Mat Ward back at GW?

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**Orlanth**

The return of Matt Ward.

d4chan will not take this news well.

Personally I dont care, I stopped buying codexes long ago. No point really.

**Inquisitor Gideon**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Tannhauser42 wrote:
pm713 wrote:
casvalremdeikun wrote:
To be honest, Ward was actually a pretty good rules writer. His codexes had excellent internal Balance (at least relative to the current ones) and weren't too far off from each other in terms of external balance. Keep him away from the fluff and let him write the rules and things will actually be pretty good.

Didn't he make ridiculously OP GK, and ruin 7th Fantasy with Daemons? Plus the High Elves book. He is not good at rules.

And everything he wrote was approved by someone higher up, so let's take a moment to remember the name Alan Merrett, who stated, in court, that he believes that GW's customers' favorite hobby is buying GW products.

Never in my time on Dakka were truer words spoken. Merrett is, I believe, the center of a lot of my personal gripes with the company over the years, many of the gripes I'd attributed to writers and creatives below him and Kirby drifting above him.

As for Ward, he certainly didn't write the drizzle of piss that was the last Ork codex and that phoned in filth is the worst codex in years. He also didn't give D weapons and scatterlazorrrz to every bloody single unit in Eldar, did he... Some of his naming tropes were poor, some of his background was Mary-Sueish, but honestly we've seen far worse. The prosecution of online vendetta towards the bloke is unreasonable hyperbolic nonsense and the fairly reliable rumor relayed to me that he had his life threatened at a GW event in the states by an ex-services player (along with other such bonkers bs as Gav T's home address being put up on druchii.net with a call to send him such things as phials of blood etc for writing a poor book) should go to show that this has almost eliminated 'names' in GW now and it's why we don't get names in the books any more, and you know something? I bloody miss named characters at GW, I miss that long list of obnoxious photos and larger than life personalities like fat bloke, Chambers of secrets, Stillmania etc, I'd like to see it again, but who the hell wants to stick their head above the pulpit and get into the crosshairs of the mob these days.

Lads, lay off it. Take a breath, pull yer trousers up and take some moral high ground. If the guy has returned to write novels, wait til the novel comes out and assess it on it's merits.

Huh, a reasonable and intelligent voice on the internet. Congratulations sir, have an exalt.

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

Why is MGS getting all the credit? I made a similar point a few pages back!

Nah, just kidding, excellent post from MGS as always, cuts through the bull.

After re-visting the old Daemon army book, I'm reminded how fun it was to play with and against.

And if Ward does end up doing work for the BL, I can't be much worse than what we've seen these past few years.

The last BL book I enjoyed was James Wallis' Mark of Damnation, and that's going back a bit.

**privateer4hire**

I played 7th WFB, which had extremely serious imbalance toward the middle/end (demons, dark elves, vampire counts). Did this fella do those army books?

**Do_I_Not_Like_That**

privateer4hire wrote:
I played 7th WFB, which had extremely serious imbalance toward the middle/end (demons, dark elves, vampire counts). Did this fella do those army books?

If memory serves, it was Gav Thorpe that did the Dark Elves army book, the same army book that had basic DE spearmen with light armour, shield, spear, eternal hatred, leadership 8, movement 5, WS and BS 4...for the same price as an unarmoured human with a spear...

Strangely, Thorpe never got the same amount of flak as Mat ward did

**Inquisitor Gideon**

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:
Why is MGS getting all the credit? I made a similar point a few pages back!

Nah, just kidding, excellent post from MGS as always, cuts through the bull.

After re-visting the old Daemon army book, I'm reminded how fun it was to play with and against.

And if Ward does end up doing work for the BL, I can't be much worse than what we've seen these past few years.

The last BL book I enjoyed was James Wallis' Mark of Damnation, and that's going back a bit.

Ha sorry, I skipped through the first few pages after I saw the exact reactions I was sadly expecting. Good to have another sane voice

I never had a problem with Ward personally. I still think his work on Lord of the Rings was some of the best stuff GW ever put out. I do remember playing against the old deamon army book and enjoying it actually. I like to a steep curve to fight against.

**casvalremdeikun**

Honestly, Ward didn't write any of the new broken codexes (Necrons, Tau, Codex: Space Marines, or Eldar). The people that did are still with GW. And was the broken stuff Ward wrote even in the same category as the Cruddace and Kelly stuff?

**Inquisitor Gideon**

casvalremdeikun wrote:
Honestly, Ward didn't write any of the new broken codexes (Necrons, Tau, Codex: Space Marines, or Eldar). The people that did are still with GW. And was the broken stuff Ward wrote even in the same category as the Cruddace and Kelly stuff?

Nah, nowhere near as bad in my opinion as Cruddace and Kelly. I think Ward just got caught up in the "internet hate machine" and he still hasn't been let out of it.

**MeanGreenStompa**

casvalremdeikun wrote:
Honestly, Ward didn't write any of the new broken codexes (Necrons, Tau, Codex: Space Marines, or Eldar). The people that did are still with GW. And was the broken stuff Ward wrote even in the same category as the Cruddace and Kelly stuff?

