Bryan Ansell, co-creator of Warhammer fantasy battle and the leader of Games Workshop until the late 1980s, died at home on the morning of December 30. He was 68. The announcement was made on the Instagram account he shared with his wife Diane.
An accomplished sculptor, Ansell teamed up with Games Workshop in 1978 to create Citadel Miniatures, a brand under which the company still produces its British products to this day. He would later become director of Games Workshop itself. During his tenure, the company completely changed from being an importer and distributor of table games such as Dungeons and Dragons to a manufacturer, who eventually exported its own science fiction and fantasy products around the world.
In addition to guiding the company itself through its early growing pains, Ansell's greatest contribution to Games Workshop was bringing the Warhammer fantasy battle tabletop war game to life. The game, which he created together with Rick Priestley and Richard Halliwell, would become one of the company's most important products alongside the game. Warhammer 40,000.
Ironically, news of Ansell's death comes during a period of renewed interest in the Old World, the original setting for his Warhammer fantasy battle game. The Old World fell in 2015 after an in-fiction apocalypse and languished for the better part of a decade with only Creative Assembly's excellent Total War: Warhammer series to carry on. Late last year, Games Workshop finally revealed the lineup for the game's long-awaited reboot. Now titled Warhammer: The Ancient Worldthe lavish miniature war game – now cast in plastic instead of white metal – is expected to hit store shelves later this month.
Games Workshop has made no public statement regarding Ansell's death. Polygon has reached out for comment.