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Bay Area Open Underway

3 Minute Read
Jul 30 2017
Warhammer 40K Hot story icon

The Bay Area Open has begun. Take a look at the rules and restrictions, as well as a quick roundup of army lists from day 1.

The Bay Area Open is a pretty big deal on the tournament avenge. Each year they have some of the best players take to the tables–and this is a particularly interesting year. For one, there’s been two rounds of FAQs since the release of 8th Edition, on top of which, this tournament is bringing on a few of its own changes. Most notably, there are no models over 31 Power Level allowed, and the first floor of ruins blocks LoS.

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That bottom layer, despite all the windows and arches is basically a solid wall. The sort of wall that might separate two young lovers, but we’ll leave aside  Pyramus and Thisby and remain focused on the underlying issue.

We’re seeing a lot of quick fixes for 8th Edition all happening in rapid succession. For instance, we know that in this edition you need more LoS denying terrain than in the past. And this ruins idea seems to provide exactly that. We can see the balancing of the game in action as people try to figure out what does and doesn’t work at a tournament.

Speaking of Balance, for instance– if you’re thinking that the Space Marine Codex is gonna give folks a leg up, you’re right–which is why they’ve limited it to the Indexes only for unit rules.

All of this made for an interesting first day. Take a look!

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via Frontline Gaming

Here’s a quick breakdown of the rules:

  • 8th edition Warhammer 40k Tournament

  • ITC Formated Event

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  • No models with a Power Level of 31 or greater will be allowed for this event.

  • Armies may only be constructed using current 8th ed Indexes for this event.

  • All models must be painted to a tabletop standard, with at least 3 colors per model and fully based.

  • Ruins: For this event, the bottom level walls of all ruins are considered to block LoS even if they do not actually do so. This means existing openings in them such as those created by windows, doors, bullet holes, etc. block LoS. This rule does not mean the players create walls where none existed. If in doubt as to where to define these barriers, clarify with your opponent before the game begins.

  • Missions:

    • Day 1: ITC Combined Arms Missions

      • We will be playing scenarios: 1, 3 and 4.
    • Day 2: NOVA format missions

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That’s the ruleset everyone’s been contending with. The nerfs to flyers have definitely had an impact, which has resulted in some rather intriguing theme lists showing up. I know I for one an glad to see a few more Xenos typing those charts. So let me put on my radio announcer voice and introduce your top 40 (well okay, 15) lists.

Top 15 undefeated factions and players: I decided to list the style of list instead of just the faction. There are a lot more intricacies to a lot of these lists, but most people condense a well-tuned list into one easy to understand concept anyways. So I did it for you guys.

  1. Dustin Lane (9 Commander Suit Tau)

  2. Doug Johnson (Imperium Soup)

  3. Brandon Grant (Astra Militarum Hoard Guard)

  4. Tony Myers (Space Marine Flyers and Guilliman)

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  5. Aaron Hayden (Renegane Knights + Magnus + Brimstones)

  6. Adam Gati (Craftworld Ynnari)

  7. Anthony Villa (5 Commanders + Yvarha)

  8. Domagoj Mitrovic (Chaos Daemons, List not posted)

  9. Paul Mckelvey ( The PM Special, + 4 Commanders)

  10. John McCool (Like, a Billion Stormboyz and a Giant Squiggoth)

  11. Kyle Watson (Dark Angel Dreadnoughts and 2 Fire Raptors)

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  12. Matt Barlow (Hoard Guard with not just Conscripts)

  13. Phi Tracy (Guilliman + Whirlwinds and Stalkers)

  14. Mitch Pelham (Stormlord + Drop Troopers)

  15. Brian Hart (Militarum Tempestus + a Guard Firebase)

And of course, stay tuned for more news as it develops.

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Author: J.R. Zambrano
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