Editing Matthew Ward (section)

==Factions of Ward==
[[File:Mattmarine.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Banner of Rage]]
The various viewpoints on Ward can be broken up into seven factions. Like most of /tg/'s inter-departmental-bickering, this is by no means a comprehensive list and the various factions can come in various flavors of [[This Guy]] and [[That Guy]]. [[/v/|Some]] would argue more of the latter, and [[/d/|others]] more of the former.

'''The Old Guard''' - Maintain that Ward is the anti-Christ. Loudly complain when he's writing a new codex and vehemently hates his fluff. Will fight to the bitter end decrying that Ward's rules are overpowered, but is notable mostly for his utter hatred of Ward's fluff and complete disregard of previously-established canon. The most devout of them focus their hatred on the Necron codex. More than simple alterations isolated to the Necron fluff and the 6th ed codex. They vehemently remind people that in messing with the past, Ward had completely changed Warhammer 40k history, affecting such things as the origins of Nulls, Necron motivation, their battles with the Eldar, and due to the notorious Allies chart, changing the very manner in which every race interacts.

'''The Vet Gamer''' - Differs from the Old Guard in that whilst the Old Guard hates for primarily the Fluff, the Vet Gamers hate him for the Crunch. They see Ward's nonsense as indicative of the power creep that the game's suffered for quite some time, often citing Warhammer 40K's flagrantly game-breaking [[Blood Angels]] codex at launch, or Warhammer Fantasy's [[Daemons]] codex as a sign of where everything went wrong.

'''The Indifferent''' - These are people who have no opinion as to whether Ward is good or bad; they are neutral on this subject, and just want people to shut the fuck up, or too ignorant to realise how awful he is.

'''The Crunch Defenders''' - Hold that while Matt Ward does write atrocious [[fluff]], his [[crunch]] is fair and balanced. They also defend the viewpoint that ultimately, crunch is more important than fluff because you can ignore bad fluff. Also known as WAAC players. 

'''The Counter-Culture''' - Love Ward on the grounds that the Old Guard hate him too much. /tg/'s version of hipsters.

'''The Cult Of Ward''' - These are people who agree Ward's older books suck but believe he's getting better (and/or the suck of the older books were over exaggerated), or even a good writer now. 

'''The Ward Bearers''' - Either an extremist faction of the Cult of Ward or fanatics who worshipped him anyway. The direct opposite of the Old Guard, the Wardinites worship Ward as a God, following the revered Book of Ward. They are identified by defending Ward, but whereas Crunch Defenders only defend Crunch and either agree with the Old Guard in or the indifferent in regards to fluff, Wardinites defend both. Whereas the Counter-Culture like him because it makes them look "edgy", the Wardinites hold that he is legitimately good. Often quotes from the Book of Ward, usually: "From the Cruddex, and the monobuild, Matthew Ward deliver us". They hold [[Robin Cruddace]] as the Great Satan. It is suspected that the Wardinites have a strong powerbase in the Necrons and Tyranid communities. 

It should be noted, like most religions, there are different sects within the Cult of Ward, the theological divides between them mostly concerning [[skub|Codex: Grey Knights]]. The sects supporting Grey Knights are also divided amongst pro- and anti-draigo sects. And now recently these sects have become even more diverse thanks to a certain passage in the new Daemons codex... It's also worth noting that if a member of the Old Guard and a member of the Cult of Ward meet, there WILL be [[Khorne|blood]] spilled. Such is also true of a Vet Gamer and Crunch Defender meeting.