New Edition - the bad side...

[Mr Mystery]

Anyone fancy joining a sweepstake to name which famous internet goon will declare the launch a flop, despite only offering unsubstantiated anecdotal information?

My bet is on HBMC from Dakka.

[EnglishInquisition]

I'm so looking forward to 6th!!
@£50 gets me 6 new armies (+ variants)! Thanks GW.
I buy armies because I like the models/background, I don't build "builds".
Will the models I've got suddenly lose their aesthetics because there's a new rulebook? I don't think so.
Will I have to adjust my armies to the new rules? Will I suddenly want to paint that unpainted unit so I can use it? Will I now want to buy cool new toys? God, I hope so!!

6th Edition - BRING IT ON!

[Lord Inquisitor]

I expect the worst but hope for the best. I'm afraid my armies will be unusable, but hope they make it even better than it is now. I also fear the fluff changes. A whole main rulebook influenced by Ward *shudder*.

[gendoikari87]

I expect the worst but hope for the best. I'm afraid my armies will be unusable, but hope they make it even better than it is now. I also fear the fluff changes. A whole main rulebook influenced by Ward *shudder*.

Codename for 6th? MS, Mary Sue.

[Wildeybeast]

I expect the worst but hope for the best. I'm afraid my armies will be unusable, but hope they make it even better than it is now. I also fear the fluff changes. A whole main rulebook influenced by Ward *shudder*.

The fantasy one was written by him and works perfectly well.

[Mr Mystery]

But regarding the wider changes...

I say bring it. A stagnant game is a dead game. Sure individual army books are said the change the 'meta' (though how you can work out the meta on purely anecdotal and incomplete data is another thread in itself!) but to really shake things up, tweak the core rules.

I'm looking forward to seeing some of the Necron oddities explained. Like Destroyers being given Preferred Enemy, a CC boost, when they're a shooty unit. Not to mention Phase Swords being described as Power Weapons, and Warscythes being described as ignoring armour saves.

On account I'm a suspicious, untrusting git, I tend to ignore rumours. That, and I can never be arsed to try to sort wishlist from playtest leak etc.

Although I'm mildly strapped for cash at the mo, I will be picking this book up on release day, and almost like a little piggy, I'll be going 'squee squee squee' all the way home. Or I can go full on hardcore and nick off up the Pub with it....

[Black Hydra]

The fantasy one was written by him and works perfectly well.

Fantasy doesn't have marines. Ward loves marines. That's why he shouldn't write a lot of 40k fluff. Necrons are fine. Fantasy is fine. Sisters not so much.... You get the idea.

[Kawauso]

Fantasy doesn't have marines. Ward loves marines. That's why he shouldn't write a lot of 40k fluff. Necrons are fine. Fantasy is fine. Sisters not so much.... You get the idea.

Sisters was written by Cruddace...? And I wasn't aware of any big stink about their fluff in the WD codex - was there?

The only thing I can think of involving Sisters fluff that had people all upset was in the GK codex. Which was Ward. But it was in the GK book.

So what is it you're worried that Ward would do to the fluff?

For the record I think his fluff is pretty good. He's written, what...half of the 5th-ed books, and they all have really solid fluff and -very- solid rules.
The bits people actually complain about are quite small in relation to the books themselves - one bit of fluff in the BA book about Necrons and BA teaming up, plus the 'blood this, blood that' name on things; the fluff for Draigo and the bit about SoB in the GK book combined with some options/unit/wargear combinations that can be kind of nuts; I think that pretty much sums up the most commonly-heard complains about his books. And that's out of, what, 4 books full of fluff and rules?

I get where and why people get a dislike of Ward, but it gets blown way out of proportion.

I'm sure the internet would have an aneurism but if it turns out Ward wrote a good chunk of the 6th Ed rules, put me in the camp of people thinking that's a good thing.

[Black Hydra]

The problem with Ward writing the overall fluff of the 40k universe is that there is a chance he might make it even more marine friendly. Writing individual books not including a lot of marines is fine. I was even surprised to find the Imperial Fists getting pawned by the Necrons. Though as some have pointed out, the Necrons lost their grimdark due to Ward not understanding the 40k universe. That I get. Though the new Necron fluff is good IMO. Point is, marines get supercharged with Ward in their own books. Now give the reins for the 40k overall fluff and there is a good chance there will be problems.

Undeniably there are staples of Ward writing that bleed through his works. Which end up being bad marks.

And I heard Ward co wrote the SoB codex with Cruddace. That that's why it ended up being meh to begin with.

Also, Ward's rule writing is better than his fluff writing-agreed. Too bad it involves making everything marine pretty ridiculous sometimes. It doesn't matter that he wrote the fantasy book. 40k is a different animal.

Progress of his most important books IMO: vanilla marines (god level fluff, balanced rules), Blood Angels (no idea on the fluff, but pretty crazy rules though not broken), Grey Knights (stupid fluff and stupid rules). And yes the Knights are broken. Yes an inexperienced player can lose using them. Yes they aren't unbeatable. But they are overpowered.

tl;dr?

I don't know why some people praise Ward. He's alright. I like the Necrons. But he's biased as all hell. That's why his works are so inconsistent. If he threw out the marine love and became sensible, pair that up with Phil Kelly, and GW have something awesome. Too bad that won't change any time soon for Ward. Get ready for some Tau-Marine love (for some odd reason...).

EDIT: Not to mention he hates any other chapter other than Ultrasmurfs. He even said that chapters such as the Space Wolves and Black Templar are in decline due to unstable geneseeds. And yet both those chapters have well over a thousand marines. Yeah right Ward. All I know is he'd better keep his mitts off the cooler chapters.

[DrLove42]

Sisters was written by Cruddace...? And I wasn't aware of any big stink about their fluff in the WD codex - was there?

No there was just NO fluff in the WD codex....

And I agree. I think he's a good rules maker. Some of his stuff is a little stupid and crazy (rad Grenades, psybolts on Dreads, mindshackle scarabs, regular scarabs) but most of his stuff is perfectly reasonable and fun. He adds a lot of crazy into the mix, which helps break up armies. I'd like to see what he could have done with CSM and in the future Orks. His only downside is that in some armies some choices are clear winners and some are clear losers

His fluff is generally average. Kelly (6's be upon him) is the king of fluff in my opinion (and as DE shows, can write a book where every unit is equal)