Confrontation AoR
Initiation Set reviewed by Russell Scott
Well, after months of rumour,
claim and counterclaim, Confrontation 4 is finally here - so what
is it *actually like*?
Box wise, it's virtually identical to AT43 - sturdy, eyecatching
and with a flip top that lets you see the contents before buying.
As we all know, this set features the new prepainted miniatures.
For the sake of my sanity, I'm not even going to comment on whether
these are good / bad. There's been more than enough of that on
various websites for what feels like eternity, and boils down
to personal preference. For the record, these are - IMHO - a step
up from the quality of the minis in the original run of the AT443
box set, look absolutely fine on the tabletop, and for those gamers
looking for quick entry into the game (either as a newcomer or
to test out this latest ruleset) are ideal... review
continues below ››
Quick rundown on the contents - there are 14 minis in all, 5 Wolfen
and 9 Griffin. Each side is headed up by 1 hero, with the remaining
minis being standard troop types. There's also a scenery piece
which is a bit redundant but looks nice enough (think Ziterdes
level of finishing and you're about right) plus a tape measure,
6 x D6, profile cards for the minis themselves a gaming mat. Finally,
you get an 80pp softcover rulebook which contains all the rules
and background you'll need to get started - but it isn't the 'full'
rulebook. That's due Feb 08 and will contain all the fluff and
fiction pieces.
The rulebook itself is as good to look
at as you'd expect - beautifully designed and laid out, although
the actual content is a bit sparse. You're whizzed through the
background of the Conf world (and that of the Griffin and Wolfen)
fairly quickly and are then onto the basic rules. Every aspect
of how to play is gone through in a clear and (for Rackham!) easy
to read fashion, and the training bits at the end of each section
are going to be a godsend for new players as they walk you through
what you've just read - as we all know, reading rules and actually
understanding them are two completely different things.
Having covered movement and combat, the next part of the book
moves onto use of magic and how to play different types / levels
of units. At this point, there aren't any examples of spells,
artefacts, profiles, army lists etc. I'm assuming these are going
to be reserved for the faction army books, although I'd hope there
will be more in the full rulebook. Following on from this are
several pages with scenarios and a general guide to putting together
your force. Again, this is a bit lightweight but is suited to
the idea of this set being an entry level product.
On an initial readthrough, the rules
have been simplified - a lot. They're not quite as straightforward
as AT43 as there are a lot more elements to take into account
in terms of strategy and decision making, especially dependent
on which Activation sequence you use to play the game (6 modes
are available). To be honest, I actually think the streamlining
is a good thing. This may sound like heresy, but I've always liked
Conf mainly because of the figures and the background - the rules
always seemed unintuitive and overcomplicated, ending up as much
a test of brainpower as a bit of gaming escapism. 'New' developments
like the Universal Table of Resolution are IMHO a massive improvement,
and all the aspects of the game that seemed to get in the way
of actually moving play forward (Attacks / Magic / Faith) are
now fluid and fast moving.
In a nutshell, this set is squarely aimed at players new to Confrontation
- in fact, I think it's squarely aimed at people who are new to
gaming, full stop, although I'm not including an assessment of
the rules in that comment. If you were to ask me if Rackham have
produced a game that is going to appeal to newcomers to the hobby,
I'd have to say yes. Bearing in mind that AT43 was the came 4th
in the list of top selling miniatures games for 2007 you'd also
have to say there's a precedent that justifies the approach being
taken here.
So where does that leave new players? Well, the set is good value
- if you aren't too bothered about the missing background in the
book, and you're a Griffin or Wolfen player, then this is likely
to be of interest to you. Outside of that, you may want to wait
for the 'full' rulebook to come out - bearing in mind that the
basic rules and lists for every faction are available for download
on the Rackham site.
