Warship Build Special — Banished Fleet
Last Christmas I made a special edition for this Warship series of builds — a fleet of three different kinds of ships for both the UNSC and Covenant factions of the Halo universe. Back then, I said I would go back to this topic later on for additional specials. So, with Easter here, I decided to make do with that promise. Thus, I bring you the Banished fleet!
In Halo lore, the Banished are an offshoot of the Covenant faction. Led by the Jiralhanae (Brute) chieftain Atriox, this faction is essentially formed by a bunch of disparate warbands that split from the Covenant or formed in the galactic fringe, led by a charismatic leader that promised glory to his followers.
Although perilous in their own right, the Banished would come to the forefront after the collapse of the Covenant Empire, moving in to fulfill the power void that formed then. The human UNSC would normally be able to at least hold back the warbands, due to their lack of cohesion if nothing else, but the advent of the Cortana-led Forerunner constructs would seriously weaken the organization. Within this context, the Banished managed to thrive.
Like the other fleets, this one follows a theme, based on this faction’s doctrine. The gray UNSC uses walls of guns to overpower the opponents through sheer firepower. On the other hand, the purple Covenant use their superior technology and martial skills to pick their enemies in single combat. Moreover, the red Banished prefer to savagely rush into their enemies and hopefully use the armored bows of their vessels to crush any opposition.
Their vessels are built to follow this premise.
The Light Ship is the Kig-Yar (Jackal) Raider. This model is actually interesting because it doesn’t follow any official sources. The class does exist in the lore, but the few appearances of the Jackal warships are not very inspired. However, some people within the fandom managed to craft a really impressive vision for these vessels, and I worked from there.
The Raider is a rather small vessel (within the scale that I use here, in which each stud corresponds to 100 meters, this Raider is actually too large), meant more as a scout or a corsair. While the weaponry is relatively light, it does have a long armored snout the crews like to use to pierce other vessels, even if they are larger than themselves. A noticeable detail is the offset reactor, which offers additional trust and power when needed.
For the Medium Ship, I went with the Heavy Destroyer. This is actually an odd choice, I won’t lie. With a length of 14 studs, this is about the same size as the UNSC Vengeance battleship. However, after looking for vessels that had the right look, this ended up being the only real fit. I’m really proud of the result.
The Heavy Destroyer itself was a rare sight in the defunct Covenant fleets. Whenever it appeared, it brought terror into the hearts of its enemies. When the warbands started to spread across the galaxy, they managed to capture a good number of these vessels. With a heavily armored bow and wing-like structures, it has an aggressive look and the firepower to back it up, even if the defenses are not as solid as with other Covenant designs.
And finally, we have the Heavy Ship — the Dreadnought. This is taken from the most recent game, Halo Infinite. The Dreadnoughts are in fact an original Banished design, meant to take advantage of their doctrine. The heavy bow can inflict massive damage on contact, as proved by the attack against the UNSC Infinity, which crippled the ship. Gun batteries spread around the hull can create a veritable wall of lead and plasma.
But more interesting yet are the drop pods it carries on the flanks. Fully detachable, these massive pods can drop entire combat units over contested battlefields. This cements the Dreadnought’s position as a support for ground invasions or massive boarding actions — the type of combat favored by the Banished. Although the number of these vessels is not known, one can assume they are not very common.
I am absolutely proud of this one. The ship itself lacks any proper details in the lore, like size or equipment, so I had to make some guesses based on what was shown in the game and the comparison with the other ships of this series. However, it is maybe a bit too big for gaming purposes, if you intend to use them that way.
Speaking of gaming, I’m building these using the One Page Rules’ FTL: Warfleets ruleset, in opposition to the Orion’s Gate system from the same creators that I use for the Battletech builds (which are also built within a different size scale, by the way). If you are curious about how I equip these ships, let me know and I will offer up the army lists.
And this is it! I’m really proud of this set. Let me know what you think, and if you managed to recreate these ships on your own.
Next week we’ll have a second part for this special, a bit less ambitious but also interesting in context. See you then!
