Ronnie Renton, founder of Mantic Games, talks about his career starting with his time as a managing director at Games Workshop. We explore some of the key business decisions behind Games Workshop's phenomenal growth in the 90s, how the culture of the company changed over time, and the challenges they faced. Then we talk the origins of Mantic, creat…

Trench Crusade is a brand new skirmish wargame set in an alternate and hellish world war where demons walk the earth. Based on the world and art of Mike Franchina the game is currently going great guns on Kickstarter where it has already secured more than £1.5mn in support. Mike has worked on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay with Green Ronin, Warhammer O…

Mat Hart, co-founder and creative director at Steamforged Games, joins Jordan Sorcery to talk about the tabletop business, a career in video and table games, and planning the future of Warmachine and the Iron Kingdoms. Over the past decade Steamforged Games have released original games like Guildball and licenced video game adaptations like Dark So…

Author and former Games Workshop board member Peter Darvill-Evans in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Games Workshop and White Dwarf have a long history dating back to days before Warhammer Fantasy even existed. Under the tenure of co-founders Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone GW was the European importer of the new roleplaying game Dungeons &…

Advanced Fighting Fantasy Publisher Graham Bottley in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Fighting Fantasy gamebooks have had an incredible legacy - ever since that we found that Warlock at Firetop Mountain we’ve gone back into the dungeons, forests, cities, islands, and everything else that Fighting Fantasy has had to offer. In the 80s there was an …

Former Warhammer author Josh Reynolds joins Jordan Sorcery to talk about working with the Black Library, how the End Times really went down, and the challenges & opportunities of writing fiction for settings like Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40k, Age of Sigmar, Arkham Horror, and the Legend of the Five Rings. Josh Reynolds has written some of the m…

Paul Hicks is a veteran miniatures sculptor with a wealth of experience in the act and art of sculpting. Having produced many historical and fantasy miniatures over the years, after first working in Games Workshop retail, we talk about the business of being an independent sculptor, creating new games like Bolt Action from scratch, and the technique…

Ryan Miller helped to establish Games Workshop’s brief tenure as a CCG and TCG card game company by founding Sabretooth Games in the early 2000s. Responsible for the Warhammer card game WarCry, and a 40k card game called Horus Heresy, Miller explored parts of the settings and lore that were relatively untouched, and tapped into a completely differe…

Chris Peach, AKA Peachy, is one of the most recognisable faces in Warhammer - a seasoned army painter, Warhammer TV presenter, and all round lovely bloke! We talk about Peachy’s career at Games Workshop - getting started in retail and building a community; how the business culture changed over time; becoming the first army painter at the studio and…

Gary Morley is a legendary miniatures sculptor who worked at Games Workshop in the 90s and early 2000s. During his time with the Citadel team he was massively prolific, producing miniatures for the Warhammer Undead and many other fantasy armies, Necromunda, 40k, Warhammer Quest, Mordheim, and the entire Blood Bowl range. His Nagash miniature maybe …

Paul Barnett was a key creative lead in the creation of Warhammer Online and when we got together to chat, Paul had some terrific legends to share from behind the scenes at Games Workshop. We talked about some of the most interesting anecdotes collected from Paul’s time working with the greatest Warhammer creators and the stories they shared over b…

Rogue Trader, Dark Heresy, Deathwatch, Only War, and Black Crusade - the Fantasy Flight RPGs that put players into the 41st millennium of Warhammer 40k. My guest today, Ross Watson, was a major player in the development of the games, joining FFG after a stint working on the US edition of White Dwarf. We talk about adapting 40k to a roleplaying game…

Indie skirmish wargame Moonstone has been gaining fans for its beautiful miniatures, whimsical world, exciting story, and innovative mechanics, and the entire thing is the brainchild of creator Tom Greenway. In our conversation we talk about the business journey and decisions involved in starting a brand new games publisher, Goblin King Games, and …

The legendary Games Workshop art director and concept artist John Blanche joins me to talk about his epic career, his methods, his work, and what he has in store for the future! John Blanche Interview. John Blanche in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. John's Links: [Morderin Kickstarter by John Blanche] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnblan…

Game designer James Hewitt interview. James Hewitt designed Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower, Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth, Gorechosen, and more at Games Workshop. At Mantic he worked on Dreadball and Hellboy, and across an incredible career he has designed and developed great games at some of the biggest companies. Most recently he has taken on a …

Game designer Eric Lang interview. The man behind the FFG games Warhammer: Chaos in the Old World, Warhammer: Invasion, and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, the CMON games Cthulhu: Death May Die, Rising Sun, Ankh, and Blood Rage (with artist Adrian Smith, and most recently Life in Reterra from Avalon Hill joins me in conversation. Eric talks about how h…

An often under sung, but utterly essential role for any miniature manufacturer is that of the mould-maker and miniature caster. Working with highly technical materials and technologies Anthony Epworth has been at the cutting edge of the art and science of miniature making since joining Citadel in the 80s. Sharing stories about his time at Citadel a…

