Bryan Ansell (11 October 1955 – 30 December 2023) was a British role-playing and wargame designer.[1] In 1985, he became managing director of Games Workshop, and bought Games Workshop from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.[2][3]

Education
Ansell attended Nottingham Boys High School and People's College.[4]

Career
Bryan Ansell was the founder of and designer for Asgard Miniatures.[5]: 45  He had also run a fanzine entitled Trollcrusher.[6] In late 1978, Games Workshop partnered with Ansell to found the company Citadel Miniatures.[5]: 45  Ansell designed Warhammer Fantasy Battle (1983) with Rick Priestley and Richard Halliwell.[5]: 47  In 1985, Ansell became the managing director of Games Workshop.[5]: 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.

The contents page of White Dwarf #77 (May 1986) contained a coded message by the then editor Ian Marsh, who made the description of each item spell out "S O D O F F B R Y A N A N S E L L".[5]: 48 [7] This was a protest against the changes Ansell had demanded of the magazine.[2] Ansell initiated a management buyout of the company in December 1991, refocusing Games Workshop on its most lucrative lines; the Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB) and Warhammer 40,000 (WH40k) miniature wargames.

He later left Games Workshop to Tom Kirby, concentrating on Wargames Foundry, a company which sells historical miniatures. These miniatures were originally sculpted by the Perry Twins for Citadel Miniatures, but were 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.

Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop
Bryan Ansell founded Citadel Miniatures in December 1978 to produce and manufacture 25mm scale historical and fantasy miniatures and games to be sold by Games Workshop. By 1982–83 Games Workshop was depending on sales of Citadel Miniatures and games to survive. Around this time Bryan bought out all of Steve Jackson's and Ian Livingstone's shares in Games Workshop and absorbed Games Workshop into Citadel. All the Games Workshop operations (including White Dwarf) were moved from London to the Newark/Nottingham area to become part of Citadel with very few of the original Games Workshop staff staying on. Steve and Ian went off to live in Spain for a while.

The company expanded rapidly and in 1991 Bryan Ansell sold his shares to Tom Kirby to concentrate on building houses and having children, but retained the entire Games Workshop collection of painted miniatures and artwork as well as rights and moulds for many of the ranges of miniatures which he now sells through his company Wargames Foundry.