SoCal Open 2020 Registration Now Open!

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**Reecius**

Grab Tickets, Here! https://store.frontlinegaming.org/socal-open-2020/

Grab those tickets while they’re hot to one of the fastest growing events in the tournament circuit!

The SoCal Open has in a very short period of time become one of the most popular tournaments in the ITC circuit! It is located in beautiful Del Mar California at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, right next to the beach. The event is known for it’s spacious layout, laid back vibe and camaraderie. Come on out and enjoy the southern California vibes with fellow gamers!

Who: The trusted Frontline Gaming event organizing crew.
What: A tabletop gaming convention.
When: October 24-25th, 2020.
Where: Del Mar, California.
Why: Because gaming by the beach is radical, bruh!

Make sure to join the SoCal Open Facebook Group to keep up with all the chatter about the event, get questions answered and talk to fellow attendees. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1867215326878941/

Grab Tickets, Here! https://store.frontlinegaming.org/socal-open-2020/

**Reecius**

Tickets are moving quickly, particularly for 40k events! Make sure to grab them soon or risk missing out.

**amiejackson**

Love the graphic on the wave

**stratigo**

Eeeeh, looking at CA's CV daily cases, this one might be a bit optimistic. I mean, I'm rooting for you (and like, the state to get it under control), but October might be a bit early.

**NinthMusketeer**

Hm, I am hopeful for this one because the space very much allows for social distancing between tables.

**stratigo**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Hm, I am hopeful for this one because the space very much allows for social distancing between tables.

And it has taken three month for most countries to get a handle on Covid.

But this is America.

**NinthMusketeer**

Well the safety of a country or state overall does not equate to the same level of safety for every event that takes place there.

**Audustum**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Well the safety of a country or state overall does not equate to the same level of safety for every event that takes place there.

I mean, it's a closed in gathering with many people all crowded together trying to talk. While your point is correct, a 40k tournament is actually probably worse than other options.

Now if they decided to hold it outdoors, that could help a lot.

**NinthMusketeer**

It depends on how it is managed. Done properly the venue could easily allow someone to attend the entire tournament never coming within 6ft of another person. I mean I still would not travel from outside the region to get to it, but seeing that I live in San Diego anyway...

**Audustum**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
It depends on how it is managed. Done properly the venue could easily allow someone to attend the entire tournament never coming within 6ft of another person. I mean I still would not travel from outside the region to get to it, but seeing that I live in San Diego anyway...

Sadly, research is showing it's more like 27 feet instead of 6 feet.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/30/coronavirus-social-distancing-mit-researcher-lydia-bourouiba-27-feet/5091526002/

Being outdoors and wearing masks would improve a lot though as it would reduce viral load:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_load

Which is one of the most important factors. You need to keep viral load down.

**NinthMusketeer**

Did you read that article?

If you think about it, if this really traveled very efficiently by air, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Everybody would know it’s true because everybody would be infected. If it was a 27-foot radius that was a high risk to somebody, this would be a totally different conversation. It’s not.

**Audustum**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Did you read that article?

If you think about it, if this really traveled very efficiently by air, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Everybody would know it’s true because everybody would be infected. If it was a 27-foot radius that was a high risk to somebody, this would be a totally different conversation. It’s not.

You quoted the scientist who disagrees with the study (and was NOT part of the study). The scientist who conducted the study says the guidelines need to be revisited (in article).

**Brothererekose**

@Audustm,
Have you been to SoCal Open? Do you see the picture the Tau player flashing thumbs up (of course you see that picture)?

Okay, so that's the old venue. The one for this year is twice that sized (so Reece says in many videos).

Now, we're still gonna be within 6 or so feet of the opponent of the moment, but the space you see is gonna be a lot more distance between tables.

I'm not reckless in regard to Covid19 (at least, imho). I'm a teacher that voted to have the students stay home (my kids too) for this next school year and do distance learning until the states get the curve down to flat and near zero.

The barn as SoCal Open is practically outdoors (complete with ocean breeze) and with the space doubling, but the attendance the same ... well, masking up and such. It's not a classroom nor game store.

**NinthMusketeer**

Audustum wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
Did you read that article?

