Phil Kelly
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Phil Kelly is to codex writing as Dan Abnett is to the Black Library and then some. His fluff actually follows the basic rules of writing (besides being absolutely fucking Awesome), his codexes have balance worth a damn, and he has amazing sideburns. Every army that hasn't yet had a codex update prays to the Emprah, Khaine, Ethereals, Chaos Gods, or Hive Mind that Kelly will write their next codex.
Also, he isn't Matt Ward or Robin Cruddace, which automatically makes him 110% more Awesome. And despite his awesome powers and amazing sideburns, he is neither the Tenth Doctor nor Venser.
Phil Kelly loves the space elves and their evil kin. He also seems to love Chaos. He is one of the Four Gods of GW.
In other words, /tg/ loves this guy. A lot.
Ahem...
Out of all the current crop of Codex writers in 40k, Kelly is the one /tg/ doesn't have a beef with (except Jeremy Vetock his time will come). This pointy-ear generally did mediocre except for his Chaos Marines codex which was shit, This treadhead buffed the Imperial Guard into the stratosphere and is generally regarded to have fucked up the Tyranid 'dex, and, well, if you've spent any time here at all you know our feelings on a certain chapter's spiritual liege.
Philipus Kellius is the true savior of this galaxy, It wouldn't surprise anyone if he turned out to become the Emperor. ALL HAIL PHILIPUS KELLIUS
Why Phil Kelly Isn't Matt Ward
Matt Ward designs armies by taking a bunch of units and cranking up their power level to MAXIMUM, either by making them extremely difficult to kill, extremely shooty, extremely choppy, or any combination of the three. He then assigns points values to these units based on what he thinks they should cost and peppers a few special rules here and there for "flavour" before shitting the Codex into the printers office.
Phil Kelly designs armies that work as armies, rather than a bunch of units that rely on simply being "better" than anything the opponent can field in order to function properly. That's why neither the Dark Eldar or Space Wolves Codexes have big, fat, expensive units with Thunder Hammers, Storm Shields and Feel No Pain for 200pts - you can have units like this if you want them, but where Matt Ward has to give them to you for peanuts because he can't design an army without making it broken, Phil Kelly makes you pay through the bumhole for them because in his army books, these units are a luxury, not a necessity.
tl;dr: Phil Kelly is the best designer GW have got, the only one who makes armies that require any thought to play, and the only thing standing between the gaming side of 40k and complete assmongery. If your army hasn't had a new Codex yet pray to THE EMPRAH/CHAOS GODS that it's Phil Kelly who is going to write the update because if it is, you can count on your book still kicking ass three years down the line, looking like a joke but being almost unbeatable in the right hands, or surviving through an Edition as a force to be reckoned with. Unlike certain army books written by a certain spiritual liege, which seem broken at first but quickly fizzle out as they collapse under the weight of their own hollow bullshit, and even at their peak still have a number of units that are utterly worthless due to stuff in the book that does their job better.
Why Phil Kelly isn't perfect
Phil Kelly isn't a hot topic for the boards of tg because he isn't as bad as Matt Ward, Gav Thrope, Cruddace or CS Goto in ether the fluff or rules writing department. That being said, Kelly isn't perfect; he has a few shortcomings as well.
The most notable example would be some of the issues surrounding Codex: Space Wolves. First and foremost, much of the fluff is frankly ridiculous, such as a story about scuba-diving Terminators. Most of the non-Codex: Space Marines wargear has the word "Wolf" thrown in for no reason, such as Wolf Fangs, Wolf Necklaces, Wolf Tail Talismans, and, of course, wolf mounts. Yes, this Codex has Space Wolves ride giant Thunderwolves while acting like wolves with their wolf wargear, while leading packs of Fenrisian Wolves. It's an example of taking something Awesome and overdoing it. Additionally, the Codex is an extreme example of "Codex Creep." It has a number of choices that are outright better than the Codex: Space Marines equivalents while costing much less, leading to the disappearance of vanilla Marines from competitive play. The most egregious examples are Grey Hunters (who have a bunch of special rules and equipment, including Wolf Guard Terminators as Sergeants, at a cheaper cost than vanilla's Tactical Squads) and Long Fangs (who have much greater firepower than the equivalent Devastator Squads but cost nearly the same). To be fair, the Codex Creep may have been forced on him, and Kelly hasn't repeated these mistakes as of yet, showing some sign of restraint and learning.
