From the secret files of CINCONI...

 Paris N-class Frigate
    Also known as the Paris Zero and the Noir-class among ONI personnel, all designations refer to SinoViet heavy frigates modified for service with the Office of Naval Intelligence's Alpha Zero unit, part of Section One. One of several naval units at ONI's disposal, Alpha Zero division handles direct military operations outside the purview of the Prowler Corps and when inappropriate to involve UNSC naval elements. The unit operates at the sole discretion of the CINCONI.

     Of all the UNSC's light warships, the Paris-class was selected for it's marriage of heavy armament to a manueverable and speedy hull. Taking delivery of basic hulls directly from SinoViet, ONI engineers replace the standard fusion drives with larger, higher-quality versions to produce roughly 20% more total thrust compared to the baseline Paris. Most hulls are believed to come from the array of shipyard facilities over Reach, though rumors abound that frigate hulls from New Constantinople in Sector 4 are quietly appropriated as well. A weakness of the new engines is that they do not well tolerate the stresses of hard-burn maneuvers, to say nothing of the sensitive electronic components aboard, and as such ship AIs are directed to permit no more than 2/3 the standard hard-burn thrust. The fuel bunker has been reinforced and expanded at the expense of the ship's ventral cargo elevator for improved operational duration, a sacrifice easy to make as Paris Noirs are not intended to deploy ground forces.



     Paris N frigates also boast greatly upgraded communications, sensory, and EW suites compared to standard, allowing each ship to serve in intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance roles. The hulls proved poorly-adapted to the stealth coatings used on the Prowlers, with a cross-section and more flat surfaces than any stealth-coating could mitigate. Externally, aside from a slightly more streamlined appearance and the larger engines, there is little to distinguish a Paris N from a standard Paris-class.

    Her armaments are largely unchanged from the already well-armed standard Paris hull, being maintained at a light MAC, 11 point defense guns, and a battery of 50 Archer pods. The Noir loses her rear dorsal point defense emplacement secondary to major calibration difficulties with it's proximity to the upgraded engine pods. The magnetic coils of the MAC are typically of a higher quality than the UNSC's standard, permitting an on-target kinetic discharge roughly 25-33% greater than average.

    Operational history and disposition of this class are, unsurprisingly, suppressed from public consumption and well-classified within ONI and the UNSC Navy. Ships of this type notably raided the Covenant supply station Wayward Provider, shut down the Insurrectionist arms smuggling operation in the Gallonigher colonies, secured the Forerunner sites on Delta Prime from a Kig-Yar raider group, and interdicted the Covenant stealth ships attempting to shadow the evacuation of Merrick's Star. ONI maintains several squadrons of the Paris N, and while none are currently in active combat operations, Sunspot and Blizzard squadrons in the Delta Prime system are considered in a high-risk area. The on-going operations there, however, are too valuable for ONI to abandon...

     These little guys are an experiment with what can be done with all the extra Paris frigates I have from both the Fall of Reach starter box and the contents of the UNSC Core Battlegroup box. I first saw this idea on the Spartan Games forums, where a poster named Landlubber gave some of his extra frigates an ONI paint scheme. I really liked his idea, and now shamelessly copy it. :D I trimmed a little off the underside of the hulls, added some squared styrene strip to the engines to represent faster ships, and gave them a black paint job to represent the shadowy forces of ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence and primary intelligence apparatus of the UNSC. I'm thinking an improved base speed of 2', a decrease in her hard-burn distance, and an extra MAC die regardless of formation for a yet-to-be-determined cost increase. Next in the Halo: Fleet Battles pipeline will be some Insurrectionist ships and a little bit of backstory for them, too. Until then, my friends.

H:FB Swords of Sanghelios

I mentioned last post my desire to use a few extra Covenant ships as Swords of Sanghelios vessels. Anyone who has played Halo 5 has seen that all of the ground vehicles and aircraft up to the Lich use the same crimson that the ground troops use on their armor. Best as I can tell, the Swords' major warships use the same purple that the Covenant use. At least, I don't see any differences between Swords and Covenant ships at Sunaion, and there is a cool scene where you see a large group of Swords ships coming in over the ocean.

Borrring!

I wanted to go with the same colors that the rest of the Swords use, so with a few extra Covenant ships I went with that scheme, both because I like it and to serve as a trial run on what technique to use to paint the rest of my Covenant ships. Only one capital and one small element make this a bare-bones battlegroup, but it should be easy to fit into a mixed UNSC/Covenant fleet that I'm betting Spartan will eventually put rules out for. 

These ships were spray-primed Army Painter Pure Red, darkened down with a wash of GW Baal Red ink, the color was brought back up with some more Pure Red, and a light dry-brushing with P3 Molten Bronze to add that metallic slightly-bronze quality you can see in the game. Though the bronze really added pre-glosscoat, it got completely overpowered by the sealant.

Instead of trying metallics, I used a gloss finish to replicate the shiny, wet-looking metal Covenant ships have. I'm not convinced this is the way forward, but it beats buying and learning the ways of the airbrush at this point.

Some appropriately Sangheili-looking (I hope) markings for the heavy corvettes. SDVs have those broad flat noses that practically beg for special markings or some higher level blending of color. I'm not really able to do blending that well, but I can certainly paint simple markings.

Going forward, I'm undecided if this is how I want to handle the rest of my Covenant minis. They'll be the classic Covenant purple, and I'm deciding if a glossy-flat purple is preferable to a metallic purple. I don't have great faith in spraycan metallics so far, based on some poor past experiences. But, I'm looking at some alternate brands, and I could always try my hand at an airbrush...

Until next time.