Bryan Ansell is a British role-playing and war game designer. In 1985, he became
managing director
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
Games Workshop, and bought Games Workshop from
Steve Jackson and
Ian Livingstone
Sir Ian Livingstone (born 29 December 1949) is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, ''Fighting Fantasy'', and the author of many books within that s ...
.
[Vector Magazine: Freedom in an Owned World](_blank)
Education
Ansell attended Nottingham Boys High School and People's College.
Career
Bryan Ansell was the founder of and designer for
Asgard Miniatures
Asgard Miniatures was a company that produced metal miniature figures beginning in the 1970s.
History
Asgard Miniatures was founded by Bryan Ansell, Steven Fitzwater and Paul Sulley in 1976 in Nottingham. Ansell was an experienced sculptor, havi ...
.
He had also run a fanzine entitled ''Trollcrusher''. In 1979,
Games Workshop partnered with Ansell to found the company
Citadel Miniatures
Citadel Miniatures Limited is a company which produces metal, resin and plastic miniature figures for tabletop wargames such as ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''.
In the past Citadel Miniatures was a separate company but i ...
.
Ansell designed ''
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was publishe ...
'' (1983) with
Rick Priestley
Rick Priestley (born 29 March 1959) is a British game designerSlingshot, No279, Nov 2011, p1 and author mainly known as the creator of ''Warhammer'' miniature wargame.
Career
Rick Priestley, with Bryan Ansell and Richard Halliwell, designed t ...
and
Richard Halliwell.
In 1985, Ansell became the managing director of Games Workshop.
Along with Rick Priestley,
Alan and Michael Perry, Richard Halliwell,
John Blanche
John Blanche is a British fantasy and science fiction illustrator and modeler who worked on Games Workshop's ''White Dwarf'' magazine, ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'', ''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' and ''Warhammer 40,000'' games and was the art ...
, Jervis Johnson, and Alan Merrett, Ansell was responsible for the ''Warhammer'' (later ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'') boom of the mid-to-late 1980s.
The contents page of ''
White Dwarf
A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...
'' #77 (May 1986) contained a coded message by the then editor
Ian Marsh, who made the description of each item spell out "S O D O F F B R Y A N A N S E L L".
This was a protest against the changes Ansell had demanded of the magazine.
Ansell initiated a management buyout of the company in December 1991, refocusing Games Workshop on its most lucrative lines; the ''
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was publishe ...
'' (WFB) and ''
Warhammer 40,000
''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...
'' (WH40k)
miniature wargames
A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to:
* Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting
* Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture
* Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or proble ...
.
He later left
Games Workshop to Tom Kirby, concentrating on Wargames Foundry, a company which sells historical miniatures. These miniatures were originally sculpted by the Perry Twins for Citadel Miniatures, but were no longer sold as part of the Games Workshop fantasy ranges. Ansell took a number of figure molds used for historical and fantasy figures under Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop, and they have become part of the Wargames Foundry range. Wargames Foundry continues to sell a range of metal figures for historical,
sci-fi
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...
and fantasy war gaming.
Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop
Bryan Ansell founded Citadel miniatures in 1978 to produce and manufacture 25mm scale historical and fantasy miniatures and games to be sold by Games Workshop. By 1982–83 Games Workshop was depending on sales of Citadel miniatures and games to survive. Around this time Bryan bought out all of Steve Jackson's and Ian Livingstone's shares in Games Workshop and absorbed Games Workshop into Citadel. All the Games Workshop operations (including White Dwarf) were moved from London to the Newark / Nottingham area to become part of Citadel with very few of the original Games Workshop staff staying on. Steve and Ian went off to live in Spain for a while. The company expanded rapidly and in 1991 Bryan Ansell sold his shares to Tom Kirby to concentrate on building houses and having children, but retained the entire Games Workshop collection of painted miniatures and artwork as well as rights and moulds for many of the ranges of miniatures which he now sells through his company Wargames Foundry.
