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5. Arian Camilleri's Shudderblind website mostly consists of his efforts in portraiture photography. His series of photos featuring a miniature skeleton is captivating. They're both comic and tragic, making the little guy the Hamlet of the miniature form. Standing, lying down or in a pile of ash, the skeletal hero is almost too human to bear. There's something about the loneliness of the skeleton's plight that's more hopeless-feeling than three of the four Saw sequels.

4. Erik Deutscher's Animal Instinct Studios uses Star Wars and other scifi elements to create sprawling scenes with insane amounts of detail. His talent for photography brings the whole thing to life. Check out this awsome fight between a bunch of stormtroopers and rebels in a forest setting:

3. This diorama, built to advertise Halo 3, stands 12 feet tall and is peopled with 8 to 19-inch hand-crafted figures. Sure, it was made for a marketing campaign, but hey, that was one hell of a campaign. And any scene that ranges 12 feet high has to be enough to grab your attention.

2. Lego miniaturist Andrew Lee is doing plenty of exciting work with the materials you played with as a child, featuring robots made out of Lego and mechas that are worth taking a long look at. He did some of his best work with the machinery from The Matrix, putting more consistency into his designs than the Wachowskis did into the last two films.

1. Unlike most of our other miniaturists, Greg Easton's talents are less on the technical side, and more on the conceptual tip. Based in Cranston, Rhode Island, Easton has a talent for using off-the-shelf figurines to create something captivating and amusing, as in this Hellboy series.

The Lovecraft-inspired Lords of Cthul will be a tricky faction to manage, as their big beasties don't deal the raw damage that the other kaiju are capable of. They also need to manage their non-giant minions better, since they can fuel themselves with the lifeforce of the hapless cultists and minor demons.

Meat Slaves are basically walking incubators for other (nastier) monsters, while Task Masters (pictured) use telekinesis to chuck friends and foes across the game board. It looks like Monsterpocalypse won't be based around predictable 1-on-1 monster battles, but will instead make a combined arms tactical approach crucial for victory. If only they could get the license to make a Cloverfield unit. Images by: Privateer Press.

Lords of Cthul. [MonsterInsider]

Speaking as someone who has personally fought a Mechwarrior battle over a reactor whose cooling tower looked suspiciously like an empty bottle of Coke, the Reactor set (pictured) is the ideal target for your assault lance to obliterate. The City Block and Manufacturing Facility sets will also see heavy combat, while the Wilderness set adds a touch of color. Each piece is cast in resin and fully painted and comes with a unique Battlemech. If cotton ball smoke bombs aren't cutting it anymore, Gail Force Nine also has laser-cut plastic smoke and fire markers. They have licensed products for a few other sci-fi miniatures games as well, including AT-43 and Warmachine. Image by: Gail Force Nine.

Last week we talked about five of our favorite sci-fi miniatures games, and Seth L was kind enough to point us to a game not on our list. Infinity, by Spanish publisher Corvus Belli, has been out for a few years and is steadily gaining fans among tabletop warlords. The miniatures tend to have a distinct anime feel, while the game's evolving backstory borrows a few elements from Battletech. The rules are based around D20 rolls and have several cool, innovative mechanics, such as the ability for certain units to "hack" the electronics of armored or robotic opponents, shutting them down. You can read through the quick start rules here, and there are tons of images of miniatures (which do not come prepainted) as well as the full rulebook in PDF at the official site.

And just in case you thought I was joking about the nun in a thong:

Photos by: Corvus Belli.

Car Wars, Steve Jackson Games. Yes, the rules are flawed. It can take two hours to play through two minutes of action. And the "miniatures" were really 2D paper cars. But you can't beat the concept: Road Warrior style running battles between heavily armed and armored cars and trucks. If you've ever gone to a car dealership and asked which options package includes "Autocannon," this is the game for you. Photo by: Steve Jackson Games.

Star Wars Miniatures, Wizards of the Coast. Another game where the concept outshines the rules themselves, which were shoehorned into the Star Wars setting from Wizards' D&D miniatures game. They aren't bad rules, just a little dry. But anything that allows you to recreate the Battle of Hoth is a sure winner. Bonus: you can own your own Stormtrooper army. Photo by yowzer.

Heroclix, Wizkids. If you're looking for a comic book themed miniatures game, Heroclix is pretty much your only option. Luckily, it's a great game. You can choose between both Marvel and DC universes (or mix and match), and unless your tastes run to the impossibly obscure, a version of your favorite character already exists. Heroclix is a quick-playing game that captures the action of a good comic book fight scene.

Warhammer 40,000, Games Workshop. I'm going to confess that I've never played Warhammer 40K, so I can't speak to the rules. The minis are gorgeously sculpted, and the game's near ubiquity means that it will never be hard to find an opponent. Line up your Space Marines against your buddy's Tyranids and make your own "What if Earth waged all-out war against the aliens from Aliens?" scenario. Photo by: Games Workshop.

BattleTech/Mechwarrior, FASA/Wizkids. Whichever flavor you prefer, this classic game of warring giant robots is the godfather of sci-fi minis games. Old-school BattleTech featured metal minis you painted yourself, an intricate and detailed combat system, and the occasional hour-long turn. Bolstered by a rich backstory of galactic politics and conquest, the franchise was revitalized when Wizkids released a clix version. The larger-scale, prepainted miniatures negate the need for paperwork, and the game itself presents a compelling version of combined arms sci-fi warfare.

Top photo by: Catalyst Game Lab.