Back in the day, towards the end of 5th, Grey Knights came out, which was a very powerful, all singing, all dancing MEQ army of elites. I fought it on various occasions, including a few tourneys, using the (even then) dated ork codex, applying basic principals to kill MEQ and usually did well against it. It was OP to an extent and the fluff was very very overblown and fanboyish. The necron codex that followed it was also powerful, coming at the end of 5th and the beginning of 6th and the 'Flying Circus' build it brought pissed off a lot of people, it also saw a great reworking of Necron background making them more 'human' and fractional, which stole a lot of their 'ancient implacable ultimate badguy' background, this also saw a lot of rage. (I get why they did it to both crons and nids, as they had both stolen the limelight of Ultimate Evil from Chaos and needed winding back in).

Then there was some odd and daft stuff in the BA codex, deep-striking Land Raiders rules, cheaper devastators than codex marines, terrible naming tropes and the alliance of crons and BAs.

Neither the background or the rules were that bad, but the combination of them all, in a short space of time, created the perfect breeding ground for him to become public enemy number one, unlike anyone else writing there, like P Kelly for example, for whom us ork players would still go to war (waaagh) over (compounded for me by the TERRIBLE codex we now have).

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Inquisitor Gideon wrote:
casvalremdeikun wrote:
Honestly, Ward didn't write any of the new broken codexes (Necrons, Tau, Codex: Space Marines, or Eldar). The people that did are still with GW. And was the broken stuff Ward wrote even in the same category as the Cruddace and Kelly stuff?

Nah, nowhere near as bad in my opinion as Cruddace and Kelly. I think Ward just got caught up in the "internet hate machine" and he still hasn't been let out of it.

PK wrote that book, it's the best and greatest codex the boyz have ever had.

**Fenrir Kitsune**

Well,no, "ere we go" has that privilege.

**MeanGreenStompa**

Fenrir Kitsune wrote:
Well,no, "ere we go" has that privilege.

Ere We Go wasn't a codex... The Codex didn't show up until the 2nd ed.

**ZebioLizard2**

Considering that they no longer put names on the codex, 6th/7th edition Ork Codex could've been written by Phil Kelly

**Fenrir Kitsune**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Fenrir Kitsune wrote:
Well,no, "ere we go" has that privilege.

Ere We Go wasn't a codex... The Codex didn't show up until the 2nd ed.

So in spite of laying the foundations and having the same essential contents, it don't count be cause it don't say "codex"

**Jadenim**

ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Considering that they no longer put names on the codex, 6th/7th edition Ork Codex could've been written by Phil Kelly

As far as I can tell, the current Ork codex was written by an intern from the print room, with a list from management in one hand saying "put these new models in", a copy/paste of the Kelly codex in the other, which he hadn't had time to read, and about half an hour of spare time.

There is pretty much no understanding of the Ork army in there and certainly no love or passion for the army at all. It was a purely mechanical update, it really is that bad.

/OT rant.

**H.B.M.C.**

I never cared about Ward's rules (although he did break Fantasy with his Daemons book). I only cared about the fluff.

His naming conventions were beyond silly, and the Draigo stuff really is that bad. I don't care whether they were hopelessly broken or completely incapable of winning against the lowly Tau - the writing was silly!

40K has a certain silly element, but Blood Fists and Bloodshard Rounds and Bloodstrike Missiles and Nemesis DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM Fists were a very silly bridge too far.

**NorseSig**

After what Matt Ward did to my Iron Hands, I have nothing but loathing and HATE for the man. Throwing the mess of a two week old, overflowing toilet against a sheet of paper would make a better and more coherent codex than anything he wrote. Especially in regards to the fluff. Just as I was getting back into 40k after a break. Now I feel like I should consider selling everything 40k I have. But, I suppose I should give it 6 months, or at least long enough to find out what piece of garbage he is working on. I would say something else about the man, but I feel like I would get a perma ban if I did.

**DarkStarSabre**

casvalremdeikun wrote:
Cruddace and Kelly stuff?

Cruddace stuff is broken in the actual meaning of the term. i.e. dysfunctional, damaged, non-functioning, beyond repair.

Tyranids are certainly not 'cheese' broken by any stretch of the imagination. But actually broken.

**Verviedi**

Whoa whoa whoa. Don't insult my Nemesis DOOOOOOMfists. That's like insulting my MURDERhobbyclippers or BLOODpaintbrush.

**MeanGreenStompa**

NorseSig wrote:
After what Matt Ward did to my Iron Hands, I have nothing but loathing and HATE for the man. I would say something else about the man, but I feel like I would get a perma ban if I did.

I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Do me a favour chaps and lets all wind that shiz in eh? You sound ridiculous.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Fenrir Kitsune wrote:
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
Fenrir Kitsune wrote:
Well,no, "ere we go" has that privilege.

Ere We Go wasn't a codex... The Codex didn't show up until the 2nd ed.

So in spite of laying the foundations and having the same essential contents, it don't count be cause it don't say "codex"

Pretty much, given that if I were talking about a Chaos Codex, I wouldn't be thinking of Realm of Chaos: Slaves to Darkness or an Eldar Codex being the White Dwarf Yellow Compendium...

