Bryan Ansell

Bryan Ansell is a British role-playing and war game designer. Around 1982-1983, he became Managing Director of Games Workshop, and bought Games Workshop from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.[1][2]

Career

Bryan Ansell was the founder of and designer for Asgard Miniatures.[3]:45 In 1979, Games Workshop formed a partnership with Ansell to found a new company called Citadel Miniatures.[3]:45 Ansell designed Warhammer Fantasy Battle (1983) with Rick Priestley and Richard Halliwell.[3]:47 In 1985, Ansell was appointed the Managing Director of Games Workshop.[3]:47 Along with Rick Priestley, Alan and Michael Perry, Richard Halliwell, John Blanche, Jervis Johnson, and Alan Merrett, Ansell was responsible for the Warhammer (later Warhammer Fantasy Battle) boom of the mid-to-late 1980s.

The first letters of each of the bylines on the content page spell out: "SOD OFF BRYAN ANSELL"

The contents page of White Dwarf #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".[3]:48[4] This was a protest against the changes Ansell had demanded of the magazine.[1]

He later sold Games Workshop to Tom Kirby, and left to concentrate on Wargames Foundry. Wargames Foundry creates historical miniature ranges, originally sculpted by the Perry Twins for Citadel Miniatures, but 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 and fantasy war gaming.

Contributions

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Vector Magazine: Freedom in an Owned World
  2. Steve Jackson Interview rpgvault.ign.com
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  4. White Dwarf #77, May 1986 (UK) ISSN 0266-8712

External links