M864 Arctic Warthog

M864 Arctic Warthog
Production information
Product line:	M12 Warthog
Technical specifications
Length:	6.2 meters (20.5 ft)
Width:	3.1 meters (10.1 ft)
Height:	2.5 meters (8.1 ft)
Armament:	1 modular turret slot
Crew:	1 driver 1 passenger 1 gunner
Usage
In service:	Human-Covenant War
Role(s):	Arctic reconnaissance
Affiliation:	United Nations Space Command

The M864 Arctic Warthog is a variant of the M12 Warthog that is camouflaged and outfitted specifically for expeditions in arctic conditions. Despite these modifications, it does not have the extreme mobility modifications of the M862 variant.

Overview

Design details

Main article: M12 Warthog

The M864 Arctic Warthog is one of several Warthogs designed for cold weather fielding. Unlike the M862 Arctic Warthog, the M864 does not feature extensive mobility modifications such as tracks instead of wheels, and enclosed doors for crew comfort. In this regard, it bears more in common with the M12B Warthog's Tundra variant, as it has no external physical change from its base variant aside from a snow camouflage paint job. It is instead fitted with structural and performance improvements to help it content with cold weather conditions.

In-game information

Halo 3

The M864 appears exclusively on the Halo 3 multiplayer map Avalanche, replacing the standard M12 Warthog available usually in the game. This Warthog, like all other UNSC vehicles on the map, is outfitted with a special snow camouflage more suitable for the map's winter conditions. Despite this, however, it does not have any difference to the regular Warthog available in the game regarding gameplay mechanics.

In Series 6 of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the M864 Arctic Warthog was also featured on the map Icebox - a notable departure from the map's original Halo Online layout which featured a unique winterised take on the Halo: Reach Warthog model.

Production notes

The M864 Warthog was first introduced into Halo canon in a Bungie.net article on the Warthog written to promote Halo 3. At the time of its writing, the vehicle was described with the attributes now attributed to the M862 Arctic Warthog cut from Halo 2; an enclosed cabin and treads instead of wheels. This designation was followed-through in the 2009 and 2011 editions of the Halo Encyclopedia, before being changed in a 2015 Halo Waypoint article. On Waypoint, the M864 was instead changed to be an arctic vehicle fitted for cold environments though retaining the standard wheels, with the treaded variant instead being changed to the M862 Arctic Warthog. This updated description for the M864 has since been consistently applied in the Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition).

The updated description has not strictly been assigned a visual appearance in any of the media describing it. However, its overall visual likeness appears to be based on the special Warthog featured on Avalanche, a DLC map for Halo 3. At the time of the original article's writing, Avalanche was particularly notable among all Halo games for boasting the only alternate look for the Warthog (alongside specialised snow variants of the M808C Scorpion and AV-14 Hornet). However, in Halo: The Master Chief Collection this behaviour was changed to make the snow camouflage a selectable skin instead.

Gallery

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  The Warthog in a battle on Avalanche.

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  The Warthog on Avalanche.

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  Two M864s on Avalanche.

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  The MEGA Brands version of the M864.

List of appearances

• Halo 3
  • Legendary Map Pack (First appearance)