The 8th annual BAO is rolling. Watch the coverage on Twitch or keep an eye on the blog for more coverage if you can’t watch.
BCP List and Pairings Info, here.
We will keep you all updated as things develop but after a smooth start on time, we’ve got 135 players and a lot of smiles on faces.
Keep an eye on this post for more info!
First on deck on the stream is current ITC #5 ranked player Mitch Pelham vs. one of our teammates, Jason Rockhill. Astra Militarum vs.Genestealer Cult and should be a great game.
Round 1
Here are some pics form round 1:
Round 2
Going in to round 2 we’ve got some very tough matchups. Brand Grant, two time winner of the BAO is playing our very own Pablo of Chapter Tactics fame. The theme of the top tables right now is T’au, Knights with Astra Militarum and Eldar flyers! We’ll see if that persists into the later rounds.
On table 1 we’ve got a nasty 3 Knight Gallant army with Astra Militarum support featuring Bullgryn vs. T’au.
- Knights take it in a bloody game!
We’ve got a very skilled Dark Angels player Aaron Wisch taking on another T’au player, Brian, on table 6.
- Dark Angels took a massive alpha strike but came back to win it in a close game.
On table 4 we’ve got #5 in the ITC Mitch Pelham and his Astra Militarum + Castellan vs. Ben Jurekand his Custodes + Casstellan!
- Mitch takes it when his Castellan took out Ben’s Castellan.
Table 3 features Astra Militarum vs.T’au in a very cool jungle environment.
- Astra Militarum take the T’au out with a big early game alpha.
Round 3
The stream table is Brandon Grant again facing off against Daniel Olivas’ Ynnari.
- In an awesome game, Brandon and Daniel battled to a tie and Brandon went for the win but fell just short and lost by 1 point!
The Knight Gallant army continues to perform well now on table 1 against Jack Harpster’s Catachan+Castellan Army.
Aaron Wisch takes on Chris Nelson’s Eldar flyer army with his Dark Angels on table 3.
- The Dark Angels win with a commanding victory over the Eldar.
#5 Mitch Pelham hits a tough contender in #4 Geoff Robinson whose Custodes have been on fire so far.
- Mitch’s Castellan couldn’t punch through the Custodes’ invul saves and fell to the Golden Boys!
Jeff Poole’s Ynnari battle Colin Sherman’s Tyranids on table 5.
- The Tyranids proved their superiority and ate the Eldar in this match.
Table 4 features James Carmona’s World Eaters against Jon Stark’s Drukhari.
- Despite a tough early game, the World Eaters came back to tie it.
Table 8 see’s Paul McKelvey’s T’au battling Chaos.
- Carlos Kaiser got Paul McKelvey in a tough game, bringing another Chaos army into the undefeated bracket.
Undefeated Factions:
-
Aaron Wisch
Dark Angels – Mercy Killers
- 3109
- 37 / 37 / 35
- 4192
-
Geoff Robinson
Adeptus Custodes – Team Zero Comp
- 3107
- 33 / 35 / 39
- 5217
-
Mark Carrion
Imperial Knights – Los Borrachos
- 3106
- 40 / 38 / 28
- 3219
-
Carlos Kaiser
Thousand Sons – #REKT
- 3103
- 31 / 35 / 37
- 5216
-
Daniel Olivas
Ynnari – Unbound
- 3101
- 36 / 39 / 26
- 4724
-
Colin Sherman
Hive Fleet Kraken – Mugu Legion
- 3100
- 32 / 36 / 32
- 6246
-
Karl Mccamish
Imperial Knights – Meta Mafia
- 3098
- 35 / 31 / 32
- 5234
-
Shaun Sharp
Dark Angels – Relentless D
- 3097
- 34 / 31 / 32
- 5219
-
Don Hooson
Death Guard – Scorched Earth Renegades
- 3093
- 31 / 31 / 31
- 5194
-
Paul Bowman
Harlequins – Warhammered
- 3086
- 29 / 29 / 28
- 5187
-
Nikhil Sinha
Ynnari – Relentless D
- 3080
- 19 / 33 / 28
- 6210
-
John Weyermuller
Imperial Knights – #REKT
- 3076
- 21 / 27 / 28
- 4157
-
Ben Vaughan
Imperial Knights – Mercy Killers
- 3076
- 30 / 26 / 20
- 5210
-
Israel Sanchez
Tau Empire – Left Coast Corsairs
- 3075
- 20 / 31 / 24
- 4115
-
Michael Timpe
Thousand Sons – Fisto Roboto
- 3073
- 23 / 26 / 24
- 5196
-
David Hetherington
Blood Angels –
- 3070
- 16 / 24 / 30
- 4176
Round 4 Pairings
Undefeated pairings.
