Halo Wars is a prequel to the Halo trilogy , set 21 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved . In this real-time strategy take on Halo, the player leads the UNSC troops from the ship "Spirit of Fire", as they fight war against the Covenant on the partially destroyed human colony planet Harvest.
The game offers both a single-player campaign and an ability to play through the campaign in co-operative mode. The player-versus-player Skirmish mode, which supports up to 6 players, also lets the players to take the Covenant's side.