"Confrontation AoR: are these balanced?" Topic

I found a GREAT deal on the starter set, it was only 26$ with shipping, so I figured what the heck. I read the rules online and realized that one unit a side would probably get boring fairly quickly, so I looked around online and found a good deal on Griffin and Wolfen units. I am thinking that playing with a 3000+ banner on both sides will probably be more fun than 400 or so.
So my initial two ideas for armies are as follows:
Griffin:
11 Spearmen,cleric,musician,standard bearer,+Abel
8 Fusiliers
5 Redemption Riders,musician,standard bearer,+Thurbard mounted
9 Templars,musician,standard bearer,chaplain,+Severian

and Wolfen:
4 Hunters +Serethis
7 Fangs,rune guardian,grave guardian,repentant+Onyx
3 Trackers
6 Great Fangs,rune guardian,grave guardian,repentant+ Yanrylh
I know he isn't supposed to be attached to great fangs, but until the release a unit box for bloodthirsty predators, I am just going to go with this or use the great fangs as proxies for the predators.

I managed to find all of this for 140$ plus what I spent on the box. Usually you pay more than that for ONE unpainted and unassembled army!:D I know it is a good deal, but how will these units play against each other? I don't want to actually buy them until I get some input from people who have already played.
Also, has anyone played this on a real terrain table? I sold a friend in my gaming group a semi-modular terrain board for Warhammer fantasy that I think might work well if we throw a few Hirst Arts towers and whatnot on it. It is a 4x4. Here is a link to some pics
link
I think flat glossy play mats suck, personally. I do like the terrain piece that comes with the box, though. However, does playing on a larger surface change game play significantly(i.e. wolfen die before they can even make an attack)? Also, the rules seem a bit "iffy". How hard is it to figure out? Will I have to print endless reams of FAQ and errata?

Thanks for the help in advance!

>>> Also, has anyone played this on a real terrain table?

I've played the scifi (AT-43) and the 3.x Confrontation rules on a "real terrain table." To be honest, I don't like playing on "flat glossy play mats" either, and all their games play very well on a scenicked board with trees, towers, etc. Under the previous rules, Wolfen needed terrain in order to get to melee, as they were weak to shooting, and not much did shooting better than Fusiliers! And in this new version, blocking LOS means more than I feel it did under previous ones.

So, it should play well, and would certainly benefit the Wolfen army.

>>> Also, the rules seem a bit "iffy". How hard is it to figure out? Will I have to print endless reams of FAQ and errata…

It's basically comparing an Attack stat against a Defence stat, checking the difference on a simple table, then rolling a d6 in order to hit, eg, AV5 on DV5 means a 4+ to hit and then compare the Str of the attack to the Armour in order to wound. It really doesn't take long, and the one line table is easily memorized. Play is fairly fast.

Not sure there is much for errata out, but these rules are based on their AT-43 rules, which were out a while before they released this version. I believe there is a FAQ, to clarify some points, but it shouldn't be anything like the ones needed for earlier versions of Confrontation.

I can't really speak as to the balance of the forces you mention, sorry. The armies I like aren't released yet, and I haven't paid much attention to these armies under C:AoR. It seems like it should be close enough, but that's based on my general knowledge of their previous editions.

I've only played one full-size game, Griffin Temple vs Dirz Creatures, and one thing we noticed is that big scary monsters and characters can be quite squishy – my Templr commander went down in one round to an Aberration Prime, which was subsequently one-shotted by a Griffin cannon.

I quite enjoy the game, actually. It's not the same as 2nd and 3rd edition, but it's no worse, IMO.

The rules in the starter box probably ARE a bit iffy. I think the full rules are downloadable from Rackham. Just not the army books…

I thought the rules in the starter box ARE the complete rules…

I thought you could get the army books on the site? The Griffin Temple book, I think it's called. Also, I second what PzGeneral said. Thanks for all the help.

that would be a change for Rackham, since the AT-43 starter box contained only a starter set of rules.

The starter set rules are the full rules. The army books are hard copy only, there is no download option.
The printed army books do not mix well with the "get you by" pdf's though, some balance issues!

So would it be in my best interests to get the Army Books, or are the PDF's enough?

Personally, we found the game to be trash, and immediately pitched the rules. We haven't used the figures since though, which is unfortunate as they are rather nice, we are still looking for a good generic set we really like.

I thought you could get the army books on the site? The Griffin Temple book, I think it's called. Also, I second what PzGeneral said. Thanks for all the help.

Last time I checked, the downloads were as follows:

If it was for an army with no published book (i.e. everything except Lions, Grffins, Wolfen or Scorpions), the PDF is the complete army list. For those 4 armies which have a published book, the PDFs were supplements to those books, featuring the troop types not in the published book.

Unlike AT-43, the rules in the Confrontation AoR box are indeed the full rules.

The models included in the C:AoR box make for an incredibly boring game – every to-hit roll is a 4+, every to wound roll is a 5+. A bit more variety (as in the AT-43 box) would have been nice.