Ben Vaughn’s Knights take on Nikhil Sinha’s Eldar.
- The Knights were triumphant over the Eldar.
On table 4 we have Karl McCamish with his Knights vs. Shaun Sharp and his Dark Angels.
- The Dark Angels continue to win, defeating the Knights.
On table 5 we have Don “Mastadon” Hooson’s Death Guard vs. Paul Bowman’s Harlequins.
- After a brutal first turn, the Harlies were unable to recover and the Death Guard advance to the next round!
Israel Sanchez’ T’au take on John “Satlyjohn” Weyermuller’s Knights on table 7.
- John’s Knights defeat the T’au in a close game.
On table 8 we have David Hetherington and his Blood Angels vs. Michael Tempe’s Thousand Sons.
- The Thousand Sons defeated the Blood Angels.
On table 2 we have our Knight Gallant army facing off against Carlos Kaiser’s Thousand Sons.
- In a nail biter of a game, the Thousand Sons were able to defeat the Knights.
Table 3 features Daniel Olivas’ Ynnari vs. Colin Sherman’s Nids.
- The Nids fell short and were defeated by the Ynnari.
And our top table and current streamed game is Geoff :iNcontroL” Robinson vs. Aaron Wisch’s Dark Angels.
- In a quick and brutal game, the Custodes take out the Dark Angels.
Round 5 Pairings
Remaining undefeated players.
-
Geoff Robinson
Adeptus Custodes – Team Zero Comp
- 4140
- 33 / 35 / 39 / 33
- 11428
-
Daniel Olivas
Ynnari – Unbound
- 4131
- 36 / 39 / 26 / 30
- 9890
-
Carlos Kaiser
Thousand Sons – #REKT
- 4128
- 31 / 35 / 37 / 25
- 10412
-
Don Hooson
Death Guard – Scorched Earth Renegades
- 4125
- 31 / 31 / 31 / 32
- 10383
-
Shaun Sharp
Dark Angels – Relentless D
- 4117
- 34 / 31 / 32 / 20
- 9385
-
Ben Vaughan
Imperial Knights – Mercy Killers
- 4102
- 30 / 26 / 20 / 26
- 10371
-
John Weyermuller
Imperial Knights – #REKT
- 4099
- 21 / 27 / 28 / 23
- 8284
-
Michael Timpe
Thousand Sons – Fisto Roboto
- 4097
- 23 / 26 / 24 / 24
- 8316
Here’s the digital camo pattern Knight army we had a request to see. It’s quite a cool looking army!
Remaining undefeated games:
Don “Mastadon” Hooson’s Death Guard take on Carlos Kaiser’s Thousand Sons on table 2.
- The Mastadon defeats Karlos with his Death Guard, advanging to top table for all the marbles vs. Geoff!
On our stream table and also top table, we have Geoff “iNcontroL” Robinson vs. Daniel Olivas’ Ynnari.
- After a big early game mistake, Daniel fought back for points but Geoff sealed victory with the Custodes and secured his spot on the top table to compete for all the marbles!
Shaun Sharp’s Dark Angels are squaring off against Ben Vaughn’s Knights on table 3.
- Knights seize and with a brutal alpha strike, take it in a short game.
More Knights on table 4 piloted by John “Saltyjohn” Weyermuller against Michael Timpe’s Thousand Sons.
- The Knights continue their reign of terror, and Saltyjohn wins over Timpe’s Thousand Sons.
Round 6 Pairings, here.
Here are your top 4 going in to the final round of the BAO!