Ronin is a Mork Borg compatible RPG that brings the samurai and yokai of mediaeval Japan to life on the table top. Featuring stunning, high energy, high octane art and graphic design, and a solid fast paced ruleset it is no surprise that the game, and its publisher - Slightly Reckless Games - are building a following. I got the chance to sit speak …

Alan and Michael Perry were some of the earliest sculptors at Citadel and they helped to define the look and feel of Warhammer as it evolved from the very beginning. Their work on the Empire informed the distinctive historically influenced uniforms, they created the Goblin Fanatics, and they designed some of the greatest models, units, and armies i…

Former Games Workshop assistant art director Tim Pollard joins me to talk about the 80s and 90s under Bryan Ansell, posing for art by Warhammer legends, the reaction to 40k in the studio, writing and publishing the legendary lost GW newsletter Black Sun, the period that John Blanche and Dave Gallagher paid with original art works to lodge in his sp…

Dr Gary Colman has helped to found a new charity that is making use of tabletop gaming to help vulnerable individuals through shared co-operative experiences, collaborative storytelling, and the rolling of many dice! We talk about Gary’s own history with roleplaying, how he came to tabletop gaming as a therapeutic offering, setting up the charity G…

Ian Watson is the original author for the 40K universe. Hired by Bryan Ansell to write science-fiction stories for his beloved settings, Watson was responsible for creating the Inquisitor trilogy featuring Draco, Meh'Lindi the assassin, and Grimm the Squat, as well as for writing the long verboten novel Space Marine. Watson also worked with legenda…

Johnny Fraser-Allen joins me to talk about his new Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting The Gloaming, creating some of the most movie accurate Star Wars gaming tables, and the work of building an entire fantasy world from literally the ground up! A world renowned concept artist and sculptor Johnny Fraser-Allen has worked extensively in Hollywood w…

Steve Jackson and his company Steve Jackson Games have been at the heart of the tabletop industry since its earliest days. At Metagaming Concepts Jackson pioneered the micro-game, an efficient multiplayer gaming experience like OGRE that fit in a small polythene bag. After founding his own company Jackson went on to develop classics like Car Wars, …

George Yurchak has long been a hobbyist and a member of the Latvian competitive 40k team, and those experiences have helped him to found his own gaming accessory company - Frontier Wargaming. Frontier produce high end paint cases and hobby decks and George and I chat about how and why he started the company, his experience playing competitive 40k, …

Bill Making Stuff is a phenomenally creative YouTuber who manages to take everyday household items and craft miniatures, terrain, and entire wargame worlds out of nothing. With an artistry that is unmatched on the platform Bill crafts not just models but entertaining and hilarious videos. We talk about the world of crafting, the work of YouTube, th…

Former Citadel sculptor Adam Clarke Joins me in conversation to talk about the Citadel sculptor training programme, what it was like working in the studio, the process of working with green stuff, and his career making freelance miniatures for Privateer Press, before founding his own company Black Scorpion Miniatures. Adam Clarke has worked on some…

I am joined in conversation by the unparalleled Games Workshop legend, games designer Jervis Johnson. We talk about a 40 year career creating, refining, and contributing to almost every Games Workshop game worth playing! From Blood Bowl to Epic, Warhammer Fantasy to Warhammer 40k, Advanced Heroquest to Advanced Space Crusade, Warhammer’s End Times …

Dave Chapman & Dominic McDowall in conversation with Jordan Sorcery I’ve never read or played The Laundry and after asking about it online I was approached by the publishers of the game’s new second edition, Cubicle 7, and invited to ask any questions I had! CEO of Cubicle 7, Dominic McDowall, and game designer for The Laundry 2nd edition, Dave Cha…

Duncan Rhodes in conversation with Jordan Sorcery Duncan Rhodes joins me in conversation as we talk about his hobby and career with Games Workshop. Beginning with his obsession with 40k and then Warhammer Fantasy, then his first role in retail teaching customers how to play and paint, we talk about what motivates a lifetime in the hobby. We also ex…

Kim Newman in conversation with Jordan Sorcery Kim Newman has had a long and successful career as an author famous for his Anno Dracula series, as a television personality, and as Empire's horror expert since the magazine's very first issue. But there is another aspect to the remarkable history of this remarkable writer - his time writing the very …

Chaz Elliott in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Chaz Elliott was responsible for the look and feel of many early Citadel books and magazines, including Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, White Dwarf, and Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd edition. During his brief, but influential time at Games Workshop he also transitioned into…

Adrian Smith in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. In an incredible career artist Adrian Smith has produced some of the most iconic Games Workshop art for the worlds of 40k and Warhammer Fantasy. From his early work drawing playful Nurglings and dramatic scenes for the Realm of Chaos to his unforgettable renderings of Warmaster Horus and the Emperor…

