Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop

by Ian Livingstone, Steve Jackson

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Gaming, Games, Role Playing Games, Biography, Gamebooks

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2022

About the author

Sir Ian Livingstone is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of the Fighting Fantasy series of role-playing gamebooks, and the author of many books within that series. He co-founded Games Workshop in 1975 and helped create Eidos Interactive as executive chairman of Eidos Plc in 1995.

Reviews

[A.M. Steiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 what started as two board-game-obsessed, hairy young men sleeping together in the back of van spawned the Warhammer universe and became the multi-billion dollar behemoth we know today as Games Workshop. It's interesting from a business perspective as well as a geekdom one, especially in comparing how what started life as a very modest fanzine and a TSR/ D&D distribution business managed to become so successful, while at the same time TSR, 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.

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book with a lot of photos and graphics. Tells the story of Games Workshop, but also the story of how and when a D&D distributor and White Dwarf zine publisher transitioned to only in-house products.

Geographically, this ranges over a lot of greater London. This timeline also covers a lot of the Fighting Fantasy books. I've been reading old White Dwarf, and this fills in a LOT of the gaps.

A minor complaint - the timeline jumps around a bit, focusing on the chapter subject more than the chronology. Also, if you are looking for a history of Warhammer, this will only provide the opening chapters.

[Ross Kitson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those with either a nostalgic memory of, or an interest in the seminal era of the 70s and early 80s for role-playing games (TTRPG under current nomenclature) this is a great read.
Despite the rather dry style, Ian Livingstone recounts the origins of the behemoth that is now Games Workshop. My own memory is of stores which transitioned in the 80s from selling all the games I liked to just Warhammer, 40k, and loads of miniatures. I recall they produced White Dwarf, and that the 'bosses' wrote the unbeatable Fighting Fantasy books. For many of my generation those books were a gateway into DnD and offshoots.
The book is full of great photos, fun anecdotes, and a good insight into the UK side of the gaming industry and how much Ian and Steve struggled utterly in the early days, but were carried by belief and blagging.
Totally recommended.

[Stewart Cotterill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting read about the men who shaped much of my world from the age of 8 to 16. The influence they had on my cultural outlook is still with me 40 years later!

[Clovis Bonnat · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential book to understand the link between wargames, TTRPG, miniature games and game books, and witness the birth of the modern geek culture and its triumph.

[Batjutsu · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Leo H · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Stefan · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.)

[Louis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elements of this were super interesting - the early years in particular. It was also a fascinating insight into an era when it appears you could just come up with a good idea and there were minimal barriers to success or significant competition (this might just be a result of the story being told by the winners).

My favourite part was the section on Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, a treasured part of my youth.

In the minus column, it's a bit uneven in terms of focus (mega detail on stuff like the warehouse and a particular road trip, not much in others).

Of course, this is a niche book, but if you have an interest in that niche, it's worth a look.

[Conor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and honest history of the creation of the company. Quite a lot of soft promotion for Fighting Fantasy but if you're reading this book you're likely already sold!

[Tucky · Rating 4 out of 5]

great

[James Dewes · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short book, and maybe just as well

Much of the content is photos which often don't feel like they add much. Perhaps for this reason, the Kindle version of the book is an annoying PDF. The font is too small to read so each page must be zoomed into and adjusted manually. It's great to hear the story of a company with its ups and downs and strategic decisions. I would've loved to get even more on the decision-making process and more hard numbers on the growth of the company, but the book gives a decent picture.

[Anibal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first thing that strikes you about Dice Men is its bold, iconic presence. The bright-red hardcover is impossible to ignore, with the title emblazoned in black block letters and Ian McCaig’s stylized artwork of two figures—a nostalgic wink to a specific drawing on a bag, drawn a long time ago and now an icon of the fantasy culture that would soon define Games Workshop. It is the perfect “portal” into a book that is not just history, but also scrapbook, memoir, and love letter to the early days of tabletop gaming.