-
Geoff Robinson
Adeptus Custodes – Team Zero Comp
- 5174
- 33 / 35 / 39 / 33 / 34
- 11428
-
Don Hooson
Death Guard – Scorched Earth Renegades
- 5151
- 31 / 31 / 31 / 32 / 26
- 10383
-
Ben Vaughan
Imperial Knights – Mercy Killers
- 5136
- 30 / 26 / 20 / 26 / 34
- 10371
-
John Weyermuller
Imperial Knights – #REKT
- 5132
- 21 / 27 / 28 / 23 / 33
- 8284
Round 6 Results
Table 2: Knights vs. Knights, John Weymuller defeats Ben Vaughn. Turns out the Guard CP Battalion is pretty good…
Table 1: iNcontroL’s Custodes fall to Don “Mastadon” Hooson’s Death Guard and Don goes on to win the BAO 2018!
Big winner, chicken dinner: Don Hooson!
Your best of faction winners!
Here’s Don’s winning list!
Event Top 10:
-
Don Hooson
Death Guard – Scorched Earth Renegades
- 6177
- 31 / 31 / 31 / 32 / 26 / 26
- 22921
-
John Weyermuller
Imperial Knights – #REKT
- 6161
- 21 / 27 / 28 / 23 / 33 / 29
- 24759
-
Jack Harpster
Catachan Jungle Fighters – Beast Coast
- 5201
- 39 / 40 / 26 / 25 / 34 / 37
- 21436
-
Geoff Robinson
Adeptus Custodes – Team Zero Comp
- 5196
- 33 / 35 / 39 / 33 / 34 / 22
- 26965
-
Mark Carrion
Imperial Knights – Los Borrachos
- 5195
- 40 / 38 / 28 / 22 / 28 / 39
- 20957
-
Carlos Kaiser
Thousand Sons – #REKT
- 5194
- 31 / 35 / 37 / 25 / 24 / 42
- 26986
-
Sean Morgan
Alaitoc – Invalid Command
- 5178
- 32 / 12 / 30 / 34 / 34 / 36
- 21862
-
Mitchell Pelham
Catachan Jungle Fighters –
- 5177
- 38 / 30 / 18 / 32 / 32 / 27
- 24493
-
Nikhil Sinha
Ynnari – Relentless D
- 5170
- 19 / 33 / 28 / 23 / 30 / 37
- 24890
-
Josh Rosenstein
Astra Militarum – Mercy Killers
- 5156
- 36 / 14 / 26 / 26 / 28 / 26
- 18816
So, we’ve got in the top 10:
- Death Guard x 1
- Imperial Knights x 2
- Astra Militarum x 3
- Custodes x 1
- Thousand Sons x 1
- Eldar/Ynnari x 2
Pretty interesting top 10 and a nice spread. It gets even more diverse when we look at the top 20:
- Death Guard x 1
- Imperial Knights x 3
- Astra Militarum x 3
- Custodes x 1
- Thousand Sons x 2
- Eldar/Ynnari x 3
- Dark Angels x 1
- T’au x 2
- Drukhari x 1
- Cult Mechanicus x 1
- Tyranids x 2
So obviously Knights are quite popular right now and also very effective. Astra Militarum remain a popular choice and their dex has proven to be tough enough to remain appealing to competitive players. The other interesting point is that these lists were all very different. One T’au player featured many Riptides, the other was Ionheads and Fire Warriors. Each Knight army was very different, one featuring 3 Gallants, the other Armiger heavy and the last an old school Knight army of 5 Big Boys. The Eldar lists were all very different, many featuring numerous flyers, some with none! The diversity was very cool.
More info to come!
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
So apparently you can heroic intervention and charge in your opponents phase even if there are no charges near your model?
It’s been like that since 8th. Heroic intervention is more of a pile in during opponents turn than a reaction to charges
Any confirmation on this? I’ve been thinking this is how Heroic Interventions work for a long time now, and there’s nothing in the book against it, but the majority of the people I play against don’t think it’s intended.
It would be great to know what is correct.
That is correct.
I´m very interrested in the Custodes list from Geoff, is it somewhere to see? 🙂
You can see it on BCP with a sub.
okay, sadly i´ve no credit-card… sad
Yes you can – as you always have “charge” phase etc. You just didn’t charge. Just like you always have a psychic phase – even if you don’t have any psychics etc.
Yeah, it is a bit odd if you aren’t used to it but that is how it works.
