Purchase your ticket here!

Well, it took some doing, but the BAO 2014 is happening. It will be at the 4th Street Summit Center in downtown San Jose, California July 26th and 27th, 2014.

Saturday July 26th and Sunday July 27th

88 S 4th St

San Jose, CA 95112

 

It is located on top of a parking structure and so, obviously, parking will not be an issue, particularly on the weekend. There are a number of hotels in the immediate vicinity for those traveling to the event. There are only 128 spots for this event due to space restrictions and we anticipate them selling out quickly, so do not wait to get your tickets!

Format

Spirit of the Event

The 40K Friendly Event is all about celebrating the fun of the hobby with big, themed armies and games that focus on forging a narrative in a relaxed environment. All lists must be approved by the TO to ensure that they are fun and fair! The event is about competing in good spirits as a team. 

Army Composition

• All army lists must be submitted to the TO at Contact@FrontlineGaming.org for approval! This is to ensure that they are themed and built to tell a story and provide a fun game for both players.
• 2000 point limit.
• Unbound Army, you can use the Unbound Army construction rules for your army. The point here is to use this to make an awesome, themed list!
• Unlimited Combined Arms Detachments (C.A.D.) which can be comprised of a single faction, chosen from any of those shown in the BRB (pg.118). This detachment can be drawn from multiple sources, such as a codex, supplement of the parent codex, data slate of the parent codex or Forge World unit of the parent codex. Note, unlike in the past, we are not allowing Forge World army lists this year as many of them have not yet been updated for 7th edition.
  • For example, you could take Tau as your primary faction and in the confines of your Combined Arms Detachment you could have units from the Tau Codex, Farsight Supplement, a Tau data slate and Tau Forge World units, but must abide by the limits of a single Force Organization Chart (ie. no more than 2 H.Q., 3 Elites, etc.).
  • In the case of a Forge World unit having a profile in a Forge World book and Codex or Codex Supplement, the rules in the Codex or Codex Supplement are always used.
• 0-1 Allied Detachment for every C.A.D., which is defined in the BRB (pg. 122) as being units comprised of the same faction, but not of the same faction as your C.A.D. Note, unlike in the past, we are not allowing Forge World army lists this year as many of them have not yet been updated for 7th edition.
  • For example, you could take a Chaos Space Marines C.A.D. and Chaos Daemons as your Allied Detachment. The Chaos Daemons could then be comprised of units drawn from multiple sources as described above for Tau.
  • Please note, per the FAQ, the only exception to this currently is Space Marines who can choose an allied Detachment from their own codex so long as the Allied Detachment have different Chapter Tactics than the C.A.D., ie. Ultramarines with White Scars allies is acceptable.
  • A detachment taken from the Inquisition Supplement counts as the Allied Detachment if taken.
  • In the case of a Forge World unit having a profile in a Forge World book and Codex or Codex Supplement, the rules in the Codex or Codex Supplement are always used.
• 0-1 Formation, which will take the place of the Allied Detachment if chosen.
• 0-1 Fortification chosen from the Stronghold Assault list. All of the rules may be found in the Stronghold Assault supplement
• 0-1 Lord of War All of the rules for Lords of War available at the BAO 2014 may be found in the Escalation, Apocalypse and Imperial Armor: Apocalypse supplement with the updated rules found in the BRB in effect (such as the new D Weapon rules). Players are required to have the actual LoW model to use them. Exceptions will only be made for exceptional conversions. What constitutes an exceptional conversion is determined at the sole discretion of the Tournament Organizers. Send pictures of your model in advance if you have any doubts.
• Please note, the Impending Doom (+1 to Seize the Initiative for a player facing a LoW who does not have one), and Through Attrition, Victory (+1 Victory Point for every 3 Hull Points or Wounds done to a LoW, counted towards the secondary mission) special rules will be in effect if either player in a given game has a Lord of War.

40K Friendly Format

Scenarios

• 2 rounds on Saturday, and 2 rounds on Sunday
• 3.5 Hour Rounds
• Game 1 on Saturday will be the Crusade Eternal War mission.
• Game 2 on Saturday will be the Cleanse and Control Maelstrom Mission.
• Game 3 on Sunday will be the Purge the Alien Eternal War Mission.
• Game 4 on Sunday will be the Spoils of War Maelstrom Mission.

The outcome of your game helps to determine your total score. However, you are not alone, you are fighting as a team! We will divide the players into teams, which will roughly be Imperials, Xenos and Chaos. This will vary dependent upon what armies are there. We will average the total points of each team earned over the round and everyone uses this as their battle points score. Your battle points score is 1/3 of your total score.

Rules Judgments

Rules issues will be dealt with swiftly by a roaming judge. We use a hierarchy for determining rules issues as follows:

1. Main Rule Book
2. FAQs and Erratas
3. ITC FAQ
   1. Please note, the change to the 2+ reroll save is still in effect. Ie., any save of any type of a 2+ that can be rerolled is failed on the second roll of a 1,2 or 3.
4. Consensus of judges present at the time. Please note, that these judgments are final. We are da law!!!

Painting & Theme

• All models must be fully painted! The Friendly event is about beautiful armies and spectacle. If any model is placed on the table is not fully painted and based, he immediately explodes! Place a Strength 10, AP1 large blast centered on that model and resolve hit against only friendly models!
• Your paint score is 1/3 of your total score and is peer judged.
• All armies should be themed! Your theme can be anything that fits in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but the more fun and apparent it is, the better.
• Your theme score is 1/3 of your total score and peer judged.

