Bob Naismith - English version

Today, I bring you one of those special interviews, truly special (at least to me).

Not only for having made history in the world of wargames as the creator of the Space Marines, but also for being a living legend of the hobby since the early days of Games Workshop and Citadel Miniatures.

In addition to being an exceptional person, Bob Naismith was the head of the sculpting team when GW was tasked by MB with creating the miniatures for the original 1989 HeroQuest. That's quite a feat.

Full interview with Bob Naismith

Hello Bob,

First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. The HeroQuest fan community really appreciates your contribution to the game, and of course the whole wargaming community will be always thankful for the creation of some of the most iconic miniatures in the Games Workshop history.

Before we talk about the miniatures of HeroQuest (HQ), could you please tell us a bit about your professional background? How did you end up working in Games Workshop (GW)?

Bob Naismith: I went to Art School in Aberdeen where I did Graphic Design and Silversmithing. While there I had been painting minis for a shop in Glasgow (Wargames Publications Scotland) who then wanted to get into making miniatures (historical).

They asked me to have a go – made a samurai warrior out of Miliput! They liked it so we started a company called Naismith Design – we worked with a naval wargame firm called Navwar. Over the next few years, I made a lot of historical figures and also a large number of ships. 90% of this was historical and covered many periods. There wasn’t much call for sci-fi or fantasy, but I do some!

I saw an ad in Military Modelling magazine from Citadel – they were looking for a sculptor. I was hooked! I moved to Nottingham about 2 years later.

Before working in GW, did you play any games at all? If so, which ones?

BN: Always loved games – not very good though! I was fascinated by boardgames and had many of the Avalon Hill and SPI titles – especially sci-fi and fantasy!

When did you first hear about Bryan Ansell's deal with Milton Bradley (MB) for developing HQ? What was your job title in GW at that time? How was the process of putting together the team of sculptors for HQ? Who was part of this team?

BN: Well, I think it was about 1986 or so – at that time I was nominally the manager of the figure sculptors, so I was tasked with building the team to make the models.

We had already made space marines of course so the team idea was there. I asked Jes (Goodwin), Aly (Morrison), Kev (Adams) and the (Perry) Twins if they wanted to do it and they agreed. We sat around the table like a gang of old ladies at a sewing bee!

Do you remember who was the specific sculptor for each miniature?

BN: I have made a list of who I think were the major sculptors in each case but don’t take it as gospel – you see we would pass the models around and each sculptor would lay his hands on every model pretty much. The only exceptions were the skelly, zombie, mummy and demon which were done by me mostly with the demon done by the (Perry) Twins.

THE TEAM

BN = Bob Naismith

JG = Jes Goodwin

AM = Aly Morrison

KA = Kevin Adams

MP = Michael Perry

AP = Alan Perry

LIST OF MINIATURES

Heroquest

• Barbarian BN

• Elf JG/BN/AM

• Dwarf BN

• Wizard BN/AM/MP/AP

• Fimir BN/AM

• Orc BN/KA

• Goblin BN/KA

• Chaos warrior JG/BN/AM

• Chaos Mage BN/AM

• Skeleton BN

• Mummy BN

• Zombie BN

• Demon MP/AP

Did GW have enough freedom for creating the miniatures for HQ, or did you have to work within specific designs / ideas given by MB? Did you face any challenges in particular?

BN: I think the designs were all GW – the game had already been developed so the list of minis was there. Base size and fit on the playing board were important.

There were two issues – one was that we (GW) could only afford the time to make one goblin and one orc, but the game designers wanted some differencing. We came up with the idea of having the minis sculpted with no weapon blade and then made several variants of weapon which were then 'added' by the toolmakers!

We also had a little trouble with the furniture – not the sculpting though but making silicone mould was an issue – we had never made large moulds like these and we were also unaware of the issues of inhibition of the silicone by agents in the materials of the masters. We had to remake the moulds against the clock, but Dave Andrews pulled us out of the hole!

What was your source of inspiration to design and create the HQ miniatures? What HQ miniature is your favorite?

BN: The characters were all archetypes and were based on our own citadel design. Re favourites – I liked them all!! the dwarf and Fimir were possibly the most successful though

During the development phase of HQ, were you in contact with any MB personnel such as Stephen Baker? Or any other?

BN: Oh yes!, I worked a lot with Steve – in fact after leaving GW at the end of the eighties I was involved with him in many projects for Bluebird and Milton Bradley/Hasbro

Is there anything that you designed that did not make it to the final game? (and you think it deserved to be included!)

BN: No – we used everything!

There is a set of pre-production miniatures of HQ painted by Mike McVey and showed in the White Dwarf magazine No.113 (UK). Do you know what happened with these prototypes? Is there any reason (technical or commercial) why they were modified for the final version of the game?

BN: These pre-production models were made so that we could have painted minis in the photos. Very often they were done quickly and were only 'looks like' models – the plastic minis had much more strict criteria for production that the pre-production stuff didn’t need. Changed days now though!

Were you involved in the work for the miniatures developed for another collaboration with MB like Space Crusade?

BN: Yes, I made all of the minis for that one!

Advanced Heroquest was developed in parallel with Heroquest; were you involved in Advanced Heroquest?

Advanced Heroquest was mostly my work, I think.

Advanced Heroquest

• Warrior Knight BN

• Dwarf BN

• Wizard BN

• Elf JG

• Man at arms BN

• Skaven BN/JG

HQ was a tremendous success commercially speaking, and it was the first step for teenagers like me into the GW fantasy world. Did you have a similar feeling back in 1989? What was the feeling from the development team and management inside GW of this collaboration with MB?

BN: We knew that it was a gateway into high street gaming – before then GW and its fellow producers were side street (or even back street!) operations. So yes, indeed we were all excited by this opportunity!

Looking at the current dungeon crawler games and the new released HQ in 2021 by Hasbro, how realistic do you think it would be for GW to reprint an updated version of the original Space Crusade, Space Hulk or even Advanced Heroquest?

BN: Pass! I suppose it would mean a whole lot of negotiating on both sides. I would love to see updates on all of these – especially Space Hulk which I loved! (and made the plastic minis for as well)

Do you play any games these days? As a hobbyist, what do you enjoy the most, sculpting or painting miniatures?

BN: I still love sculpting, and paint figures every now and then but haven’t played any games for quite some time!

You are the creator of the original Space Marine; do you feel more comfortable sculpting Fantasy or Sci-Fi stuff?

BN: I suppose if you twist my arm, I’d probably say sci-fi but there is so much crossover these days it’s hard to tell sometimes.

It seems that the wargames industry has moved now to a fully digital environment, and we see that 3D printers are more and more accessible to the average hobbyist these days. How do you see the future for the traditional sculptors?

BN: Well, I think that there will always be a place for real-world sculpting – it is a much more direct medium. That being said, I do 80% or so of my commissioned design digitally – the platforms are getting better and better at making the designs look indistinguishable from real-world sculpts. I don’t see it taking over completely though – in my view there will always be a place for green stuff!

Thanks again for your time answering these questions, and for your contribution to make the original dungeon crawler of our childhood.

*Update: Bob has kindly sent me a couple of photographs of two original masters he recently discovered in his garage, offering a glimpse into how miniatures were crafted back in the 80s. These masters are one unreleased miniature of a Demon Lord of Change from Epic (at 6:1 scale) and a the other one is a warrior knight (3 ups) from the game the Legend of Zagor.