The Confrontation Saga
Chronology of the license
Confrontation is a fantasy miniatures tactical wargame where fighters are represented by 28mm metal (or plastic) figurines and cards. To make it simple, miniatures are slightly bigger than the Games Workshop or The Foundry ones. The game takes place in Aarklash, a fantasy middle age world where knights, wizards, priest and barbarian s fight among each other, likewise fantastic creatures such as Wolfens, elves, goblins and un-deads. The whole world is at war and each part is fighting for achieving the supremacy of the continent. The rules are designed to be versatile and suitable to manage battles between either a handful of fighters or a several tens of heroes. The official rule set reached the fourth edition. The first edition was only published in French, German and Italian, while from the second it was released in French, German, Italian, English and Spanish. Rackham closed in 2010, but several other companies decided to pursue the Confrontation line of products. Legacy Miniatures started to revive Confrontation in 2011, CoolMiniOrNot announced through the magazine Ravage the intention of creating a new Confrontation edition after the third edition rule set, however gave up. Then, the Italian community designed a new rule set, creating Confrontation Evo (Cevo).
You can find here on ConfrontationPills all the materials for play Confrontation with the Confrontation Evo ruleset and the other materials you could find on the old website.
In 2019 SANS-DETOUR launched on Kickstarter a revamp of the Confrontation 3.5 version, bucking 403.575 €… but the project never had the light. Wasting the money of more than 2.300 buckers (where money went is unknow), it looks like there are still ongoing legal processes about this failed project. There was silent period and but during the Covid breakdown (2020-2022) the fanmade projects bloomed again. There was a smartphone application called Club, a new Wiki, a Steam TabletopSymulator system for play online and Evo reborn. Considering all this love and the born of a Discord community, Pills made this new website in the hope to support, unite and collaborate with all the projects currently alive. Confrontationpills.altervista.org is basically changing URL in ConfrontationPills.com.
The setting
For many years, the blood of the people of Aarklash has been spread in every corner of the continent. From the scorched lands in the east to the vast forests of the west. It is well known that these skirmishes are just the prelude to a far greater war, which is due to begin soon. The war lords are preparing for the final confrontation. Be it fear or impatience, all people are sharpening their weapons and turning their souls to their gods. How many fake prophets and wrong oracles already announced this age so far? How many rumors spread, from the dirtiest alleys to the courts of the kings? What if the gods renounced to this world? Have they lost their faith in it? Hope is a cruel and useless feeling. Unfortunately for hope, the time has come and none can escape the destiny which has been designed for them since the beginning of times. The Rag’narok has just started! It is up to you to write the next chapter of the history of a land at the end of an age…
A world at war. In an age when there was no time yet… The Age of Gods. Where the hods roamed the land unchallenged. Their empires knew no limit and extended all over the world, born from the magic energies of Creation. There came the discord and the deities moved war to each other, looking for supremacy. Because of this clash, the gods were brutally deposed and banished in the farthest corners of the elemental realms. The time has passed, forcing its curse on those who tried to return to Aarklash. Now, the Age of the Gods has finished. However, it is not easy to get rid of such powerful forces. After thousands of years of exile, the gods keeps on war faring though their champions – the Incarnates- and their most trusted allies. The balance is once more in danger. The ancient curse is disappearing. The darkness grasp the heart of the braves and the gods are ready to guide them towards their armies. The New Age has come.
A Continent lost in darkness. Not far from the center of the creation there is a Realm so much craved: Aarklash. From there, many magic portals, or gates, can be opened to travel to every Realm, including those where the gods have been imprisoned. The future of the Creation is bound to the destiny of this unique world. The history of the continent was written by the winners of the great old wars. The glory and the prestige of the old ages conquerors hide many fratricide wars and terrible lies. The nations of Aarklash were created on pain, blood and betrayal. Some nations cannot resist the strain of the time passing; from their ashes, new empires were born, bigger, stronger and younger, but still greedily attached to the temptations of power. The desire for vengeance and domination still lives in the memory of sovereigns of this land tainted with blood.
Incarnates at War. Incarnates are exceptional fighters that were chosen by the gods. The impossible can be achieved: they are the heroes of Rag’narok. They wield many gifts, made drunk by the power of their elixirs, these champions can repel entire regiments with brave counter attacks. Their incredible martial deeds, bolstered by godly rage, harvest lives with a hand that no mortal can even scratch. Their outstanding charisma gather companions to help their people and to win legendary battles.
Editions of the wargame
First Edition
Confrontation can be played with the basic rules alone, but there are several supplements available. These describe optional rules and multiply the tactical options allowed. All are packed free in the appropriate blisters, just like the basic rules.
Incantation introduces powerful Wizards to the game. In this supplement a new characteristic appears: Mental Strength. Mental Strength is the essential element used to call upon the power of Magic. Wizards can use that power to change the course of battle: project fire balls, raise the dead and even invoke powerful spirits. Every blister that contains a Wizard includes a free Incantation Rules Booklet as well as cards that describe magic items and special spells particular to each. A small plate of counters representing ‘Mana’, the very essence of Magic, is also included. ‘Grimoires,’ packs of 15 additional spell cards, are available separately.