::triggered Head Judge::
😀
On the subject of Heroic Intervention being allowed even if your opponent didn’t charge, I can confirm from GW that it is allowed, because it happens after all charges in the charge phase. And zero charges are technically all charges. I asked them about this on Facebook when I first heard about it, because I had been playing it such that at least one charge had to happen, which is actually incorrect.
Yeah. It just caught Kevin off guard and was a bit shocking.
When did this happen? Who was playing? Did it decide the match?
If I had to play sherlock holmes I would say it happened to the same “kevin” who made the initial post above
According to BCP Kevin is running tau and using heroic intervention is a mechanic that lets you bypass the tau overwatch combos
Probably had a major impact in the match it happened
Yeah, it was a Knight Gallant in to a Riptide so it was very impactful.
Never thought to use a character knight that way to bypass overwatch. Nasty trick. I’ll have to remember it
Yeah very surprising because I hadn’t had it happen before, but big tourney’s are learning lessons. It’s very jarring seeing everything that can happen in imperial soup. 8 artifacts, 19 cp, Regen more cp than spent sometimes…
What House tradition did the Knight have?
John – Raven
Ben – Terryn
I used Raven on my Knights. I definitely see there could be a benefit to splitting my 4 Knights into a SHA of one House Raven Castellan, and a SHD with 2x Gallants and 1 Crusader as House Terryn. They are easily the two best Houses in the book.
Still a Hawkshroud man, myself but those choices are solid.
Just curious, how is a Ravenwing Sergeant able to take a combi-plasma weapon?
Index
Thanks Reece – forgot about the flowchart GW released! We dropped by to have a look at the setup and you guys were running an awesome show!
You got it and thanks!
Reece tell whoever is doing the event pictures today to track down the knight player who painted DIGITAL CAMO on his units. He deserves a detailed photo shoot of his entire army.
Someone in my FLG shared photos from their visit yesterday and those models looked amazing.
I will do, and that army is indeed awesome.
Final round! Death Guard vs. Custodes!
So if the pics are correct the top 4 team have iks? 2 of those are ik pures. Custodes one i saw an ik there on stream??
And death guard one had a ik too on your pic.
Maybe gw balance them soon since i dont mind some army being op. But playing against iks isnt fun and everyone is starting to play them
Three of the players had some element of Knights, one was pure Knights, one was a Majority Knight w/ Guard battalion list and the other was majority Death Guard w/ Renegade Knights. Vast majority of Geoff’s list was Custodes. I was surprised to see pure Knights even get in the top 8, but while this is the first major in a while, we have seen in smaller GTs that Knights have regularly made it to the top 8 and shown up in winning lists featuring at least one. People just haven’t adjusted their lists to Knights yet, and I expect by SoCal open for example, people will be more prepared.
I agree. I think in another few months people will have adapted to Knights.
I’m rather disappointed none of the tau players remained undefeated after round 3.
What about only 1 ork list (and a “for fun” list to boot)?
What about Necrons with no positive winrates?
Eh, I wouldn’t read too much in to it. So much of that in a small sample set like this comes down to who is playing the armies, their match-ups, etc. If that trend were displayed over a wider number of events then let’s take note but at one event, while fun to analyze the data, it’s not indicative of the meta as a whole.
Necrons need some serious help. The extra cost for RP brings the army down too much when most units are easily removed in a turn of shooting from anyone with half a brain to focus fire the units. There is a reason you do not see many playing them at events. They also suffer from being able to get enough CP to matter. Since the design choice was to make units have to use CP to function how the used to function normally.
Either that or all this endless CP battery stuff from imperial armies needs to be stopped.
Funny how they made CP this limited cool thing you have to chose when to use them, unless you add a 30 point character to your army and get endless CP and just spam everything you can all game. I have been vs Guard/Knight players that end with more CP than they started with and using them constantly. How is that good for the game?
All the necrons at BAO had pylons, they really need to dump those and run Doomsday Arks. My pylon will stay on the shelf of sadness as long as knights can get a 3++.
Lastly, I really wish I could have play tested necrons, I don’t know why Lychguards went to a 4++ shield and still cost the amount they do. I really do not think any dedicated Necron players play tested them. Just people that casually play them.
