their tabletops with all things Halo.

You will have seen in our September release for HGC that two sets of scenery were included. These were something we talked about with 343 Industries very early on in the life of the game. It was important to all of us that it would be easy for you, the players, to take a green table with some trees and suddenly make it look like Reach or some other alien world in the Halo Universe.

Scenery in HGC breaks down into what we call Standard and Deluxe. In essence this boils down to things like the two boxes you can buy this month (Standard), and impressive, often large, but always awesome, Deluxe pieces, such as the stunning Covenant Stealth Pylon we made for GenCon this year.

Having now rolled these two boxes out the kind folk at 343 have taken the time to write us some official canon for the various scenery now available to you. So whether you are hiding behind a UNSC cargo pallet or a Covenant energy shield, you can now name it correctly and confidently know that it truly does belong in the Halo Universe:

UNSC WEAPON RACK – JW Armoury Storage Cabinet:

The JW cabinets are tough enough for field use and hold enough firepower to make life rough for any Covenant attacker. Each can be configured for multiple mission and deployment scenarios, and is easily secured to prevent unauthorised access. A cabinet can hold ammo boxes, spare parts, optics, and maintenance tools, in addition to multiple weapons.

UNSC FUSION REACTOR – MEP-PU-2550D/E Generator:

The UNSC marches as much on batteries as it does beans and bullets. Air-transportable fusion power plants are widely used by UNSC Army and Air Force units to meet their mobile power requirements, particularly in austere tactical environments where facility-integrated solar panels and wind turbines are insufficient or inappropriate.

UNSC LARGE BARRIER – M72 Mobile Barrier-Large:

The M72 MB-L is a heavily armoured mobile protection shield used in both terrestrial and shipboard security roles. Drop-down travel wheels and steering lever allow the shield to be moved by a single individual on flat terrain, or it can be towed by any utility vehicle.

UNSC SMALL BARRIER – M72 Mobile Barrier-Small:

Widely used by UEG and UNSC security forces, the M72 MB-S is a one-man bunker that marked the site of many last stands in the closing days of the Covenant War. As with the MB-L model, drop-down travel wheels allow the shield to be repositioned.

UNSC CARGO PALLET – 463L Master Pallet:

The 26th century iteration of the standardized military air transport pallet. Beloved and hated by logisticians sweating under a hundred distant suns.

UNSC CARGO CONTAINER – Transit Box DR44:

Features wireless access to packing lists, GPS tracking, environmental sealing, and ballistic-rated materials. Still doesn’t explain why your unit got shipped a pallet of them filled with pens and ceremonial swords intended for a Marine unit in another Sector.

COVENANT COMM RELAY – Spike of Obesience:

The first link in the Covenant’s command and control of their ground units begins with the placement of these Spikes in areas they intend to dominate. Each functions as a combination of proselytization network uplink, communication hub, and sensor relay node.

COVENANT EMPLACED SHIELD – Pavise of the Worthy:

Hemispherical defensive shield generators are ubiquitous in Covenant service. An unappreciated marvel of design, these units combine compact power storage cells, gravitic anchor, and dissipative shield generator in a single, portable, package.

COVENANT STORAGE CONTAINER – Almar-Pattern Repository:

Nicknamed “space crates” by UNSC forces, the variety of forms and usages of Covenant cargo containers drove ONI analysts to distraction. Following the war, it was discovered that many Covenant warriors were just as confused as to the special functionality of some units, and never entirely sure of their contents.

COVENANT DEFENSE BARRIER – Guardian Triptych:

The three armoured panels of the Triptych are effective as a linear obstacle, vehicle blocker, and firing position at fortified Covenant landing zones, but they also contain systems which broadcast subsonic signals that deters local wildlife and has a soothing effect on nearby Yanme’e.

COVENANT PLASMA BATTERY – Vantus-Pattern Eolipile:

These volatile energy cells are vital for Covenant combat operations, and are used to power field equipment and recharge plasma-based small arms. Unfortunately, Unggoy in charge of their transport and maintenance rarely account for the devastating consequences of placing them in areas likely to come under enemy fire.