Hybrid?

[pez5767]

Hey Gang,

I come to you vexed. I\'m a regular 40k player, I have WHFB armies I enjoy a lot. However, I can\'t seem to find a skirmish level fantasy game I really enjoy, which puts some of the heroics back in fantasy, like those good old days of D&D. So, long story longer, I\'m looking for a skirmish level fantasy game that is a lot of fun to play. I\'ve followed the Rackham line of models for some time, and like everyone else, I love the style and quality of their work. However, I\'m not sure if this is a game for me. I\'m aware that Confrontation has switched over to PPP models and I\'m not entirely sure if Hybrid has been discontinued. I\'ve poked around on-line a little bit and I find myself with the following questions for those of you who have played the games listed above:

1. What do you (who has played any of these games) think of Rackhams games?

2. Since the release of the PPP miniatures how is the game?

3. Is Hybrid any good? If so, why?

4. What is the average length of time it takes to play a game of Hybrid or Confrontation?

5. Does Confrontation still requite 10-20 models as a norm?

6. If you think Confrontation or Hybrid stink, do you know of another fantasy skirmish system I should look into?

7. Why do you think Confrontation is fun to play?

8. What will I (as a GW player) find familiar about Confrontation?

9. What will I (as a GW player) find unique and interesting about Confrontation?

I\'ve looked around a fair bit, I\'m really curious to hear first hand accounts from those who play these games or have experience with them. I know about the newb thread at the Rackham site so please only post if you want to answer with you own opinions... i.e. please don\'t just drop me a link.

Thanks a zillion!

???

 

[pez5767]

P.S. Feel free to answer any part of these questions... I\'m not necessarily looking for answers to all of it. thanks.

 

[thetang22]

1. Rackhams games in the past have been pretty fun, but require a little bit of patience to learn. The reason is that their rules translations over the years have been a little less than adequate, but if you become active in their forum community you can usually get most of your rules questions clarified. I never played C3 (except a demo once), but I have played Hybrid.

2. This is probably the one you should pay attention to the most - the new Confrontation (Age of the Ragnarok) is NOT a skirmish game, it is a moderately sized unit based game. New gamers seem to like it ok, but most veterans aren\'t happy with it because it doesn\'t offer the same sort of experience they originally came to Rackham for. As for the miniatures - if you like the hobby, you generally dislike the PPP because the models aren\'t as good as the old ones, if you don\'t like to paint you like the PPP.

3. I enjoyed playing Hybrid once I got the hang of it. It offered a pretty unique combat system. It also had a pretty good mesh of board game and tabletop wargame. Hybrid 2 is supposedly being worked on at the moment but hasn\'t been officially announced. I imagine it will go through some of the same sort of changes that C3 -> CaoR went through (simplified rules, PPP).

4. I think the average game length for either of them is supposed to be around 1-2 hours, possibly quicker if you are very familiar with the game rules.

5. C3 required on average about 8-14 models to play. CaoR will see you buying probably 20-50 models depending on the army played and the point size of the game.

6. I have recently lost about 95% of my faith in Rackham because they\'ve continued to do/release stuff that I don\'t like since the move to CaoR (I\'m more of a hobbyist before a gamer). Just about everything they are doing now is catering to the casual gamer - the type of person who doesn\'t want to paint at all and just wants to be able to open up the box of minis and go.

I\'ve recently moved to Wyrd miniatures because they seem to have pretty nice miniatures with a very unique setting and a skirmish game in the works that is looking at a release of later this year (that sounds like it going to have very unique rules too - something about playing cards instead of dice). The skirmish game is currently looking to be \'around\' 5 models per player based on the online store faction sets, but that is not official. I think what turned me on to Wyrd was that they felt like a breath of fresh air compared to everything I had been doing over the years - they seemed pretty unique in a lot of different ways.

