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Hey... I'd prefer to remain anonymous, since GW frowns on people leaking relevant information to the masses like this, so don't expect me to name names or anything, but I will answer some questions if you've got any. I'm aware of the pretty intense hate for GW despite our work, and, trust me, NOT my decision to do a lot of the stuff you guys complain about.

However, I'll answer questions relevant to the fluff, and inner workings of GW.

Before anyone asks: Yes, we hate Matt Ward as much as you. Except the higher-ups, apparently.

Why do you hate Epic?
The higher-ups hate Epic because it doesn't sell as well as the main game. Yes, they're the money-grubbing bastards you've been led to believe they are, but on the flipside, the company's had to do a few minor layoffs for some of it's lesser-known writers and employees lately. Even with the money of the 13-year-olds the staff here are constantly told to cater to, we're hemoragging money like no tomorrow. If the company goes belly-up in the next fiscal year, or otherwise needs to have some intellectual property sold, I won't be surprised.

What's the big money eater?
It's not so much a big money-eater as it is a bunch of little ones, and not enough income to really cover everything that they're trying to do. It's not that there's some big costly project(except MAYBE the Ultramarines movie), so much as 'we don't have enough customers because they keep walking away from the hobby before even starting.'

What is the codex lineup?
Not associated with the codex lineup myself, but a coworker tells me the new Inquisition codex is slated for sometime after the Necron codex, which is set for release in 2011. So, y'know, fingers crossed.

What happend to Squats?
Squats 'canonically' got eaten by the 'nids. They don't like to talk about Squats around here.

When are squats coming back?
Well, right around the time 40k stopped being 'tongue-in-cheek' and started getting GRIMDARK, they saw fit to remove the Squats. They wanted people to start taking the fluff a bit more seriously, and possibly a little in-depth. The removal of Squats is one thing I never really got, but it's office-policy to not discuss them.

What can you tell us about Grey Knights?
Gray Knights will be getting their own codex, from what my coworker tells me. No word on a release date, so that's all up in the air.

Grey Knights. When? How? who are the other fodder soldiers?
Grey Knights will not be changing a whole lot. Fodder soldiers will include units from the Ordo Hereticus who can be added as allies, so for the most part, they'll be a small army of 'Holy s**t What Just Happened' all over your enemy's face.

Why do you insist on using a shitty and outdated idea like the phase system?
Well, considering I do fluff most of the time, I can safely say the continued use of the phase system is NOT my brainchild. A couple of employees who actually play 40k have complained about it around here.

What do the working-level staffers think of Jervis? (Personally, I think his thoughts on tournament play have come close to ruining 40k forever, but would love to hear how far the cancer's spread.)
A lot of the bottom-level folks here aren't fans. That's putting it lightly.

Who the hell let C.S. Goto write for you?
Yeah, that was my boss's bad. He regrets it every day.

So you guys hate Jervis, Goto and Ward. Anyone you DO like? Gav?
Gav is one of the ones that the staff really like. Dan's up there too, and I've actually spoken with him at length about a small series of Guard novels focusing on another regiment besides the Tanith. The reason we keep letting Ward and Goto write for us is because they're actually under contract to write a few more books for the line. They'll get booted or transferred, or whatever. Soon as that ends. Promise.

The higher-ups like him [Ward], but not as a fluff-writer. I've spoken to one of the guys in charge, and he's admitted that transferring Ward from rules to fluff, and from Fantasy to 40k, was an XBAWKZHUEG mistake, and that Ward will be going back to Fantasy rules as soon as their little contract ends. Goto's just going to get the boot.

Also, do you have any hand in what goes on with Rogue Trader/DH? Can you give us any word on what's next?
RT/DH is all done by FFG, so we actually don't have a big hand in that. Guys like me occasionally need to tell them 'hey, this needs a bit of tweak, here's what REALLY happens when THIS happens.' That kind of thing. They usually get it right.

Which Primarches are considered alive, and what can you tell us of the two missing primarches?
The 'missing Primarchs' have been the subject of a lot of debate among the writers. A few want to flesh 'em out, others want to say 'let's leave it ambiguous for the fans to fill in the blanks and speculate. That's always fun for them' Personally, I'm in the 'let the fans fill in the blanks' camp. A few ideas were a Primarch who wanted to go out of his way to annihilate the Necron threat after discovering a Tomb World back during the Horus Heresy, but he could never get the word out to the Big E before Horus ******** everything up.

