Confrontation was a skirmish miniature game by Rackham. The company collapsed in 2010 after an unsuccessful attempt to switch their entire game away from metal miniatures to pre-painted plastics. Unfortunately they attempted to do this by stopping the current line (with the last couple of releases never making it to the US) in the hope that players would buy the new game (and new miniatures) as they slowly were released.
They didn't. Killing a game and replacing it with something completely different is a risky strategy, and if there is no way to transfer players existing models over to the new game then you don't have much of a chance at success. Top that off by not having the new game available, and taking months to come out with only two factions led to their demise.
The metal miniatures were fantastic however, and you can still see a lot of the similar style in the Wrath of Kings line today (especially house Goritisi - but then I was a wolfen player).
Last year, Sans-Detour did a kickstarter to fund bring back a huge amount of the old Rackham sculpts in plastic. (Unfortunately this has NOT been going well (five months late and counting) and the miniatures are now being done in metal and not plastic). That is if the kickstarter produces anything at all.
One bit of light in all that darkness, however, was I noticed a very distinct style in the terrain pieces that were going to be included in the Battle Set (the starter set for this) - I recognized the style of THMiniatures instantly.
So it did not surprise me when they (THMiniatures) announced they had a new set available (straight to retail - not kickstarted) - Ragnarok. This is terrain designed specifically for Confrontation, but still usable in any fantasy based miniature games. The carvings have a very distinct look, but in my experience people rarely notice those little details in their terrain (No one has EVER said, "I'm not going to play on this table because these ruins has the markings from Aarklash instead of Mantica"). In fact if is VERY common to use terrain from many different companies on your tables.
Since I already have almost everything they have done (I never bought the Hordes set, but I have nearly everything else) I jumped on this set as well!
I've reviewed their stuff several times before ( here, here, here, here, here, and here!) and have been very happy with it. All the pieces for this set are available individually, or in the larger box set (though the box is about half the size of their jungle terrain set (which I have yet to start painting)).
Once again they include a painting guide pamphlet - showing the various colors and techniques used for their miniatures. These, like all of their products, should be easy and quick to paint up, especially as they are stone ruins.
The set includes a couple of larger pieces. The Round Plaza is a larger flat piece, that would work well to indicate either difficult terrain or a specific area for a scenario.
Most of the pieces are smaller (and thus work better for skirmish games as opposed to mass combat games). If you were a fan of Confrontation you will quickly recognize the style of the runes carved into the pieces.
There are only two pieces in the set that require any assembly. Unfortunately there are no instructions. In addition, the pieces are made in such a way that they could also work separately if you choose to do so.
The first of these is the Cathedral Hall - the column is in three pieces.
I played with the column pieces a bit, to see what seemed to fit the best. The two separate pieces have a blank side, which is obviously their bottom, but otherwise it is a matter of attempting to fit them the best way. So it seemed to me that the two small cracks on the one stone matched that on the base, then match the larger crack on the top as well.
Well (of course) AFTER I glued them in place, I actually looked at a picture of the piece on-line, and I got them backward from their picture. However these are ruins, so actually either way works (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)
Each set they do has a large centerpiece, and this set is the same. The Arched Entrance isn't as big or impressive as some of their other centerpieces, but is still nice.
It has three additional pieces that go on top. Again, there is nothing to indicate how or where these should go except for the painting guide and website pictures.
One thing I have liked about all of THMiniatures pieces are the very high quality. This is the first one that I can remember having to do ANY cleanup on - the middle piece had some flash that had to be cut off the bottom and a tiny piece on the top. There appears to be a tooth that is meant to fit into the other half of the arch - it also did not fit and had to be cleaned and trimmed quite a bit.
That being said - anyone who has worked with resin at all will expect there to be some cleaning required, so having so little is still quite good, and still keeps them at the top of my list for terrain pieces.
The large arch then fits together, and then sits on the base. While I personally would have liked to have the place where it sits marked, had they done that then you would have HAD to glue the arch to it - where now it can be left off and usable on it's own if desired.
The last piece forms a bit of a window - and I feel the same way about it as I do the larger arch. I do think it fits better butted up against the larger two pieces.
My only issue with this piece is I want to use it as large height blocking terrain - but it doesn't really block line-of-site much. I'd like to see more of their pieces that were actually taller - so they truly were blocking. But that is my own pet peeve.
All in all another great set, and one that should look great once I actually get off my lazy butt and get back to painting anything! (Honestly, motivation is hard to find when you can't get any games in, and all the events you were working toward are either cancelled completely (Adepticon and War Kings) or moved back four months (Daycon and Origins) so far.