Guernsey
After selling his shares in Games Workshop Bryan moved to Guernsey and founded Guernsey Foundry in 1991 to produce large ranges of Old West, Seven Years' War and Darkest Africa figures.
Wargames Foundry
Wargames Foundry (originally Bryan Ansell Miniatures Limited) was founded in 1983 as a retirement job for Bryan Ansell's father, Clifford Ansell who had careers as a mining engineer specialising in dust suppression, in the Royal Navy and as a maths teacher. Wargames Foundry was up and running very quickly, originally selling ranges of historical miniatures that had been discontinued by Citadel. The Citadel/Games Workshop sculptors Michael and Alan Perry were also keen to make historical miniatures for Foundry in their spare time and continued to make more historical figures for Foundry. Rights, moulds and master castings continued to be transferred to Foundry until Bryan sold his shares in Games Workshop in 1991.
Foundry Miniatures Limited
Around 2000, Bryan Ansell moved back to Newark, merged Wargames Foundry and Guernsey Foundry together and took over the running of the company to produce the largest range of historical and fantasy miniatures in the world until he retired in 2005.
Ansell's decision to relocate Games Workshop to Nottingham in the 1980s led the area to become the centre of the British wargames industry, known as the
lead belt
The Southeast Missouri Lead District, commonly called the Lead Belt, is a lead mining district in the southeastern part of Missouri. Counties in the Lead Belt include Saint Francois, Crawford, Dent, Iron, Madison, Reynolds, and Washingt ...
.
Contributions
*
Laserburn
''Laserburn'' is a set of wargaming rules written by Bryan Ansell in 1980. Written for use with 15mm sci-fi figures, but also playable with 25mm figures, the ''Laserburn'' set of rules, published by Tabletop Games, is set in a universe where man ...
(1980) Sci-fi tabletop rules
*
Imperial Commander
''Imperial Commander'' is a 15mm science fiction war game, based on the range of metal ''Laserburn'' miniatures available from Tabletop Games. Written by Richard Halliwell and Bryan Ansell in 1981, the game still has a small but enthusiastic fo ...
(1981) expanded rules and background material for Laserburn, an influence on
Warhammer 40,000
''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...
*''
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was publishe ...
'' (1983) Author
*''
Forces of Fantasy ''Forces of Fantasy'' is a 1984 game supplement for '' Warhammer'' published by Games Workshop.
Contents
''Forces of Fantasy'' is a set of three volumes of material to expand the ''Warhammer'' system, and corrects errors found in the original game ...
'' for
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley; it was publishe ...
(1983)
*''
Statue of the Sorcerer'', The (Call of Cthulhu) (1986)
Chaosium
Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...
*''
Vanishing Conjurer'', The (Call of Cthulhu) (1986)
*
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
''Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay'' or ''Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play'' (abbreviated to ''WFRP'' or ''WHFRP'') is a role-playing game set in the '' Warhammer Fantasy'' setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensees.
The first edition of '' ...
(1986) Games Workshop Additional Material
*''
Green and Pleasant Land
"And did those feet in ancient time" is a poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic '' Milton: A Poem in Two Books'', one of a collection of writings known as the Prophetic Books. The date of 1804 on the title page is probably when the ...
'' supplement to
Call of Cthulhu for adventuring in the British Isles (1987) published by Games Workshop Managing Director
*
Titan Legions
Epic is a tabletop wargame set in the fictional ''Warhammer 40,000'' universe. Whereas ''Warhammer 40,000'' involves small battles between forces of a few squads of troops and two or three vehicles, Epic features battles between armies consisting ...
(1994)
*''Street Violence'' (2003)
*''Rules With No Name'' Bryan Ansell, Editor Keith Pinfold, Foundry Books, 2009,
* ''Foundry Miniatures Painting & Modeling Guide'', Kevin Dallimore, Bryan Ansell, Foundry Books, 2006,
References
External links
Entry at Board Game GeekThe brief History of Foundry Miniatures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansell, Bryan
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Board game designers
Games Workshop