Russ is alive. Khan's in...a state. Vulkan's in the same state as Khan. Guilliman will be dying soon. [More on this below in the next section - H]

SoB their own codex? Or as Inquisition? 2011 release?
SoB and Inquisition are confirmed to be in the same Codex, but Sisters will be fieldable as a competitive army, capable of functioning on their own. Inquisition will be the same way; They're basically getting rules to allow them to function as allies, and be efficient at it. Both options will be totally viable.

Vostroyans... dead in the water or are they ever going to officially flesh them out more?
The Vostroyan writers have no plans in motion.

Also, was there ever a time when Sigmar was thought to be a Primarch, and Warhammer Fantasy just a warp-storm'd world?
That was something a lot of the writers around here wanted to do behind closed doors, but the higher-ups vetoed it for the purposes of avoiding the alienation of the Fantasy fanbase. [Any more than they already alienate the fanbase? - H] A lot of writers on both sides liked the idea, but they had to be party-poopers.

Is the intention in codex design to keep the Imperial armies always slightly superior to Chaos and Xenos in the tabletop game?
The Codex staff keeps ******** that up. The Imperials are consistently ending up superior, despite them claiming this isn't their intent. They just keep screwing up, not deliberately ******** you guys over.

What's the feeling in the company about the shift to more "serious" grimdark instead of "lol" grimdark. Did everyone think it was a good idea? Do they still? Or was it one of those "this is a good idea" things at the time, and now people regret it?
Some regret it, others don't. It was something that seemed like a good idea at the time, and very few of the guys in charge want to go back.

Is there a timeline on releasing a new Ork codex? Are there any ideas being floated on how to make Orks stop sucking so much?
Ork codex isn't for a good long while, anon. Sorry. But, we've got a few ideas, namely a return of the biggest Ork warboss ever. Yep. He's back in action, and Yarrick's coming after him.

Why doesn't GW concern themselves with finding a way to offer their hobby at more reasonable prices, or upping the quality of their miniatures to fit their prices? I mean, seriously, there's tons of far more beautiful minis out there at similar prices. A majority of GW models are about mid grade at best.
Well, it's got to do with a combo of a serious profit-decline in recent years, and bad judgement calls on the part of the senior staff. In other words LOLIDUNNO, but it's got to do with those two things, guaranteed.

will there be any love for the IRON HANDS in the future?
Iron Hands will be getting a whole lot of love. They need some attention after the ******** Ward made of the Space Marine codex.

Is gorgutz going to get a mention in ork fluff?
Yeah, he'll come up in the Ork Codex and will have a few special rules for him. We're still sorting that out.

Why does Matt Ward love the Ultramarines so much? What does he see in them that makes them so god-like to him?
It's ******** Matt. I have no idea how his brain works.

What happened to Phil Kelly after he made the Wolves book? Seriously. That's the worst peice of s**t you have ever put out, C.S.Goto could have wirrten a more balanced book.
Phil's not proud of what he did, and the higher-ups aren't happy with the fan reaction. I expect he'll be canned for it eventually. No way he's living this down.

Does nobody at GW read over that s**t before it goes to press?
No. [What I've suspected for so, so very long... - H]

Most of the time, it doesn't get read first. They've learned their lesson. Expect improvements overall in what actually gets sent out. Up till now, we haven't had a problem like this that's gotten so bad.

Chaos Codex ******** when?!
Chaos Codex, 2011, sometime in the third quarter.

I'm really interested in necrons ... Also what new models might they get and when released?
Couple of new models. There's that Tomb Stalker, but that's a Forge World model. We're going back to the Necrons' original inspiration for some model ideas, breaking out Ancient Egypt for inspiration. There won't be huge numbers of new models, but there's going to be a few. As for the Warp, and the C'tan getting retconned. Short answer, no. Long answer, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Question on crons again. Any info on force organisational charts? Will Flayed ones be troops? Whats this about everyone deep striking ive heard?
Not 100-percent certain about the deep-striking, but Flayed Ones WILL be Troops.

Who will come first Tau or Necrons?
Necrons first, both models and codex. Tau will follow. After the Chaos Codex, we'll send out the Farsight Enclaves minicodex.

night lords. anything regarding them?
Night Lords. Huge fan, they'll get a bit of attention. Nothing seriously big, since we have other ideas.

