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[[File:Phil_(Gribbly)_Kelly.jpg|frame|[[Venser|Just ''gaze'' at the sideburns on this guy.  Gaze in ''awe''.]]]]
[[File:Phil_(Gribbly)_Kelly.jpg|frame|[[Venser|Just ''gaze'' at the sideburns on this guy.  Gaze in ''awe''.]]]]
'''Phil Kelly''' is a games designer for [[Games Workshop]]. /tg/'s opinion on the man oscillates between absolute adoration and hateful [[skub]]. The guy writes goddamn ''amazing'' fluff. His fluff is the direct antithesis of [[Matt Ward]]. The [[crunch]], on the other hand... Well, most of his books are fairly decent, but his skill at internal balance (i.e. weighing units against each other in a single Codex) is nearly as bad as [[Robin Cruddace]]. That's not to say the Codices are ''bad'', per se; rather, his Codices usually have one truly great build, one or two other builds that work alright, and a lot of builds that just don't work very well (usually referred to as "monobuild").
'''Phil Kelly''' is a games designer for [[Games Workshop]]. /tg/'s opinion on the man is best described as [[skub|Oscillating between adoration and hate depending on the new book he puts out]].  In any case, he's one of the few writers that /tg/ remembers fondly and aside from the new hotness that is [[Jeremy Vetock]] (who is both American and therefore not as spiffy as well as less established than Kelly), Kelly is essentially the only current game designer that [[/tg/]] actually likes to talk about. [[Robin Cruddace]] fucked up [[Tyranids]] badly and buffed [[Imperial Guard]] to Wardian levels, and [[Matt Ward]]... well, if you've spent any time here at all you know our feelings on a [[Ultramarines|certain chapter's]] [[Matt Ward|spiritual liege]]


In any case, /tg/ generally loves this guy, if just because he ''isn't'' Ward or Cruddace. He almost definitely isn't as good as [[Jeremy Vetock]] (except where the fluff is concerned), but Vetock is both American (and therefore not as spiffy) and not as well established as Kelly, so Kelly is generally considered the top dog among games devs.  
==The Pros and Cons of Phil Kelly==
Kelly is often regarded as perfect by /tg/, which is only partially true.  The main reason people like him is that unlike some [[Matt Ward|other designers]] he tries to keep at least some of the themes of the old armies, rather than [[Grey Knights|give away all the mystery behind an army]], [[Ultramarines|try to make a chapter into the greatest thing ever]], [[Necrons|or completely revamp existing armies to fit their tastes]] and his [[fluff]] (with the notable exception of [[Space Wolves|Codex: Space Wolves]]) is usually '''very''' well written and holds true to the old armies, [[Heldrake|even in cases when it should be really, really stupid]]. However, his actual [[crunch]] has seen ups and downs. Most of his Codexes are very middle-of-the-road, and the internal balance is almost always terrible; it's not a Kelly book unless there's at least [[Counts As#Mandrakes|one completely useless unit]] and [[Heldrake|one completely overpowered, auto-include-or-else unit]].


==Ahem...==
Sometimes though his fluff does have problems, 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 or a handful of Space Wolves floating across space, breaking into a Chaos Space Marine flagship by hitting it, and then slaughtering all Chaos Space Marines onboard before using it to wipe out an entire Chaos fleet. 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 Thunder'''wolves''' while acting like '''wolves''' with their '''wolf''' wargear, while leading packs of Fenrisian '''Wolves'''.  While most of these options have been in the Codex for some time heaping more '''Wolf''' options into the codex is an example of taking something [[Awesome]] and overdoing it, which is another problem with Kelly.  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).  
Aside from the new hotness that is [[Jeremy Vetock]], Kelly is essentially the only game designer that [[/tg/]] actually likes. [[Robin Cruddace]] fucked up [[Tyranids]] badly and buffed [[Imperial Guard]] to Wardian levels, and [[Matt Ward]]... well, if you've spent any time here at all you know our feelings on a [[Ultramarines|certain chapter's]] [[Matt Ward|spiritual liege]].


