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kronk wrote:Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Oh, wow, I feel young. I bet i'm really gunna catch it for this, but...

Who is this guy? I've never heard of him. He seems to be held in high regard, and writes good fluff, but i'd like to know more. Why the praise? What codexes has he done?

Luke_Prowler wrote:

ZebioLizard2 wrote:I'm not a fan of any of the codex writers, all of them have written horrible books, some filled with horrible balance, while some have written great stuff.

So I avoid trying to lump one person as being the "Worst" though as it is Cruddance has the lowest score for 40k books, though he has done well in fantasy.

Ward has written 3 Mid tier 40k armies, 1 OP army, 1 OP fantasy, and one good edition for fantasy

Phil Kelly has written one OP army (4th edition eldar) one OP 5th edition army (Space Wolves) One mid tier (Dark Elder) and one high tier but not rigged like the others Warriors of Chaos.

Phil also wrote Orks, which is also a good book

I knew I missed one, thank you for that clarity.

Basically Kelly is half and half, he can write a mid-tier, but at the same time he'll write an OP before or after.

Who is this guy? I've never heard of him. He seems to be held in high regard, and writes good fluff, but i'd like to know more. Why the praise? What codexes has he done?

Most likely a Black Library writer.

loota boy wrote:

kronk wrote:Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Oh, wow, I feel young. I bet i'm really gunna catch it for this, but...

Who is this guy? I've never heard of him. He seems to be held in high regard, and writes good fluff, but i'd like to know more. Why the praise? What codexes has he done?

The greatest Black Library author in the history of ever.

Brother SRM wrote:What a novel post! I've literally never heard this joke before and can't wait to hear it for the first time again! I also can't wait for someone to reply to your post with something along the lines of "epic win" and a laughing Ork emoticon; that will really contribute to the topic!

Your user title is 'SPESS MAHREN'. Can you really take the high ground here?

So, I'd like to stick up for Cruddance a little bit. His consistency isn't great comprehensively, but his recent stuff really hasn't been that bad. I think he did a just fine job with the guard codex. If anything, it looks like he's getting better with time. If he's gone long enough to make "pretty decent", I'd assume the next thing he writes will be even moreso.

I'd agree that he's not the best of the best, but chaos could certainly do worse. I mean, the current chaos codex writer was basically booed out of GW altogether...

Ailaros wrote:So, I'd like to stick up for Cruddance a little bit. His consistency isn't great comprehensively, but his recent stuff really hasn't been that bad. I think he did a just fine job with the guard codex. If anything, it looks like he's getting better with time. If he's gone long enough to make "pretty decent", I'd assume the next thing he writes will be even moreso.

I'd agree that he's not the best of the best, but chaos could certainly do worse. I mean, the current chaos codex writer was basically booed out of GW altogether...

As I mention, he's done far better as a fantasy writer than a 40k. But it remains to be seen if he can ever keep said consistency should he return to making 40k codex's.

What codexes has Cruddance written? I know he did Guard (Which I love, and is generally considered to be pretty solid ) and Tyranids (Which I haven't read, but have heard is rather crap-tastic) Has he done any other epic-failures in 40K?

Ailaros wrote:I'd agree that he's not the best of the best, but chaos could certainly do worse. I mean, the current chaos codex writer was basically booed out of GW altogether...

Another question, who wrote the current Chaos dex?


And to answer the OPs question, I'd go for Phil Kelly as the number one choice, mainly on the strength of Dark Eldar alone, I think that's a very well put-together codex; good fluff, decent rules, not too OP or UP, a good balance of units. If not him or Cruddance, then Ward for rules (So long as he was kept on a bit of a leash) and an established fluff-writer for the fluff. I like the above suggestion of getting Aaron Dembski-Bowden, since by all accounts he can write Chaos pretty damned well...

What codexes has Cruddance written? I know he did Guard (Which I love, and is generally considered to be pretty solid ) and Tyranids (Which I haven't read, but have heard is rather crap-tastic) Has he done any other epic-failures in 40K?

He's done two more in fantasy: Tomb Kings, and Empire

Another question, who wrote the current Chaos dex?

Gav Thorpe, Black library writer, writer of several fantasy and 40k dex's from 4th and before.

AND Alessio. Who may have had a greater influence in it than Gav. IIRC Alessio was the main guy behind it, but Gav took the f flak for it, or some such...

Just Dave wrote:AND Alessio. Who may have had a greater influence in it than Gav. IIRC Alessio was the main guy behind it, but Gav took the f flak for it, or some such...

Let's not speak of the name that split the chaos codex into two, as well as attempted the "Streamline" process of 4th edition. Lest he return from the dark depths.

I don't know about Aaron Dembski-Bowden writing the chaos dex. After reading Helsreach (my favorite black library book) it would be awesome to have his handy work in the next templar book.

First off, let me say that I dont care about fluff ... at all. They could completely change everything about the fluff, or not include any fluff at all, and it would make no difference to me as long as the rules are good. The more I think about it, I'm actually ANTI-fluff... I'd hate for them sticking to the fluff to limit the rules they could put in place. I participate in this hobby for the gameplay and painting, and the fluff doesn't interest me whatsoever.

Anyway, I want the codex to be as good as it can be without being cheesy. I want to be as competitive as possible, while not being so strong that people dont want to play me.

I want new fun things. Mechanical chaos dragon sounds like fun to me. I've heard a lot of people hating on it in the rumor threads, but I think it sounds cool. I'd like other new, never been done, not just a spiky version of something marines have. Although, I would take a spiky version of whatever that BA guy is that lets you reroll to hit and wound if he's in the unit.

Also, I kindof like the current codex, and I dont want any part of it to get nerfed. I know some units are good and everyone takes them, but rather than nerfing those units, everything else in the codex should be brought up on par with them. I dont want obliterators to be nerfed in any way. I want to be able to take plague marines and khorne berzerkers both as troops in the same army. Oh yeah, and revert the fething warptime change back to how it is originally in the codex.

So, in answer to the main question of this thread, I want the author of the codex to be whoever can make it like I described above. So, who would that be?

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Brother SRM wrote:What a novel post! I've literally never heard this joke before and can't wait to hear it for the first time again! I also can't wait for someone to reply to your post with something along the lines of "epic win" and a laughing Ork emoticon; that will really contribute to the topic!

Your user title is 'SPESS MAHREN'. Can you really take the high ground here?

Since I made the Dawn of Awesome cartoons, yes, yes I can. I also actually contribute to threads, beyond my appreciation of a single bad joke I ran into the ground.

Matt Ward. I want him to write all the new codecies. Everything will be balanced against each other that way. I enjoy the over-the-toppedness. When everything is absurd, nothing is.

Hey, I secretly wish it's Orks who get the Mat Ward treatment, but don't tell anyone...

Chaos... Phil Kelly. Did an excellent work with Dark Eldar and (hurts to admit) Space Wolves.

Matt Ward, Because he writes some of the best rules and varying gameplay styles. And Abbadon in my opinion needs the Draigo treatment. I can rely on the Black Library for Fluff