I love how the ‘Advice’ for Necrons here is spend 630 points of your list… spend 6! Command points (2 for charge after advance, 3 for fight twice, 1 for destroyer strat) and if you are playing against an opponent that this is their first game and that does not know about screens at ALL, then you have to have make the charge and have at the least average dice rolls you will maybe kill one if your opponent (again first game) does not know how to spend command points or how certain Houses work… yup sounds like a great time to just concede the loss and go grab some food :D.
Two of them got hit by Knights that went first and both players didn’t know exactly how Heroic Intervention work and really got blindsided by it.
T’au did well though, 2 of them in the top 20 which is great.
Not to be contrarian, but didn’t Israel win three of his games with a bye, a no-show, and an opponent becoming frustrated with him to the point of quitting? I’m not trying to tear the dude down or say he’s a bad player or anything, but winning three matches by default means that that his record is maybe not quite what it seems at first glance.
Israel and I had a great game round 4. Unfortunately, while he tooled his army to take on Knights as best as he thought, it just wasn’t enough. It was a well fought, fast-paced, game. I can’t speak to anything else you brought up but felt it important to make sure and highlight something that stands in contrast from my first-hand experience.
The best antitank options Tau have are fusion and yvharas, and unfortunately that’s all close range higher risk than a shooty army would like (and high costs).
With datasheet limitations, only Soo many hammerheads that can be taken, which are some of our most effective high range weapons for the points.
There was some oddness going on with the way things went down for him yes, but there’s a lot of backstory to that, too, as there always is.
However, yeah, good point. He didn’t actually win all his games, which is worth noting but the game his opponent withdrew from the game was I think more that he went in to the round frustrated more than anything Israel did. However, not worth speculating on it.
Lets just say most armies either run a knight or do a niche thing to win. In this current meta besides nids/ cultist spam there isnt too many horde armies that WIN. Wait for the orks codex to drop. Heck even the space wolves one will probably do a number againt knights. Rock paper scissors, cept this time Rock got to be a bigger rock at the moment. Wulfen with SS and hammertime is no joke. I’ve watched a knight player get wrecked already by it. So dont worry, you can still tune your list for a knight but you BEST be ready for the WAAAAAAAGH *ork chant ork chant.*
PS: everyone was scared about drukhari before and then knights dropped and they didnt perform as well? Even with the -1 to hits knights did work on drukhari/ eldari soup. DG was one of the first releases and were struggling after the FAQ but yet Don the man Hooson showed the way to a unique list that punched the meta in the face. So with this meta in mind I think I’ll keep a close watch on knights but watch out for those orks. They are going to win a few GT’s for sure after codex drop. WAAAAAAGH <3
I think Orks will have a big impact on the meta, too. However, time will tell =)
I don’t really think it’s fair to dismiss Tyranids, Chaos, and IG as “these don’t count as horde armies” because those are some of the premiere horde armies in the game.
I didn’t dismiss nids, and I guess I left out some other forms of chaos lists with plaguebearers etc. I do think it is fair to say most IG detachments that performed well were used to compliment a knight component or shield up and push out for a knight castellan /shadow sword.
How are the single castellans taking household traditions? The rule seems pretty clear that an auxiliary doesn’t qualify and you need a Superheavy Detachment with a capital D.
You don’t get the household benefits but you can still use stratagems.
Yeah, exactly. They just use the strats, no actual traits.
Tournament started late, as usual.
Rows were so close together that you could barely walk between them, much less have people playing back to back on separate tables. I’m pretty sure in some cultures I am now married to the guy who was playing behind me.
The ventilation was so bad, that it smelled like a locker room before lunch. There were no fans, much less any appreciable air conditioning.
Then they catered mexican for lunch, thankfully I didn’t stick around for the results of that within the not ventilated environment.
Shit show is a generous description, you guys do this for a living right?
Forgot, in addition to the above, there was nowhere to stage models at all, so basically I’d sit there holding a tray of models in my hand while trying to deploy them on the table, it was amazing.
You must be comparing this to all off the perfect 100+ player events you’ve ran. You see, in the real world, things are never perfect at any events.
My first game was in the far back (where tables were the most crowded) and I had no problems at all.
It was pretty standard tournament procedure compared to the dozens of events I have attended. Army trays on chairs, an overworked AC system that deserves a medal, the occasional brushing into a smelly neighbor. Nothing new there.
