RIP Bryan Ansell, WARHAMMER legend

News has sadly broken that veteran British game designer Bryan Ansell has passed away at the age of 68. Ansell was the co-founder of Citadel Miniatures and the boss of Games Workshop in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly the period when Warhammer 40,000 was launched. Ansell was a hands-on boss and worked on books and material for both the Warhammer fantasy and 40K universes.

Ansell was born in 1955 and became a key fan of science fiction, fantasy and wargaming at a young age. He sculpted his first miniature - a guardsman of Gondor - in 1966 after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. A few years later he acquired a pyrogravure heat pen and set about converting Robin Hood figures produced by Airfix into hordes of orcs.

Ansell further developed his artistic skills as a teenager and began sculpting models for wargaming, earning him a job at Skytrex and then Conquest Miniatures. At Conquest he worked on the Age of Joman range. He was inspired to start his own company, Asgard Miniatures, in 1976, along with Paul Sulley and Steven Fitzwater. Whilst at Asgard he met and worked with Jes Goodwin, Nick Bibby, Tony Ackland and Rick Priestley. In 1978 Priestley and his friend Richard Halliwell created the wargame system Reaper for Tabletop Games, with a second edition following in 1981.

Ansell left Asgard in 1978 to found rival miniatures company Citadel Miniatures, with funding from British gaming company Games Workshop. Citadel Miniatures began churning out large numbers of generic figures for use with roleplaying games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons (to which Games Workshop held the exclusive European distribution rights). The company initially focused on fantasy figures but also branched out to science fiction, producing figures for the SF roleplaying game Traveller and then the TV series Doctor Who.

Bryan Ansell was notable for not just his sculpting skills but also his business acumen, and he noted that from the sales patterns that people were buying some of the more generic figures - orcs, dwarves, elves - in large numbers, enough for entire regiments. This suggested they were playing full-on wargames with the figures, not just the very small skirmishes allowed for by roleplaying games. The suggestion was made for Games Workshop to create their own wargame, drawing on their immense catalogue of figures rather than having to invent things from scratch. Based on their work on Reaper, Ansell brought in Priestley and Halliwell to design a new game that could make use of their existing range. The result was Warhammer, published in 1983 and an immediate success story. A second edition followed in 1984.

Ansell contributed creatively to the worldbuilding for Warhammer by working on the Chaos and Orc factions, and created the infamous Chaos Gods for the setting.

In 1983 Ansell founded Wargames Foundry as a spin-off company run by his father after his retirement.

Ansell instigated a buyout of Games Workshop in 1985 and an effective merging of Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures into a single company. Ansell oversaw a series of sustained growth for the company, first through the expansion of the Warhammer line and then the introduction of Warhammer 40,000 in 1987. Like Warhammer, the 40,000 line drew on GW's immense pre-existing SF figure line and even modifications of the fantasy line, sometimes literally taking orcs and removing their swords and bows in exchange for guns. As the line became hugely successful in its own right, bespoke models were introduced.

Ansell also redirected all Games Workshop offices and entities to be based in Nottingham. As the years passed, ex-GW employees would found their own companies nearby, leading to shared vendors and resources, creating an area known as the "Lead Belt," the centre of the British (and arguably European) warming miniatures scene.

Towards the end of his tenure Ansell saw the further expansion of the company, with the profile of their games raised by a strategic alliance with MB Games which resulted in the board games Hero Quest (1989) and Space Crusade (1990), as well as their first forays into video games. However, Ansell also directed the company to drop its work with other games and focus almost all of its creative efforts on the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 brands, with its associated White Dwarf magazine also becoming solely focused on the company's own games rather than the hobby at large. This move was criticised by some employees and some critics in the hobby at large.

Ansell left Games Workshop in 1991 to focus on his family and returning to his first love, of sculpting miniatures. He established Guernsey Foundry in 1991, transforming it into a new incarnation of Wargames Foundry in 2000. The new company specialised in historical figures with some SF elements. Bryan retired from the company in 2005, but mismanagement led to him returning in 2012. A new company, Casting Room, was set up to help ease the problems and bring in new models. A further company, Warmonger Miniatures, was set up in 2015 to sell exclusively fantasy figures.

Bryan Ansell was an integral part of the Games Workshop story, and his combination of creative and business inspirations led to the company's mass expansion in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the creation of Warhammer 40,000. He left an indelible mark on the British wargaming industry, and can be credited with transforming it, turning into a world-leader in the miniatures field. He will very much be missed.

