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 Tournament Organizer, Jochem Warmenhoven.
Could you tell us a bit about Wardice?
Wardice is a miniature wargaming club located in Haarlem. I don’t know when it started but I’ve been a member for about 6 years. It’s a super fun group of people that meet every Thursday.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’ve been playing warhammer on and off for about 15 years. Since a couple of years I’ve started focussing more on competitive and playing at tournaments. I live together with my wife Linda who recently bought her first box of mini’s, and my cat Bobby-Jon.
How did you get to be a tournament organiser?
The one that set up the tournaments in Haarlem was Joep. He moved to the southern part of the Netherlands and didn’t have have time to organize them anymore and asked if someone could take over. Since I love having tournaments in Haarlem I felt obligated to take over. Being part of creating the tournament scene in the Netherlands is awesome.
What is your tournament venue like?
It’s the same space as where we meet every Thursday. It’s in the basement and we share it with the local mini train club. It has room for 10 tables and is always nice and cool.
I heard you cook at tournaments, is that true? And how’d you end up cooking for hungry nerds?
Yes that is true. I used to be a chef for about 10 years and can cook a pretty good meal! It started when we did the tournaments in Aalsmeer and Mike’s girlfriend cooked wonderful meals for us and we got a reputation for having the best lunch on the Dutch tournament scene. With my background I felt I should keep the reputation alive. Also it allows me to earn a small compensation for hosting the tournament.
Could you walk us through the tournament?
We started the first round at 9.00 and had lunch at 13.00. The second round started at 14.00 and the third round 17.15. Because it was such a long day we ordered pizza for anyone that wanted it.
How did you approach creating a 10th edition style tournament rulespack?
To be honest I mostly just winged it. I started by using the the old rulespack and removed/changed anything that didn’t make sense in the new edition. Then I asked CJ (Editor’s note: probably the most well-known terrain designer in the Netherlands) if he could make the maps for new layouts and we discussed a bit what we might need to pay attention too like closed windows and such. I really loved creating the missions, with the new card systems I had such creative control. I had to be careful not to give certain armies extra advantages or disadvantages.
I also decided to make the first round 1 hour longer because I knew it would be the first 10th edition game they played and didn’t want a lot of rounds hitting the time cap.
How did you manage with the new terrain rules? Did it present any issues with layouts and/or sourcing terrain?
The new towering rule was something we had to consider because it had a pretty big impact on the terrain rules. We didn’t want to create planet bowling ball for Imperial Knights. I think it was not too hard to take it into account.
How did players respond to the peculiarities of the 10th ruleset?
Everyone loved the new ruleset, at the opening talk I did tell everyone to read the rules carefully even if they thought they knew the rule already. During the first round I was really busy looking up rules interactions and helping people streamline their battles. During the second and third round there were a lot less questions and I could play a friendly game with someone.
What lessons have been learned that are relevant to other Tournament Organisers?
I think that actively nerfing armies because they are really strong is a really big decision, we decided not to do anything against it. Also it’s impossible to think of everything and sometimes you’ll just have to make decisions on the fly.
How do you live with yourself as being the bad guys of the Dutch warhammer scene?
I think everyone is just afraid of our love. Just accept our love damnit!
Is there anyone in particular you would like to call out, mention or give a shout out to?
My wife Linda who always help with prepping the food on the day before and during the tournament