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It's a shame to see anyone get fired, or take joy in it (presuming that's what happened). That said, as someone who plays two armies that use Ward codexes (BA and GK) and two Kelly codexes (DE and Eldar) I'll take the latter any day of the week.

Fluff aside, I never felt Ward's rules were really that great. List building a Ward codex normally meant picking out the one or two near-broken units and leveraging them with a lot of underwhelming stuff. His books tended to excel in the meta they were written, but fail to stand the test of time.

Yes, Necrons are strong now -- but not because they have a well written book, but because the rules of 40K changed in such a way that they became very strong.

My caveat is that I like randomness. I'm a fan of fun special rules and weird things that can influence the tabletop, good and bad. Not so much things that are reliable or perform exceedingly well in a tournament setting.

Ultimately I feel about the big codex writers that:
- Ward's codexes are largely underwhelming except for 1 or 2 really cheesy combinations that can almost break the game.
- Kelly's codexes are a mixed bag of very good and bad units, which can work in concert -- but provide you with options.
- Cruddace's tend to be underpowered based on the meta.

Hopefully GW really is collaborating on books now, not just using that as a convenient excuse to take heat off their writers. I can't speak to the balance of High Elves because I don't play enough fantasy.

In terms of fluff I'll take Kelly over them all, any day.

I beg to differ.

Necrons have many builds. Armor 13 wall. Flying saucer. Wraithwing. Teleporting infantry.

Grey knights had draigo wing. Henchman spam. Lascannon monkeys. Purifier spam. Etc.

Necrons were strong in 5th and have remained so.

Dark Eldar is a really bad offender of only being propped up by edition rules. Without beastar, dark eldar wouldn't even be a blip in the competitive scene.

I'm not trying to over glorify ward. Just to point out Kelly is not some golden god. He's also a terrible codex writer that only props his books up with a few broken units while the rest are unplayable garbage.

Goresaw wrote:
I beg to differ.

Necrons have many builds.

Comp Necron units:

- AB
- NS
- Wraiths
- CCB

Want a competitive army? Build your list around these units.

I've seen a lot of people assuming he was fired, whereas my first thought was that he had left of his own devices (purely assumption in my part) and not seen anything to the contrary?

Can someone direct me to where all those glorying in the fact, or commiserating, that he was fired got that idea from?

Tau have been the closest we've ever gotten to an internally well balanced book (lol external balance though). Almost all units were usable and had a role in any army. I love the book from that standpoint.

Take even the much maligned vespid. You put them in any other book and people would love them. Jump troops with str 5 ap3 guns with stealth in ruins. Thats really not that bad. Its just the legacy the unit has that really ruins its perception


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Sigvatr wrote:

Goresaw wrote:
I beg to differ.

Necrons have many builds.

Comp Necron units:

- AB
- NS
- Wraiths
- CCB

Want a competitive army? Build your list around these units.

Sort of. Wraiths are on their way out. Armies have the firepower to kill them easily. To most shooting its just a two wound space marine.

I think knights and the damage chart have changed the face of competitive crons. They're much happier with drive by haywire etc.

 Azreal13 wrote:
I've seen a lot of people assuming he was fired, whereas my first thought was that he had left of his own devices (purely assumption in my part) and not seen anything to the contrary?

Can someone direct me to where all those glorying in the fact, or commiserating, that he was fired got that idea from?

If you voluntarily quit a job, you normally already got another one on the line; noone wants to be unemployed for a longer period of time. Plus, as others already pointed out, he "left" the company before the end of the fiscal year so they did not have to write the last payment to the current financial report.

So, it all points to him having been fired. Which is the best thing that could have happened to 40k besides Kirby being removed from the company.

 Azreal13 wrote:
I've seen a lot of people assuming he was fired, whereas my first thought was that he had left of his own devices (purely assumption in my part) and not seen anything to the contrary?

Can someone direct me to where all those glorying in the fact, or commiserating, that he was fired got that idea from?

Maybe he decided to steal from the Mark Wells playbook and get out of dodge before the crash. Think want you want of him, he looks better leaving on his own now rather then being an even BIGGER scape goat after the fall.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Azreal13 wrote:
I've seen a lot of people assuming he was fired, whereas my first thought was that he had left of his own devices (purely assumption in my part) and not seen anything to the contrary?

Can someone direct me to where all those glorying in the fact, or commiserating, that he was fired got that idea from?

If you voluntarily quit a job, you normally already got another one on the line; noone wants to be unemployed for a longer period of time. Plus, as others already pointed out, he "left" the company before the end of the fiscal year so they did not have to write the last payment to the current financial report.

So, it all points to him having been fired. Which is the best thing that could have happened to 40k besides Kirby being removed from the company.

How do you know he is unemployed? He could have a book deal for all we know. Heck he could be writing a script for another series of Middle Earth crap.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Azreal13 wrote:
I've seen a lot of people assuming he was fired, whereas my first thought was that he had left of his own devices (purely assumption in my part) and not seen anything to the contrary?

Can someone direct me to where all those glorying in the fact, or commiserating, that he was fired got that idea from?

If you voluntarily quit a job, you normally already got another one on the line; noone wants to be unemployed for a longer period of time. Plus, as others already pointed out, he "left" the company before the end of the fiscal year so they did not have to write the last payment to the current financial report.

So, it all points to him having been fired. Which is the best thing that could have happened to 40k besides Kirby being removed from the company.

