This weekend we see one of the largest Warhammer 40k events to be held in North America, the Bay Area Open now one of the largest events in North America begins. This BAO is expected to have over 200 players this year. It is also moving to its new location at the equally new Game Kastle In Mountain View, California, one of the biggest game stores on the West Coast. Having played at this location for regular games I have to say it can easily fit an event the size of BAO.

For my part I will not be playing in the event, as with these giant events it is less stress to just cover them, and its an easy drive being Bay Area native. I have to though say this year’s BAO is a bit of mystery, I have no idea what to expect. With the ATC the following week many of the great players from back east won’t be attending, so the BAO should be a very much a regional affair. Still, with so many players the competition will be steep.

General Information

The BAO is using full ITC rules. That means the GW draft FAQ won’t be in use, but any Errata will be. So, all you Blood Angel players your Dreads and Scouts are SO amazing! Also, no new flyer rules will be in effect, so we won’t really get an idea on how really the meta has changed over the last few months. We should see the same armies on the top, namely Eldar & Space Marines. I though have a feeling Daemons are going to dominate, not everyone knows just how powerful they have become since the last update. If I had a “dark horse” army choice, I would say Ad-Mech and Space Wolves could surprise a few people.

Besides me reporting Frontline will be doing the same, here is a link to coverage and event details.

Bay Area Open Live Coverage

As for Blood of Kittens, I intend do what I always do, take pictures, talk to players, and report the results. I might try out some Facebook live stuff and generally keep everyone updated over the weekend. So, that means you have to come back to this page for updates! I will start around Noon PST so keep on checking back! Then on Monday hopefully I will post the top lists from the event.

Check back Saturday Afternoon for Full Coverage!

Follow the games live at best coast pairings!

https://www.bestcoastpairings.com/event/bao2016

Day 1 is over and I am back home about to crash out. Things are turning mostly as people would expect. We have 25 undefeated players with lots of ties.

Here is an army spread of the Top 25 so far.

Eldar 6
Space Marines 5
Dark Angels 3
Chaos Daemons 3
Tau 3
Orks 1
Nids 1
Ad-Mech 1
Imperial Guard 1
Necrons 1

Four of the top 10 are Eldar, and sadly the IG player I believe is half Eldar as well. I was surpised to see Space Wolves not cracking the Top 25 yet and Daemons not doing as well as I expected. As for the general field there was A LOT of Riptides with the Riptide Wing easily shoehorned into a tons of lists. Strangely there is a lot of Nid players and not strangely most Space Marine players are using Battle Company.

I will try to go into more detail about the lists tomorrow as we the herd is further culled, check back for more details tomorrow!

DAY 2

Ok final rounds and we have 3 I no draw players along with 3 players with one draw and all wins.

Top table is matt root war convocation vs andrew ford pure eldar.

table two is brandon grant wjth battle company dark angels vs. matthew east coast eldar table 3 is michael snider space marines vs peter Kelly eldar

In a crazy turn of events the top table tied allowing brandon to sneak in as the only purely undeafeated player and thus champion of lvo

Here is a copy pf his list

Brandon Grant’s Dark Angels
Lion’s Blade Strike Force

Company Master: (Warlord) Fist, Artificer Armor

Chaplain: Bike, Auspex

Tactical Squad: Rhino, Grav-Cannon,

Tactical Squad: Rhino, Multi-Melta