All the art featured on this website is original. This art has been in our collection since shortly after its creation. It was acquired by Bryan through his friendship with the artists or his management and ownership of Games Workshop during the 1980s through to 1991.
It has only been viewed in our private homes or at the Harry the Hammer & Friends Exhibition in December 2021.
We will be adding more items from our collection to this website in the future, if you are interested in any of the pieces not listed, please email us at enquiries@theansellsattic.com
The Ansell & Blanche Connection
Bryan Ansell and John Blanche knew each other as they both lived in Nottingham and Blanche was a keen collector of miniatures and a regular visitor at Table Top Games and Asgard Miniatures; Ansell‘s first official company.
John Blanche started his association with Games Workshop in 1977 supplying the cover art for issue 4 of their White Dwarf publication and the colour art for the cover of the British edition of Dungeons & Dragons that Games Workshop held the UK & European license for. Blanche then produced his first colour cover for White Dwarf issue number 7 in 1978.
Diorama painted by John Blanche
Warhammer Fantasy Battle, with its iconic Harry the Hammer cover, was written and published at Citadel Miniatures in 1983 under the direction of Bryan Ansell.
Harry the Hammer was commissioned from John Blanche by Bryan Ansell as a black and white piece of art. When it was finished, Bryan then asked John to colour it in.
Harry the Hammer
'Harry' was used as the original box artwork for the first edition of Warhammer written by Bryan Ansell, Rick Priestley and Richard Halliwell that was released in 1983 by Citadel Miniatures, a subsidiary of Games Workshop. Warhammer is known as the game that launched Games Workshop to become the industry giant that it is today.
Harry the Hammer was subsequently used for over 21 box sets of Citadel Miniatures, including Bryan Ansell’s Chaos Marauders.
Bryan Ansell and John Blanche at the Harry the Hammer & Friends exhibition, 2021.
John went on to produce the colour covers for Chaos Broo, the first Citadel Compendium released in 1983 and Forces of Fantasy, the first Warhammer supplement, released in 1984, before becoming an employee based at Citadel in Newark working directly for Bryan. Initially Blanche worked three days a week before his role became full-time.
Chaos Broo
By 1986 Bryan had made John art director of GW responsible for directing all in-house art and commissioning work from outside illustrators.
In the late 1980’s Bryan became the MD and majority shareholder of Games Workshop selling his shares and retiring from GW in December 1991, then immediately started Guernsey Foundry!
Bryan Ansell at Guernsey Foundry
John Blanche retired from Games Workshop on 31st May 2023.
Bryan Ansell 1955 - 2023
John Blanche 1948 - 2026
John Blanche posing like McDeath at the Harry the Hammer & Friends exhibition
McDeath