Kelly is often regarded as perfect by /tg/, which is only partially true. His [[fluff]] (with the notable exception of Codex: Space Wolves) is almost uniformly awesome, [[Heldrake|even in cases when it should be really, really stupid]]. However, his actual [[crunch]] has seen ups and downs. Most of his Codexes are very middle-of-the-road, and the internal balance is almost always terrible; it's not a Kelly book unless there's at least [[Counts As#Mandrakes|one completely useless unit]] and [[Heldrake|one completely overpowered, auto-include-or-else unit]].
Another issue would be how his armies are his wobbly crunch, if you want to make Chaos Space Marines competitive you can go Heldrakes and/or Nurgle or go home, whereas with the new Eldar codex you can spam vehicles and have essentially a guaranteed win against all comers lists.  The armies ''do'' have good options, but many of the options need very specific scenarios to work and earn their points back (especially thanks to rampant over-costing), the Daemon army book for example can be really powerful if you roll decently, but a few bad rolls on mandatory tables will have you lose the game regardless of how sound your game plan is. Mediocre units (but not ''bad'' per se) are fairly common in Phil Kelly books, including [[Counts as|Mandrakes,]] Chosen, Possessed, Juggernauts, Grotesques, and so on. That's not to say the Codices are ''bad'', per se; rather, his Codices usually have one truly great build, one or two other builds that work all right, and a lot of builds that just don't work very well (usually referred to as "monobuild").  You won't win nearly every game ([[Eldar|with a]] [[Space Wolves|few aforementioned exceptions]]), but you won't typically lose because [[Robbin Cruddace|somebody took all]] [[Tyranids|of your good units]] [[Carnifex|and made them terrible for their cost]].


==Why Phil Kelly Isn't Matt Ward==
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, 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 . Some see this as a good thing because it adds "spice" to the game as most of these tables do make sense from a fluff perspective (especially when we're talking about the embodiment of true chaos), but many find these tables to be tedious, annoying, and damaging to the game as it could lose to you either losing the game or curb-stomping the enemy depending on a mandatory lucky 2D6 roll with the opposing argument being "A small element of randomness is fine; too much of it is just tedious, annoying and it interferes too much with the game".
[[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 tossing 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.
==A Small List of Kelly's Work==
 
tl;dr: Phil Kelly is the best designer GW have got, [[Eldar|the only one who makes armies that require any thought to play]], and the only thing standing between the [[neckbeard|gaming side]] of 40k and complete [[Khornate Knights|assmongery]].  If your army hasn't had a new Codex yet pray to [[God-Emperor of Mankind|THE EMPRAH]]/[[Chaos Gods|CHAOS GODS]] that it's Phil Kelly who is going to write the update because if it is, you can count on your book [[Space Wolves|still kicking ass three years down the line]], [[Dark Eldar|looking like a joke but being almost unbeatable in the right hands]], or [[Orks|surviving through two Editions as a force to be reckoned with]].  [[Blood Angels|Unlike]] [[Space Marines|certain]] [[Grey Knights|army]] [[Necrons|books]] written by [[Matt Ward|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.
 
However dialectic around GW writers never stops and it seems that the tides are changing direction. Now that everyone everywhere loathe Ward and workship Kelly, it's cool, very cool indeed, loving Matt Ward and his work and blaming Phil Kelly about all the bad design around WH40k and remember stupid designs within Space Wolves, Dark Eldar and Chaos Space Marine codices (special mention to certain dragon). Now, all hipsters are turning to Ward, until he will be so popular that Phil Kelly will be awesome again.
 
However due to Ward moving over to writing the mini-dexs people are starting to notice Kelly's flaws more and more...
 
==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 Thunder'''wolves''' 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.
 
Kellyfanboirantcounterargument: Yeah, what would you expect a werewolf in space army to be about, badgers? Also, except for the thunderwolves, most of the wolf wargear has been present since at least 3rd edition.
 
Another issue would be the low(ish) level of competitiveness of his armies, the exception being the aforementioned Wolfdex: Wolf Wolves. To be fair, both Orks <strike>and Eldar</strike> are old books that can't be expected to feasibly compete, <strike>especially given Eldar is now the third-oldest book</strike>. 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 [[Counts as|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...
 
