Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop By Ian Livingstone

A fun and fascinating read about the creation of Games Workshop, as well as the many products it created. A great collection of stories about the different trials and tribulations that a group of friends went through as they struggled to grow their new business, and on more than one occasion, struggled to get a roof over their head not just for the business, but for themselves as well!
Containing numerous pictures of: old adverts, front covers of Owl & Weasel and White Dwarf, Fighting Fantasy, miniatures, and some of the many pieces of fabulous artwork. 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 big is a treasure trove of history and art that fans of the old Games Workshop will love. 9781800180529 An informative and interesting business history of the early days of Games Workshop.

Dealing with the negatives first, Dice Men is surprisingly flatly written given Ian Livingstone's strong credentials as a fantasy author. In places it comes across as more like a board report, or valedictorum than the offering for Games Workshop fans as which it has been marketed. It's also not particularly probing. If you've come here for dirty laundry, insight into the conflicts between the artistic and commercial, or ruminations on the greater cultural significance of gaming, you're going to be disappointed.

On the plus side, what you do get is a detailed account of how the multi-billion dollar behemoth now known as Games Workshop grew from what was essentially two game-obsessed, hairy young men sleeping together in the back of van. It's interesting from a business perspective as well as a geekdom one, especially in comparing how what started life as a fanzine and a TSR/ D&D distribution business managed to become so successful, while TSR itself, owner of the once world-conquering Dungeons & Dragons brand, (after failing to take over GW), ended up a basket case and was ultimately acquired for a pittance. 9781800180529 Really interesting, especially for a 1980s Games Workshop nerd like me, the photos of the insides of the shops from that time (you could buy TWISTER and D&D and ZX SPECTRUM GAMES in the SAME SHOP) were worth the cover price alone. Mainly written by Livingstone, which is fine, he had a few little idiosyncrasies though. There was a bit of a feeling of that Boomer thing of Well, I lived in a flat with a leaky roof for a few months in the 70s, why are you complaining about Britain falling apart now and he had a bit of a habit of bringing up a product Games Workshop made and then saying Now of course, this is a collector's item, which I found funny and a bit sweet more than anything. 9781800180529 You can actually find my name at the end of this book, as I crowdfunded it via Unbound. No surprises that I am a massive Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson and Fighting Fantasy fan.
I loved reading this and reading the inside story about the various companies and projects. If you’re a fan of fantasy, you’ll love reading about these innovators. If you’re not, you won’t start to read this fabulous book.
9781800180529 Trip down the memory lane! 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. As an Unbound supporter, I am biased, obviously. But anyone still having flashbacks to those 14-hour sessions at a friend's basement will know what I am talking about. 9781800180529

It never seems like the right time to start a business. The idea to start our own company first cropped up during one of our many ‘beer and a board game’ sessions after work at our flat. And when Steve began writing reviews of board games for Games & Puzzles magazine, we all got even more interested in the idea. So, one day, we did. It was January 1975.

Since then, Games Workshop has grown into a cornerstone of the UK gaming industry. From the launch of Dungeons and Dragons from the back of a van, to creating the Fighting Fantasy series, co-founders Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson tell their remarkable story for the first time.

An initial order of only six copies was enough for Games Workshop to secure exclusive rights to sell Dungeons and Dragons in the whole of Europe. Hobbyists themselves, Steve and Ian’s passion for the game soon spread and in 1977 they opened the first Games Workshop store. They went on to become bestselling authors and created an entirely new genre of interactive stories.

Dice Men is more than just the story of an iconic shop which has changed gaming for ever, it's an insight into the birth of an industry. Games Workshop has grown from its humble beginnings to become a global company listed on the London Stock Exchange, a FTSE 250 company with a market capitalisation of more than £3.5 billion. Dice Men is the story of the rollercoaster early years. Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop

Fascinating look at the early years of Games Workshop written by the people who were there. It's a book you'll pick up many times to enjoy the fantastic pictures and illustrations as much as the interesting narrative which takes Games Workshop from three friends in a flat in London, to a multinational company worth billions. 9781800180529 An interesting, albeit uneven read. Nostalgic, even though I wasn’t aware of any of the early stuff. Nice to see how, when, and because of whom a lot of the games I liked as a kid/teen came about. I don’t think this will have particularly wide appeal, but then I’m also not sure it was really intended to. (It was a backer-supported project originally.) 9781800180529 From the legendary writers who brought the Fighting Fantasy game books to life, this is the story of how the genre dominating Games Workshop came to be. I am more familiar with the history of the Citadel Miniatures side of the story, so it was interesting to see how the London based board games side of the business developed the brand that eventually became the miniatures oriented company that GW now is.

UPDATE!: I read the ebook originally, and saved the deadtree version for xmas. Definitely worth getting in the full hardback glory just for the quality of the pictures and illustrations! 9781800180529 A sumptous large format journey through the beginnings of Games Workshop under Sir Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. A book I know I'll return to again and again for the glorious images reproduced from those early years. 9781800180529 Dungeons & Dragons might have been my first love, but Warhammer was the game I lusted after with a carnal desire that persists to this day (and to the detriment of my wallet).

While the history of Dungeons & Dragons has been documented nearly to death the past couple of decades, Games Workshop has been sadly neglected for the most part.

(And ironically, as GW drew its early successes by distributing D&D in Britain and across Europe, Dice Men gives us several chapters on the history of D&D across the pond)

For fans of the good old days of GW, role-playing, war-gaming, and board games, this book is a treat; written by two of the three GW founders, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, we're given an inside (if not overly detailed) look at GW's humble beginning as a board game distributor, to the fateful meeting with Gary Gygax, to the development of the Warhammer games.

Chapter 9 is where Dice Men really picks up for me: the development of Citadel Miniatures and then on to Warhammer Fantasy Battle and 40K. With all the wonderful photos of old miniatures painted up beautifully, stories about the first storefront, and accounts of the creation of these games, it was hard not to feel enthusiastic about GW again...and nostalgic for the GW of the 80s and early 90s.

My dad was in the Navy, and I was fortunate enough to have lived in Scotland for six years in the 80s. I discovered GW and Warhammer when I found and bought three decks of Citadel Combat Cards at a boot sale. I was hooked, and from then on almost all my pocket money was spent on Warhammer at the hobby shop in Aberdeen or the nearest GW in Edinburgh. There was a certain magic, a feeling of adventure, that overcame me when I walked those aisles and gazed at the fantastic miniatures.

With this wonderful book, which contains so many great photos of those old stores and miniatures, I can relive those days in a way...

And feel a bit sad that both GW and D&D (in its Wizards of the Coast incarnation) are still competing to this day - to see which corporation can be the worst.

But not to end on a down note! This is an excellent book well worth purchasing if you're a fan of Games Workshop or gaming history in general! 9781800180529

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