Andy Chambers
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Andy Chambers (born 20 October 1966) is an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
author and game designer best known for his work on over 30
Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are '' Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and '' Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake, ...
rulebooks and sourcebooks.


Personal life

In 2003, he married Jessica Chambers after they met at KublaCon 2002.


Career

Chambers is best known for his work for
Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are '' Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and '' Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake, ...
, where he worked from March 1990 to March 2004. He worked extensively on various ''
Warhammer 40,000 ''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...
'' rulebooks and sourcebooks, and also authored multiple fiction novels set in the same universe. Chambers was the lead designer on a number of ''Warhammer'' ''40,000'' spin-off games, such as
Necromunda ''Necromunda'' is a skirmish tabletop war game produced by Games Workshop since 1995. It has been relaunched as ''Necromunda: Underhive'' in 2017. In ''Necromunda'', players control rival gangs battling each other in the Underhive, a place of ...
(1995) and
Battlefleet Gothic ''Battlefleet Gothic'' is a miniature wargame that was produced by Games Workshop from 1999 to 2013. It simulates combat between large spaceships. It was developed primarily by Andy Chambers. Although this miniature wargame is no longer supported ...
(1999), produced by Specialist Games. These games were released at a time of major growth for Games Workshop and "were designed with expansions and more miniatures sales in mind". In 2003, Chambers joined
Mongoose Publishing Mongoose Publishing is a British manufacturer of role-playing games, miniatures, and card games, publishing material since 2001. Its licenses include products based on the science fiction properties ''Traveller'', '' Judge Dredd'', and ''Parano ...
as the lead designer of the company's development team for the ''
Starship Troopers ''Starship Troopers'' is a military science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. Written in a few weeks in reaction to the US suspending nuclear tests, the story was first published as a two-part serial in ''The Magazine of F ...
'' tabletop miniatures game. ''Starship Troopers'' won "Best New Game" in the 2005
Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 a ...
s. Chambers was the Lead Story Writer for
Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three gradu ...
, for '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. According to Megan Farokhmanesh, "much of the groundwork on ''Wings of Liberty'' was done, but it was Andy Chambers who finished the title". Between 2005 and 2018, Chambers wrote several books and novellas set in ''Warhammer'' ''40,000'' and the majority were about the ''Dark Eldar.'' Antony Jones, for ''SFBook'' in his review of ''Path of the Renegade (Dark Eldar Book 1)'', wrote "I loved how the author manages to elevate the Dark Eldar above that of humanity by describing games played with human captives as they watch them around a human size maze, the humans think they are really escaping but in reality being directed at every turn and watched over by their Eldar masters - very much like mice overlooked by people in white coats. ..There aren't many novels that focus purely on the evil and even fewer that manage to pull it of effectively but Chambers does an excellent job here, it's one of the best examples I've read". On 14 May 2012 '' Dust Warfare'', written by Andy Chambers, was released by Fantasy Flight Games. In June 2013, Fantasy Flight Games announced that New Zealand-based Battlefront Miniatures would take over distribution of both ''Dust Warfare'' and ''Dust Tactics.'' In 2015, Chambers became a Creative Director at Reforged Studios. Chambers, Tuomas Pirinen, and Ryan Miller created the skirmish board game ''Warforged: First Contact'' for Reforged Studios and Ninja Division Publishing who planned to bring it to market through a
Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
campaign. While the campaign beat its goal of $60,000, the campaign was cancelled before the Kickstarter ended. There has been no update on the game since April 2017. Chambers and David Lewis received a nomination together in the 2017 Origins Awards "Miniatures" category for ''Dropfleet Commander'' by Hawk Wargames. In 2017, he created ''Blood Red Skies'', an air combat miniature game, which was released by Warlord Games. He also created multiple expansions for the game between 2017 and 2019. Matt Jarvis, in a review of ''Blood Red Skies: Battle of Britain'' for ''Tabletop Gaming,'' wrote "abstracting altitude, position, damage levels and more into a single visual cue is a brilliant touch, making the slick ruleset effortless to execute and every battle look cinematic – closing in on a plane with its nose already pointed at the floor is an exciting moment, especially when combined with the simple but effective rules for tailing. ..With a bit of tightening up, Blood Red Skies could be a strong contender for an involving tournament and spectator game – at the moment, it's just a little too loose for anything but casual play. ..But you know what? None of that really mattered a smidge while I was actually playing Blood Red Skies, because I was just having such a fun time watching my squadrons zip through clouds, around anti-air defences and unleash bursts of machine-gun fire on enemy pilots who would similarly dance around, whizzing between the tips of wings to try and zero in". Chambers also designed ''Strontium Dogs'', a skirmish game, which was released by Warlord Games in 2018. In 2019, Chambers was a contributor to ''Frostgrave: The Wizard's Conclave.'' In his chapter “The Abandoned Workshop”, "warbands vie for control of powerful magical construct that is guarding a workshop full of potions. The conflict with the construct takes place in a confined space, with warbands trying to avoid attacks while gathering treasure".


Works


Board Games, Card Games and Miniature Games


Novels and Short Stories


Role Playing Games


Video Games


Magazines


References


External links

*
Andy Chambers
author profile page at the Black Library. *
RPGGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition to ...

RPG Designer Page: Andy Chambers
*
BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition ...

Board Game Designer Page: Andy Chambers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Andy 1966 births 21st-century British novelists Blizzard Entertainment people Board game designers British male novelists British video game designers Living people Role-playing game designers