Inside, the book is lavishly illustrated. Rare archival photographs, doodles from the earliest Warhammer days, campaign flyers, covers of Owl & Weasel and White Dwarf and lovingly painted Citadel miniatures spill across the pages. It’s visually immersive, almost cinematic; you don’t so much read this book as you experience it…live it.

Ian Livingstone’s narrative is not strictly linear. Instead, he weaves together overlapping themes: the passion of student days for boardgames and the circle of gamer friends, the scrappy origins of Owl & Weasel, the discovery of Dungeons & Dragons and the life-changing road trip to USA and the distribution deal with Gary Gygax, the launch of Games Workshop’s first shop in 1977, the founding of White Dwarf magazine, and the eventual transformation of the company into a vertically integrated miniature powerhouse.

The charm lies in the details. Shoestring operations meant pickled-lime sandwiches and typewriters patched with Letraset. There are anecdotes of cross-country road trips, quirky staff living arrangements, including Van Morrison (the name of the Van was Morrison), the first veryyy small Office and the expansion to bigger warehouse-office, and a memorable brush with Andrew Lloyd Webber over a failed Diplomacy project, among so many other fun recollections such as the quest for a gift from Ian to Steve. Livingstone does not shy away from the missteps: misguided investments in a couple of “universal” board games, the video game market crash of 1983, and the strain of rapid expansion. Yet these are recounted with honesty and good humor, making the story as much about resilience as triumph.

The book also tracks the creative explosions that made GW unique. The launch of White Dwarf was a gamble that paid off massively, shaping an entire hobby community. The co-creation of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, beginning with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain in 1982, brought interactive fiction to millions. The acquisition and merger with Citadel Miniatures under Bryan Ansell’s leadership brought not just stability, but also vision: the bold decision to turn Warhammer from a handful of skirmish rules into a full-fledged game in its own right, forever changing tabletop culture.

Livingstone’s account wraps around the nineties, when he and Steve Jackson handed over their equity and stepped away from Games Workshop. Later ventures are mentioned in passing—the incredible success of Fighting Fantasy which continued after Ian and Steve left GW, Livingstone’s leadership at Eidos, and the launch of Tomb Raider and Deus Ex—but the heart of the book is firmly in the foundational years. And it is clear those years are remembered with affection.

This is no dry corporate history. It is a memoir filled with warmth, candour, and the sparkle of nostalgia. Yes, memories sometimes differ between those involved, but that is the nature of recollection four or five decades later. What matters is the spirit: the creative hustle, the sense of adventure, the sheer joy of building something new from nothing more than dice, imagination, and stubborn determination.

For anyone who ever rolled a twenty-sided die, painted a miniature, or cracked open White Dwarf, played Talisman, Blood Bowl or Warhammer, Dice Men is a treasure. It is a vivid reminder of how an improvised hobby and extra job became an empire, and how the spirit of those early years still resonates today.

I was fortunate enough to read a signed copy, and like Ian, I felt the tug of nostalgia on every page. This is an extraordinary, intellectually honest autobiography that celebrates both the triumphs and the missteps, giving us not just a history of Games Workshop, but also a heartfelt chronicle of the birth of modern gaming culture.

[Matthew Mclaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

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!

[Mark Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I might be being a bit harsh with my 3* but I'm rating with Joe/Josephine Public in mind.

I enjoyed this book a fair bit. But I was also a schoolboy attending the school whose front gates were about 100 yards from the front door of the first ever Games Workshop. I spent much of my childhood haunting the place, buying lead figures, paints, D&D modules, fanzines, dice etc.

I met some of the people whose photographs are in the book.

Putting all that nostalgia aside, it's a very nice hardback with lots of relevant photos.

Is it a compelling telling of events if you weren't close to those events? Well ... three stars.

A couple of things that bothered me.

i) Some of the other parties involved in events (such as naming the place) strongly disagree with the recounting of those events here. Which takes the shine off it, because I'd like to know what happened, not just have one version of it.

ii) In the end, it's mostly about the corporate jiggling and juggling in the early days, with photos of staff and premises, and it's hard to find all that REALLY interesting unless you were literally working there and involved in the decisions.