I've been hearing plenty of rumor about changing about the daemonhunters/witchhunters. Maybe even making them into either one big inquisition faction (with ordo xenos too). Any truth to that?
The Inquisition will be covered in three seperate codices.

So necrons are first. But who is directly next after Dark Eldar. Is it Inquisition? or is It necron? Then who?
Dark Eldar, Necrons, and then so on from there.

Any idea where the Adeptus Sororitas fluff is heading? Any major or semi-major changes on the horizon? Also: Is there going to be any more Sisters of Silence fluff?
Sisters of Silence are a hot-button topic around here. We're not completely sure where to go with them. Sisters of Battle won't be getting a lot in the way of changes. [Can we tell Mellissia? It'll piss her off to no end! biggrin - H]

Anything about Blood Ravens being an offical chapter with rules and models?
Yeah, they'll be getting some stuff. They won't be center-stage, though, like in the DoW games.

Since Tau are getting Farsight Enclave book, any chance Orks or Chaos Marines might get their Clans and Chapter armies returned to them? Being reduced to mere color schemes was pretty lame..
We intend to bring that back. That's bugged the crap out of a lot of us lately, and we want to try and bring it back to the tabletop.

Is there any plans to further the 40k fluff?
Believe it or not, there ARE a few plans to further 40k fluff. We're finally getting the picture that some of the fans would like to see something of interest happen, and we don't want a ******** like the Eye of Terror campaign. That's in the works; As much as I want to spoil it for you guys, I'll just say 'yes' and move on.

Will there be any new Races or armies coming out?
With the recent intent to advance 40k's 'plot', there has been some discussion of a new race or two, but nothing solid yet.

Do these ideas have anything to do with already established but codex-less races like Fra'al, Xenarch, Cythor Fiends, Barghesi etc?
Actually, no. Sorry, bro.

Could we get an AdMech Codex? I mean, there's supposed to be Skitaari and s**t like that, so why not?
Oh, the AdMech will be getting A LOT of attention, sometime in the next couple of years. Again, I want to spoil it for you, but they'll come up more than once, and that's all I can say.

[...]

We're coming up with a few new things. Mostly revamped Spess Mehreen and IG vehicles for use by Tech-Guard.

Is Emprah actually a godlike being in the warp currently
No, but when the Golden Throne finally shits out, things will 'improve' for the Imperium. Or at least the core worlds, closer to Terra. [And], I said the Emperor dies. I didn't say what happens next. We've been kicking a few ideas around. The Imperium will make a comeback later, and re-absorb all those lost worlds. We MIGHT fall back on the Star Child theory after all, but for right now, we've written that off. We've confirmed the Emperor will die, and something will happen to keep the core worlds of the Imperium together. Either way, the Imperium will make a comeback. We're still discussing how. In fact, give me some ideas, I'll pitch them to the others.

So, is the "Warp Portal behind the Throne" fluff still in effect? Will we get an Adept Custode army if the Emperor DOES die? Will we be seeing anything more about the Custode? God, I love the Custode....
Warp Portal behind the throne NOT in effect, actually. Custodes will be getting no attention whatsoever, as playable units, I'm afraid.

What exactly is the state of the Emperor, according to contemporary fluff? The only thing that has gone even remotely in depth so far was the Starchild thing, with dubious modern canonicity.
Dying, and going to die. Star Child theory is NOT in effect, here. We're gonna throw the fanbase a curve ball for that one.

wait a minute.... rowboat girlyman dies, and the emperor dies?
The Emperor just dies because the Throne craps out on him. Guilliman dies because of a certain event that Matt wanted to avoid. Badly. He's not exactly happy with being over-ruled by our Council of Rowboat's Demise.

Will we ever see the gods take a more hands on approach?
The Chaos Gods will get a bit of attention, we've confirmed that. We're still bickering over WHAT to have them do.

Is there eventually going to be a showdown between the necrons and the tyranids after they both devour the galaxy in their own ways?
Oh, the Necrons and Tyranids are going to go at it more than once. But, they won't devour the galaxy. That's still in the formative stages, but we have an idea to keep the war going without avoiding the advancement of the plot.

Anythoing interesting gonna happen with Cypher / the Fallen? What about The Cabal? What about Alpharius Omegon?
Alpharius and Omegon are seriously ******** things up in the background for just about everybody. It's going to be part of why Guilliman dies, and the sudden surge in Tau expansion. Rest assured, Xanatos from Gargoyles would be proud.

