A display of artwork and dioramas from the Newark company that created Warhammer, the tabletop game that grew into a worldwide phenomenon, is taking place this week.
Harry the Hammer & Friends: An exhibition of art from the early years of Warhammer, Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop will go on show from December 3 at Stoke Hall in East Stoke.
The show includes the original painting from the game’s first box-set, featuring the central character Harry the Hammer as he came to be known, and dioramas from Warhammer, as well as paintings of Chaos Broo, the First Citadel Compendium cover and Mona & the Moonman.
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The face that launched a million sets – original artwork of Harry the Hammer, the central character of the original Warhammer tabletop game has gone on display to the public for the first time in Newark.
Now a hugely successful global brand, Warhammer was created in 10 Victoria Street, Newark, in 1983, which was then the headquarters of Citadel, the miniatures division of Games Workshop.
It was a collaboration between Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell – known as Hal – and Rick Priestley, with the internal illustrations created by artist Tony Ackland and the box art cover painted by local fantasy artist John Blanche.
All five men had known each other previously but this was the first time that Citadel, which employed 11 people and was managed by Bryan and his wife, Diane, had produced its own game.
The first edition of the game was sold as a three-volume book set, with all of the art, writing and laying out being done on a drawing board, a word processor and a photocopier at Citadel’s office.
The game went on to become synonymous with Games Workshop and 40 years on the Warhammer genre – in the guise of its Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer: Age of Sigma – is still Games Workshop’s most successful product.
This is the first time that an exhibition of the early artwork has been put together and fittingly it is taking place at the headquarters of the Ansells’ company Wargames Foundry, which still produces many of the original Citadel miniatures dating back to the 1980s.
Diane said: “It’s 30 years since Bryan and I left Games Workshop and this will be the first time that the original art will be on display. I’m sure that gamers past and present will be interested in coming along to look at our amazing collection.
“At Citadel in Newark we were one big happy family, we socialised a lot together, dining out and going to clubs and concerts in Nottingham. There were no office politics. The only discontent was over the coffee machine and whose turn it was to refill it.
“Back in 1983, while Games Workshop had been printing its own in-house magazine, White Dwarf, and its own games since the late 1970’s, at Citadel we had only produced adverts and promotional material to include in our mail orders.
“We didn’t get any help from Games Workshop, but Warhammer went on to become a huge worldwide success that is still going strong today.”
Tony Ackland added: “I was working at Wedgewood in Stoke at that time and it was a natural progression that I would work for Bryan full time, because I was ready for a move.
“I wanted to be involved with Bryan and what he was doing. He was the only person in the Midlands who was ambitious and without doubt the driving force behind Citadel and Warhammer.
“We had barely any equipment. We had a Xerox word processer, which printed like a typewriter, while I had a plastic drawing board that I brought with me and we also had a photocopier. That was it.”
Bryan said: “Working with early Citadel/GW was a very pleasant way to make a living. The company remained a nice size that allowed us to get interesting things done without bogging down too much in bureaucracy or internal conflict. A benign Realm of Chaos even!
“I had opportunity to be at the centre of things, witness those exciting periods of early growth close up and work with many stubbornly idiosyncratic, talented and goodhearted people.”
Harry The Hammer & Friends, an exhibition of art from the private collection of Bryan & Diane Ansell, runs from December 3 to 12 at Wargames Foundry. Tickets cost £12 and to book your place visit www.tickettailor.com/events/stokehallevents/610419
