Talking Miniatures - A new book about the Golden Era

[annagul]

I was not sure where I could write this post -it is a crowdfunding project- but I think is a very very special project.

Robin Dews (former Studio chief) and John Stallard (former Sales Director and now Warlord Games chief) are developing a very big book about how those awesome people created the games and miniatures we love. I see it as a continuation of Dice Men, the must-have book written by sir Ian Livingstone with Steve Jackson.



It seems it will be a book with transcriptions of informal talks with all these people recalling the golden age of GW - all the Bryan Ansell era and the 90s. Rick Priestley, Andy Chambers, Jervis Johnson, the Perry twins, Trish Carden, Mike McVey, Tony Ackland... A dream come true for me!



Sadly, all the information will be posted in Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/896353918456143/ All the images are from that FB page.

I will stay tuned forward coming news! I'm very excited!

 

[Fimm McCool]

That looks grand!

 

[Citizen Sade]

Yes, it sure does.

 

[ManicMan]

good to see that citadel atleast allow useage of there copyrighted content for scans like that. A good sign from what they were like a few years back (and that was before the whole miniatures things I found out about)

 

[Sleepysod]

Did you read Dicemen? Was a similar project, but focussed on Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (I didn’t feel that BA came out particularly well from the text, we seems unfortunate given his importance in the grand scheme of things). Anyhow anything along these lines is welcome, would love to hear more from the sculptors - Trish posts a fair bit on Facebook which is always interesting but the back stories of other sculptors and ranges they worked on is a bit hidden still.

 

[Citizen Sade]

BA has a reputation among many of being an arse and a my way or the highway type. That said, he’s been perfectly pleasant on the few occasions that I’ve met him. Maybe age and retirement has mellowed him.

I don’t do FB but, usefully, Trish is also pretty active on Twitter.

 

[annagul]

Did you read Dicemen? Was a similar project, but focussed on Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (I didn’t feel that BA came out particularly well from the text, we seems unfortunate given his importance in the grand scheme of things). Anyhow anything along these lines is welcome, would love to hear more from the sculptors - Trish posts a fair bit on Facebook which is always interesting but the back stories of other sculptors and ranges they worked on is a bit hidden still.

I've read Dice Men, it is a great book in my opinion. As a truly enthusiastic of all the pre-2000 history of Games Workshop, that book was a gem for me. I really enjoyed reading it, and I've recommended it to everybody.

The book is a love letter to old D&D (it is dedicated to Gary Gygax, in fact). I am also an OSR fan, so it was a double gift for me.

Sadly, the book ends when Anderson and Jackson sell the company to Bryan Ansell. Ian Anderson write some glimpses of the years to come, but they are only one or two pages.

So I see this “Talking Miniatures” book as a second part of Dice Men.

 

[Clio]

Have not read Dice Men and would have bought it just now had I not spent all my money on models!

Just reading Amazon reviews and found this. What do we make of it? Sounds like someone is a little bit pissed off, and rightly so if this is true.

I'll have to get dice men in the near future and this new book too when it comes out. I owe a lot to everyone involved when considering the amount of hours I've dedicated to Games Workshop of the years! It will be good to learn their origin even if it is only nearly true.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,

I’m John Peake, the co-founder of Games Workshop with Steve Jackson. Having read the first thirty or so pages of Dice Men I realise I need to tell things the way I remember them.

It's now over 47 years since Games Workshop came into being, and I’ve kept quiet all this time. But much of the account of the founding and early days of Games Workshop given in Dice Men does not align with my memories of that time, which remain clear. In particular, the account given on pages 27 and 28, including the handwritten notes (which I think are fabrications), of how Games Workshop came into existence, is not at all the way I remember it.

Games Workshop was founded in early January of 1975, during an evening chat between Steve and me, in the front room of the 15 Bolingbroke Road top-floor flat. Ian was out, at a Conoco event. Given that I’d been making and selling backgammon boards, on my own, since September 1974, in order to supplement my meagre salary as a trainee civil engineer, and because Steve was so knowledgeable about games, we wondered whether we could start a games business. We could expand the range of wooden games I was making, Steve could write a newsletter/fanzine, and perhaps we could even start a mail-order business. And, with the impetuous of youth (23 and 24), we thought we could.