Kellyfanboirantcounterargument: They are designed to be good in the hands of a good player, not for a kid to pick everything he likes and then beat everyone, like a certain spiritual liege did with certain space marines in shiny grey armor.
 
Counterpoint: Its funny Kelly's books are the only ones people constantly rave that you "have to be a good player to use them", Cruddance makes bad crunch and he gets vilified, Kelly does it and "Screw you, you're just not a good enough player to use the book!".  Also its funny how he made CSM the 40k equivalent of a wet noodle unless you want to take a dragon, while buffing Eldar into the stratosphere yet never once got accused of fanboying the  book, I wonder how much venomous raging there would be if Matt Ward had written that very same codex?  How many gamers would rip him for being a space elf fanboy and making them broken?  Or maybe they would nickname him the High Lord of Wave Serpants.  Yet Kelly is free of any and all criticism?  Not saying he isnt a good author but its amazing the double standard people have with some of these codex writers.
 
Counterpoint 2: Yeah too bad its easier to just spam Heldrakes, in fact since Grey Knights are fairly mid tier now so can take more skill as its easy to counter them and their tactics that made them into rape trains no longer work.
 
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.
 
Kellyfanboirantcounterargument: What? Ok lets see, you find tedious rolling 1 die for a daemonic gift in a game that take hours to collect, assemble and paint a single model and weeks to paint an army? What about the NOT random option of replacing an exalted roll for a grimoire of true names(while having a chance to also roll 1 and get a freeby small reward), one of the only ways to make bloodcrushers playable, or 4 out of 6 greater rewards upgrading your survivability? That's good odds and not only "spice", "annoyance" or "damaging the game". Also, you'd expect the EMBODIMENT of PURE CHAOS to NOT be random? Let's face it, the new Chaos Daemon book is awesome and it's because of Phil Kelly(and Robin Cruddace).
 
Counterpoint: A small element of randomness is fine; too much of it is just tedious, annoying and it interferes too much with the game.
 
[[Katanas are Underpowered in d20|tl;dr = Phil Kelly needs to do less damage in /tg/,]] [[Meme|see my new stat block.]]
 