So Gencon is still three months out - hopefully it will still go on to help to give me more reasons to get back to the painting table.
Stay home, stay safe and keep gaming!
Because it is all fun and games . . .
They didn't. Killing a game and replacing it with something completely different is a risky strategy, and if there is no way to transfer players existing models over to the new game then you don't have much of a chance at success. Top that off by not having the new game available, and taking months to come out with only two factions led to their demise.
The metal miniatures were fantastic however, and you can still see a lot of the similar style in the Wrath of Kings line today (especially house Goritisi - but then I was a wolfen player).
Last year, Sans-Detour did a kickstarter to fund bring back a huge amount of the old Rackham sculpts in plastic. (Unfortunately this has NOT been going well (five months late and counting) and the miniatures are now being done in metal and not plastic). That is if the kickstarter produces anything at all.
One bit of light in all that darkness, however, was I noticed a very distinct style in the terrain pieces that were going to be included in the Battle Set (the starter set for this) - I recognized the style of THMiniatures instantly.
So it did not surprise me when they (THMiniatures) announced they had a new set available (straight to retail - not kickstarted) - Ragnarok. This is terrain designed specifically for Confrontation, but still usable in any fantasy based miniature games. The carvings have a very distinct look, but in my experience people rarely notice those little details in their terrain (No one has EVER said, "I'm not going to play on this table because these ruins has the markings from Aarklash instead of Mantica"). In fact if is VERY common to use terrain from many different companies on your tables.
Since I already have almost everything they have done (I never bought the Hordes set, but I have nearly everything else) I jumped on this set as well!
I've reviewed their stuff several times before ( here, here, here, here, here, and here!) and have been very happy with it. All the pieces for this set are available individually, or in the larger box set (though the box is about half the size of their jungle terrain set (which I have yet to start painting)).
Once again they include a painting guide pamphlet - showing the various colors and techniques used for their miniatures. These, like all of their products, should be easy and quick to paint up, especially as they are stone ruins.
The set includes a couple of larger pieces. The Round Plaza is a larger flat piece, that would work well to indicate either difficult terrain or a specific area for a scenario.
Most of the pieces are smaller (and thus work better for skirmish games as opposed to mass combat games). If you were a fan of Confrontation you will quickly recognize the style of the runes carved into the pieces.
 |
| Broken Ornamented Pillar |
 |
| Fountain |
 |
| Shattered Column |
 |
| Large Wall |
 |
| Ornamented Pillar |
 |
| Buried Column |
 |
| Sacred Stone - this pieces is ONLY available in the box set |
 |
| Wall |
The first of these is the Cathedral Hall - the column is in three pieces.
 |
| Cathedral Hall |
Well (of course) AFTER I glued them in place, I actually looked at a picture of the piece on-line, and I got them backward from their picture. However these are ruins, so actually either way works (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)
Each set they do has a large centerpiece, and this set is the same. The Arched Entrance isn't as big or impressive as some of their other centerpieces, but is still nice.
It has three additional pieces that go on top. Again, there is nothing to indicate how or where these should go except for the painting guide and website pictures.
One thing I have liked about all of THMiniatures pieces are the very high quality. This is the first one that I can remember having to do ANY cleanup on - the middle piece had some flash that had to be cut off the bottom and a tiny piece on the top. There appears to be a tooth that is meant to fit into the other half of the arch - it also did not fit and had to be cleaned and trimmed quite a bit.
That being said - anyone who has worked with resin at all will expect there to be some cleaning required, so having so little is still quite good, and still keeps them at the top of my list for terrain pieces.
The large arch then fits together, and then sits on the base. While I personally would have liked to have the place where it sits marked, had they done that then you would have HAD to glue the arch to it - where now it can be left off and usable on it's own if desired.
The last piece forms a bit of a window - and I feel the same way about it as I do the larger arch. I do think it fits better butted up against the larger two pieces.
My only issue with this piece is I want to use it as large height blocking terrain - but it doesn't really block line-of-site much. I'd like to see more of their pieces that were actually taller - so they truly were blocking. But that is my own pet peeve.
All in all another great set, and one that should look great once I actually get off my lazy butt and get back to painting anything! (Honestly, motivation is hard to find when you can't get any games in, and all the events you were working toward are either cancelled completely (Adepticon and War Kings) or moved back four months (Daycon and Origins) so far.
So Gencon is still three months out - hopefully it will still go on to help to give me more reasons to get back to the painting table.
Stay home, stay safe and keep gaming!
Because it is all fun and games . . .
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