In the interval since the last time I played Warhammer and now, there was one miniature game that almost enticed me back into the hobby: Confrontation. Done by a (IIRC) French company called Rackham, the game sold itself on its versatile rules, supposedly easily adaptable from small skirmishes to massive Battles. More so, I was attracted by the art and design.
In around 2006 Rackham released an RPG set in the Confrontation universe. To this day it remains one of the most beautiful gamebooks I own. It is gorgeous. But, sadly that's the best I can say about it. Mine is a translation, and the quality of the translation is somewhere around that of Babalfish.com. The fluff is all readable, but the game rules are a little too unique on approach to escape unscathed. Regardless, the book has been a source of inspiration for countless games since and to this day I look at it ( in intent and presentation at least) as everything a new edition of WFRP that GW gave a damn about could be.
Anyways. Having gotten back into miniatures lately, I naturally began to wonder what was up with Confrontation. And Rackham is just gone from the face of the earth. Even Wikipedia only obliquely mentions they were liquidating assets in 2010.
So does anyone have the scoop? Suggestions of a place to get the old minis besides eBay? Have experience with the minis game or rpg? Know what's going on with the IP since Rackham folded in as of yet unexplained and mysterious circumstances?
I know there was a salvage effort or reorganization the year after they folded, and I think that soon folded, too. Not sure I know much else on that.
I think they just ran out of money, and that was that.
iirc, Cool Mini Or Not has the rights to their mini lines, and some fans are expecting a Confrontation reboot to be one of their forthcoming kickstarters.
I had a very similar experience (gorgeus book, unplayable game, I tried to use the setting with another system). I think you can get the miniatures (even some new ones) here:
http://www.aarklash-chronicles.com/index.php (http://www.aarklash-chronicles.com/index.php)
Also, the army books (both for Confrontation and AT-43) were available for download (legally) after they closed the line, but right now I cannot find the site.
In 2008 Fantasy Flight Games ended its Distribution of Rackham SA's products, which pretty much killed them.
Around a week later, 'Rackham Entertainment' was formed which bought out 'Rackham SA'. Speculation at the time was 'Rackham SA' was effectively bankrupt at that point.
In 2009, Global Technologies (the only Shareholder in Rackham Entertainment) was liquidated.
In 2010, Rackham Entertainment in turn announced their own liquidation. No announcement of the future of any of its IP has been announced since that time.
I miss Confrontation. As best I can tell here's what happened:
Confrontation was a moderately successful game line that was growing, but had two big problems.
1. An enormous number of SKUs, coupled to a skirmish system, which meant that most players only ever needed 1-2 blisters of any item. And I mean enormous number of SKUs, like Battlefront levels. It was expensive to keep it all in production, and hard for stores to carry it all.
2. They became a publicly traded company, which increased pressure to generate profits.
The solution Rackham chose was to stop producing the finest miniatures line of the time, and switch completely over to a pre-painted plastic game.
The existing customer base pretty much dropped them like a hot potato, and they were unable to bring in enough new customers to generate sufficient revenue.
Edited to add
On a personal note, I regret selling off my Dirz, Griffons, and Acherons. They've very much held onto their value, judging from Ebay, and there continues to be an underground group that plays. There's even talk of meeting up at Gencon '14 for some Confrontation 3rd edition.
Currently, Cool Mini or Not has the rights to the game, but the old grognards aren't happy with the direction of the rules reboot (i.e. it's a new game, and not a tweaking/rebalancing of the most popular ruleset).
I miss the glorious metal miniatures. Some of the finest products ever made.
Cadwallon is the most gorgeous RPG book I own, and the two "secrets" supplements are amazing. I have the French version, so I cannot judge the quality of the translation.
Quote from: Frey;689769I have the French version, so I cannot judge the quality of the translation.
Appalling, from what I remember. I won one as prize support at a Conf tournament. So glad I didn't pay for it. :(