Games Workshop - History: Founded in 1975 by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (also known for their Fighting Fantasy gamebooks), Games Workshop was originally a manufacturer of wooden boards for games such as backgammon and chess which later became an importer of the U.S. roleplaying game Dungeons Dragons. Under the direction of Livingstone and Jackson, Games Workshop expanded from being a bedroom mail-order company to a successful gaming publisher and manufacturer. An early promotional magazine - Owl and Weasel - was superseded in June 1977, partially to advertise the opening of the first Games Workshop store, by the gaming magazine White Dwarf, which Livingstone also edited.The Games Workshop publishing arm also created UK reprints of famous, but at the time too expensive to import, American RPGs such as Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, Traveller and Middle-Earth Role Playing. In 1979, Games Workshop provided the funding to help found Citadel Miniatures, in Newark, Nottinghamshire, UK, a company that would produce the metal miniatures that are used in role-playing and table-top wargames. The Citadel name has become synonymous with Games Workshop Miniatures and continues to be a trademarked brand name used in association with them long after the Citadel company itself was fully absorbed into Games Workshop.In 1984, Games Workshop ceased distributing its products in the United States through Hobby Games Distributors and opened its Games Workshop (US) office. Games Workshop (US), and Games Workshop in general, went through a large growth phase in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Issue 126 of White Dwarf (June, 1990) stated the company had over 250 employees.Following a management buyout in December 1991, the company refocused their efforts on their most lucrative product lines, namely their miniature wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle (WFB) and Warhammer 40,000 (WH40K). The retail chain refocused its efforts and marketing on a younger, more family-oriented market. The change of direction was a great success with a rising share price and growing profits, in spite of the fact that it lost the company much of its old, loyal fan base. The complaints of these old customers led a breakaway group of GW employees to publish Fantasy Warlord in competition with GW, but this met with little success. Games Workshop expanded across Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, opening new branches of their retail stores and organising gaming events. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in October 1994. In October 1997, all UK-based operations were relocated to the company's current corporate headquarters in Lenton, Nottingham, England. This site now houses the corporate headquarters, the White Dwarf offices, the mail order operation, and the company's creative hub.By the end of the decade, though, the company was having problems, with its falling profits being blamed on collectible card games such as Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon.In recent years, Games Workshop has been attempting to create a dual approach to its products that will appeal to both older, loyal customers while still attracting the younger audience. This has seen the creation of initiatives such as the "Fanatic" range that supports more marginal lines with a lower cost trading model (the Internet is used widely in this approach, to collect ideas and playtest reports). Games Workshop has also contributed to designing and making games and puzzles for the popular television series The Crystal Maze.The release of Games Workshop's third core miniature wargame, The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game (LoTR SBG), in 2000 signaled Games Workshop's intention to capture the younger audience with a simple, yet effective and flexible, miniature combat system.Other key innovations have been to harmonize their core products, and to branch out into new markets for growth. The acquisition of Sabretooth Games (collectible card games), the creation of the Black Library (literature and novels), and their work with THQ (computer games) have all enabled the company to diversify into new makets which have brought old gamers back into the fold; plus introduced the games to a whole new audience which is much wider than that for traditional miniature wargaming.