Well there's some significant leaps of logic there, if he's genuinely left to write for a living, that explains not having another job to go to, and I for one wouldn't consider when it was right for the company that I left, but when it was right for me, if that happened to be April or November.

So, a bunch of assumptions based on tenuous evidence then?

 Azreal13 wrote:


Well there's some significant leaps of logic there, if he's genuinely left to write for a living, that explains not having another job to go to, and I for one wouldn't consider when it was right for the company that I left, but when it was right for me, if that happened to be April or November.

So, a bunch of assumptions based on tenuous evidence then?

Just stating which things point to it. Pursuing a career as a book author when having previously proven that you're terrible at writing stories might not be a very wise decision. That's like Michael J. Fox quitting acting to become a neuro-surgeon.

So with Mat Ward gone, what will the whiniest depths of the community cry about now? They're not happy unless they have something to complain about! x

PapaSoul wrote:
So with Mat Ward gone, what will the whiniest depths of the community cry about now? They're not happy unless they have something to complain about! x

Easy: Kirby.

 ZebioLizard2 wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:

 MajorWesJanson wrote:
If he was pushed out, I feel sorry for him. The amount of vitriol spewed at him by people online was insane. He was a game designer, not someone who worked at Haliburton or Bain Capital. The people who called for him to be fired should be ashamed.

Don't be stupid. It's not like we were calling for his summary execution, we just wanted the job done by someone who would do it right.

..And who in the company actually does things right?

Alan Blighe, AKA, Mr. Horus Heresy FW books. I love everything that group is doing for 30k.

PapaSoul wrote:
So with Mat Ward gone, what will the whiniest depths of the community cry about now? They're not happy unless they have something to complain about! x

Maybe they'll complain about people complaining....oh wait, you just did. Ninja-ed!

 MWHistorian wrote:

PapaSoul wrote:
So with Mat Ward gone, what will the whiniest depths of the community cry about now? They're not happy unless they have something to complain about! x

Maybe they'll complain about people complaining....oh wait, you just did. Ninja-ed!

I don't think you quite understand what complaining is

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Azreal13 wrote:


Well there's some significant leaps of logic there, if he's genuinely left to write for a living, that explains not having another job to go to, and I for one wouldn't consider when it was right for the company that I left, but when it was right for me, if that happened to be April or November.

So, a bunch of assumptions based on tenuous evidence then?

Just stating which things point to it. Pursuing a career as a book author when having previously proven that you're terrible at writing stories might not be a very wise decision. That's like Michael J. Fox quitting acting to become a neuro-surgeon.

E L James.

So Matt Ward is going to write erotica?

God I hope not!

I just meant that it is possible to become a phenomenally successful author without necessarily having enough talent to write your own name well.

I give you that!

As a Daemon player who's been fethed over 4 times now by Ward, I can't help but feel a wee bit happier now!

First I was an automatic TFG just for playing DoC in 7th...

Then I because I couldn't get a game of Fantasy in without every opponent whining endlessly, I moved to 40k and took it up the bum from Durp Knights and all their OP crap...

Then the "fixed" DoC book comes out in 8th, and my Tzeentch army is rendered utterly unplayable...

And the very next Fantasy release are High Elves who Mr. Ward only handed the single most broken magic item since 5th edition's Forbidden Rod, which auto-stomps Daemons. (because our pile of crap army book wasn't quite enough of a nerf beating for some it seems.)


The only good thing to have happened to Daemons over the past 6 years has been Mr. Kelly giving us an overall fantastic 40k codex.
Here's hoping the upcoming Grey Knight book isn't going to repeat the exact same mistakes Ward made with his other works.

Wait where are people getting the idea that his Wardness is gonna become a writer? Is it in his linkedin profile?

It's on his website, it is how he self identifies.

Mat Ward has a website!?

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Misogyny is the hatred of women.

Well, usually it describe something more subtle than “Hurr durr, I hate women, I will hit them with a stick”.
If he actually always had the sisters portrayed as weak and ineffectual (he had not, they were portrayed “just like usual” in the WDex), then it would be sensible to suspect misogyny. However, it is clear from his blog and twitter posts (if that is the same person, again) that he is not a misogynist.

 Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
Mat Ward has a website!?

The link has been posted in this very thread!

But, assuming you're too lazy to look for it..

http://www.thetowerofstars.co.uk/

My Go-- What the F--

WOW!

How has it not been trolled into oblivion by /tg/ guys yet?

Can people not leave this guy alone.. Jesus...

Consider the audience.

 Sasori wrote:
Can people not leave this guy alone.. Jesus...

He brought it all onto himself

He will certainly get some rest now, though, as he can no longer spread his terrible writing among WHFB and 40k players. And with less reason to hate him, he won't be focused as hard as he was in the past. So all in all, the decision to leave GW, whether it was he himself or some dude at GW, was the best decision for all involved parties. He now has the chance to start anew and his new works may even be positively received by another audience.

 Azreal13 wrote:

 Ferrum_Sanguinis wrote:
Mat Ward has a website!?

The link has been posted in this very thread!

But, assuming you're too lazy to look for it..

http://www.thetowerofstars.co.uk/

That reads exactly how I'd expect, like a bad fanfic writer...I couldn't have imagined it worse than that

It's exactly what I would have expected out of some 4chan trolls parody site...

Is there any more news here or are we just beating on the poor dead horse?