I have an idea on how brutes could be in the game,or at least make an appearance in the campaign.

On other Brute threads people have said that they can't be in the game because of an incident on Harvest when the war first started, which as a result they were removed from combat roles, but at the time the game takes places the elites hadn't removed their combat status yet.

Sgt. Johnson:

I haven't read Contact Harvest, but from what I understand, Johnson was on Harvest at the time the fighting first started as was spartan team omega. Graeme Devine said in an interview, most major characters won't be in Halo Wars, but some fimiliar faces would make an apperance. Since Johnson was most likely on Harvest in 2531, he could show up in the campaign.

Your thoughts?