==A small list of the great deeds of Philipus Kellius==


===Warhammer 40k===
===Warhammer 40k===
*[[Codex]]: [[Space Wolf]]s (5th Edition). 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]]: [[Space Wolf]]s (5th Edition). This codex gave them their true identity as an immensely fun and tactical (though slightly underpriced) army that absolutely spams the word "wolf." WOLFY WOLF WOLF FOR THE WOLFWOLF.
*Codex: [[Orks]] (4th Edition). A Codex that has survived through two editions still coming out somewhat strong though with a very small number of competitive builds to this day. Though the cheese it once had seems to have been stolen by mice. Responsible for the dreaded 'Aspekt boyz'; forcing specialized orks into designated squads, forcing lootas to use only deffguns, burna boyz to stick to one squad, and so on. Also, hilarious.
*Codex: [[Orks]] (4th Edition). A Codex that has survived through two editions still coming out somewhat strong though with a very small number of competitive builds to this day. Though the cheese it once had seems to have been stolen by mice. Responsible for the dreaded 'Aspekt boyz'; forcing specialized orks into designated squads, forcing lootas to use only deffguns, burna boyz to stick to one squad, and so on. Also, hilarious fluff.
*Codex: [[Eldar]] (4th Edition). A great codex in and 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: [[Eldar]] (4th Edition). A great codex in and of itself, it fixed a lot of the overpowered nature from 3rd Edition Eldar (most notably turning Exarchs from mini characters to standard champions and their hideously overpowered vehicles) although most of the fluff is copy pasted from 2nd edition and 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), overall it's fun, balanced, and fluffy.
*Codex: [[Dark Eldar]] (5th Edition). 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: [[Dark Eldar]] (5th Edition). This, this is arguably Kelly's best work fluff wise, Commorragh's description is a true masterpiece, along with Vect's, Malys', and Sliscus' background. At the time it was 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 certain lists to be competitive once again.
*Codex: [[Chaos Space Marines]] (3rd & 6th Edition). We knew the bucks we were paying were worth it. [[Abaddon|Failbaddon]] [[/tg/ gets shit done|is getting shit done]] and kicking Cadia's arse, possibly with the [[Primarchs]]. Possessed and [[Chaos Spawn|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. To be fair, the 'dex has revealed some of its trouble areas over time, namely its internal balancing: Warp Talons and Mutilators are terminally useless whereas Heldrakes are second only to Vendettas as the best flyer in the game.
*Codex: [[Chaos Space Marines]] (3rd & 6th Edition). We knew the bucks we were paying were worth it. [[Abaddon|Failbaddon]] [[/tg/ gets shit done|is getting shit done]] and kicking Cadia's arse, possibly with the [[Primarchs]]. Possessed and [[Chaos Spawn|the-ones-which-shall-not-be-named]] are better than last edition (though still not great). Motherfucking daemon dino-bots and a vector-striking robo-dragon flyer. The first 6th edition Codex and the first fully colored 40k Codex. To be fair, that was all fluff, the crunch was revealed to have some trouble areas, namely its internal balancing: Warp Talons and Mutilators are terminally useless whereas Heldrakes are second only to Vendettas as the best flyer in the game and can be game winners by themselves.
*Codex: [[Chaos Daemons]] (6th Edition). The Chaos Gods will be pleased. Even if they write them half as good as their [[Chaos Space Marines|mortal counterparts]] will be TWO times or MORE better than they are now. You're deserving the [[Daemon Prince|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.) Crunch-wise, the army plays like horde with cheap, disposable and deadly units all over the place.
*Codex: [[Chaos Daemons]] (6th Edition). The Chaos Gods would be pleased. The fluff makes Kelly a shoe in for the [[Daemon Prince|daemonhood]] reward (In said Codex, Phil actually hints in a plausible way that a [[Grey Knight]] has had a seed of doubt planted with in his mary-sue heart. Yes, Kelly's fluff is usually this awesome), whereas the crunch makes him a shoe in for the [[Chaos Spawn|Something else entirely]]  the army plays like horde with cheap, disposable and deadly units all over the place and is a truly random force of destruction, never before have games been won or lost just by a single roll.
*Codex: [[Eldar]] (6th Edition). Take two! This time around, Eldar weaponry will bring a rapetrain's worth of fun to the guys firing them and cause purest agony to the ones they are directed at. Psyker Level 4 Eldrad! Lots of DS2 weapons! '''SHOOTING AND RUNNING''' ability for units across the board (However Phil has recently admitted Ward came up with the ideal). A whole slew of new phantom units including '''THE BIGGEST''' fucking citadel model ever outside of Apocalypse! Of course, Eldar are still made of wet cardboard, but hey, a unit that already killed its enemies before they saw it doesn't have to fear enemy fire at all.
*Codex: [[Eldar]] (6th Edition). Take two! This time around, Eldar were buffed into the stratosphere, their weaponry will bring a rapetrain's worth of fun to the guys firing them and cause purest agony to the ones they are directed at (sometimes to the detriment of a casual game). The codex included buffs like Psyker Level 4 Eldrad, Lots of DS2 weapons, '''SHOOTING AND RUNNING''' (an ability for units across the board, however Phil has recently admitted Ward came up with the idea). Some new phantom units including '''THE BIGGEST''' fucking citadel model ever outside of Apocalypse! The main drawback was supposed to be their individual soldiers being weaker, but hey, a unit that already killed its enemies before they could do anything means a unit that doesn't have to fear enemy fire at all.
*Supplement: Farsight Enclaves. Crisis suits as troops? Completely crazy bodyguard squad made of independent characters (including an independent character RIPTIDE)? The Dawn Blade stealing the life force from those it's killed, and giving it to Farsight? Need I say more? (On the downside, the Etherials shift a little too hard from "ambiguous but vaguely benevolent space Taoists" to "cackling mustache-twirling cartoon villains.")
*Supplement: Farsight Enclaves. Crisis suits as troops? Completely crazy powerful bodyguard squad made of independent characters (including an independent character RIPTIDE)? The Dawn Blade stealing the life force from those it's killed, and giving it to Farsight? Need I say more? On the downside, the Etherials shift a little too hard from "ambiguous but vaguely benevolent space Taoists" to "cackling mustache-twirling cartoon villains", it removed a [[Grey Knights|lot of mystery that the Enclaves had]] and had some questionable fluff, like the Enclaves using their limited resources to carve a planet into a D20 just to show off.
*Warzone Damnos: You though Ward was an Ultramarine fanboy?  I haven't seen nothing yet.  Due to their defeat at Damnos there was a massive morale drop throughout the Imperuim so the Ultramarines lead a force to reclaim the now Major Tomb World.  It has Calgar lifting up a Pylon and firing it at Tomb Complexes and Cato Sicarius killing a transcendent C'tan shard in a way that would make C.S. Goto proud.
*Warzone Damnos: Hands down Kelly's worst work.  You thought Ward was an Ultramarine fanboy?  You haven't seen anything yet, due to their defeat at Damnos there was a massive morale drop throughout the Imperuim so the Ultramarines lead a force to reclaim the now Major Tomb World.  It has Scouts sneaking up on a completely undefended pylon, Calgar lifting up said Pylon (which somehow gives him the ability to fire it at Tomb Complexes) Cato Sicarius killing first a Necron Lord by stabbing it in the right spot, then taking out a transcendent C'tan shard in a way that would make C.S. Goto proud. Lastly it had the Deathwatch taking a stroll through the completely undefended Tomb Complex (literally, there are no Scarabs, Spyders, Wraiths or Canoptek anything in this Tomb Complex) all the while planting charges on everything and also forgetting how the new Necron Dynasties work (blow up a world and their mind transfers to the next).
 