Despite the author/s' best efforts, it really is quite dry stuff and it turns out that even *I* wasn't THAT interested in Games Workshop :D


I was disappointed by Games Workshops hard right into Warhammer, and by the subsequent rebranding of the shops as Warhammer stores. Fortunately the book doesn't give us much of that.

All in all, a nice coffee table book that will scratch at the nostalgia itch of those of us who where there in the late 70s / early 80s seeing the blue touchpaper lit.


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[Matthew Gilliland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised at the amount of tasks, products and events that the founders of GW created for themselves.

They accidently became the EU Distributers of D&D in the 70s, founded a newsletter and White Dwarf, imported all sorts of strategic board games and roleplaying games, and created their own miniature line all in the 70s, while hosting multiple cons/game days.

In the early 80s they launched Fighting Fantasy a series of children's books like Choose Your Own Adventures but with a dice rolling mechanic that is still be published today, created or published board games and Warhammer Fantasy.

By the mid 80's they step back from GW and focus on the Fighting Fantasy books and sell controlling interests of GW. During this phase GW moves their home office to Warhammer World in Nottingham and focus only their products and invented 40K, Bloodbowl, Necromunda and many of their current products.

They completely sold out in the early 90s and started video game companies.

The book itself is a collection of memorabilia and has prints of many of their early creations to include the first newsletter. There are pictures of many of the locations, events and early people involved. It is a nice collection and well made.

It isn't as nice as Dungeons & Dragons: Art and Arcana, but this is quality table top book.

[Stephen Ede-Borrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I did actually read it through in one sitting! Pure nostalgia, although I suspect that if you aren't "of a certain age" where the names and games and atmosphere of this book are directly relevant to your life then you will find this less than exciting.

Knowing Livingstone reputation, and capability, as a writer much of the text came over a a "puff piece" without any real emotion just "weren't we clever or lucky or forward thinking". I also think that they overplay the poverty / extreme poverty of their situation for a lot of the time. No, I have no way of knowing whether that is true, it just feels like it.

BUT, as I did read it through in one sitting and didn't want to put it down until I finished then I am "of a certain age" and revelled in the memories.

Make your own decision but I think there are a lot of people who are going to enjoy this, overall I did. (Wish they hadn't used so many pictures with a caption though...)

[Andrew Waite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb!

I was excited when the Unbound project was initially announced, happy to be a supporter prior to publication, and gleefully received my signed copy once the finished product made its way into readers hands.

Yet despite marvelling at the most excellent tome, it’s sat (pride of place) on my bookshelf unread, daunted by the task ahead of me. However when I finally started reading, I found it almost impossible to put down.

Great run through of a company close to my heart, mostly covering a time period before I was a gamer myself, and told with some excellent humour from life starting to build the brand we know today.

What amazes me is how many of the personalities involved in GW’ sphere of influence either came from, or moved onto, other projects and companies which I also love.

My thanks to to Ian and Steve for sharing their memories; I’m now eagerly awaiting the followup just announced covering the Fighting Fantasy years.

[Marlon Deason · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a scrapbook than a thorough documentation of the foundations of this UK gaming behemoth. The text consists almost completely of first hand accounts from Ian Lvingstone and Steve Jackson. The book is brimming over with photographs and documents, some seen here for the first time. There are many colorful stories and tales of narrow escapes and daring deals made. The account of Games Workshop's history stops abruptly with the sale of the company to Brian Ansel. The jarring halt is very much like getting into a really good television series only for it to stop mid-story. Admittedly this is the story of the 'dice men' of the title and so we get additional tales of their exploits in the realms of video games and mainstream publishing. It left me with a desire to see another book pick up the Games Workshop story where this one leaves off.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

As another reviewer has commented, the writing style is rather flat and a clear decision was made to favour broad overviews rather than anything particularly probing. Still, I enjoying this little history surprisingly engaging, following the various twists, developments, and near bankrupcies of early Games Workshop (up until it was sold, with the original founders powerless to prevent it, in 1991). Interesting because of both the role Games Workshop had in so many cultural icons and turning points in the gaming world, and because of the great classic artworks compiled throughout, I sped through the book in a single sitting. Fans of any of the Games Workshop IPs, or older early adopters of D&D, will find plenty within - though, again, it does tend towards a general overview.

