Hey everyone! Adam, FLG Head Judge and TFG Radio host, here to take a look at the results of the recent survey for this year’s Bay Area Open.
Another year, another Bay Area Open. Congrats to Jr and his Votaan for winning Best General for 40K.
A survey was sent out shortly after the event and here we will discuss some of the results of the survey. So let’s get started. Just a quick reminder that the survey includes both 40K and The Old World players.
It’s All About the people
About 60% of the respondents said this was their first time at a Frontline Gaming event and Bay Area Open in particular. Many having heard of the event from friends and wanting to try it out. I believe the inclusion of The Old World contributed to this number as it has been many years since fantasy was a part of Bay Are Open. For many of the participants, although the event itself was a lot of fun for them, it seem that the chance to hang out with friends, meet new ones, and reconnecting with some old faces really help them to enjoy the tournament. This also incentivized the players to maybe attend another Frontline Gaming event in the future, we do around 8 a year, but for some it was still too far out to determine if they would be coming back to the Bay Area Open next year.
Location, Location, Location
This year the event was held at the Crown Plaza hotel and was part of a number of hotels that constituted the Kublacon convention. There were shuttles running between the hotels if you wanted to check out the rest of the convention. The space we were using was a bit “cozy” for 154 players but we were able to make it work. The Old World was in an adjacent room for their players. Unfortunately this was all the space we had for both events and thus were limited in what we could offer. The results from the survey showed that the venue was the weakest aspect of the event for several reasons. Hopefully we can improve upon that next year.
Fixed Terrain
Bay Area Open was the first tournament where we had the new fixed terrain format. This included the Karst Outpost (GW layout), Imperial Sanctuary, and Urban Corruption terrain sets. We asked that the players setup the terrain, if needed, for the next round once their game was over so that players can get started when getting back from break or lunch. This seemed to go well as players that have played in previous FLG events are used to placing the terrain on the board due to the use of Player Placed Terrain. There was a wide variety of comments about the layouts themselves but about 75% or respondents were very favorable of the layouts themselves. There didn’t seem to be any big issues with the setup so for now the layouts will remain the same for Atlantic City Open.
Final Thoughts
Overall it looks like a majority of the attendees did have a good time and plan to attend another event. I aways enjoy judging these events and this was no different. Don’t forget to check out our other events coming up and I’ll see you on the tabletop.