Every Gamer's Dream: An interview with Wayne 'The Duke' Millard

The later part of the 1980s saw an explosion of fantasy inspired fare. From He-Man to Knightmare, British screens were packed with imagery of the stalwart champion, the muscular barbarian and the seductive sorceress. Fantastic characters graced the covers of numerous magazines, often airbrushed to '80s perfection by the likes of Oli Frey. 

Michael Van Wijk, who would become Wolf from Gladiators in the next decade, postered menacingly on the cover of 1987's Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior on my C64. Maria Whittaker at his feet. Like many kids in the 1980s, we knew the Page 3 girls just as we did the popstars of the era. Pop Culture of the time wasn't safe or sanitised. Part of the appeal of White Dwarf and Warhammer was that it chiselled into that zeitgeist and seemed dangerous. 

That danger was part of the appeal. Especially for the generations of young people who had only four channels and limited access to kids TV. We made our own entertainment and Warhammer was a fantastic way to express all those craft and art skills we had. The entry was often White Dwarf... plucked off the shelf by an intrigued youth fascinated by the imagery on the cover. Devouring the magazine many times over would lead you to a fantasy shop, or if you were lucky one of the official GW stores that were opening around the country. Then the difficult choice of what system to play. In the era before the big box game model became dominant the choice was often between several rulebooks. And picking up Warhammer Third Edition would have introduced you to today's subject: Wayne 'Duke' Millard. For it was he that put together the incredible scenery that has inspired thousands of enthusiasts to dream every gamers dream... a spectacular gaming table. 

Wayne's work is still outstanding today. In a world of flat, characterless battlefields packed with generic plastic scenery kept simple these images stand out as a lively, believable world. A place were monstrous horrors could lurk. Where terror could be made real. Clip out plastic sets up don't give that feeling. They are nondescript. Lifeless. Wayne's work tells a story. The cut and thrust of the battles we imagined fighting were made plain. What helps are the wonderful models of the time. All of them little miniature characters with their own personalities.  Overdetailed plastic kits can never share the same dynamism or immediacy.  

Those of us who lived this era poured over the pages of the rulebooks, magazines and supplements absorbing every last detail. Wayne's work set an almost impossible standard that so many of us strove to emulate. Over our pool and snooker tables. Over green mats and card playing tables. Pockets full of lichen scraped from the rocks and trees of our immediate environment became our hedges. Dirt from the garden became our fields and furrows. Sticks with the odd leaf our trees and forests. Matchsticks glued haphazardly together became our fences. In our minds were were going to recreate Wayne's epic work. We failed miserably, and we still fail to this day. Every gamer's dream. The third army. Call it what you will. A beautiful and detailed set up is the dream of us all. 

The incredibly talented and prolific Fimm McCool, also known as Geoff, led the charge recreating this famous set up for BOYL last year. This was one of my favourite Oldhammer endeavours ever. A sizable crew of enthusiasts organised themselves to recreate this famous set up and play a scenario based on these iconic WFB3 images. Geoff's blog is packed with great models and has some excellent pictures of their labour of love which he called the 'Big Orange Book Battle'. 

Here's a shot from his blog for comparison complete with nods to many of the original figures from that most famous of gaming tables. Geoff contacted Wayne for details about how best to reconstruct the Monastery seen at the far back here. Such was his passion for the project, ensuring as much of the original set up could be depicted last August. Thrud and the Townscape lavatory even make an appearance. Do yourself a favour and click the link above if you haven't seen this wonderful project. 

I got talking to Wayne online the other day when he shared some of his photographs. I was immediately intrigued by another name from Warhammer's epic past and sent him a message. Clearly a humble fellow, he seemed reluctant to chat at first considering his contribution too small or limited to be of interest. I am sure you will all agree this is very much not the case. We got chatting further and he began to open up a little of his memories of his involvement with WFB3 and wargaming in general. My old desire to ask questions and soak up as much history from our chosen period rose again and this post is the result. 

RoC80s: So how did you get into miniature wargames and Warhammer in general?

WM: I am a long time member of the Skirmish Wargames Group. We started gaming in 54mm scale in the mid to late 1970s. The founder of SWG was Mike Blake who is also a long time friend of mine and was the Best Man at my wedding. I managed to get some of the group to do Warhammer Fantasy Battle in 54mm (now THAT is a real challenge) and to this day is almost unique. I tread a lonely path these days on that though. Back in the 1970s there wasn't much fantasy gaming around and I had seen the odd Lord of the Rings game played. We were based in Bristol at the same Wargames club and then, like now, everybody was jumping on the new bandwagon. Warhammer Fantasy Battle was that new bandwagon. I saw a guy paint up a mercenary Ogre unit and was blown away by what I saw. I was hooked from then on in. From the early '80s we were all painting furiously producing stuff for Warhammer Second Edition. 

Roc80s: Tell us about your famous scenery? How did you end up with such an incredible gaming table?

