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.
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 moulds 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.
Brian Ansell has just started a new venture in the world of miniatures and miniature wargames with another renown legend Kev 'Goblinmaster' Adams, under the banner of Warmonger Miniatures. Warmonger consists of Bryan, Diane and Marcus Ansell alongside sculptor extraordinaire Kevin Adams.
To quote Briann Ansell 'We are about to embark upon the task of filling this new site with some hundreds of fantasy miniatures. As we mould and cast them up, new models will regularly appear here on these pages. Our Mission is to go back to the original master moulds and bring over two hundred of Kevin's fantasy models from 15 years ago back into production. Simultaneously, we will be launching Warmonger: our own new fantasy range. Kevin and Bryan have been working on the Warmongerers for about a year now: we have about two hundred Warmongerers to get through too. It's hard to predict how long this process is going to take, as we have a very large number of masters, master moulds and production moulds to get through and we are a small team. It would be nice to think that we will have done most of the work within 18 months. We will start out relatively slowly and accelerate as things progress. Meanwhile Kevin will (of course) continue (to sculpt).'
This would seem to signal the emergence of a giant of the wargaming industry, and interesting things to come.
As i said on another site it's unsettling when people who have been part of your life since I was a teenager get older and sadly pass on.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Phil. He was an inspiration to me. But I was older than you with a family. Hope he finds a special place in heaven with all gamers the enjoyed his creations.
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