Part of 'why' Guilliman dies?
Cypher will be a bad guy. NOT my idea. I don't like it. A and O will be personally responsible for killing Guilliman. The Tau surge will result in Ultramarines being called in from Ultramar to go deal with it. This is because A and O speak with Tau Ethereals behind closed doors, and convinced them to let the Demiurgs do their thing. This will be followed by the Alpha Legion heading RIGHT FOR ******** ULTRAMAR and taking Guilliman out.

Are Alpharius and Omegon loyal to the Emperor or not? And is Fulgrim still "alive"? And if so, is he still loyal to the Emperor?
Loyal to the Emprah, confirming it now. It's part of why the Imperium of Man doesn't collapse under the sudden ******** of Tau Fire Warriors striking deeper into the Imperium, and the sudden surge in Dark Eldar raids, and the Emperor dying. Fulgrim is 'dead.' Sorry to disappoint.

What are the plans for Ahriman specificly and Thousand Sons in general?
Ahriman will take another shot at the Black Library. Thousand Sons are still kicking, but they won't get tons of attention.

Will Marneus Calgar be allowed to continue as the super sue Ward made him, or will he be toned down/brought low in the future? I remember seeing an idea that had him seceding the Ultramarine pseudo-empire from the Imperium as a whole. I'd kind of like to see that.
We're still discussing what to do with Calgar. We're thinking of having him be offed right along with Rowboat, and making the Ultramarines some kind of desperate, dirty-fighting Space Marine chapter. Ward is NOT happy with this, but the Ultramarines will end up either irrelevant, or a bit better for it all as far as fan-reactions go.

GW writter, what happens to the astronicom once the Emp goes down? Do we find out we don't NEED him to power it? What will happen to the outer worlds once the Emp dies?
Well, for one, the outer worlds of the Imperium will fracture into smaller kingdoms, with the worlds closer to Cadia, Terra, and the like all remaining under Imperial control. The Astronomicon is something we're still discussing, but we have a few ideas for how it could remain active.

Why is the Emperor dying a good thing for the Imperium? I thought the Emperor was stopping demons from spilling into the warp and the real world?
That's what they WANT you to think. Seriously, the Emperor isn't really the reason why the Warp Gods haven't spilled over into reality yet. There's a few reasons, but the Emperor isn't on the list. He's nothing more than a psychic lighthouse on life support, and that life support's breaking down.

What happens to the Emperors soul when he dies. The Emperor has a pretty bright ******** tastey soul.
This kind of ties in with the 'what are we doing if the Emperor dies' discussions floating around the office lately. We'll come up with something in this vein.

The way I see it the writers just want to turn the Imperium into a Rome.
Imperium = Rome is actually something we've been shooting for. For a good long time. You're forgetting, it's been fighting a constant, ongoing war on multiple fronts for 10,000 years, with a dying ruler/figurehead. It had this coming.

[Parraphrasing]I don't think the Ultramarines need to be eliminated due to Ward's stupidity
Oh, they'll still be the 'face' of the setting. But damned if they won't suffer a change in playstyle. Yes, we intend to release a PROPER Space Marines codex, with the Ultramarines getting their own later with some special rules that show 'hey, we just got our asses kicked. Here's what we can do NOW.'

Only thing that quirks about that with me is that Ultras are all about textbook warfare (literally), being good chaps and whatnot, and they have a great deal of pride from what I can tell. I can see them doing small, elite unit type stuff to represent that they had their s**t ruined and so only the hardest of them are left, but not so much turning into power armored savlar chem dogs. Or am I missing this entirely?
We're trying to make it a fall-from-grace. They end up needing to break all the rules their leader made so that the chapter can survive.

When the emprah dies is he gone for good? Or are there plans for him to return in some way?
Like I said, we're bouncing around plans to somehow allow the Imperium to reunify and keep the Astronomicon running and everything. Not too sure on the Emperor himself.

Dawn of War II
Speaking of which...

Eliphas.

Guess who's taking Failbaddon's place?

What, you think that's stupid? We've had this planned for a while. There's a reason he's called Eliphas the INHERITOR. Between this, the spectacular failure of the thirteen Black Crusades, and Failbaddon's track record, the Chaos Gods are taking a bit of an offense to their champion having no arms.