Another issue would be the low(ish) level of competitiveness of his armies, the exception being the aforementioned Codex: Wolf Wolves. To be fair, both Orks and Eldar are old books that can't be expected to feasibly compete, especially given Eldar is now the third-oldest book. Still, it seems like army lists from his books come down to "Eldrad and Vect" or "Heldrakes and Nurgle". The armies do have good options, but many of the options don't seem as good as they really should (especially thanks to rampant over-costing), leading to a lack of choices in army lists. Mediocre units (but not bad per se) are fairly common in Phil Kelly books, including Mandrakes, Chosen, Possessed (although Possessed are much better than their 4th edition incarnation), Juggernauts, Grotesques, and so on. Some of these can be good, but are harder to use than units in other codexes. Of course, that could just be balance talking...
Finally, Kelly is becoming known as the "High Lord of Random Tables" because he puts random tables in every... fucking... thing. This has only started with his more recent codexes, but Chaos Space Marines introduced a Warriors of Chaos-esque table for challenges, Dark Eldar had randomized combat drugs (although that was an artifact of their original codex), and the new Chaos Daemons are an absolute mess of random tables, with most of the wargear and a number of special rules (including Daemonic Instability and Warp Storm) being entirely random (of course, it should be remembered it is Chaos we are talking about...). Some see this as a good thing because it adds "spice" to the game, but many find these tables to be tedious, annoying, and damaging to the game.
In some sort of defense (from a non-competitor CSM player), say that their book could NOT been created with tournaments in mind. Which explains the lower cost of the wolves, the lack of competitiveness of the more recent ones (compared to the Ward's ones) and the tables of absolute randomness. They're created with FUN (even in Dwarf Fortress style) and to enjoy the essence of the race as prime concerns. Long story short, they're fluff made crunch. That could be why the daemons are that random (because the Chaos Gods are capricious bitches), the rewards and champion of chaos rules of the CSM (because the CSM are ever glory-hungry, along the Chaos gods) and, maybe; the overdose of WOLF in Space Wolves.
A small list of the great deeds of Philipus Kellius
Warhammer 40k
- Codex: Space Wolfs. This codex gave them their true identity as an immensely fun and tactical army that absolutely spams the word "wolf." WOLFY WOLF WOLF FOR THE WOLFWOLF.
- Codex: Orks. A Codex that has survived through two editions still coming out very strong with a great number of competitive builds to this day. Though the cheese it once had seems to have been stolen by mice. Also, hilarious.
- Codex: Eldar. A great codex in of itself, although it has not gone through editions as well as Philipus's other codexes due to changes beyond his control (such as the vehicle rules and codex power creep), it is still one of the better written codexes of all time, fun, balanced, and fluffy.
- Codex: Dark Eldar. This, this is the best written Codex EVAR. Commorragh's description is a true masterpiece, along with Vect's, Malys', and Sliscus' background. It is powerful without being broken, fun without being weak, and as tactically challenging as a fast glass cannon should be. Moreover, Kelly managed to give new life to the evil cousins of the Eldars, allowing them to be competitive once again.
- Codex: Chaos Space Marines. We knew the bucks we were paying were worth it. Failbaddon is getting shit done and kicking Cadia's arse, possibly with the Primarchs. Possessed and the-ones-which-shall-not-be-named are better than last edition. Motherfucking daemon dino-bots and a vector-striking robo-dragon flyer. The first 6th edition Codex and the first colored 40k Codex. 'Nuff said.
- Last but not least, Codex: Chaos Daemons. The Chaos Gods will be pleased. Even if they write them half as good as their mortal counterparts will be TWO times or MORE better than they are now. You're deserving the daemonhood, Phil... (P.S.: In said Codex, Phil actually hints that a Grey Knight has had a seed of doubt planted with in his mary-sue heart. Yes, Lord Kelly is this awesome.)
Please let Phil Kelly write the next Guard and Tyranid codexes. Or all of them.
Every general prays to Khorne/Empy/Khaine that their army's next codex is written by Kelly.
Unless you have faith in our Spiritual Liege.
Warhammer Fantasy Battle
- Army Book: Vampire Counts. Philipus has become the savior of undeath, bringing untold horrors apon the old world, and for that he has our immortal gratitude.
- Army Book: Warriors of Chaos 7th edition. Pretty damn good. And it had the saga of Khalac Swordsson in it. He put a fucking Viking drinking song into a Warhammer codex; that's how awesome he is.
Codexes Lord Kelly is rumored to write
if you are a true servant of the Lord of Random Tables, you shall keep vigilant watch for rumors of upcoming codexes, and write here those that may be written by Kelly, that the masses may receive knowledge in advance.
- Black Templars
- Orks
- Eldar
And listen to this charming motherfucker chat about the Deldar with the also awesome Jes Goodwin.