2023 World Championships 40k Player Profile: Andrew Gonyo

The World Championships of Warhammer are next week and we’re prepping by talking to some of the key competitors at this year’s event – many of whom are also competing for top honors in the ITC. We sat down with Andew Gonyo to talk to them about their plans and expectations for the event itself.

Competitor Profile

Player name: Andrew Gonyo
Age: 37
Country of Origin: USA
Where you won your ticket: American Team Championships (ATC)

Interview Questions

Let’s start with the basics. What army are you bringing to the World Championships, and why did you choose them?

I’ll be bringing T’au Empire this year. I’m a long time T’au player, and while I’ve played many armies over the course of the years, this has been my primary one for some time. I enjoy painting the range and favor mobile shooting armies, so T’au are right up my alley.

Andrew's List - Click to Expand

Run us through your list a little bit. What made you choose this list, and why do you enjoy playing it?

I’ve been working on this list concept for a bit to stray slightly away from traditional T’au concepts and pack more mission-play elements, while retaining the heavy hitting Crisis teams. I enjoy playing it because it has a few more tricks up its sleeve and can solve some meta-issues with move blocking and mobility, versus trying to solve all of the world’s problems with a new gun profile.

What does the list do well against? What match-ups are you hoping to avoid?

The list has a reasonable game as long as I play it right against most of the meta. By adding in more mission elements it rounds it out against most armies, since it doesn’t get stat checked as easily by a bad profile/situation for the guns I choose. I think in particular the CSM and Eldar matches are significantly improved.

On the other hand, certain matches that are more of a stat check can be more difficult than if I’d of just built specifically to counter them. Chaos Knights, Ironstorm Marines, and a couple others get harder as the points spent on Devilfish and Infantry aren’t being spent on specific anti-tank for those match ups.

Fixed or Tactical?

Tactical, I find it more enjoyable and dislike giving a savvy opponent the ability to change their strategy to deny what I’ve chosen.

The World Championships of Warhammer isn’t the largest event ever, but it’s certainly the first of its kind. What was your road getting to the event like? Was it something you were aiming for?

I’m always aiming for capstone events to some degre, as they’re just fun to attend and see friends from all over the world I haven’t caught up with in a while, but this one wasn’t too much of a specific aim for me. My focus the last year or two has been more on Team Events, which ended up culminating at ATC in a 2nd Place finish, and the Golden Ticket for this event.

How does it feel to be going to the event? Are you nervous? Excited? How does it compare to LVO?

Exciting – I was lucky enough to qualify for the New Mexico Finale last year in the Best Overall Track and had a blast. GW puts on a great event, so I’m really looking forward to attending another. LVO is it’s own beast and the sheer size just gives it a very different dynamic than a smaller event (with still a couple hundred people – how times have changed the definition of small!) which everyone had to qualify for.

How do you feel about the event’s unique country-based scoring? Does it add excitement to later rounds for you?

I like it – creating the country “mini-game” and making a singles event not all about personal performance is a healthy shift in my opinion. I’m hoping folks band together a bit and pull it down for the USA this year, while remembering the real point of the event is meeting folks who share the hobby passion from all over the world.

How do you expect the competition to be different from other events? Is there anything you’re doing differently to prepare?

Like other Invitational or Finale events, I think the biggest difference is going to be that everyone in attendance is someone who’s used to winning the events they attend. It creates a more exciting and competitive field. I’m not personally preparing any differently – I’m just continuing to focus on a concept I believe in for my favorite faction, stressing myself out with last minute painting like I always do, and looking forward to an awesome four days of Warhammer.

How do you expect you’ll do at the event? What’s a “good event” look like for you, record-wise?

My goal for the event is to get that elusive finale Best Overall I narrowly missed out on last year. Record wise I’m looking for the usual X-1 or X-2, and I think that’s reasonable. T’au are a solid faction right now, but they have some fundamental issues that make expecting an undefeated finish moderately unrealistic – not to mention the fact that in a field this hard, some of coming out unscathed is going to come down to luck of the pairings.

How do you feel about 10th edition competitive play heading into this event? How does the meta feel to you right now?

Post-Balance Slate the game feels like it has hit its stride and is pretty healthy. Most factions seem to have reasonable play into each other, and while there are still some sitting atop the heap, the height of said heap is considerably reduced.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions. Good luck at the event!

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