Cue the iconic music and buckle into your drop pod as we prepare to dive feet first into hell with the Halo: Flashpoint Fast Grow Challenge! Last week Mantic Games ran a Fast Grow challenge for their hugely popular Halo: Flashpoint game, and we were lucky enough to be invited along for the ride. What's a Fast Grow challenge I hear you ask? Well, since you need so few minis to play a game of Halo: Flashpoint, usually around only four, you're able to paint up your entire Fireteam in no time at all. Instead of the normal slow grow leagues you may be familiar with for larger, mass army games, Mantic challenged the community to paint up their entire Fireteam across one week and two weekends. That's how quick and easy it is to get on the tabletop with a beautifully painted Fireteam!
Here at The Army Painter, Marshall, Tyler, Tim, and Alan all volunteered to paint a Fireteam of their own during the challenge, and Mantic was nice enough to send us all the minis we needed to finish the fight. Complete with Warpaints Fanatic, Air, Speedpaint, and a bit of UNSC ingenuity/Banished determination/Covenant superiority, these four Spartans in training more than conquered the challenge.
Marshall Blue: Fireteam Hydra - UNSC
Marshall: I've been a Halo fan since I first picked up an Xbox controller. The opportunity to be a part of the Fast Grow challenge was a no brainer from me, especially the chance to fight back the Covenant as Fireteam Hydra. I had a lot of fun painting these miniatures, bringing the game to life on the tabletop. Grim Black Speedpaint was a cheat code to get into those recesses! Thank you Mantic, for bringing us along.
Tyler Mengel: Covenant Judgement - Covenant
Tyler: Halo: Flashpoint was immediately on my radar as soon as Mantic announced it several years ago. I'm a big Halo fan. I've already painted up quite a lot of minis for the game over the years, including a Banished Brute and the fan-favourite Nobel Team, as well as having played in a handful of tournaments. It's a really fun game and can be very quick to play once you have the rules down. I wholeheartedly recommend giving the game a spin if you can!
When Mantic approached us about the Fast Grow challenge, it was an obvious yes. My original plan was to use this as an opportunity to tackle a bit more of my backlog, as I have some Spartans, ODST, and Banished still waiting on paint. However, when they offered to send me the upcoming Covenant: Judgment box early I jumped at the chance. While I love the UNSC, there's something just so cool and iconic about the Covenant. I've been waiting on a Hunter mini since the game first came out, so I knew I wanted to include one of those, and well, you can't just do one Hunter! After that it was an Elite Ranger, another new mini with a cool white colour scheme to mess around with, and then, of course, a Grunt to round out the team. I love the size juxtaposition in the mini selection, and how they all have such different armour colours yet look cohesive. I also took this as an opportunity to use as many of the various coloured metallics as we make, as I really wanted to emphasize the sci-fi alien feel to them. Warpaints Air was invaluable for laying down all the smooth gradients on the armour.
Tim Engleman: Banished Reinforcements and Sangheili Mercenaries - Banished
Tim: A huge thank you to Mantic for providing the Banished Sangheili Mercenaries and Banished Reinforcements boxes for the Halo: Flashpoint Fast Grow Challenge! These models were an absolute blast to paint. I've always loved the variety of Covenant species, so it was great to get some of my favorites on the table. The Unggoy with the Needler and the shield-bearing Kig-Yar brought back a lot of memories from the Halo games, and I just had to paint the Sangheili with the energy sword. He's one of the most iconic enemies in the entire series.
I saved a lot of time on the armor with Warpaints Air, then used Fanatic for the rest of the painting. The WWII Historical Paints range was especially handy for the skin tones, with a variety of earthy colors that worked perfectly for these alien species. The bright palette kept the project fun from start to finish, and I learned quite a bit more about the Halo universe while researching the different species. Best of all, I had a Banished Fireteam ready for battle in just a matter of days. Spartans, beware!
Alan Nieves: Sangheili Mercenaries - Banished
Alan: For my Banished Sangheili, I went with Azure Magic from the Warpaints Air range, and it reminded me just how many unique colors we have across our entire lineup! I used Matt Black for the soft armor and a selection of Flexible Triads to bring some variety to the weapons. For the finishing touches, I combined Azure Magic and Fairy Dust to create a metallic effect that really makes the details pop! Beyond the paint job, these models from Mantic are just awesome. There’s something incredibly nostalgic about bringing these iconic designs to life on the tabletop. They capture that classic Halo feel perfectly, and painting them brought back so many memories. Definitely one of those projects where the nostalgia makes the whole experience even better!
Be sure to check out some of the other participants' entries, such as Factory Team member Peachy's Halo TV Show inspired team, or Sonic Sledgehammer's UNSC team, complete with Spartans and Marines, as well as the plethora of others at Mantic's own channels, and pick up your Halo: Flashpoint minis over at their webstore.