7. ---

8. With the new Confrontation you will find it similar that you aren\'t playing a skirmish game....

9. ---

 

[pez5767]

@thetang22:
Thanks so much for the thurough response. I think I\'m going to pick up the confrontation initiation set. Some on-line retailers are offering a pretty good price on it... I might pick up Hybrid as well. I figure that would give me 4 factions to fiddle with for Confrontation 3. I\'m definitly not interested in a larger scale fantasy game since I already play warhammer fantasy battle... so it sounds like Confrontation 3 might be good fit. Thanks againg for the feedback.

 

[pez5767]

Hey Gang.
I\'m not sure if this breaks some legal boundries... but I\'m pretty sure I\'m in the clear here. I just purchased a copy of Hybrid and it\'s missing the rule book! Ack.
Since Hybrid is currently discontinued from Rackham I was wondering if anyone has a copy of the rules in PDF or something like that and would be willing to e-mail or send me a copy. Really bumbed to finally find the set and not have rules to play with.

any help or info would be appreciated. I saw the FAQ version of the rules on the Rackham site, but they are pretty skeletal without the orignals for reference.
thanks.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Well, my copy of Hybrid was missing a set of cards. I used the customer service form on the Rackham website and they did eventually send me the correct cards. Took a little time and poking, but they were moving office for at least part of the time that I was waiting. It\'s worth a try? Edit: For time reference, this happened about two months ago, and I got my new cards at the beginning of this month.

Also, if you want I can email you the \"Hybrid Support Pack\", which heps clarify some of the more obscure rules, and has handy reference sheets for various bits and bobs.

 

[pez5767]

@amazon:

Thanks for the offer. I\'d love any rules info I can get. I\'ll PM you my e-mail address. I\'ll contact Rackhams customer service now. thanks.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Okey doke!

 

[pez5767]

Anyone else have suggestions on how to get a Hybrid Rulebook?

@Amazon: You mention that it took a little time and poking on your part to get the cards from Rackham. What kind of \'poking\' did you do? I already sent them an e-mail... can I do any more?


???

 

[Sjakkie]

There are some people working on more streamlined English rules at the en-forum.rackham.fr at http://en-forum.confrontation.fr/viewforum.php?f=26&sid=8f5495804d2fa258566f76b40ac9ef2d
I haven\'t read all of it yet, but these might be quite playable.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Originally posted by pez5767
Anyone else have suggestions on how to get a Hybrid Rulebook?

@Amazon: You mention that it took a little time and poking on your part to get the cards from Rackham. What kind of \'poking\' did you do? I already sent them an e-mail... can I do any more?


???

I sent them one polite email, then one annoyed one when I hadn\'t heard anything for ages. I don\'t know if they have a phone number you could try?

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Okay I didn\'t find the rules, but I did find this rules summary... not sure if it would be clear enough for play without the main book:

http://files.boardgamegeek.com/geekfile_view.php?fileid=18994

 

[pez5767]

UPDATE!

Thanks to all of you who have given me a suggestion or leads on getting the rules. A lot of great resources there even once I get the rules.
I got a confirmation e-mail from Rackham today and they are sending me a copy of the rules. Not too bad. Less than a week turnaround. Thanks again one and all!

Does anyone have an Aberation Prime model they could part with???
???

 

[thetang22]

Just so you know - I read through the rules summary on the website, and having the official rulebook myself I must say that you don\'t even need the official rulebook if my memory serves me correctly.

All the official rulebook does it make most stuff confusing. That\'s why the Rackham English forums made the rules summary. It makes the rules more understandable than the actual rulebook, and I think they include the rules additions from Nemesis (not completely positive on that though).

 

[LostmyMinis]

Hey guys, I used to play Hybrid, a friend and I bought Hybrid and then the Nemesis box set and it was awesome. I spent hours painting my mini\'s, I was the good guys Senechal and company, and my friend was the bad guys. And then my friend lost ALL our minis, game board pieces, cards and everything. It was one of the worst things that has ever happened to me.