YMMV

**adamsouza**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Exalted, and Sig worthy.

**zedmeister**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:
NorseSig wrote:
After what Matt Ward did to my Iron Hands, I have nothing but loathing and HATE for the man. I would say something else about the man, but I feel like I would get a perma ban if I did.

I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Worth repeating and reposting. Anyone who gets into such a state at what is supposed to be a fun past time should probably take a break from it. He wrote a rule book with fictional stories in. Level criticism at his words or his rules by all means, but to poor scorn on the poor fellow to such a degree...

And I can't believe some of the tales on here. Poor bloke. Probably thought he'd landed a dream job, getting paid for what he enjoyed only to have people threaten you or make a call to post blood to you.

**Wachaza**

People wonder why GW removed the writing credits from their books.

**H.B.M.C.**

adamsouza wrote:
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Exalted, and Sig worthy.

Not really. It's a fallacy of relative privation.

**gorgon**

Jadenim wrote:
ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Considering that they no longer put names on the codex, 6th/7th edition Ork Codex could've been written by Phil Kelly

As far as I can tell, the current Ork codex was written by an intern from the print room, with a list from management in one hand saying "put these new models in", a copy/paste of the Kelly codex in the other, which he hadn't had time to read, and about half an hour of spare time.

There is pretty much no understanding of the Ork army in there and certainly no love or passion for the army at all. It was a purely mechanical update, it really is that bad.

/OT rant.

I'm not a studio hater, but that's why I have almost no hope that Tyranids will get the major refresh that they so desperately need. Too many Tyranid units haven't fundamentally changed since 3rd or 4th edition, when the game -- and especially the firepower on the table -- was drastically different than what it is now. And they certainly aren't about to change in the current copy/paste environment. Whenever they get their next update, we'll probably see Tyranid Warriors 'buffed' through a formation that gives them Fear and Counterattack, and other such nonsense.

I'm excited about a Genestealer Cult codex, though.

**MeanGreenStompa**

ZebioLizard2 wrote:
Considering that they no longer put names on the codex, 6th/7th edition Ork Codex could've been written by Phil Kelly

He didn't write it.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

H.B.M.C. wrote:
adamsouza wrote:
MeanGreenStompa wrote:
I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Exalted, and Sig worthy.

Not really. It's a fallacy of relative privation.

Or a call to appropriately direct emotion and avoid hyperbole...

**NorseSig**

I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Do me a favour chaps and lets all wind that shiz in eh? You sound ridiculous.

And what I feel towards these kinds of people goes way beyond hate. Hate is something I reserve for someone who is an actual human being. You don't know me or know the measuring stick by which I judge things. So back off.

**MeanGreenStompa**

NorseSig wrote:
I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Do me a favour chaps and lets all wind that shiz in eh? You sound ridiculous.

And what I feel towards these kinds of people goes way beyond hate. Hate is something I reserve for someone who is an actual human being. You don't know me or know the measuring stick by which I judge things. So back off.

no.

Also you taking personal offense at my comments suggesting winding down the vitriol in regards your detrimental comments towards someone who isn't actually here to defend themselves and who isn't able to tell you that you 'don't know them and to back off' is... fairly delicious hypocrisy, don't you think?

**zedmeister**

NorseSig wrote:
And what I feel towards these kinds of people goes way beyond hate. Hate is something I reserve for someone who is an actual human being. You don't know me or know the measuring stick by which I judge things. So back off.

We have no idea who you are but you are judged on your postings. Talking about extreme emotions over what is, essentially, a rulebook with fiction in it doesn't come across as either healthy or constructive. We have no idea who was involved in the writing of any of the books, what decisions were made, how things were agreed, what hand he had in it, etc, etc. To demonise him over it is idiotic and, far too often, goes way too far.

**russian69hitman**

He was hired by GW, as a freelancer, to do a (unknown) project. He's not "back at" GW, just hired by GW for some project....

From Linkedin -

Matthew Ward
Author / Freelance Writer / Creative Consultant
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
Writing and Editing
Current The Tower of Stars

Freelance Writing Services / Creative Consultancy
The Tower of Stars
November 2014 – Present (1 year 10 months)
- Providing bespoke, quality writing in a range of fields, to suit clients' needs.
- Experienced creative direction, refining world, characters, concepts and narratives.
1 project
Vermintide
Crafted story and dialogue for the immersive and critically-acclaimed action adventure set in the iconic Warhammer: End Times.

Vermintide
November 2014 – May 2015
Crafted story and dialogue for the immersive and critically-acclaimed action adventure set in the iconic Warhammer: End Times.

**reds8n**

NorseSig wrote:
I worked in child protection for many years and I've taken in and worked with abused animals most of my life, if you want to hate someone, I have a long list of potential candidates for you, someone writing rules you don't like, for a game of toy soldiers, isn't one of them.

Do me a favour chaps and lets all wind that shiz in eh? You sound ridiculous.

And what I feel towards these kinds of people goes way beyond hate. Hate is something I reserve for someone who is an actual human being. You don't know me or know the measuring stick by which I judge things. So back off.

You're on a board dedicated to toy soldiers.

Calm down.