This weekend we see one of the largest North American Warhammer 40k events: the SoCal Open. We are assuming this will be a large event with organizers being Frontline Gaming, especially if rumors of over 200 players become true.The event is being held at the Del Mar Fairground in San Diego California right on the Pacific Ocean.

I am making the trek down to the SoCal Open in order to cover the 40,000 championships. It will be interesting to see how things have evolved since just last month and the Nova Open. The Imperial Guard codex will be in full effect, and I have a feeling they will continue to dominate, since no one has done a damn thing to fix the real problem… Forge World. I am just going to throw it out here, but my guess is we get Malefic Lord Spam vs. Imperial Guard soup in the final match. With an outside chance of Roboute Guilliman Artillery/Razorback spam sneaking in.

One slight possibility though is the new ITC mission pack will nerf some of the lamer lists we been seeing of late. Now, the this only might happen because of the built in slowplay penalty mechanics inside the missions. It though also could create some butt hurt players, but if the cost is forcing change away from slow play I am all for it.

Regardless of the possible preordained outcomes, coverage can be found on with Facebook Live, and updates to this post. Keep an eye out, for Frontline Gaming coverage which will include Twitch casting the entire weekend as well! Coverage will also start a little later than normal because of my late arrival time.

Coverage Starts 10-21-17 11:30am PST

2:45pm Oct. 21st

• This may come as a shock, but I got stuck in LA traffic leaving the Airport and finally got to the SoCal Open just now.
• Looks like the event has around 140 players which is fantastic for a first year event, but with Frontline’s pedigree I really expected more. Either way tons of games to be had.
• The new ITC missions are certainly having an effect! People who don’t finish their games are getting penalized pretty bad. It will be interesting to see on Day 2 what type lists are benefiting from the changes.
• Mortarion is certainly outnumbering Magnus at the event, and it is even possible there are more of him than even Roboute.
• Still seeing a lot of IG, but the biggest winner is still the Malefic Lord for most spammy unit.

6:15pm Oct 21st Round 3

• So looks like a lot of the players really don’t know how the missions work, with lots of scores that seem very improbable. Good thing no one is complaining they got cheated as regardless you know if you were winning or not. Only problem is it will mess up scoring and pairings for the undefeated players.
• Quite a few top players were knocked out so far with Paul Mckelvey and reigning LVO champion Brett Perkins being a few of the fallen. This sets up things very nicely for Brandon Grant to take the whole thing, with the only competition I know of being Adam Gati. Overall the strength of the field isn’t as strong as the BAO and of course no where near that of the Nova Open.
• Taking just a brief scan the remaining undefeated players are about half Chaos soup lists. Interesting considering all the complaints about Imperial soups being the most powerful.
• It is crazy to see the consolidation of armies so quickly in 8th edition, it really is every new codex gets it new day. Lots of Ad-Mech and Death Guard. It feels like we really don’t have complete game until all the codexes come out by the sometime next year.

11:15 Oct 22nd Round 4

• GW changes the meta again putting a possible dent on any potential Imperial Guard winner.
• We have 16 non-tie undefeated players and here is the breakdown by army: 2 Ynnari, 2 Tau, 3 Imperial Guard, 2 “Chaos”, 4 Chaos Space Marines, 1 Ad-Mech, 1 Grey Knight, 1 Orks
• Notice no Space Marines or Death Guard making it undefeated into round 2
• Looking at the top 16 I predict Adam Gati, Brandon Grant, Nikhil Sinha, Dustin Lane being the possible top 4. Though it looks like Adam and Brandon would be on a collision course in round 5.
• Below is a Facebook live chat I made going into round 4

2:45 Oct 22nd Round 5

• • Brandon Grant vs Adam Gati playing on an instant auto win table for guard with massive LOS blocking terrain and avenues to funnel opposing armies through killing fields. In other words Brandon is so far moping Adam Gati low model count Ynnari list.
  • Brandon Grant especially if you look at the potential lists he will have to face in round 6, they are all pretty elite lists which he eats for lunch.
  • On the other top table you can watch Laurence Elliot’s super balanced Ynnari list vs. Ryan Mead’s double yawn Daemon Primarch list on Frontline’s Twitch channel.
  • Some more Facebook Live fun!

4:45pm Oct 22nd Round 6

• Final Round with Brandon Grant(Conscript Spam)  vs. Ryan Mead (Knight, Magnus, Mortarion)! This will be really tough for Ryan Mead as he already has played the same list against Brandon a few weeks ago at an RTT and got tabled. Either way here are there lists!

SoCal Open marred by an Illegal List on the Top Table See Facebook Page for Details

Pictures from the SoCal Open