Confrontation (game)
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Confrontation was a tabletop wargame serialised in White Dwarf Magazine in the early 1990s. The game was never released outside of White Dwarf, but was re-born as Necromunda several years later.
History
Confrontation was published as a series of White Dwarf articles containing a mix of rules and background information on the Hive World of Necromunda and the various types of gang that inhabit it.
- White Dwarf 130: Introduction; background to the planet and hives
- White Dwarf 131: Necromunda Gangs; background to the hive gangs
- White Dwarf 132: Creating a Gang; background and rules for creating a gang including generating equipment, a stash and skills, with a short story
- White Dwarf 137: Combat Rules (first half); game rules for characters, group coherency, game sequence, turns phase, actions, visibility, firing and rules for trading equipment
- White Dwarf 138: Combat Rules (second half); game rules for hand-to-hand combat, hit locations, damage and injuries
- White Dwarf 142: Weapons; rules for weapons
Differences with Necromunda
Although Confrontation shared a similar game-system and rules with the later Necromunda, there were many noticeable differences.
Gangs
Confrontation had a less rigid composition of gangs, concentrating more on the type of gang rather than their specific location or allegiance, including:
- Clan Gangs - the most common type of gang, close-knit families protecting their territory
- Brat Gangs - the youth of rich noble households, they dress flamboyantly and are armed with exotic weaponry
- Tech Gangs - allied to the various manufacturing Clans they often have access to advanced weapons and wargear
- Scavvy Gangs - Inhabitants of derelict factories and shanty towns, they have to loot, trade or steal their equipment
- Nomad Gangs - bands who wander the Ash Wastes, only returning to the Hives occasionally
- Undercity Gangs - independent and ruthless scum that fall outside the clan system
- Mutant Gangs - persecuted and feared mutants driven together in the most polluted depths of the undercities
- Psyker Gangs - groups of rogue psykers banding together for their mutual protection
- Venators - official bounty hunters with specialist equipment
Weapons
Most of the weapons for Confrontation were taken from Rogue Trader, and remained in the Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition where they were included in Necromunda. The following weapons didn't make it however:
- Combi-weapons
- Conversion beam projectors
- D-Cannons
- Graviton guns
- Grenades: Anti-plant, Blind, Haywire, Knock-out gas, Rad, Stasis, Stumm gas, Tanglefoot, Toxin gas, Virus and Votex grenades (only Psyk-out grenades were specifically excluded from Confrontation as especially rare, and an explanation was given that to get them you would normally need to kill or capture an Inquisitor; only Frag, Krak, Scare gas, Choke gas, Hallucinogen gas, Plasma, Photon - called Photon Flash Flares - Smoke grenades and Melta bombs were included in Necromunda)
- Handbows (later included in Outlanders)
- Missiles: Anti-plant, Blind, Choke, Hallucinogen, Haywire, Knock-out gas, Melta-bomb, Photon, Plasma, Rad, Scare gas, Smoke, Stasis, Stumm gas, Tanglefoot, Toxin gas, Virus and Vortex missiles (only Frag and Super Krak missiles were included in Necromunda)
- Multi-lasers (rules for Rapiers were later published in Necromunda Magazine 1)
- Multi-meltas (though Meltaguns were included in both games)
- Muzzle-blade bayonets
- Needler chemicals (Needle pistols and sniper rifles were included in both games, but only Confrontation had rules for specific Neuro-toxin, Sedative and Intoxicant chemicals)
- Shuriken pistols
- Shuriken catapults
- Shuriken cannons
- Slug-thrower ammunition (Flechette, Explosive and Armour-piercing rounds were not included in Necromunda, though Dumdums were for Stub guns, and shotguns could have Solid slug, Scatter shot, Man stopper, Hot shot and Bolt shells)
- Heavy webbers (though Web pistols were included in both games)
Knives could be also thrown in Confrontation and armour was treated more individually with helmets, body armour, coifs, shields (and Power shields), specific parts of power armour and even complete Terminator armour.
Sources
- White Dwarf 130 (UK), pp. 10-25
- White Dwarf 131 (UK), pp. 64-73
- White Dwarf 132 (UK), pp. 23-33
- White Dwarf 137 (UK), front cover; pp. 57-79
- White Dwarf 138 (UK), pp. 59-72
- White Dwarf 142 (UK), pp. 60-74