After 16 years, 63 books and 26,881 pages, THE HORUS HERESY is finally coming to an end

Black Library and Games Workshop have announced the actual, final novel in The Horus Heresy, their absolutely massive prequel series to their Warhammer 40,000 science fantasy setting. The series began in 2006 with Dan Abnett's Horus Rising, so it is only fitting that Abnett is bringing the saga to an end with The End and the Death. However, the story proved too titanic to fit into one volume, so will be published in (at least!) two books.

The Horus Heresy is the story that provides the mythic underpinning to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Set ten thousand years before the "present" in the setting, the saga tells of the rebellion of the Warmaster Horus against his father, the immortal Emperor of Mankind. Horus believes his father has become a despot and a tyrant, wanting to be worshipped as a god. However, Horus has also been manipulated by the insidious forces of Chaos. Almost half the forces of the Imperium of Man join Horus in his rebellion, designed to overthrow the Emperor and "free" humanity. However, many legions remain loyal to the Emperor, leading to a desperate, seven-year war that will determine the fate of humanity and the galaxy.

The End and the Death is also the final book in the Siege of Terra sub-series. This eight (now nine+) volume series depicts Horus's final gambit, a breach of the defences around the Solar system and a full-scale assault on Holy Terra with almost his entire remaining army and fleet, relying on a Warp Storm to prevent reinforcements from reaching Sol before he can overthrow the Emperor. The previous seven books in the sub-series - The Solar War, The Lost and the Damned, The First Wall, Saturnine, Mortis, Warhawk and Echoes of Eternity - depicted the monstrous fight raging for the throne world, not to mention the culmination of many subplots as various enemies face off for the last time. The End and the Death sees the depiction of the most iconic event in Warhammer 40,000's lore, when the Emperor directly intervenes in the war and faces his son Horus for the final time. But that is only part of the story.

Abnett is the Black Library's most acclaimed and biggest-selling author (not to mention Britain's third-biggest selling science fiction author, behind only Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds) and recently delivered a stunning two-part finale in his Gaunt's Ghosts series, with the brilliant duology of Warmaster and Anarch (not the final books in the Ghosts series, but the final for a while). Delivering the end of the series is a huge order, but Abnett will hopefully rise to it.

The stats for The Horus Heresy are mind-boggling. The series will now comprise 63 books in the core series (55 novels and 8 short story collections), 48 audio dramas, 2 art books, 2 script books and 1 graphic novel. The combined page count of the main series (not counting the last two) is 26,881 pages in paperback, or two Wheel of Times with an entire Song of Ice and Fire to follow up (though Horus Heresy books have fairly large print, so I suspect the word count is not quite so insane, with some estimates placing it around 7 million, which is about 1.6 Wheel of Times).

The End and the Death: Volume 1 is due for publication in 2023.

Games Workshop announces WARHAMMER streaming service, to be led by 11 new animated shows

Games Workshop has announced their own home streaming service, Warhammer+, which will be blasting its way onto people's desktops and Smart TVs in July.

The service will be the home of no less than eleven new, animated series set in the two main IPs Games Workshop owns: Warhamer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar.

The shows will include Astartes 2, Altar of Wrath, Interrogator, Blacktalon, Pariah Nexus, Angels of Death, Hammer and Bolter, utilising a number of animation styles from 3D photorealism to 2D and anime-influenced styles. It won't include the Eisenhorn live-action TV series currently in development at Amazon.

Games Workshop launching their own streaming service feels ambitious (recalling that the vastly-better-known DC Comics were unable to get their own streaming service on the air) given the niche appeal, but they are promising additional benefits from being a subscriber, including possibly discounts and exclusive offers for the tabletop game. There's also some speculation that this move is to enable GW to start producing original content for later distribution via other, larger platforms once a deal can be reached.

RIP Richard Halliwell

Richard Halliwell, one of the leading creative visionaries at Games Workshop and the co-creator of the Warhammer fantasy battle game, has passed away.

Halliwell co-designed the original Warhammer wargame in 1983, working alongside Rick Priestly and Bryan Ansell. The game drew on Halliwell and Priestley's earlier work on a 1978 wargame called Reaper, but featured a much larger scale and allowed for more elaborate games and worldbuilding. Warhammer became a huge success, propelling Games Workshop to greater achievements.

Halliwell worked on several other games, including Block Mania (1987), a board game set in the Judge Dredd universe. He also worked on the second edition of Warhammer (1984).

In 1988 and 1989 he produced two new games for Games Workshop which were both hugely acclaimed. In 1988 he published Dark Future, a post-apocalyptic miniatures game where the player controls a driver trying to make it across America. The game resulted from an idea he had for a miniatures game in the Judge Dredd universe, which eventually made it to print as a spin-off of the Judge Dredd tabletop roleplaying game, Slaughter Margin. The original setting was created by Marc Gascoigne. The Mad Max-influenced game became a cult classic and has seen digital versions released recently.