Every general prays to Khorne/Empy/Khaine/Gork/Mork that their army's next codex is written by Kelly.


Unless you have faith in our [[Spiritual Liege|Spiritual Liege]]. Or the [[Robin Cruddace|Treadhead]], if you lead [[Imperial Guard|a certain shooty army]]. Or [[Jeremy Vetock|the new guy]].
All this said though, Kelly is usually a fairly safe bet for having your codex look, feel, and play mostly the same way it used to.  Unless you have faith in our [[Spiritual Liege|Spiritual Liege]]. Or the [[Robin Cruddace|Treadhead]], if you lead [[Imperial Guard|a certain shooty army]]. Or [[Jeremy Vetock|the new guy]].


And now Kelly is moving into Black Library with a series of novels about Commander Farsight. Only time will tell whether or not they'll be what every Tau fan has been waiting for since... ever.  
And now Kelly is moving into Black Library with a series of novels about Commander Farsight. Only time will tell whether or not they'll be what every Tau fan has been waiting for since... ever.  
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===Warhammer Fantasy Battle===
===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.  He even tried to advance the plot of Warhammer Fantasy!  A bit of fluff in the codex has Mannfred conspiring with Kemmler to resurrect [[Nagash]] in a ritual involving a battle, the abduction and sacrifice of the High Elf Everqueen's daughter (as the future Everqueen, this on its own would have terrible ramifications for the High Elves if it succeeded).  This also disrupted an attempt at reconciliation between the High Elves and Dwarfs.   
*Army Book: [[Ogre Kingdoms]] (6th Edition).  Kelly introduces a new very fun army with the single lowest model count in the game. While the book's crunch was average (nothing overpowered but at the same time you had a good chance at winning every game you played) the fluff was very good but surprisingly for Kelly was lacking in detail, though that could be argued as the Ogres not keeping very good records of their own history.  Problems only started surfacing when the FAQ came out (which did things like add the "Move or Fire" rule to a character that didn't previously have that limitation).
*Army Book: [[Warriors of Chaos]] 7th edition. Pretty damn good. He gave them some nifty special characters such as Valkia, Sigvald and Wulfric.  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.
*Army Book: [[Beastmen]] (7th Edition) If Warzone Damnos is his worst 40K book, then Beastmen is his worst Fantasy book.  The army went from having decent chances at winning games to the worst army in the entire game.  Some of the rules were downright retarded, like needing two of the exact same unit to pull off an ambush, one of which would take no part in the ambush.  The Beastmen themselves were also moved to a spot where the Chaos Gods and everyone else shit on them constantly, almost never blessing them with gifts to help get the job done, completely losing all access to any kind of mark, and they even lost the ability to make themselves new weapons and armour.  On the plus side he kept the theme of them being Chaos Anarchy embodied, and the book introduced several new monsters that have awesome fluff, great models, and would be auto includes if they weren't all hideously overpriced (coming in slightly under some dragons but nowhere near as useful).
*Army Book: [[Beastmen]] Coming soon
*Army Book: [[Warriors of Chaos]] (7th Edition). Pretty damn good. He gave them some nifty special characters such as Valkia, Sigvald and Wulfric.  And it had the [[Awesome|Viking drinking song/saga of Khalac Swordsson in it]].  
*Army Book: [[Vampire Counts]] (8th edition).  A fairly decent release, it removed the cheese that the old one had, added some more untold horrors upon the old world, and with Storm of Chaos being retconned into not happening he then (like the rest of the new Army Books) added a bit to advance the plot of Warhammer Fantasy.  A bit of fluff in the codex has Mannfred conspiring with Kemmler to resurrect [[Nagash]] in a ritual involving a battle, the abduction and sacrifice of the High Elf Everqueen's daughter, which is one of the events leading to [[The End Times]].  This also disrupted an attempt at reconciliation between the High Elves and Dwarfs. 


