Richard "Rick" Priestley (born 29 March 1959) is an English miniature wargame designer and writer. He co-created the miniature wargame ''

Warhammer Fantasy Battle ''Warhammer'' (formerly ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' or just ''Warhammer Fantasy'') is a tabletop miniature wargame with a medieval fantasy theme. The game was created by Bryan Ansell, Richard Halliwell, and Rick Priestley, and first publ ...

'' and its science fiction counterpart ''

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 ...

'' during his tenure at Games Workshop in the 1980s and 1990s. Following his time at Games Workshop, he went on to establish Warlord Games and co-create other titles such as ''

Bolt Action Bolt action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the turn-bolt via a bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (as most users are right-handed). The majority of b ...

''.

Early life and education

Priestley was born on 29 March 1959 in

Lincoln, England Lincoln () is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district, district in Lincolnshire, England, of which it is the county town. In the 2021 Census, the city's district had a population of 103,813. The 2021 census gave the Lincoln Urban Area, u ...

. He studied Archaeology at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

, graduating in 1981.

Career

Rick Priestley, with

Bryan Ansell Bryan Charles Ansell (11 October 1955 – 30 December 2023) was a British role-playing and wargame designer. In 1985, he became managing director of Games Workshop, and eventually bought the company from Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.

and Richard Halliwell, designed the

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

miniature wargame A miniature wargame is a type of wargame in which military units are represented by Miniature model (gaming), miniature physical models on a model battlefield. Miniature wargames are played using Toy soldier, model soldiers, vehicles, and arti ...

'' 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 (game), Warhammer'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake ...

. The company released the game in 1983. Priestley also developed a science fiction counterpart for this wargame, which was released as '' Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader'' in October 1987. Priestley, with Andy Jones and

Marc Gascoigne Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor. He is the editor, author or co-author of more than fifty books and gaming related titles, including '' Fighting Fantasy'' books, ''Shadowrun'' novels and adventures, '' Earthdawn'' novels and advent ...

of ''Warhammer'', developed the idea for the

Black Library The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing List of Black Library novels, novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) ...

which, as a result, produced the magazine ''

Inferno! ''Inferno!'' (originally ''Carnage'') was a bi-monthly magazine published from 1997 to 2004 by Games Workshop's publishing division, Black Library, which was initially just the name of the team brought together to work on ''Inferno!''.

'' (July 1997–November 2004).Appelcline 2011, p. 50. In 2000, Priestley designed the 10mm-scale mass combat Fantasy wargame ''

Warmaster ''Warmaster'' is a ruleset for tabletop wargames written by Rick Priestley, published by Specialist Games (a division of Games Workshop), and set in the '' Warhammer Fantasy'' setting. It is different from ''Warhammer Fantasy Battles'' in ...

''. Rick left Games Workshop in 2009, complaining that the corporate culture had grown too focused on sales and no longer cared about innovation in game design. He does consulting work on a freelance basis and is a consultant at River Horse Games. He was co-owner of Warlord Games,Slingshot, No. 279, Nov 2011, p.1. which sold 25% of its shares to Hornby in July 2023 for £1.25 million. At the end of 2011 he was elected to the committee of the Society of Ancients. Priestley helped design the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

miniature wargame ''

'' prior to its 1st edition in 2012. In December 2012 he announced plans to launch a new science fiction game ''The Gates of Antares'' with an initial attempt at funding raised through

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

. It was released as '' Beyond the Gates of Antares'' through Warlord Games in 2015.

Works

Priestley worked extensively for Games Workshop. He is credited with designing or co-designing the following games: *''Reaper'' (1978; with Richard Halliwell; for Tabletop Games) *''

'' (1983; with

and Richard Halliwell) **'' Terror of the Lichemaster'', a set of three linked scenarios using the ''Warhammer Fantasy Battle'' rules (1986) *''

'' (1987; with Andy Chambers, Jervis Johnson and Gavin Thorpe in later editions) *'' Warhammer Ancient Battles'' (1998; with Jervis Johnson, Alan and Michael Perry) * ''1644'' (1990) * ''Confrontation'' (1994; with Bryan Ansell and Nigel Stillman) *'' Necromunda'' (1995; with Andy Chambers and Jervis Johnson), a skirmish game set in the 40K setting *''

'' (2000; with

Alessio Cavatore Alessio Cavatore is a game designer. Early life and education Alessio Cavatore was born in Turin, Italy, on February 14, 1972. Career In 1995 Cavatore moved to Nottingham (U.K.) to work for Games Workshop. He wrote several supplements for ''War ...

and Stephan Hess) *'' Warmaster Ancients'' (2005) *''The Battle of Five Armies'' (2005) *''Legends of the Old West Alamo: Victory or Death'' (2006; with Mark Latham) *''

The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game ''Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game'' (previously marketed as ''The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game'', ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game'', ''The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Strategy Battle Game'' and ''The Hobb ...

'' (with

) Since joining Warlord Games, he has designed or co-designed the following games: *''Black Powder'' (2009; with Jervis Johnson and John Stallard) *''Hail Caesar'' (2011) * ''Bolt Action'' (2012; with Alessio Cavatore) * ''All Quiet on the Martian Front'' (2014; with Ernest Baker and Alessio Cavatore; for Alien Dungeon) * ''Beyond the Gates of Antares'' (2015) * ''Warlords of Erehwon'' (2019) * ''The Red Book of the Elf King'' (2018; for Lucid Eye Publications) * Space Battles: A Spacefarers Guide (for Wombat Wargames)

References

External links

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Priestley, Rick 1959 births Living people 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Alumni of Lancaster University British game designers English fantasy writers Games Workshop Miniature wargames Wargame designers Writers from Lincolnshire People from Lincoln, England