1. Started literally 2 minutes late.. literally.
2. Fixed Rows at lunch (after 1st round on 1st day)
3. People smelled at a warhammer tourney, news at 11
4. Can confirm, no personal fans. Only gigantic industrial ones and dozens of others + AC
5. Guy complains about catering, news at 11
Only legit complaint here is the room for an army. Yup, was minimal. That sucks and all but I’d rather have a bigger tourney than half the size but a place to put my army down comfortably. Perhaps calling out their professionalism and asking “They do this for a living?” (when they don’t.. they make mats, sell terrain and product and somewhere down the list on their income is run tourneys) isn’t a great jab?
Please, they’ve done this enough times to know what needs to be done. The table situation was absurd, how the fuck do you not know this after doing this for several years. Lastly, I’ll make all the jabs I want considering a paid for what was ultimately a shit product, that’s how this system works. Now if they want to make this a fucking charity event, my criticisms will be more charitable.
Also, would love to know when the realized fans would be a good idea, because it certainly wasn’t before lunch. Again, something that you would expect as a given from experienced tournament organizers.
You sound like an entitled trophy wife screaming at a starbucks barista for being thirty seconds late with the frappe mocha cappachino vente grande pumpkin spice latte. You have no concept of the real world or what is an isn’t reasonable to expect, and nothing is good enough for you even though you’d never be able to do as good as job as they did. If this is the usual way you react to things, I pity you because you can’t be living a happy life. It’s true, you can complain about whatever you want, just don’t expect anyone to buy your whining.
Second what Geoff is saying. My only complaint is the no room for staging my army but that is nothing new for a Warhammer tournament and, as Geoff said, I would rather the tournament be the size it was than significantly smaller. Perhaps I need to pass the “Salty” moniker off to someone else 😉
Hi ECJ, sorry you didn’t enjoy yourself. Our goal is to enable our attendees to have fun and if we didn’t get there with you then I am very sorry for that.
However, a few things.
1.) The event was not late, that is simply a false statement. As Geoff noted, it took a minute or two to update on your phones but logistically the event started on time, each round was on time and we finished on time. Awards were 15 minutes behind schedule but as you left that obviously didn’t impact you.
2.) Did you miss the giant 5′ industrial fan in front of the front doors….? Pretty hard to miss. And there were fans all around the room and the A/C was maxed. So again, this statement while I am sure reflects your perception, is totally inaccurate.
3.) Yes, sometimes gamers get funky. Nothing we can do about that, unfortunately.
4.) You are upset we brought catering in to the event…not going to apologize for that one.
5.) Some of the rows were too close together, I agree. We do not set up the event, the venue does. So, we were unaware of it until right before the event started. Next year we will give instruction on minimum distances between tables. At the event, we pulled the crowded row out after round 1 as others have noted so it was only really congested in the middle of the room for 1 game. However, that is a fair complaint and I am sorry we were unable to fix it sooner.
6.) Not having a staging area is tough but the vast majority of big events do not have staging areas. This is nothing new. Typically you put your models under the table or on your chair while setting up. If you were on a crowded row that first round this would have been tough to do and again, sorry for that but it was fixed. With an event like the BAO, we try to accommodate as many people as possible as there are over 100 on the wait list. We have reduced the number of people we let in to make it more spacious but it is a challenge to strike a balance between allowing the maximum number of people in but making sure everyone has as much fun as they can that is there.
7.) The event was 100% not a shit show. Logistically it ran extremely smoothly, and people had fun. While you obviously didn’t, which stinks and I wish you had, the vast majority did.
Hopefully your next 40k event is more to your liking.
I may have had bad information on the start time, I was told 9am, consequently I was there and checked in by 8:30am.
Perhaps the fan should have been on then, because it certainly wasn’t in the morning. At what point did the realization kick in? Sometime after lunch I’d guess?
Fine, you have no control over the venue, but you’ve run this tournament at that venue before, how are you not aware of the pitfalls or involved in the setup? Again, lack of planning or need to pack the hall? I tend to err on the side of cynical capitalism.
The lack of staging might have been ok, if there had actually been any room whatsoever to place stuff in the rows between the tables, as it was, I basically had to place models on the floor and hope for the best.
But you’re right, I bought the ticket, I was the one who failed to find the joy in the garbage, I will avoid this event in the future.
Well…bye.