===Codexes Lord Kelly is rumored to write===
===Future Releases===
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.
Unfortunately with the removal of the author credit in the new GW books there's no real way to tell which ones he may or may not have a hand in (especially since they're now supposed to be done by a "design team"), though the White Dwarf articles still interview some of the creators of the various books, so when a new one comes out you'll have to read on the articles to see if he had a hand in it or not.
*Orks
*[[Bretonnia]] (no, it's still not Brettonia)


[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oatGPbCSIU And listen to this charming motherfucker chat about the Deldar with the also awesome Jes Goodwin.]
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oatGPbCSIU And listen to this charming motherfucker chat about the DEldar with the also awesome Jes Goodwin.]


[[Category:Writers]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Writers]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

Revision as of 01:13, 27 December 2014

Just gaze at the sideburns on this guy. Gaze in awe.

Phil Kelly is a games designer for Games Workshop. /tg/'s opinion on the man is best described as Oscillating between adoration and hate depending on the new book he puts out. In any case, he's one of the few writers that /tg/ remembers fondly and aside from the new hotness that is Jeremy Vetock (who is both American and therefore not as spiffy as well as less established than Kelly), Kelly is essentially the only current game designer that /tg/ actually likes to talk about. Robin Cruddace fucked up Tyranids badly and buffed Imperial Guard to Wardian levels, and Matt Ward... well, if you've spent any time here at all you know our feelings on a certain chapter's spiritual liege

The Pros and Cons of Phil Kelly

Kelly is often regarded as perfect by /tg/, which is only partially true. The main reason people like him is that unlike some other designers he tries to keep at least some of the themes of the old armies, rather than give away all the mystery behind an army, try to make a chapter into the greatest thing ever, or completely revamp existing armies to fit their tastes and his fluff (with the notable exception of Codex: Space Wolves) is usually very well written and holds true to the old armies, even in cases when it should be really, really stupid. However, his actual crunch has seen ups and downs. Most of his Codexes are very middle-of-the-road, and the internal balance is almost always terrible; it's not a Kelly book unless there's at least one completely useless unit and one completely overpowered, auto-include-or-else unit.

Sometimes though his fluff does have problems, 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 or a handful of Space Wolves floating across space, breaking into a Chaos Space Marine flagship by hitting it, and then slaughtering all Chaos Space Marines onboard before using it to wipe out an entire Chaos fleet. 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. While most of these options have been in the Codex for some time heaping more Wolf options into the codex is an example of taking something Awesome and overdoing it, which is another problem with Kelly. 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).