Total Score and Awards

• Each player’s score will be the total of their Team Average Battle Points, Theme Score and Appearance Score. The player with the highest will be the champ!
• We will also award lots of fun prizes for cool achievements like best theme, player’s choice, best appearance, most awesome challenge, most spectacular explosion, etc. This event is all about laid back gaming and making fun, cinematic moments.

Sports

Sportsmanship will be handled as a simple thumbs-up, thumbs-down check box on the results sheet.

The temptation to ding someone on sports after a tough loss is often too much for many players to resist. We therefore are providing a very narrowly defined set of terms under which a player may mark their opponent with a thumbs down mark on sportsmanship. This system is intended to punish those who are being abusive, but to not allow chimpmunking. After a great deal of real world use, we have found this system to work very well.

Legitimate reasons to give an opponent a thumbs down on sports:

1. Your opponent was 15 or more minutes late to the round.
2. Your opponent was verbally abusive. This does not mean you argued with your opponent or that your personalities clashed, but that they were verbally abusive and insulting.
3. Your opponent intentionally cheated. Be prepared to support your case to a judge.
4. Your opponent slow played. We define slow playing as not completing 3 game turns of play.
   1. In the case of 20 or less minutes left to play, divide the time remaining between players to complete one full GAME turn. Time each other during this period to ensure that each player has an equal amount of time to complete a full game turn. If one player does not finish within their limit, the other player can force them to stop and then begin their turn. This mechanic is in place to ensure no one is slow played out of a turn of play.

What does NOT constitute a thumbs down on sports?

1. You argued over rules with your opponent.
2. Your opponent beat you.
3. You didn’t like your opponent’s army.
4. Your opponent thinks the Black Lion never should have been the head of Voltron. The Green Lion was way cooler. NERD RAGE!!!

WYSIWYG 

All models are expected to be WYSIWYG as much as is reasonable. Proxies are not permitted. Counts As armies with counts as allies will only be permitted if they represent a clearly concerted effort to build a unique army around an obvious theme. For example, an Adeptus Mechanicus army using extensive kit bashing and conversions will be fine. If you go this route, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A HANDOUT TO SHOW YOUR OPPONENT THAT SHOWS WHAT EACH UNIT IN YOUR ARMY IS ALONG WITH ITS STATS AND PERTENANT RULES! You must also present this to them prior to the game so that they have time to understand what they are playing against. There will be no exceptions to this.

If your army uses only a single Codex but if for example you have Crimson Fists models using the Blood Angels Codex, or Chaos models using the Space Wolves Codex, that is acceptable. Allies for this type of army however, MUST be represented by their actual models. This is to avoid confusion. No exceptions.

If you are using converted or scratch built models with Forge World rules, this is acceptable so long as your model is as close to the represented model as possible in terms of equipment, size and shape. We will not be lenient with this.

If you have any questions about your army, ask us prior to the event so that we can let you know if what you have will be acceptable or not.

Modeling for Advantage

There is a fine line between creative freedom and modeling for advantage. We do not wish to stifle anyone’s creativity, but in the end, this is a game that relies heavily upon the physical characteristics of the models being used.

Modeling for advantage will be handled on a case by case basis. To resolve a possible abusive situation, follow these steps:

1. Ask the player to play the model as if it were a GW standard, modern version.
2. Call a judge to ask for a judgement.
3. Possibly substitute the model with an appropriate replacement.

Examples of what we consider modeling for advantage:

1. Using out of date and inappropriately sized models such as the rogue trader era Eldar Avatar (which currently is a large, monstrous creature model but back then, was the size of a Space Marine, which would now grant huge advantages due to being so much smaller) or Gorka Morka Trukks (which are less than half the size of modern versions). If an army is made predominantly of Rogue Trader era minis (or any era) and is clearly going for a theme, then exceptions will be made. If it appears to a judge that the player is in fact modeling for advantage, then action will be taken.
2. Increasing or decreasing the size of models to gain an advantage in gaining or granting cover. Custom Battle Wagons often fall into this category.
3. Altering a model to increase the range of a model or to benefit your LOS.

Terrain

Hills: All rolling hills are open terrain, granting 4+ cover via LOS blocking/interference as normal but do not count as difficult terrain.

Rock Towers, Crates, and Can Towers: Are impassible and block LOS completely (even if there are actual gaps in the terrain pieces).

All other terrain functions as outlined in the book BRB pg. 108-113.

Terrain Data Slates will not be used for the BAO 2014.

What to Bring

• Your Army
• Tape Measure, Dice, Game Aids, etc.
• 3 Objective Markers on 25mm bases, 2 Objective Markers on 40mm bases.
• 5 Typed Copies of your army list. Be sure to notate who your Warlord is on your army list.
• All pertinent rules for your army. Codecis, White Dwarf Articles, Foregworld Rules, etc.
• If you are using a counts as army, YOU MUST HAVE YOUR PLAYER HANDOUT FOR YOUR OPPONENT IDENTIFYING WHAT EACH UNIT IN YOUR ARMY IS.
• A Sponge Bob Square Pants neck tie, as Sponge Bob is da coolest!