Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop

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There are lots of pictures and topics covered such as Citadel Miniatures and the start of Warhammer which I’ve never read before.

You haven’t given any thought to finding anyone who could succeed him, and he knows that too, and your plan for how to keep him on side when he resigns the third time is to promise you’ll let him run the company, which is what he wanted to begin with. Da una visión distinta, enfocándose en lo que fue importante para esta persona y en su perspectiva (a veces agridulce) sobre ciertas personas y eventos, en algunos casos muy parcial. That inflection point comes in the form of Citadel Miniatures, and its physical manifestation is in the person of Bryan Ansell. The book is full of great photos, fun anecdotes, and a good insight into the UK side of the gaming industry and how much Ian and Steve struggled utterly in the early days, but were carried by belief and blagging. Second, that it's clear from the text that Livingstone was - and is - clearly a businessman first and a gamer second.

The stories highlight the difficulties in managing multiple products and companies, as well as handling the personal relationships that exist around business, helpful when old business partnerships are renewed. The tone is light and the writing agreeably pacy; it’s the kind of thing where if you just want to read the text without stopping to linger over the pictures, you can do so in a single evening.

In 1982 he co-wrote The Warlock of Firetop Mountain with Steve Jackson, the first title in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook series which went on to sell 20 million copies worldwide.The focus is clearly what he has always wanted it to be – Citadel manufactures miniatures in ever-increasing ranges and volumes, and the rest of the company exists to sell those miniatures, whether by making up games for them to be used in or by marketing them or by literally handing over boxes of them to punters for cash.

He is ruthless in its pursuit; he resigns no less than three times in a 4-year period, and each time it’s a power play. Beautifully illustrated and with plenty of voices in addition to the author's, this is a must for any fan of role-playing games and the FF books. Having read the first thirty or so pages of Dice Men I realise I need to tell things the way I remember them.Initially, it was a distributor for the role-playing games from the US, principally Dungeons and Dragons and Runequest. The subsequent two occurrences both follow this pattern – Bryan wants more time and cash spent on Citadel and isn’t getting his way, he forces the issue with a resignation, and Livingstone and Jackson fold. Nevertheless, the book still gives an impression of faint surprise at how things went, as if events just overtook Livingstone and Jackson and the company was swept out from under their feet. This is the story of one middle-aged woman in a cardigan determined to understand this growing phenomenon.

I don’t think this will have particularly wide appeal, but then I’m also not sure it was really intended to. Definitely worth getting in the full hardback glory just for the quality of the pictures and illustrations! This is also a business environment alien to the modern age with no e-mail or IMs; for most of the time Ansell in Nottingham is going to be running things independently from Livingstone and Jackson in London and so by necessity he is going to be out of sight – and probably out of mind – for long stretches.To an extent it’s understandable that this period of control slowly unraveling isn’t the key focus, but you do wish there was a bit more here; 1987 is the last year for which there’s any real detail given, but it would be nice to have a bit more on these latter stages, and especially the release of Rogue Trader which gets the most passing of mentions. Pure nostalgia, although I suspect that if you aren't "of a certain age" where the names and games and atmosphere of this book are directly relevant to your life then you will find this less than exciting, and probably actually boring. BUT, as I did read it through in one sitting and didn't want to put it down until I finished then I am "of a certain age" and revelled in the memories.