WM: Most of the figures, nearly all in fact, that you can see on the table in the photographs were mine. My ideas for creating terrain on this scale came from seeing someone play Warhammer on a big selection of 1ft by 1ft polystyrene ceiling tiles... I kid you not! From there I scaled things up to 2ft by 2ft two inch think high density polystyrene. It was designed to be modular with edge protection. The monastery came from a scenario in the Citadel Spring Journal in 1986. It took me about a month to construct it from start to finish. It was a printed card building and I just scaled it up. Doing so meant that I could add further detail such as a cellar for the Black Ark. Everything looked suitably destroyed by earlier skaven attacks. As for the rest of the terrain, the bridge and walls were vacuum formed models produced by Bellona who were a decent Wargames company in those days. The hedges were homemade by me and the trees were from Britain's models. I cut the rivers into the boards and along with all the tracks and roads these were modular so always matched up. Doing this is pretty common now but was unusual back then. The GW card buildings were cut out by me, then re-roofed, based and the windows and doors recessed. 

Editor's Note: The bridge and walls Wayne used can be seen here if you look closely. 

RoC80s: You mention the famous monastery model from WFB3. What can you recall about it's construction?

WM: As I said, by 1986 Games Workshop put out another Citadel Journal inside of which were details about a three sided game. In the scenario, The Lichemaster and his undead were pitted against the Grey Seer Thanquol's skaven. They were both after the Black Ark held by the Monks of Maisontaal. I used the printed card monastery inside the supplement to construct my own 3D version of it. It sat on a 2ft by 2ft MDF board and was scratch-built entirely from polystyrene, foamcore, card, balsa wood, gravel and scenic scatter. I made it as faithful to the original as I could with a few added details, as I have said. It saw many refights over the years and eventually saw publication inside the rulebook after I was invited up to Nottingham for a photoshoot. Over the years it was used for Spain 1812, Mexico 1863 and Italy 1944. As of 2026, its resides in Newport, Gwent in the United Kingdom. 

Here are a few photographs of how the model looks today. 

RoC80s: It is really something to see this famous scenery piece up-close and personal after so long. It is great to see it survived the decades. What befell the rest of that gaming table?

WM: I took the models to various shows during the 1980s, including Games day when I think it was held in London. We won Best Demonstration Game one year. From that, we were invited up to Nottingham to do the photoshoot which gave me several credits in the contributor index and in the pictures section. Nearly all of the figures you can see in the old photographs were sold off as interests waned over the decades. I still have some of the trolls and the three giants... Snap, Crackle and Pop! These were made from the Fighting Fantasy 60mm figures produced by Games Workshop at that time. The terrain board themselves were gifted to a friend when a house move resulted in reduced space. I do still have the trees though, and they are now alongside the monastery in a peaceful corner of the Empire (South Wales). 

The author of this blog knew little about the Citadel Journals or the articles that lie within due to his focus on Third Edition. So it was pleasing to head off to the Stuff of Legends site and have a look through the supplements Wayne mentioned. As a fan of the Warhammer card buildings it is always a joy to find some more to add to the never ending to do list. And the monastery is just another one in a long line. If you are intrigued then visit the Stuff of legend site for the Spring 1986 Citadel Compendium. You'll find the scenario of Vengeance of the Lichemaster there. Otherwise, I've included the details on the monastery and it's original card stock model below for reader reference. 

RoC80s: You said your interest waned over the years. Do you still dabble with Warhammer or fantasy wargaming in general?

WM: As I said, I work with 54mm models now and have done for many years. We've even fought full sized battles at this scale. It is a challenge taking you back to the good old days of sourcing and converting. Figure availability drives army choice. I've produced figures for the undead, beastmen, Bretonnia and even the Amazons!  Working in 54mm is all about lateral thinking. What I mean is that I have decades of experience looking for resources. My giant was a troll from a babyshop for example and I just based and painted the figure. The vampire was a figure in a Desktop Dungeon game.

Here are two of my ogres.

WM: Of course the big one these days is 3D printing. You need to find a printer which can scale to 54mm, though the cost of something like this can be prohibitive, possibly. My undead skellies number around 100 now and are from several toy manufacturers. The figures come in bags and with a few head and weapons swaps are good to go for negligible outlay. 

A huge thank you to Wayne for taking the time out to complete this interview and share his photographs. I must confess to being both intrigued and fascinated by 54mm Warhammer battles, even if I am a Citadel lead purist at heart. Of course at shows I've seen my fair share of large scale miniatures but its always inspiring to see the work of others and models like Wayne's skeletons make old Orlygg wonder what a larger scale Skeleton Horde would look like with hand painted shields! 

Anyone else have any fond memories of Wayne's classic battlefield set up? Please let me know about your successes and disasters if you did (:

Of course, the major thought I am taking away from this interview is the treatment of future gaming tables. I have dabbled with them over the years but they've always been opportunistic endeavours. Cobbled together from the odds and ends I've had lying around the house. I now have a dedicated space just for miniatures a gaming and with a little work a large scale permanent table could be constructed which I would hope would match the brilliance of Wayne's magnificent table of old. Hand made hedgerows, Britain's trees, scale model versions of the Warhammer card stock buildings. It all sounds so wonderful. Probably because I am still that enthusiast looking through the early pages of WFB3 today. I'm still amazed by people like Wayne. Still inspired by them. 

As I hope you still are too. 

Orlygg