In 1989 Halliwell co-created the game (with Dean Bass) he'll probably be best remembered-for. Space Hulk is an iconic title spinning off from the Warhammer 40,000 game, pitting an isolated number of Space Marines trying to defeat alien invaders on a rotting, Chaos-infested derelict starship. Noted for both its simplicity and is incredible difficulty, Space Hulk became one of the most popular Games Workshop games of all time. It's subsequently been re-released three times in new editions, and ported to video games no less than six times.

His other credits include Combat 3000 (1979), Imperial Commander (1981), Rogue Trooper (1987) and The Tragedy of McDeath (1986).

A hugely influential game designer, he will sadly be missed. A thousand bolters shall be fired in his honour.

Creative Assembly and Sega confirm TOTAL WARHAMMER III for 2021 release

Creative Assembly and Sega have confirmed that the long-awaited Total War: Warhammer III will be available later this year.

This is the fifteenth game in the Total War series and the third game in the Warhammer subseries, following on from Total War: Warhammer (2016) and the unsurprisingly-named Total War: Warhammer II (2017). The long gap in release was due to the studio refocusing on their historical games for several years, resulting in Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga (2018), Total War: Three Kingdoms (2019) and Troy: A Total War Saga (2020).

Warhammer III focuses on the icy arctic wastes, featuring four Chaos factions (one each for the minions of Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch), the noble kingdom of Kislev and at least part of the great Empire of Grand Cathay. These faction can engage in battle with one another for supremacy for their part of the Old World. Additional factions will, inevitably, be added in post-release DLC.

Warhammer III can also merge its campaign map with that of Warhammer I and II in the Mortal Empires campaign, which will now become a near globe-spanning megagame including all or most of the factions from the first two games.

A release date has not yet been set apart from "late" 2021, but the game will launch on PC simultaneously on Steam and Epic Game Store (no split release strategy as with Troy). CA do advise that at the moment it will only be possible to merge the three games into one on the same platform, so owners will need all three games on either Steam or Epic, not split between them.

They may be release synergy (gags) between Total Warhammer III and a new miniatures game from Games Workshop, Warhammer: The Old World, which is also set for a late 2021 release.

Frontier Developments developing a WARHAMMER: AGE OF SIGMAR real-time strategy game

Frontier Developments have confirmed they are working on a real-time strategy video game based on Games Workshop's Warhammer: Age of Sigmar fantasy setting.

Frontier are best-known for their online space game Elite: Dangerous, but have recently branched out with a series of well-received management games, starting with Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo, as well as the dinosaur sim Jurassic World: Evolution. They haven't tackled the RTS genre before, but it is at least somewhat in their wheelhouse.

More surprising is that the game isn't being handled by Creative Assembly, who have released two critically-acclaimed strategy games in the Warhammer fantasy line, Total War: Warhammer (2016) and Total War: Warhammer II (2017), with a third game in development.

The game isn't due for release until late 2022 or early 2023, around the same time that Games Workshop is due to relaunch the fantasy line as Warhammer: The Old World. It is unclear if Age of Sigmar is continuing as a separate line or will coexist alongside The Old World.

Games Workshop revives original WARHAMMER setting in completely unforeseen development

Games Workshop have surprised exactly nobody by confirming they are bringing back the classic Warhammer setting in a revived tabletop product line to be dubbed Warhammer: The Old World.

The Old World was the setting for the entire Warhammer fantasy line-up and myriad spin-off games all they way from the game's introduction in 1983 to the apocalyptic "End Times" multimedia event of 2015, when culminated in the entire planet literally exploding. Subsequently a new setting coalesced from the ashes, paving the way for the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar product line.

Age of Sigmar did extremely well on release, although it's more recent performance has been variable. This may be down to the age of the line (coming up on five years) and Games Workshop's launch of a new edition of their traditionally better-selling Warhammer 40,000 science fantasy game in the meantime.

The timing of the original event was considered a bit odd, given a major new video game set in the Old Game was just about to be launched. Total War: Warhammer was released by Creative Assembly in 2015 and sold gangbusters, raising interest for the fantasy setting. Total War: Warhammer II followed in 2017 and also did extremely well, with a third game due for release in the next couple of years. It is probable that the success of the video games has played a role in the decision to resurrect the old setting.

Fine details about the decision have yet to be released. It has not yet been confirmed if the Age of Sigmar product line will be ending, with the Old World being recreated by the End Times event being undone, or if this will be a historical line set earlier in the timeline with the Age of Sigmar and Old World product lines coexisting.

