Asgard Miniatures Following school, Ansell became a miniature sculptor for
Conquest Miniatures. In 1976, Ansell, along with Steven Fitzwater and Paul Sulley, founded Asgard Miniatures in
Nottingham. Originally the company was managed by Sulley, while Ansell and Nick Bibby created the sculpts, Garry Parsons created the moulds, and Jamie Sims cast the miniatures. During this time, Ansell also published the
fanzine Trollcrusher.
Citadel Miniatures and Games Workshop In late 1978, Ansell left Asgard and partnered with
Games Workshop to found the company
Citadel Miniatures, which would produce and manufacture 25mm historical and fantasy miniatures for games published by Games Workshop. Ansell bought out a majority of Ian Livingstone's and Steve Jackson's shares of the company between 1987 and 1989, refocusing Games Workshop on its most lucrative lines – the
Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB) and
Warhammer 40,000 (WH40k)
miniature wargames. The company expanded rapidly and in 1991, Ansell sold his shares to Tom Kirby in a
management buyout.
Foundry Wargames Foundry (originally Bryan Ansell Miniatures Limited) was founded in 1983 as a retirement job for Bryan Ansell's father, Clifford Ansell, who had careers as a mining engineer specialising in dust suppression, in the Royal Navy and as a maths teacher. Wargames Foundry was "up and running very quickly", originally selling ranges of historical miniatures that had been discontinued by Citadel. After selling his shares in Games Workshop, Bryan moved to Guernsey and founded Guernsey Foundry in 1991 to produce large ranges of
Old West, ''Seven Years' War
and Darkest Africa'' figures. Around 2000, Bryan Ansell moved to Newark, merged Wargames Foundry and Guernsey Foundry into Foundry Miniatures Limited, and took over the running of the company to produce the largest range of historical and fantasy miniatures in the world until he retired in 2005. ==The "Lead Belt"==