After scouring info from other posts, I have found some answers to some of my own questions.  However, there remains several key issues that I find a little... troubling.

 In the trailer, there were Marines and Spartans wielding Battle Rifles.  Now, as some people have already said before, Halo Wars will be taking place before Halo: Combat Evolved.  As I recall, the Halo books stated plainly that the Battle Rifle was introduced during the events of "First Strike".  Now, "First Strike" took place AFTER Halo: Combat Evolved.  It was even stated by Dr. Halsey that the Battle Rifle was a new weapon alongside the Sub-Machine Gun.

 The White Elites.  Now, I believe and recall that they were given the rank of "Spec Ops Commander" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_Elite; search input: "Spec Ops Commander").  The title says it all.  They command Spec Ops.  Nothing else.  But in the trailer, they're depicted as regular soldiers on par with Marines.  Then again, Elites MIGHT have snow camo armor.  But that is also up for speculation.

ummm we've already got a thread for this. . . ibl

http://forums.halowars.com/thread/1260.aspx 

Yeah, I do remember the Battle Rifle thing from the novels...  Possibly the ones in the trailer were it's predecessors?

The Elites could be white looking just because of the lighting... It's hard to tell.  Anyway I'm sure Ensemble wanted to make the trailer look as cool as possible and what better way to do it than use Spec-Ops Elites? 

Samir:

Well, we don't know when Halo Wars takes place.

yes we do 

"A: “Halo Wars” takes place before Halo 1 during the UNSC’s first deadly encounters with the Covenant."

reach42:

Samir:

Well, we don't know when Halo Wars takes place.

 

yes we do 

 

"A: “Halo Wars” takes place before Halo 1 during the UNSC’s first deadly encounters with the Covenant."

... I will put my sock in my mouth now.