Conan the Barbarian is Coming to Your Tabletop

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure! 

It’s good news for fans of Conan the Barbarian as we have two snippets of news relating to the hero of Cimmeria and the world of Hyboria.

Conan: Hyborian Quests

First off is the latest sculpts from Conan: Hyborian Quests have been shown off at Monolith’s Facebook page. This miniature and board game hybrid will have players teaming up and taking a small squad of Hyborian heroes, including Conan of course, against a single player taking control of picts, skeleton warriors or necromancers. Each game is scenario driven and will play over a board piece representing pict villages, underground temples and pirate ships.

As if a Conan miniatures game wasn’t enough to get you sharpening your axe and oiling your loincloth it should also be pointed out that this game is being designed by Frédéric Henry and Antoine Bauza, Frédéric having designed games such as The Adventurers and Timeline and Antoine is the main man behind Ghost Stories and 7 Wonders.

On the surface this new game sounds very similar in style to Twisted which I mention a few months ago and with both planning on hitting Kickstarter around the same time it will be interesting to see which comes out on top. However Conan trick up its sleeve is rather innovative stamina management system that plays more like a euro-style worker placement than your typical dice and miniatures affair.

Conan: Hyborian Quests is due to hit Kickstarter at the beginning of 2015 and we’ll keep you posted of any developments.

Age of Conan

The other big news in the Hyborian Age is that Ares Games have signed up to republish and expand the Age of Conan Strategy Board Game. Previously published by Fantasy Flight Games, Age of Conan has players vying for control of the four kingdoms of the Hyborian age.

The game will be relaunched with a Kickstarter project to fund the reprinting of the new version and for the first expansion, Adventures in Hyboria. In addition the stretch goals will unlock further additions to the game such as unique sorcery decks for each faction and miniatures to replace spy tokens.

I’m rather excited to see Age of Conan coming back; I’m a bit of a fan of all the movies and the original books. I’m a bit worried that Ares feels the need to go to Kickstarter a known quantity such as this but I suppose that this is the way the industry as a whole is heading. However, I must be the only one with this issues because Age of Conan funded in a matter of hours!