Hey, not trying to be confrontational here at all. I genuinely am sorry you didn’t have fun as our business is enabling the attendees to enjoy themselves and if we fell short with you then we failed to deliver the goods. So please accept my apology on that. I only corrected you on some of the other points as I didn’t want people to think that some of the inaccurate assertions were the case as that is obviously unfair.
The hall was spaced fine last year so there was no need to stipulate it this year. They altered the floor plan this go around on their own initiative and now we know to make it clear next time.
The event registration opened at 8 and the first round started at 9am. All of that is and has been on the BAO information page for months, now: https://frontlinegaming.org/2018/02/12/bao-tickets-up-for-sale-at-noon-pst/
I say that not to have an “in your face” moment but just to show that we did indeed very clearly advertise the schedule which we were on time for the entire event. We did begin at 9am.
So I am glad you acknowledge that there were indeed fans there. They didn’t turn the big one on round 1 because they felt it wasn’t needed yet. Obviously you would disagree as you felt stuffy where you were and next time we will just turn it on in the morning to avoid that. It felt very cool to us in the morning and got hotter towards late afternoon but hey, if you felt hot then you did. It was on the majority of the day though, as were all of the fans.
Anyway, again, sorry you didn’t enjoy yourself and bummer that we won’t be seeing you there again. Your feedback is noted though, and we will strive to fix any legitimate errors for years to come to make it a more enjoyable event.
So you’re bitching based on second-hand info? The event ran on time, there were multiple fans (I thought you said there were no fans, though?), the fans were turned on as soon as it started to warm up and I found the temperature inside quite comfortable, catering was entirely optional and there were numerous places to get food within easy walking distance, so you’re either completely full of shit or you didn’t actually attend the event.
I’m sorry you had a shit experience, but what you are describing doesn’t jive with what I experienced at the tourney. This was my first tourney, and honestly first time playing out side of my own group of friends. So maybe there is a mythical tournament with hundreds of people thats goes along perfectly, but everything met my expectations or exceeded them.
I’m a self proclaimed big fat guy. I’m about 6ft4 and 250lbs. The only time I got too warm the first day, was when I walked to the walmart to get McDonalds. Other than that it was pretty pleasant inside the store.
The tables were a bit close, and I’m fairly certain I grabbed a handful of some gent’s posterior accidentally when i swung my hand back, but it was certainly workable.
My first game was a bit rough as I was greatly distracted by just how dreamy InControl is in person, he was at the table next to me. But once I got past the desire to run my hands through his shiny mane, I was okay.*
There were fans along the perimeter of the shop, as well as that giant ac unit up front (i thought it was an old school projection tv or something at first)
I got my ass handed to me over and over again, and I had a blast doing it. I got to meet five new people and all my games pretty much finished. It was fun having seeing and interacting with the signals guys in person. After the first day, I shook Franky’s hand and thanks him for putting on such a cool event.
2nd day actually had a ton of room for staging as some folks dropped. My opponent and I both had access one of the long tables on the wall and a full table behind us.
I had a burrito the 2nd day, it was pretty good. Not as good as a nice taqueria, but you can’t beat the convience. I may be biased though, as I love salsa verde. There were multiple other places to get food in 5 minute walk of the store as well, including a trader joes for healthier choices.
My only slight bummer was that I ended up not having a 6th game as I was odd man out on pairings. I most likely could have stayed and found someone else that their opponent had bolted, but after 5 games and a back that was starting to ache I packed up and headed out.
I lost every single game, and I loved it.
I had a great experience and started planning my list for next year when I got home.
And no, I’m not a meat puppet with Reece’s hands up my rear before you ask. Just someone that had a very different view on the event than you. **
*mostly joking
** sorry for the stream of conscious rambling, brain is still putty from so much 40k
haha thanks for appreciating the hair 😉 Glad you had fun! Hope you attend more tourneys! They have been an amazing life benefiting thing for me.
Not all of us can be as blessed as Geoff!
My name is spelled Weyermuller damn it! Not Weyermeuller! ::triggered::
Lol, sorry, John! Fixed it.
Thanks 😀
Can someone explain to me how a list with almost 500 points of Blightlord Terminators won the BAO????
Those termies did work! Geoff shut them down in the final game but Don was saying they were his best unit in the other 5 games.
I think it is awesome such an eclectic list won!