Marc Gascoigne in conversation with Jordan Sorcery Marc Gascoigne has worked extensively in fantasy and science fiction publishing as a writer, editor, and in many other roles besides. One of the key figures behind the creation of Games Workshop's Black Library and the beginning of the Horus Heresy series Marc's first stint at GW saw him co-writing…

Tomas Rawlings in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. We talk about the culture, behaviours, and perceptions of the video game and tabletop gaming hobbies and industries. As an exceptional thinker on the nature of gaming Tomas has given TED talks, consulted across the video games industry, written tabletop games, and co-founded his own games studio, …

Padraig Murphy and Dominic McDowall in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Dominic McDowall, CEO of Cubicle 7, and Padraig Murphy, producer of the WFRP 4 edition range, join me to about the development of the 4th edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. We talk about designing new supplements, updating old ones, the future of the range, and just a litt…

Steve Jackson in conversation with Jordan Sorcery We talk about founding Games Workshop in the 70s, starting White Dwarf, working with Bryan Ansell as his Citadel team created Warhammer, co-writing Fighting Fantasy with Sir Ian Livingstone, and creating cutting edge interactive storytelling over the phone with Steve Jackson's F.I.S.T (Fantasy Inter…

Mark Gibbons in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Former Games Workshop artist and concept artist for Sony and Blizzard. Mark has had an extensive career creating dynamic, detailed, and amazing imagery for Warhammer, including memorable pieces like the box covers for Warhammer Fantasy 5th edition, the Circle of Blood campaign set, and the Man O’ Wa…

Jonathan Green in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. We talk about a career working in science-fiction and fantasy IPs, novels, and gamebooks. Jonathan is credited on 8 gamebooks in the Fighting Fantasy series, wrote the definitive history of the series, has worked on several stories for the Black Library set in the 40k and Warhammer Fantasy worlds,…

James Wallis in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. James is the founder of Hogshead Publishing, the company that resurrected Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay first edition, refined it, expanded it, and kept it alive for a decade. And then he decided to shut down the successful company and walk away. We talk about why, his remarkable journey in the RPG ind…

Chris Pramas in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. After a career at Wizards of the Coast working on D&D, Alternity, and Chainmail, Chris Pramas co-founded independent RPG publisher Green Ronin and began releasing award winning and critically acclaimed TTRPGs like Mutants and Masterminds. And after that Chris was asked by Games Workshop to develop a…

Dominic McDowall in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. The man behind the incredible homegrown success of UK RPG publisher Cubicle 7, Domininc McDowall has helped to rejuvenate the RPG marketplace with a broad range of well received and successful roleplaying games. Not only that, but he brought together the team that would reinvent and restore Warh…

Tuomas in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. In my second conversation with Tuomas Pirinen (you can find my first interview exclusively on my Patreon) we talk about his work redefining Chaos in the Warhammer Old World, and beginning the journey to dividing the forces of the ruinous power by beast, warrior, daemon, and god. We also explored Tuomas' c…

Graeme Davis in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. One of the key game designers involved in the creation of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and The Enemy Within campaign, Graeme Davis has long been an important voice in the TTRPG industry. Graeme talks with me about the early culture and ways of working at Citadel and Games Workshop under Bryan Ansell, …

Rick Priestley in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. The creator of 40k and Warhammer Fantasy, Rick Priestley in conversation! Rick Priestley and his school friend Richard 'Hal' Halliwell created Warhammer Fantasy for Bryan Ansell at Citadel in 1983. After that Rick worked on 5 more editions of Fantasy, as well as Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, countle…

Johnny Fraser-Allen in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. After working as a conceptual and special effects artist at Weta Workshop on films like Steven Spielberg's BFG, Guillermo Del Toro and then Peter Jackson's the Hobbit movies, and James Cameron's Avatar Johnny Fraser-Allen began making miniatures for gaming in the fantasy realms he loves so mu…

Alan Merrett in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Alan has held many roles in his 36 year career at Games Workshop; starting as a caster at Citadel in the early days of the company and ending as the Head of Intellectual Property for the international hobby mega-corp that GW had become by 2016. Over that period Alan was involved in some of the most …

Jim Butler in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Jim worked at Games Workshop for 30 years holding a variety of management and leadership positions. Working under Bryan Ansell, Tom Kirby, and Kevin Rountree Jim was responsible for developing the GW management trainee programme and academy, leading the design studio for a number of years, and ultimat…

Sir Ian Livingstone in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. Along with a couple of friends Sir Ian Livingstone founded Games Workshop in 1975 to sell wooden toys and games. Within a few years they had become the exclusive European distributor of TSR’s Dungeons & Dragons, had been offered a merger by Gary Gygax, launched White Dwarf magazine, and start…

Mark Wells in conversation with Jordan Sorcery. We explore a period of incredible change in the organisation as it shifts from the 90s approach of 2 core games (Warhammer Fantasy & Warhammer 40,000) with specialist games like Gorka Morka, Necromunda, and Mordheim alongside them, to the 2000s focus on 3 core systems - Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 40K, …