The next question that arose was a name for the business. Steve suggested we should both write down three possible names for our new business on a piece of paper and then reveal our ideas and choose one. I could only think of one name: Games Workshop, inspired by the state of my bedroom, and that the word ‘workshop’ suggested a place where new games ideas were explored and developed. Steve had two names on his paper: Gamut of Games, and Games Garage. But, on seeing my suggestion, he wholeheartedly agreed, without hesitation, that our new business should be called Games Workshop. And that’s how it all began! There weren’t ever any ‘company-name brainstorming sessions’, as claimed. Nor were there any ‘beer and a board game’ sessions either.

When Ian arrived home later that evening we excitedly told him of our plans, but it took him about 10 days or so to come around to the idea, following much cajoling, mainly by Steve.

I feel strongly that Dice Men almost completely ignores my pivotal role in those early times, not only with conceiving the name, but also the crucial financial contribution I made in the first twelve months, producing wooden games for sale and thereby funding our fledgling business. The profit (or loss) from Owl & Weasel was negligible, and the income from mail order was tiny. I know I’m banging my own drum, but without my initiative, Games Workshop would not exist, and I regret that this fact is ignored in the book. Given the sub-title: The Origin Story of Games Workshop, I would have expected a much truer version of events.

 

[Eric]

I'd quite like to read the book myself and had wondered if John Peake would be mentioned, he does get the odd mention (for example in this potted history, but often seems overlooked so it's interesting to read the review.

 

[Eric]

Up for pre-order over on https://store.warlordgames.com/products/talking-miniatures-standard-edition if you've not already pre-ordered!

 

[symphonicpoet]

^Done!

 

[Eric]

Look what arrived this morning ... I think that's my morning coffee break reading sorted!


A quick flick through looks promising, lots of lovely nostalgic photographs, and pieces of art.

 

[annagul]

Received yesterday! It's awesome, thank you John and Robin for make it possible!

 

[Eric]

I'm enjoying dipping in and out of reading it. Having just finished Dice Men I was quite keen to "continue the story" so to speak. I did enjoy Dice Men, although it's a little difficult following the timeline in places as the chapters jump around (in time) somewhat rather than the book being a chronology from start to end. I didn't realise Bryan resigned quite so many times, seemed almost like a running joke by the time I finished the book!

Both books (well I suppose "all three") I'd say are well worth reading if you get the chance.

 

[Eric]

Just found a lovely interview with Robin Dews, the latter part of which discusses Talking Miniatures.

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[symphonicpoet]

Mine showed up the day we left for the coast, but a neighbor was kind enough to collect it. Sat it by my bedside last night, but fell asleep. Morning coffee might just be the right answer. (So long as I keep the coffee a bit of a safe distance from the lovely signed book!)

 

[Zanko]

I ordered the books the other day, but it will probably take a while until they arrive here in Germany. I'm really curious about the content!

 

[AranaszarSzuur]

I keep missing out on these books.

 

[Eric]

It's on general release now (unsigned copies), but I don't know if the European shipping rates are prohibitive along with it not being a cheap book to start with (at least you get two books!). I doubt John has any plans to limit the sales so it should be on the Warlord website for the foreseeable future. Also FWIW there is a Kindle version of Dicemen which is a bit more affordable than the hardback and might be easier to obtain.

---

I'm very much enjoying the interviews so far - trying to pace myself and not just read it all in one go! I think my one criticism is that given Robin and John know a tonne of super talented former GW artists it's a shame they didn't commission someone to do a lovely bit of retro fantasy or sci-fi art for the cover and make the book cover feel a bit like one of the classic era GW rulebooks. I find the cover feels a bit like an afterthought - would just be nice had it been a bit more of a "display book" I think.

 

[AranaszarSzuur]

It's on general release now (unsigned copies), but I don't know if the European shipping rates are prohibitive along with it not being a cheap book to start with (at least you get two books!). I doubt John has any plans to limit the sales so it should be on the Warlord website for the foreseeable future.

Seems like it's 80 Euro with shipping fees. For me it's a sort of a once-a-year purchase and that's on a "good" year when there's some large job like plans of an entire apartment building to draft. So not this year. Probably not next year either.

Also FWIW there is a Kindle version of Dicemen which is a bit more affordable than the hardback and might be easier to obtain.

According to multiple reviews it's just a scan and is unreadable O_o . It doesn't look like a good book to read in ebook format too.
Dice Men seems to be available on Blackwells which nowadays has free shipping, though. Didn't even realise Dice Men is picture-heavy, I'd consider buying it at some point. I thought it's just a typical autobiography with text only D: . Oh wait, it only came out this year. I think I saw a pre-order in one of local bookstores last year or something.

The kindle edition for this is completely illegible as it’s just a scan of each page with tiny text. Get the hard copy, or stay away. I’m deeply disappointed…