Mike McVey

Michael McVey is an artist, miniatures sculptor and game designer who has worked primarily on miniature wargames.

Early life Mike McVey was born in the United Kingdom and played Dungeons & Dragons in his youth. While on a family holiday in the early 1980s, he painted his first miniature, a caveman produced by Ral Partha. He soon came to realize that he enjoyed painting the fantasy miniatures used in the game more than playing the game. where he worked as a miniatures painter at their Nottingham studio. From there, McVey filled many other roles for the company: writing a series of books for GW about painting and modelling; writing the eavy Metal column for GW's house magazine White Dwarf; making elaborate dioramas — he later called this "The happiest time in my whole career" — and designing several miniature ranges. Matt Williams of Privateer Press later commented that they had only been able to move Warmachine from an idea to reality after McVey joined their creative team, adding, "The biggest factor was finding Mike McVey. There's no way that Warmachine could be made without him. He's a brilliant sculptor who has the ability to do fantastic technical and straight line sculpting, perfectly suited for something like a steamjack."

In 2007, McVey moved back to the UK as a freelance consultant, which included work on World of Warcraft miniatures. Adam Poots, designer of the boutique board game Kingdom Death, called McVey his "childhood hero". Neil Rutledge counselled young painters to start simple and not "be put off by the masterpieces of such gurus as Mike McVey". In 2017, Gen Con named McVey to their "Gen Con Industry Insider Alumni".