Hmm. Abaddon. Age old character with tons of fluff about him, imprinted within the minds of all chaos fans. Replaced by some random guy from a video game. Me thinks you are lying and are dirty filthy troll.
How would you feel if I said he had control of the one weapon that could kill C'tan? Remember? Blackstone Fortresses? There's still one left.

WAIT, is Eliphas and Abaddons relationship going to be become a parallel to Eberrus and Horus?
We've actually considered this. Nice little cycle we've got going. Everything old is new again and whatnot.

How does Abbaddon die?
We're still deciding how he dies. Probably epic backstab from Eliphas himself. Makes sense, Chaos is practically built on that kind of Klingon-promotion mechanic.

Anything about The Outsider and The Void Dragon?
Outsider is Outside. The Void Dragon? Yeeeeah, remember when I mentioned the AdMech, and them getting into the game with their own army-lists? ....Yeah, see, the Void Dragon's going to start kicking, but he won't exactly be on his feet yet.

Is there something about Demiurgs?
There's actually going to be a bit about Demiurgs in the next Tau codex. You know how the Tau couldn't travel so fast through space because of their lack of Warp navigation? Yeah, guess what?

Chaos begins corrupting Tau society through glorious demonic invasions on space ships?
Nah, no daemonic rebellions on Tau ships, but they'll start rampaging through the Eastern Fringe like never before. The Farsight Enclaves will have a few things to say about that. Ever want to see a Tau bandit? You're about to. Commander Farsight's successor(also named Commander Farsight) is about to throw a shitfit all over the Ethereals' faces.

So Farsight is the Tau version of Dread Pirate Roberts?
He's going to be. That's something we've had in mind for Farsight and the Enclaves for a while.

Farsight Enclaves Subcodex? Can we have suicide drones? Or at least Heavy Weapons drones that are upgrades for Fire Warriors?
There's going to be a lot of 'Ork-style' improvised gear for Enclave Fire Warriors. Expect to see Earth Caste Combat Engineers, and Heavy Weapon Teams ala the Imperial Guard for the Farsight Enclave Infantry.

Oh, and for the record: The Tau will be getting the s**t kicked out of them. The Imperium's learned it's lesson about the Tau and isn't about to let them drive forward with Demiurg-navigated ships. This is part of what's up with the AdMech. Expect Skitarii Tech-Guard and AdMech-specific vehicles to be part of the war on the Eastern Fringe. That's getting a lot of attention. [Yeah, that'd be right - I go and start an AdMech army, using models cobbled together from all sorts of different places... and they go and make an official one... - H]

Any new races added to the tau? Dark Eldar got new races.
The Demiurg really come into their own in terms of fluff, but in terms of actual tabletop gameplay, no dice bro. Sorry. The Farsight Enclaves will make up for this, with them making a lot of new innovations with older tech, and having advanced down another technological development path from the Tau in the mainstream Empire. This will be shown through the Earth Caste Combat Engineers and Fire Warrior Heavy Weapon Teams I mentioned.

Are Tau Gonna have a huge aesthetic change? Will battlesuits become more or less Japanese?
Mainstream Tau will maintain their usual aesthetic. The Farsight Enclaves will be noticeably more 'piratical' and their aesthetic will appear a bit more brutal, and possibly even Orkish compared to the main Empire's Tau. That red paintjob with bone-white stripes will appear a little sinister on certain models. Also, expect Farsight Shas'la to start packing IG-style bayonets.

So are mainstream Tau gonna have heavy weapon teams? Also will etherals be useful for once?
Ethereals, sadly, will still be useless. On the side, only the Farsight armies will be getting heavy weapon teams. That's strictly a Farsight Enclaves innovation. Burst Cannons and some Fusion Blasters wielded by Fire Warriors will be something the Enclaves will be packing frequently.

Will farsight enclaves use kroot[/etc.]?
No. The Farsight Enclaves will be fielding other Castes in place of alien auxiliaries. They're strictly Tau, and the fluff will explain their 'racism.' But, basically, constantly fighting Orks and some other alien races out in that region kind of desensitized them to playing nice with the other races in their vicinity.

Hmm. I play Tau at the moment. But, are the normal tau gonna have changes? Sounds like farsight thing is huge. But what about normies.
Like I said, not much in the way of change for mainstream, normal Tau. A few new gadgets, and some mild improvements on the alien auxiliaries. Nothing fancy

and Failbaddon's track record, the Chaos Gods are taking a bit of an offense to their champion having no arms.