Were they deepstruck? Deepstriked? Did they deepstrike? I’m not sure to proper past tense of that, but I’m hoping you get my gist 🙂
Deepstriked, lol!
Yeah, he typically did deep strikedted [sic] them! =P
I asked him how he used them and he said they were his most powerful unit 5/6 games. Typically he brought them in behind or on a flank and then took the backfield with them. It is a sound strategy. Last time I played Don, he did the same thing with 3 Lord of Contagion and it took my entire army’s shooting to deal with them. Even then, if I had not had a Thunderfire Cannon he would have totally screwed up my backfield with them. The T-Fire cannon slowed the survivors down enough for me to get to shoot them again and kill them. Even so, basically two turns of attention to deal with the distraction force. Very, very sound tactic.
The proper conjugation of “deep strike” in this situation is “deep strook.”
They’re tough as nails, good all around, and were piloted by one of the best players in the world at the moment.
I would love to get an in-depth report on the Blightlord terminators! I, and many DG players with me, had written them off almost entirely. Really enjoyed the games I got to catch on stream so thanks for doing that 🙂 Time zones made it hard to catch all games live, so I’m glad I got to watch the finale on Twitch this morning.
Yeah, that was very cool to see! He used them as a distraction force to take the backfield and they’re so tough they just walked through most of his opponent’s rearguard with ease.
The event was a lot of fun for me, had great opponents, and great games. I think there are some balance issues in the game right now (IK probably a little undercosted for what they do, CP batteries galore and Strats in general probably need to be reeled in a bit on how often they are used and how they can stack in some cases).
The amount of space to play was probably the only complaint I have, not a big fan of bumping butts with the other tables all day long. Terrain was great, people were great. I liked the idea of catered food (and yum doughnuts!). The heat was certainly a thing and not having the fans on early did affect the fresh airflow (resolved later), but nothing that should have been a surprise given the amount of people attending. Venues in the Bay Area are not cheap, GK is a good place that has room, and resources to support this type of event (versus trucking in terrain, tables, refreshments, and support gear). Maybe take note of the setup towards the end and look at player count, we want as many players as possible but too much in an inadequate amount space does not make for an enjoyable experience, and although perhaps a bit to ‘passionate’ about his position, I think that was ECJs view on the matter.
Large tournaments are going to have hurdles, pitfalls and successes. As they grow new challenges will arise and eventually be overcome. We are fortunate to have individuals like Reece and Frankie that have an interest in making events such as this one, SoCal and LVO the coveted events they are.
I would like to thank my opponents for their patience in our games and the professionalism overall to all that I played. Hope to see you all across the table in the future!
Great feedback, buddy! Glad you had fun and I agree on all your points.
i might be wrong but… a list like that should work in a format like ITC with so many ways to score points, im unsure how a list like that can perform if mostly of scoring is based just on objectives, (like etc), few units to contest them, and no obj sec troops.
What list?
the winner list
As funny as it sounds, it has a fair bit of board presence, in most games. I grew to be a large fan of the plagueburst crawlers because they can bully units off objectives and don’t get pushed off them easily. The defensive fire of the plaguespitters makes charging them a chore as well.
Table your opponent.
Nice top 20 but unsurprisingly not a single Adeptus Astartes among them. For all of Reece’s insistence that there is no codex creep and that Adeptus Astartes haven’t fallen behind the curve it’s clear he’s wrong.
To be fair, there simply were not many chapter space marine players there.
Yeah, it was an underrepresented faction for sure.
There was one Space Marine player at the event, lol. He went 3-3 which is respectable.
But don’t take that as an indictment of the army. I still win almost every game I play with my Marines. However, that may not be true for you and if so, then that is your reality and I am not here to say you’re wrong.
For me though, I still win far more than I lose with them so to me they are still more than capable of winning. YMMV.
There may have been only one true AA player but there was AA in many lists, just like there was AM in many lists. So I wouldn’t say that they were necessarily underrepresented overall but were as a primary faction.
Fair assessment. When taken as an ally though, it tends to be just scouts and Smash Captains. However, those are very good, lol, so not necessarily a bad thing.
who won best painted, will we see pix?
Israel Sanchez with his Tau.
Yup. He won again, haha. And we did get pics, just waiting on them to get to me.