Another issue would be how his armies are his wobbly crunch, if you want to make Chaos Space Marines competitive you can go Heldrakes and/or Nurgle or go home, whereas with the new Eldar codex you can spam vehicles and have essentially a guaranteed win against all comers lists. The armies do have good options, but many of the options need very specific scenarios to work and earn their points back (especially thanks to rampant over-costing), the Daemon army book for example can be really powerful if you roll decently, but a few bad rolls on mandatory tables will have you lose the game regardless of how sound your game plan is. Mediocre units (but not bad per se) are fairly common in Phil Kelly books, including Mandrakes, Chosen, Possessed, Juggernauts, Grotesques, and so on. That's not to say the Codices are bad, per se; rather, his Codices usually have one truly great build, one or two other builds that work all right, and a lot of builds that just don't work very well (usually referred to as "monobuild"). You won't win nearly every game (with a few aforementioned exceptions), but you won't typically lose because somebody took all of your good units and made them terrible for their cost.

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, 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 . Some see this as a good thing because it adds "spice" to the game as most of these tables do make sense from a fluff perspective (especially when we're talking about the embodiment of true chaos), but many find these tables to be tedious, annoying, and damaging to the game as it could lose to you either losing the game or curb-stomping the enemy depending on a mandatory lucky 2D6 roll with the opposing argument being "A small element of randomness is fine; too much of it is just tedious, annoying and it interferes too much with the game".

A Small List of Kelly's Work

Warhammer 40k

  • Codex: Space Wolfs (5th Edition). This codex gave them their true identity as an immensely fun and tactical (though slightly underpriced) army that absolutely spams the word "wolf." WOLFY WOLF WOLF FOR THE WOLFWOLF.
  • Codex: Orks (4th Edition). A Codex that has survived through two editions still coming out somewhat strong though with a very small number of competitive builds to this day. Though the cheese it once had seems to have been stolen by mice. Responsible for the dreaded 'Aspekt boyz'; forcing specialized orks into designated squads, forcing lootas to use only deffguns, burna boyz to stick to one squad, and so on. Also, hilarious fluff.
  • Codex: Eldar (4th Edition). A great codex in and of itself, it fixed a lot of the overpowered nature from 3rd Edition Eldar (most notably turning Exarchs from mini characters to standard champions and their hideously overpowered vehicles) although most of the fluff is copy pasted from 2nd edition and 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), overall it's fun, balanced, and fluffy.
  • Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition). This, this is arguably Kelly's best work fluff wise, Commorragh's description is a true masterpiece, along with Vect's, Malys', and Sliscus' background. At the time it was 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 certain lists to be competitive once again.
  • Codex: Chaos Space Marines (3rd & 6th Edition). 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 (though still not great). Motherfucking daemon dino-bots and a vector-striking robo-dragon flyer. The first 6th edition Codex and the first fully colored 40k Codex. To be fair, that was all fluff, the crunch was revealed to have some trouble areas, namely its internal balancing: Warp Talons and Mutilators are terminally useless whereas Heldrakes are second only to Vendettas as the best flyer in the game and can be game winners by themselves.
  • Codex: Chaos Daemons (6th Edition). The Chaos Gods would be pleased. The fluff makes Kelly a shoe in for the daemonhood reward (In said Codex, Phil actually hints in a plausible way that a Grey Knight has had a seed of doubt planted with in his mary-sue heart. Yes, Kelly's fluff is usually this awesome), whereas the crunch makes him a shoe in for the Something else entirely the army plays like horde with cheap, disposable and deadly units all over the place and is a truly random force of destruction, never before have games been won or lost just by a single roll.
  • Codex: Eldar (6th Edition). Take two! This time around, Eldar were buffed into the stratosphere, their weaponry will bring a rapetrain's worth of fun to the guys firing them and cause purest agony to the ones they are directed at (sometimes to the detriment of a casual game). The codex included buffs like Psyker Level 4 Eldrad, Lots of DS2 weapons, SHOOTING AND RUNNING (an ability for units across the board, however Phil has recently admitted Ward came up with the idea). Some new phantom units including THE BIGGEST fucking citadel model ever outside of Apocalypse! The main drawback was supposed to be their individual soldiers being weaker, but hey, a unit that already killed its enemies before they could do anything means a unit that doesn't have to fear enemy fire at all.
  • Supplement: Farsight Enclaves. Crisis suits as troops? Completely crazy powerful bodyguard squad made of independent characters (including an independent character RIPTIDE)? The Dawn Blade stealing the life force from those it's killed, and giving it to Farsight? Need I say more? On the downside, the Etherials shift a little too hard from "ambiguous but vaguely benevolent space Taoists" to "cackling mustache-twirling cartoon villains", it removed a lot of mystery that the Enclaves had and had some questionable fluff, like the Enclaves using their limited resources to carve a planet into a D20 just to show off.
  • Warzone Damnos: Hands down Kelly's worst work. You thought Ward was an Ultramarine fanboy? You haven't seen anything yet, due to their defeat at Damnos there was a massive morale drop throughout the Imperuim so the Ultramarines lead a force to reclaim the now Major Tomb World. It has Scouts sneaking up on a completely undefended pylon, Calgar lifting up said Pylon (which somehow gives him the ability to fire it at Tomb Complexes) Cato Sicarius killing first a Necron Lord by stabbing it in the right spot, then taking out a transcendent C'tan shard in a way that would make C.S. Goto proud. Lastly it had the Deathwatch taking a stroll through the completely undefended Tomb Complex (literally, there are no Scarabs, Spyders, Wraiths or Canoptek anything in this Tomb Complex) all the while planting charges on everything and also forgetting how the new Necron Dynasties work (blow up a world and their mind transfers to the next).