[Luis E. Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maravilloso viaje nostálgico a una época que yo viví con un poquito más de retraso, al ser de una generación más joven que los autores del libro y de Games Workshop. Los juegos de mesa han formado parte de mi vida desde mi infancia, y entre los cientos de estos que han pasado por mis manos están, por supuesto, los de la legendaria firma británica.

Se echa de menos que no se detallen más los orígenes y la historia de algunos de los títulos esenciales de la compañía.

La única pega que le pondría al libro es que los capítulos no estén necesariamente en riguroso orden cronológico, sino que son más bien "temáticos", con lo que a menudo se vuelve atrás en el tiempo o se salta adelante de un capítulo a otro.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining and informative history of the early years of Games Workshop, primarily from its founding to the handing over of the reins to Brian Ansell. This is the story of Games Workshop as a general games distributor and retailer, with game design and magazine publication as important parts of a larger whole. The Games Workshop as a self-contained vertically integrated behemoth would develop later under Ansell's leadership.

I have to mention that another review here comments on the disappointingly "flat" writing style, which baffles me. I thought it was incredibly well written, to the point that I kept telling myself "just one more chapter, then I'll sleep." Something that rarely happens to me even with the best fiction, let alone a history of a gaming company!

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look into the origins of Games Workshop, mostly about Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, which makes sense since it's their book.

I would have loved a bit more information on some of the development of board games, White Dwarf, Citadel Miniatures, Warhammer, etc., but it's still a nice account of these two men starting and building this company.

I really felt as if the book could have used some pages, especially at the end from Bryan Ansell. Information about Rogue Trader and miniatures would have been great.

A great book, worth reading and owning, if you are interested in Games Workshop or Warhammer.

[Mike Kavanagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those with a deep interest in the hobby, especially those in Gen X and Gen Y who grew up with it - played the games, read the books, bought the models - this is the complete inside story. I found it fascinating to see how everything connects, and how two men turned their passion into a global, market-leading retail business.

If you don't have a rich experience of playing these games and visiting the stores then you may not get much out of this book, but anyone that has childhood memories associated with these products could do worse than having a read through.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable trip down memory lane, full of nostalgic photos and details I was only dimly aware of as a nascent gamer in the 80's. I'm struck particularly by two things. First, the fact that such an amateurish, if enthusiastic, operation would never be able to find its feet nowadays. Second, that it's clear from the text that Livingstone was - and is - clearly a businessman first and a gamer second.

[Ed Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable recollection of the rise of a games company in the 70s. I found the stories relatable and fun, but the overall book I felt a bit of a lack of presence. It was more a historical note of what happened, and it didn't provide much context. For someone who is not familiar with games workshop, it would be a difficult read.

Of note - the digital/kindle version was very hard to read as the small text from hardcover edition was scanned and could not be adjusted via e-reader.

[Rodrigo García Carmona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro sorprendente. Uno espera un repaso de la historia de Games Workshop, y en lugar de eso se encuentra una especie de memorias de una etapa vital de Ian Livingstone. Da una visión distinta, enfocándose en lo que fue importante para esta persona y en su perspectiva (a veces agridulce) sobre ciertas personas y eventos, en algunos casos muy parcial. Entiéndase esto como algo positivo. A destacar las fotografías.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history of Games Workshop and related interests such as Citadel and Fighting Fantasy, nicely arranged into topical chapters (the same way I like to arrange my own histories). Obviously, there are interviews, editorials, and other ephemera from the '70s and '80s that are better historical records, but this has lots of nice details and seems to generally sync with what I've read before, making it another great reference for the company.