Whatever the case, we have a while to get used to the idea: Warhammer: The Old World will not be launching until late 2022 or early 2023.

New TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER trailer

Creative Assembly and Sega have released a new trailer for Total War: Warhammer (sadly, still not Total Warhammer or Warhammer: Total Waaagh!), this time featuring actual in-engine battle footage.

The trailer depicts Emperor Karl Franz leading the forces of the Empire of Man into battle against various enemies. The trailer shows both magic and flying units in action, both new additions for the Total War engine.

News of a new game set in the Warhammer Fantasy world came as a surprise. Earlier this year, Games Workshop officially retired the setting after thirty-three years of supporting it. Sales of the game and models had fallen to an all-time low, so the Old World of the Warhammer setting was obliterated in a game and novel crossover event known as End Times. A new fantasy game called Warhammer: Age of Sigmar has been introduced to replace it, although its reception has been lukewarm so far. Retiring the fantasy setting before the video game's release may have been a premature decision; the Dawn of War video games (starting in 2004) are credited with helping build the brand, success and sales of the Warhammer 40,000 SF sister-game, especially aiding the growth in the franchise's success in the United States. The Total War game could have done something similar for the fantasy setting, but clearly not if it no longer exists.

Total War: Warhammer will be released in 2016.

Total Waaagh!: WARHAMMER TOTAL WAR confirmed

Creative Assembly have inadvertently confirmed that their next PC strategy game will be based on the Warhammer fantasy property by Games Workshop.

Expect the game to be set on a variant of this campaign map.

Strong rumours had been supporting this for a while, but the news was confirmed in CA's own Total War artbook, due out next week. Early review copies went out with the spoiling text still included, rather daftly. CA are owned by Sega who recently secured a Warhammer licence from Games Workshop. The licence is also expected to allow Sega's other strategy studio, Relic, to resume work on their Dawn of War III Warhammer 40,000 project which was put on hold several years ago when the previous licence-holders, THQ, went bust.

It is unclear if the new game will be called Total Warhammer, Total War: Warhammer or Total Hammer: War, which would clearly be best (apart from Total Waaagh!, of course). The game will probably involve men and possibly elves and dwarves smacking orks and rat-men and daemons in the face with metal objects, possibly magic. It's a bit of a departure for the Total War series, which through seven major titles in fourteen years has always been based firmly on real historical events. The move may have been inspired by Call of Warhammer, a very popular mod available for Medieval II: Total War.

War: Total Hammer Warhammer will likely be released in late 2016, based on the release and development times of the previous games in the series.

Happy Birthday Warhammer!

Warhammer, the game of fantasy battles, celebrated its 27th birthday yesterday. SFX has a good, brief overview of the history of the game and setting.


Warhammer, developed by Citadel Miniatures and then sold to Games Workshop, first appeared in 1983, rapidly gaining popularity and spawning several spin-offs, including the SF-themed Warhammer 40,000 and a continuing line of games based on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies. It also gave rise to the Black Library and its millions-selling lines of novels, such as Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series (which have made Abnett the UK's second-biggest-selling SF author) and Graham McNeill's Empire, which recently won the Gemmell Award for Best Novel. There are also multiple Warhammer computer games, including a moderately successful MMORPG. The Warhammer tabletop game and attached miniatures continue to be popular, with the wargame recently reaching its eighth edition, and the first Warhammer film, Ultramarines (in the 40,000 setting) is due for release early next year.

Congratulations to the team at Games Workshop!

The David Gemmell Legend Award 2010

I attended the second David Gemmell Awards on Friday night. As last year, the event was held at the Magic Circle in London and there was a good attendance, if slightly down on last year for some reason (possibly related to the England-Algeria World Cup match). As with last year (when Andrzej Sapkowski won for Blood of Elves), the winner was highly unexpected.

This year there were three awards. The big one was the Legend Award for Best Novel, which went to Graham McNeill's Empire, a Warhammer fantasy novel. Graham is one of the franchise's most-respected and popular authors (arguably it's biggest author after Dan Abnett), and was taken aback by his victory. He beat out Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, Brandon Sanderson for Warbreaker and (with the late Robert Jordan) The Gathering Storm and Pierre Pevel for The Cardinal's Blades.

However, there were consolation prizes. Pierre Pevel took home the Morningstar Award for Best Newcomer for The Cardinal's Blades, whilst Joe and the Gollancz art team accepted the Ravenheart Award for Best Cover Art for Best Served Cold.

There were 15,000 votes in total, up 50% on last year, with most votes coming from the USA and UK. People from over 90 countries voted.