All this said though, Kelly is usually a fairly safe bet for having your codex look, feel, and play mostly the same way it used to. Unless you have faith in our Spiritual Liege. Or the Treadhead, if you lead a certain shooty army. Or the new guy.

And now Kelly is moving into Black Library with a series of novels about Commander Farsight. Only time will tell whether or not they'll be what every Tau fan has been waiting for since... ever. http://www.blacklibrary.com/new-at-bl/new-tau-series-coming-soon.html

Warhammer Fantasy Battle

  • Army Book: Ogre Kingdoms (6th Edition). Kelly introduces a new very fun army with the single lowest model count in the game. While the book's crunch was average (nothing overpowered but at the same time you had a good chance at winning every game you played) the fluff was very good but surprisingly for Kelly was lacking in detail, though that could be argued as the Ogres not keeping very good records of their own history. Problems only started surfacing when the FAQ came out (which did things like add the "Move or Fire" rule to a character that didn't previously have that limitation).
  • Army Book: Beastmen (7th Edition) If Warzone Damnos is his worst 40K book, then Beastmen is his worst Fantasy book. The army went from having decent chances at winning games to the worst army in the entire game. Some of the rules were downright retarded, like needing two of the exact same unit to pull off an ambush, one of which would take no part in the ambush. The Beastmen themselves were also moved to a spot where the Chaos Gods and everyone else shit on them constantly, almost never blessing them with gifts to help get the job done, completely losing all access to any kind of mark, and they even lost the ability to make themselves new weapons and armour. On the plus side he kept the theme of them being Chaos Anarchy embodied, and the book introduced several new monsters that have awesome fluff, great models, and would be auto includes if they weren't all hideously overpriced (coming in slightly under some dragons but nowhere near as useful).
  • Army Book: Warriors of Chaos (7th Edition). Pretty damn good. He gave them some nifty special characters such as Valkia, Sigvald and Wulfric. And it had the Viking drinking song/saga of Khalac Swordsson in it.
  • Army Book: Vampire Counts (8th edition). A fairly decent release, it removed the cheese that the old one had, added some more untold horrors upon the old world, and with Storm of Chaos being retconned into not happening he then (like the rest of the new Army Books) added a bit to advance the plot of Warhammer Fantasy. A bit of fluff in the codex has Mannfred conspiring with Kemmler to resurrect Nagash in a ritual involving a battle, the abduction and sacrifice of the High Elf Everqueen's daughter, which is one of the events leading to The End Times. This also disrupted an attempt at reconciliation between the High Elves and Dwarfs.

Future Releases

Unfortunately with the removal of the author credit in the new GW books there's no real way to tell which ones he may or may not have a hand in (especially since they're now supposed to be done by a "design team"), though the White Dwarf articles still interview some of the creators of the various books, so when a new one comes out you'll have to read on the articles to see if he had a hand in it or not.

And listen to this charming motherfucker chat about the DEldar with the also awesome Jes Goodwin.

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