Ask Bryan Ansell... Questions and your ideas please!!

Orlygg

Member
Hi, after the success of Bryan's first interview with us he is keen to contribute more so another batch of questions will be required. Here are my ideas for questions so far... Feedback and further suggestions required!

1) You describe how it was difficult to get citadel miniatures into GW in the early days.Was this indicitive of the relationship between the two companies?
2) How did the famous 'Eavy Metal painting team come into being?
3) You worked with Bob Naismith to practically pioneer high quality plastic miniatures.What do you remember of the project?
4) Were you surprised by the success of Rogue Trader? Did it change your plans for the direction of the game and miniatures range?
5) You had a hand in producing a wealth of material about the orcs in 40k in a series of books. Why did these come to be and were there plans to do similar things with the eldar etc?
6) For many years Citadel miniatures used integral bases but this all changed in the mid 80s. How and why did these slottabase come to be?
7) Heroquest and Space Crusade are still very popular amongst fans and collectors to this day. What exactly was GW's contribution to the development and production of these games?
8) Your era saw so many incredible BIG BOX games released in a short period of time; Adpetus Titanicus, Dark Future, Bloodbowl to name just a few. Was it your policy to produce as many games as possible?

What do you guys think? Any further question ideas?
 

phreedh

Member
I'm curious about how Bryan views his own role in GW as managing director. Was he a businessman with a soft spot for gaming and fantasy, or was it the other way around (ie gamer with a surprise talent for corporate business)? Also, what did he do before Asgard? Education etc, previous employments?

What did he do after GW? (I know about Foundry, ofcourse - but it's possible not everybody does. What else besides Foundry?)
 

Thantsants

Member
Here's a couple -

What does he think about us lot and the resurgence of interest in 80's GW stuff that has come about over the past few years?

Or more specifically is he surprised at the longevity a lot of the material produced back then has proved to have?
 

Zhu Bajie

Member
I think they're great questions.

I'd be interested to know: Laserburn or WH:40k, all other considerations aside, which is the better game?

Rick Priestly has been singing his praises as a manager who championed creativity, does Bryan agree, and can creativity be a long term strategy for a business, or is going into "maintenance mode" (where instead of doing creative things or taking risks, just repeating the same products with minor variations) inevitable?

Does he remember roughly how many copies of 1st / 2nd / 3rd were printed?

Apparently Rick was proposing the Army Book system for a while before 4e, but Bryan resisted it. Why?
 

Harry

Moderator
Its all about the minis for me.

In the early days how did they decide what minis/ranges to make. How much freedom did individual sculptors have. Were they all just doing there own thing then slapping the citadel badge on it?

What are his all time favorite minis/ranges?

Regiments of Renown ... where did that idea come from? How did they decide which units to make? Who developed the background, etc.
 

weazil

Moderator
I wonder if he might be able to expand on the legal position around Slann - can other manufacturers sculpt 'not-slann' - ie frogmen? Can GW copyright frogmen?

Also, I wonder - does he still catch up with the 'old crew'? Does he catch up with John Blanche or the other chaps 'over the road' to talk about 'old times'?

What's his response to the SOD OFF BRYAN ANSELL white dwarf index?
 

Orlygg

Member
Thanks for the responses. I've tried my best to get as many in, but i didn't want to weigh him down with a long list of questions.
 
I've chatted quite extensively with Bryan about this kind of stuff over the years and I think the idea of having a Q&A session with him is fantastic. Bryan is very much into his "toy soldiers" as he puts it - I love the fact he doesnt have the heirs and graces to try to describe them in any other way! :)

I would suggest staying clear of questions such as how many editions of this and that were produced (no offence Zhu) or factual minutiae. I dont think his memory of such facts would be too great. In my opinion its better to ask him his opinions on stuff, his life story (in relation to the toy soldiers of course) and anecdotes about his time at Citadel. He's a great one for anecdotes - I've spent many hours listening to various tales of his time at Citadel.

Oh, and although Bryan has a great sense of humour, I'd be tempted not to go with the infamous White Dwarf index question... ;)
 
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