A new book wants to tell the story of Games Workshop’s early years

A new book hopes to dive into the creation of British games outlet Games Workshop, recounting the first decade of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone’s hugely influential retailer.

Currently up on crowdfunding site Unbound, Dice Men: Games Workshop 1975 to 1985 has been penned by author Jamie Thomson with the help of Livingstone and Jackson, spanning from their memories of living in the back of a van and signing the exclusive European distribution deal for then fledgling RPG Dungeons & Dragons (they later met creator Gary Gygax at the ninth Gen Con in 1976) to opening the first Games Workshop store in Shepherd’s Bush and going on to create series such as the Fighting Fantasy books and Warhammer.

The 300-plus-page hardback tome includes a selection of photographs and scans of documents from back in the day, such as Games Workshop’s first-ever order for six mancala boards and copies of The Owl and Weasel, a newsletter forerunner to White Dwarf, for which Thomson was previously assistant editor.

The campaign is only at 7% of its funding target at the moment, with the book itself costing £30 – Unbound's site says that projects generally take three to six months to fully fund, so it might be a while before we see if the project becomes a reality.