BAO 2013: Overview and Army List

This weekend is the Bay Are Open ("BAO") 2013 Warhammer 40k and Fantasy Grand Tournament. I will be participating in the 2500 pt Fantasy Championships where I hope to defend my second place finish from last year (or maybe even win the event, who knows?).


Tournament Rules:
The tournament rules are pretty straightforward. The tournament is a 5 Round tournament over two days. The tournament plays book scenarios in this order: (1) Meeting Engagement; (2) Battleline; (3) modified Blood and Glory (500 victory points for breaking an opponent's fortitude); (4) Dawn Attack; and (5) Battleline.

The tournament is 2500 points with the following banned units/items: named characters, Book of Hoeth, and Folding Fortress. A pretty standard Fantasy banned list although I am generally in favor of allowing 8th edition special characters as their rules are designed for the new rules.

Scoring in the tournament heavily favors battle points. There are a possible 900 points for the tournament broken down as follows:

• Up to 750 points from battle points. Each round a player can score anywhere from 75-150 points (75 points for a loss, 100 points for a draw, 125 points for a win, and 150 points for a major victory of 500 points or more). This style of system provides for a wide range of scores between players over the course of a five round tournament, but also gives everyone participating at least 375 points going into the tournament (assuming you lose all 5 rounds).
• Up to 75 points for paint. The score system is a checklist system and there is no reason a person should not get all 75 points as the check system is objective, not subjective. The points are awarded as follows: 0 points is the army is unpainted, 20 points if the army is less than 25% unpainted, 30 points for being base coated, 50 points for being painted and based (standard gaming table requirements), 60 points for 4+ colors used on the model/army and at least 2 types of basing materials (paint counts as one), and 65 points for use of advanced techniques (blending, advanced basing, freehand, highlighting, etc.). You get the highest of the paint scores for your army. There is also an additional 10 points for having a display board.
• Up to 75 points for army composition. Everyone starts with these points and you can lose 15 points for each identified restriction: 2+ level 4 wizards, duplicate rares (regardless of what type of rare), 3+ warmachines, units over 50 models in count (does not include units with 50 wounds so the 'Gutstar is still viable), and failure to turn list in on time. 

Based on this scoring system, I expect to get at least 525 points out of the possible 900 (assuming I lose every game). I designed my army so that there are no comp hits (+75 points for me) and should get all 75 paint points as I am bringing a display board and the army meets the above requirements.

Army List:

Speaking of my fully comped army list, this is what I am taking to the BAO this year. This is a modified list that I haven't had much time to practice with, but the changes to their scoring system allowing for 500+ point major wins necessitated a change from my standard all fast cavalry list. This list is a combination points denial/combat freak list that utilizes multiple charges on a single unit to wipe that unit in a single round of combat. Here is the list I am playing:

Spellweaver (328 pts)

• General, Level 4, Lore of Life, Elven Steed, Wand of Wych Elm, Ironcurse Icon

Spellweaver (288 pts)

• Level 3, Lore of Beasts, Elven Steed, Dispel Scroll, Obsidian Amulet

Noble (139 pts)

• Battle Standard Bearer, Elven Steed, Light Armor, A Resplendence of Luminescents, Banner of Eternal Flame

Glade Riders (267 pts) (10 models, musician and standard bearer)

Glade Riders (267 pts) (10 models, musician and standard bearer)

Dryads (96 pts) (8 models)

Tree Kin (260 pts) (4 models)

Tree Kin (260 pts) (4 models)

Wild Riders (260 pts) (10 models, musician)

Great Eagle (50 pts)

Treeman (285 pts)

This is going to be interesting to play with and I will have to focus on my targets and not rush into combat too early. I also have to be careful about my spell choice and really think about what spells I need and when as I am limited in dice and have no way to get more. Luckily, the spells I will be casting are on low casting values so with an average roll of 7 power dice, I should be able to cast three spells a turn.

Wish me luck! And tune back in next week to see how I did and for more battle reports.