As the tournament scene is starting to pick up steam with 10th edition, we would like to highlight the competitive scene in the Netherlands. The first 10th edition tournament held in the Netherlands was the Wardice Wargames on the 25th of June. This was a 19-man three round RTT event held in Haarlem. We have two interviews covering this tournament, one with the organizer and one with the glorious winner. Today we’ll cover the interview with the Wardice Wargames winner, Ron Eliyahoo.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m an Israeli-British player who dropped 40K in his teens but picked it back up again close to the start of 9th during the covid period.
How do you feel Tyranids play in 10th edition?
The Tyranid army rules are very fluffy which I love. The faction generally incentivizes you to play lots of different units as well so there is a lot of list variety. I took mostly units that I had finally finished painting in 9th edition so I could focus on learning 10th edition rather than taking something super optimised for a meta that hadn’t even been defined yet.
What was your list?
It was mostly monster mash with a few utility units and focused on taking tactical secondaries.
Tyranids
Invasion Fleet
Strike Force (2000 Points)CHARACTERS
Hive Tyrant (245 Points)
• Warlord
• 1x Heavy venom cannon
1x Monstrous bonesword and lash whip
• Enhancements: Adaptive BiologyOld One Eye (140 Points)
• 1x Old One Eye’s claws and talonsThe Swarmlord (250 Points)
• 1x Bone sabres
1x Synaptic pulseOTHER DATASHEETS
Biovores (40 Points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
1x Spore Mine launcherBiovores (40 Points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
1x Spore Mine launcherBiovores (40 Points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
1x Spore Mine launcherCarnifexes (250 Points)
• 2x Carnifex
• 2x Bio-plasma
1x Carnifex extra scything talons
2x Carnifex scything talons
1x Heavy venom cannon
2x Spine banks
2x Xenos claws and teethExocrine (135 Points)
• 1x Bio-plasmic cannon
1x Powerful limbsExocrine (135 Points)
• 1x Bio-plasmic cannon
1x Powerful limbsLictor (75 Points)
• 1x Lictor claws and talonsMaleceptor (165 Points)
• 1x Massive scything talons
1x Psychic overloadPyrovores (30 Points)
• 1x Chitin-barbed limbs
1x FlamespurtTyrannofex (200 Points)
• 1x Acid spray
1x Powerful limbs
1x Stinger salvoesTyrant Guard (95 Points)
• 3x Scything talons and rending clawsVenomthropes (70 Points)
• 3x Toxic lashesZoanthropes (90 Points)
• 1x Neurothrope
• 1x Warp Blast
1x Xenos claws and teeth
• 2x Zoanthrope
• 2x Warp Blast
2x Xenos claws and teeth
What was your gameplan?
The game plan was that the monsters would have enough OC and be lethal enough to kill whatever was on objectives so that the utility units could focus on denying my opponents secondaries as well as scoring my own.
Could you walk us through the tournament?
I was very pleased with round 1 and 2 where I scored the full 100 against Necrons and the Imperial guard. Both lists weren’t designed to handle many high Toughness monsters as they were not running much devastating wounds, anti-monster, S12 shooting, or twin linked. I had Tau in the final round which I managed to win with an 88 giving me a total VP high enough to take it over anyone else undefeated.
What was your toughest matchup?
My toughest matchup was definitely Tau, mostly because he took a Stormsurge. It has a huge gun with 2 shots at S24 AP-6 and damage 12… not what you want pointing at a monster… Fortunately, the rest of his shooting caps out at S9 whereas my monsters are T10 and above so the shooting threat was mostly confined to that one unit. He also was able to max Bring It Down against me so I had to play quite passive all game.
Were there any standout units or stratagems?
The MVP was the spore mines, now promoted to “score mines” in my book. For those who don’t know, spore mines are possibly the most efficient units for scoring secondaries this edition when generated up to 48” away from each biovore. My favourite Stratagem to use was Adrenal Surge which lets up to 2 units critical hit on a 5+. This meant that Old One Eye and his gang of Carnifexes could trigger sustained hits on 5s with full rerolls and often got more hits than the number of attacks they started with.
Did you find any weaknesses in your list?
My list was quite heavy on characters and resources. It included the Swarmlord and Hive Tyrant which together make up 470 points of CP economy. The list also gives up Bring It Down quite easily and isn’t very durable against lascannon equivalent shooting.
What lessons have been learned that are relevant to other players?
I’ve learned that 10th edition puts a lot more emphasis on planning and executing a scoring game plan whilst denying their scoring. This was arguably also the case in previous editions, but practically this used to manifest by most armies building to be as lethal as possible whereas in 10th edition I think this is no longer the case.
How do you feel about 10th edition so far?
I think 10th edition has the potential to be a great one. The new starter box is amazing value and looks phenomenal, the rules are much simpler and universal than previously so I hope these changes welcome an influx of new players.
Is there anyone in particular you would like to call out, mention or give a shout out to?
I’d like to shoutout the Dutch hivemind, Games Workshop for over costing Grey Knights forcing me to play Tyranids for a while, as well as my biggest fan, Dean Kho. Biggest shout to the score mines who are enjoying their new trophy!