The new WARMACHINE: MKIV rolls everything from WARMACHINE’s parallel brand, HORDES, into a single rules set. While HORDES is no longer maintained as a separate brand, warbeasts and warlocks are still battling over the Iron Kingdoms, and the Brineblood Marauders marks the first all-new warlock-led army to storm the tabletop.

From their hidden fortress seaport, the Brineblood Marauders hound the coast of Immoren, from the Gulf of Cygnar to the Windless Wastes. As merciless as they are merry, these Trollkin pirates reave in equal parts, riches and revenge, reparations for the injustices the nations of men have inflicted on troll-kind. But there are worse horrors than pirates claiming dominance of the high seas, and the Brineblood Marauders have found their kind once again caught between the Iron Kingdoms and the terrifying forces that seek their annihilation.

Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an age of swords and sorcery. An age of war. An age of blood and thunder.

An age of…monsters!

Conan: Rise of Monsters is an epic fantasy miniature wargame with pre-painted plastic figures. It was created and designed by four veteran designers of the table-top industry, and lavishly illustrated by some of the industry’s top artists such as Victor Moreno and Adrian Smith.

Conan: Rise of Monsters draws on Robert E Howard’s original Conan stories as well as the Marvel and Dark Horse Comics adaptations to tell a brand new story at the zenith of King Conan’s reign.

Among other things, I’m a gamer. One of my favorite aspects of gaming is painting miniatures. Whether it be an army of Dwarves or Goblins for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, or the Austrian 18th Regiment of infantry from the 1809 Campaign against Napoleon, painting miniatures is sub-culture of gaming I particularly enjoy.

It’s difficult to imagine the miniatures world without in it, yet this company has been in existence for less than seven years. With their breakout hit Monsterpocalypse and their solid Warmachine and Hordes skirmish-level combat lines, Privateer Press is well-situated to be a force in the industry for years to come.

The Warmachine and Hordes product lines mesh well with dark fantasy, as they have a number of factions tailor-made for people of such inclinations. A perfect example is the Gorax, a light warbeast from the Circle Orboros faction in Hordes. The Gorax, looking very troll-like – or even like an Oni from Oriental mythology – strains at the chain that holds him to a large boulder. The pose is interesting and well-executed, and the figure’s rippling musculature and tufts of scraggly hair combine to give this model a ton of character. At a $17 MSRP, this model is a smidge pricey, but a first-class sculpt never the less.