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The worst writer Games Workshop ever hired

Summary

Matt Ward is a British writer and miniature wargaming designer employed by Games Workshop. He is near-universally reviled in the Warhammer/40k fan community, and absolutely hated on 4chan's Traditional Games board.

While his rules-writing skills are generally accepted as decent (at least by Games Workshop standards), his fluff (the backstory behind the games) stories are written with all of the skill of a Twilight fanfiction author. In fact, much of his writing is arguably officially-published fanfiction: he is a huge fan of the Ultramarines chapter of the Space Marines, and when he wrote Codex: Space Marines (the rulebook for playing a Space Marine army in Warhammer 40,000), half of the hero characters were Ultramarines, and approximately two-thirds of the fluff content was dedicated to their (fictional) achievements.

Origins

Either England, or he was not born, but (defecated) into existence. At some point, he got a job at Games Workshop working on the Lord of the Rings game, before being allowed to infest the Warhammer and 40k worlds.

Rise to fame

Since nobody actually plays the Lord of the Rings miniatures wargame, no one really noticed Ward coming in. He appeared in issues of White Dwarf, Games Workshop's monthly catalogue/hobby magazine, often writing scenarios for Lord of the Rings or taking part in Battle Reports (play-by-play recaps of games between GW staff).

He then went on to write Armybooks for Warhammer Fantasy Battles, where his utter lack of skill began to reveal itself, along with his tendency to make armies he plays more powerful than armies he doesn't like.

His Daemons of Chaos armybook made the Daemons massively overpowered in the game(and when confronted about this, he reportedly said that "it would be a shame if they weren't"), while his armybook for Orcs & Goblins made them weak and nearly unplayable.

In Warhammer 40,000, he was somehow allowed creative control over the fluff section in the 5th edition rulebook, as well as the first 5th edition codex, the aforemetioned Codex: Space Marines. Within Codex: Space Marines, Ward described Space Marine chapters that diverged from the example set by the Ultramarines in condescending terms, while claiming that most Space Marines recognize the Ultramarines' Chapter Master as their "spiritual liege". Half of the special hero characters in the book were Ultramarines, while each Space Marine chapter from the First Founding (the creation of the Space Marines in approximately 29,800 AD, give or take) that didn't have its' own Codex got a single hero character, except for the Iron Hands.

Ward's next project was Codex: Blood Angels, in which the vampire-themed Space Marines got their Twilight on, as well as having their Power Level ratcheted up well past 9000. Some things available for gameplay include a literal golden angel, Dreadnoughts (basically mecha with severely wounded Space Marines hard-wired inside) that could cast spells, fly, or, with lucky dice-rolling, have potentially unlimited attacks. The fluff-writing got even worse, with Ward's penchant for alliteration and over-use of the phrase, "trapped behind their own defences." Meanwhile, the Necrons (think a combination of The Terminator and Daleks) and Blood Angels teamed up to fight against the Tyranids (standard issue sci-fi bug horde, inspiration for Starcraft's Zerg, who in turn influenced the design of the Tyranids), and then parted ways because it would be "dishonorable" to fight a recent ally.

His most recent work, Codex: Grey Knights discarded most of the previous fluff for the mysterious chapter of Daemon-hunting psychics. The Grey Knights suddenly became practitioners of sorcery (punishable-by-death Heresy in the Warhammer 40,000 universe), engaged in misogynistic blood rituals using Space Nuns as armor polish, totally okay with a guy who repeatedly dies and is resurrected, and another guy who has a bodyguard of ghosts. And their leader guy was able to somehow carve his predecessor's name into the heart of a Daemon Primarch (a Primarch is already a demigod, and a Daemon Primarch has been elevated by the actual Gods of the 40k universe, so this is what TVTropes would call a "did you just punch out Cthulhu?" moment), before wandering around on foot in what is effectively Hell, killing Daemons left and right and actually damaging the Gods' homes.

Current status

Allegedly working on Codex: Necrons, which is guaranteed to send fans into fits of rage. While Codex: Blood Angels had weapons with names like "Bloodstrike Missiles" and "Blood Fists", and a guy named The Sanguinor, and Codex: Grey Knights contained things like "Nemesis Doomfists", Necron players can look forward to an armory full of things like "Lethal NecroDoomKill Death Rays".

Also, causing /tg/ to flip out and break things on a daily basis. Some Argue that Ward occasionally participates there himself.

Famous Quote

"All Space Marine Chapters want to be like the Ultramarines and recognize Marneus Calgar as their Spiritual Liege".

Images

In the Grim Darkness of the far future, Friendship Is Magic.	Trollface	Matt Ward is a bannable offense.
Matt Ward thought a Transformer with a baby carrier was cool.	What Necron players can look forward to.	A scene from Matt Ward's favorite movie, Ultramarines.

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