Incarnation allows players to individualize their game characters. Special ‘Adventurer’ figures are furnished with the Incarnation Rules Booklet which details how they progress in experience. The character acquires power, fame, new abilities and magic objects as he accomplishes quests. Two new types of cards are packed in the Adventurer blisters: Scenarios and Experience Cards. Each Adventurer is furnished with a scenario specially written for him. Scenarios card packs are also available separately. Many scenarios based on the official characters of the range are available free on the Confrontation web site (in French). ‘Travel Journals,’ packs of cards for treasures, rare objects or magic artifacts, are available to further customize scenarios.
Second Edition
Divination addresses the gods themselves and their servants, the faithful Priests that represent them on the battlefields. The magic of the Priests is powerful but variable, for it depends on the vagaries of the fickle gods. It also tends to be more defensive in nature than Wizards’ magic. The blisters of the Priests figures are packaged with the Divination Rules Booklet and several ‘Miracle’ cards to call upon the aid of the divine powers. The ‘Litanies’ card packs group together additional miracle cards.
Fortification adds in war machines such as cannon, ballista, and chariots. Some of the existing figures, such as the Dwarf Steam Cannon are reclassified to war machines.
Third Edition
The third edition of Confrontation was issued as both basic rules, included in miniature blisters, and as a hardback bound advanced rules. The basic rules described combat and movement, but did not explain abilities or magic. The advanced rules included all rules from the second edition with some refinements in play. One notable aspect of the third edition was its obsolescence of the adventure, spell, and miracle card packs. The reworked magic rules in the third edition significantly reduced the number of available spells by eliminating the previously released spell books. The book also includes an extensive section covering the changes to the existing model line and associated cards.
The unbalancing army cards were removed in this edition. Also removed was the declarable target number while making attack die rolls. Separate shooting and magic phases were also done away with. Now the round is based on only 4 phases with shooting taking place in the activation and magic being used throughout the round dictated by card text.
An on-line only revision was published within a year of the publication of the third edition. Called “Confrontation 3.5”, this revision changed some abilities, reworked the line of sight rules, and changed the way spells and miracles were added to a force by removing points costs from them. This update also significantly changed the balance of ranged units by giving them the abilities “Bull’s eye” and “Assault fire” and giving units that already had those abilities “cookies” to improve them.
Dogs of War was the only supplement for Confrontation, third edition.
Fourth Edition
The fourth edition of Confrontation was named “Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok”. This edition made major changes to the rules, including changing the game scope from single-model skirmish to small unit battle. As with second edition, Confrontation: Age of Ragnarok has re-issued the game cards to reflect the new rules and statistics.
Evo Edition
As Rackham left the scene, Italian players worked on their own to autonomously evolve the rule set: this led to the creation of two new game versions known as C4 (2011) and Evo (former “C5”, started 2013, completed 2016). The game has been drastically modernized, simplified and balanced, transforming it into an “easy-to-learn hard-to-master” game offering infinite opportunities. All these changes, including new characters, abilities and game missions have been refined after thousands of games done by the best Italian players. You can officially download the Confrontation Evo rule sets here on ConfrontationPills, because the Cevo Staff and Cpills are partners. Join on Discord if you want meet the Cevo staff and discuss the rules.
Where to buy the miniatures
Each player needs to purchase several miniatures which are going to represent their forces. These miniatures were sold in blisters, each of containing one or more metal or plastic figurines, one or more reference cards and a few game accessories (tokens etc). A few six sided dices are needed as well, a meter, and a wide table with appropriate scenarios. As the manufacturer has disappeared (Rackham), finding the miniatures may not be very easy. Besides Ebay (which often has very expensive prices and it’s common used by someone for speculate on prices, so we don’t advice it at all) these are the main alternatives:
- Discord. We have our discord channel, there are also many other channels managed by players and communities around the world, but you can buy/sell your miniatures and find really nice deals!
- Facebook. There are many pages dedicated to confrontation, where people list their stuff.
- Cadwallon. This e-commerce offers new unofficial recasts (we don’t know if they pay the license) of the miniatures and sometimes it might be needed to pay import taxes (it’s from outside the UE). But they ship worldwide!
Supplements
Dogs of War
“Dogs of War” was the supplement to Confrontation, third edition. It provides campaign rules that allow players to create small warbands that gain experience and improve as they are fielded in the games. These personalized warbands can be played in games of Confrontation or Rag’Narok, though they are not sanctioned for official tournaments.
In addition, Dogs of War includes expanded terrain rules, rules for Nexi, scenario rules, and rules for very large models, called Titans. Dogs of War is not suitable for earlier editions of the game.
Cry Havoc!
“Cry Havoc!”, originally offered as a quarterly magazine, is available six times a year and is published by Rackham that includes information about its different games. The publication includes two magazines and new reference cards. The larger magazine has general articles on painting and modeling, as well as features on the games, tactics articles, battle reports, and background information on the world of Aarklash. The second magazine consists of play aids, variant rules, and scenarios. The reference cards supplement and augment the articles in the two magazines. These cards are not available separately.
Other related games
Videogames
Confrontation Videogames
There are 2 videogames available on Steam and released by Cyanide.
- Aarklash: Legacy (2012) it’s an action role playing game for PC, you will lead a Griffin Elite Squad in missions through the territory of the fearsome Scorpion creatures, the terrible Wolfen packs, or the brutal Bran-Ô-Kor Orcs.
- Dogs of War Online (2014) is a multiplayer tactical game.
Cadwallon:City of Thieves
Rag’Narok
Hybrid
Guilds of Cadwallon
Cadwallon
Arcana
Facebook Card game