So who is it? Personally at this point for myself it does not matter much. I enjoy Matt Ward's codex writing, although the last two codex's have been very straight forward, meaning that I think they are great for beginning to immediate levels of warhammer players. So in the end I would like to see Matt Ward write the book, however, its time for another author to really keep the flow going and keep the great codex's coming.
Here are the conflicting rumors, please take with salt. Relevant information underlined and in bold.
Rumor 1
via Ghost21
-ive only seen a dreadnaught of the two mentioned (regarding a previous report of new plastic Chaos Dread and Raptors)
-To quickly add. will lesser chaos gods feture. yes n all of the fallen legions will be there
-saw preliminary types for khonate chrono gladiators... and a really bizarre night lord assassin type thing...
-oh im sure if people want a new abaddon.. i saw one but really it isnt much...
-little horus on the other hand... now there's a wow figure
-there was a little heated discussion weather alpha legion should be in this or the traitors dex... there in the legion dex
-the new abaddon as really it just seems bigger n bulkier, like somebody 3d scanned it n made him larger
-the minor chaos gods are already named, its like marks though, no daemons
-i did see a dark mechanicus guy... not sure if he will make it though, a very creepy sculpt based on a john Blanche piece
-this is really something to be taken with a grain of salt there may may be a 30k boxed set at some point, containing one of each of the legions characters
-oh one last thing its ward
Rumor2
via Firestorm 9/26/2011 (bolter and chainsword)
Hello all, I just thought I’d share my sort-of discussions regarding a future Chaos Codex with two members of the development team at yesterday’s Games Day ‘event’.
Basically, I spoke to Jervis Johnson (head designer, apparently) and Matt Ward (yeah, I know, I know…). Now, I could have ranted at them with four years of hatred towards our lack-lustre Codex, but I thought it would be more productive (and less antagonistic) if I approached them with a friendly smile (well, what pass as one from me ) and my own personal thoughts/desires on our next Codex.
In a nutshell, more options regarding things like vehicles, specifically variants of Rhinos and Land Raiders – I said that the reasons for restricting the loyalist Marines with what they can do to theirs don’t apply to Chaos (we don’t have angry Tech Priests after us), so if we want to, say, put Assault Ramps on our Rhinos, there’s no one to stop us!
I also tried to get across that Chaos Marine armies (whether you go for Renegades or Legions) can broadly fit in to two approaches which could shape the development of this Codex – firstly the ‘Black Crusade’, which is about throwing the full force of what your army/legion does best till you opponent has nothing standing (I guess this could include your World Eaters Berzerker assault force, or an Iron Warriors siege force, or the relentless march of the Death Guard). The second approach is the Cultist/Ambush/Terror approach – the one where you don’t have the resources for a full scale invasion, but you’ve already sent your agents (be they infiltrating Marines or Cultists) to defeat your enemy before they’ve even realised they’re at war – assassinating commanders, sabotaging and destroying tanks, that sort of thing (obviously, this is your Night Lords, Alpha Legion, perhaps Word Bearers army). Either way, whichever approach should still allow themed, or Legion based lists, if that’s what Chaos players wanted
In my conversations with both Jervis and Matt, I started off saying that I’d like to see Special Characters that add army wide abilities, which got very strong nods of understanding from both of them. The problem I immediately hit was that they both pretty much said that they’re not going to be involved with the development of Chaos Marines; Jervis said that he would pass on my comments thought (whether he does is another thing!).
You may find Matt Ward’s response more interesting: he basically said blatantly that he was not going to be working on Chaos. Yes, that’s right, you can all breathe a sigh of relief! Then, more interestingly, he looked around for the other member of the team at Games Day, who was absent every time I went to the developers’ area, but would have liked to speak to – a certain Mr Phil Kelly. Now, (cue wild speculation) judging by this, I got the strong impression that Phil Kelly is likely to be involved in the development – perhaps even writing it?
That was the only serious nugget that I found of comfort from Jervis or Matt Ward to be honest. They both talked about there being a lot of potential with Chaos Marines that a future codex could build upon. Matt Ward went further, basically saying in so many words that he realised the Chaos codex is disliked and that it didn’t really achieve what the later, more recent Codices have. He also said that the Codices from Space Wolves onwards should give more of the shape of a Chaos Marine Codex, in terms of increased amount of options. Hopefully, like some Codices, that means under-priced/over powered (delete as appropriate ) units like these other ones, too He also said about the current Chaos Codex that it offers a good basis from which to start developing a new one. Not sure I agree with him, but I’m hoping he means that it is something that can be expanded and improved upon, rather than just recycling it…
So, I had gone to Games Day with the intention of getting in to a really intense discussion about giving Chaos a codex of which it is worthy. I think I didn’t really speak to the right people for that (if only I’d have been able to find Phil Kelly!), so I think ultimately I got some insubstantial platitudes. I was heartened that a) Matt Ward won’t be writing the next Chaos Codex, and b ) there was the suggestion that Phil Kelly is at the very least going to be involved in the development of our next codex.
So, that’s all I have to offer I’m afraid, but I hope it provides some fuel for discussion and/or speculation.