If you think about it, if this really traveled very efficiently by air, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Everybody would know it’s true because everybody would be infected. If it was a 27-foot radius that was a high risk to somebody, this would be a totally different conversation. It’s not.

You quoted the scientist who disagrees with the study (and was NOT part of the study). The scientist who conducted the study says the guidelines need to be revisited (in article).

That is the point; you are cherry-picking an opinion in the extreme minority and disregarding the opposition. I would bet money you went and found that article after this discussion started to justify a position you had already expressed.

And regardless, it may be that the event ends up cancelled and tickets refunded. That is a very real possibility. But basing policy off one study is ridiculous.

**Audustum**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
Audustum wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
Did you read that article?

If you think about it, if this really traveled very efficiently by air, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Everybody would know it’s true because everybody would be infected. If it was a 27-foot radius that was a high risk to somebody, this would be a totally different conversation. It’s not.

You quoted the scientist who disagrees with the study (and was NOT part of the study). The scientist who conducted the study says the guidelines need to be revisited (in article).
That is the point; you are cherry-picking an opinion in the extreme minority and disregarding the opposition. I would bet money you went and found that article after this discussion started to justify a position you had already expressed.

And regardless, it may be that the event ends up cancelled and tickets refunded. That is a very real possibility. But basing policy off one study is ridiculous.

Cherry-picking a minority position? It's the other way around. 239 scientists recently asked the WHO, in an open letter, to amend its guidelines to reflect the risk that coronavirus can be spread through microscopic particles that linger in the air.

There is "a real risk" that the coronavirus can be airborne, meaning it can spread through microscopic particles that linger in the air, an open letter supported by 239 scientists says. The scientists are urging the World Health Organization and other public health organizations to amend their guidelines to reflect this risk.

"Hand washing and social distancing are appropriate, but in our view, insufficient to provide protection from virus-carrying respiratory microdroplets released into the air by infected people," states the letter, entitled "It is Time to Address Airborne Transmission of COVID-19."

...

The smaller particles could spread by infected individuals simply breathing, laughing or talking, said Elfenbein, who said he agrees with the scientists behind the letter.

In some cases, those tiny particles called aerosols can travel up to 30 feet, and there's concern they may play a significant role in the spread of COVID-19.

...

Elfenbein elaborated on why outdoor dining appears to be a safer option.

"The idea being that if you want to go out for dinner, for example, you really should sit outside because the UV light and the fact that there's wind and things like that tend to make it much less likely that you're going to catch this virus versus being in an enclosed space with a lot of people, even if you're 6 feet apart," he said.

And no, I've been following COVID-19 since before it was known to have reached Europe (though new studies are saying it may have gotten there earlier than we thought).

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Brothererekose wrote:
@Audustm,
Have you been to SoCal Open? Do you see the picture the Tau player flashing thumbs up (of course you see that picture)?

Okay, so that's the old venue. The one for this year is twice that sized (so Reece says in many videos).

Now, we're still gonna be within 6 or so feet of the opponent of the moment, but the space you see is gonna be a lot more distance between tables.

I'm not reckless in regard to Covid19 (at least, imho). I'm a teacher that voted to have the students stay home (my kids too) for this next school year and do distance learning until the states get the curve down to flat and near zero.

The barn as SoCal Open is practically outdoors (complete with ocean breeze) and with the space doubling, but the attendance the same ... well, masking up and such. It's not a classroom nor game store.

Encouraging! I said from the beginning moving it outdoors could be a major changing factor.

**NinthMusketeer**

Audustum wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
Audustum wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
Did you read that article?

If you think about it, if this really traveled very efficiently by air, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Everybody would know it’s true because everybody would be infected. If it was a 27-foot radius that was a high risk to somebody, this would be a totally different conversation. It’s not.

You quoted the scientist who disagrees with the study (and was NOT part of the study). The scientist who conducted the study says the guidelines need to be revisited (in article).
That is the point; you are cherry-picking an opinion in the extreme minority and disregarding the opposition. I would bet money you went and found that article after this discussion started to justify a position you had already expressed.

And regardless, it may be that the event ends up cancelled and tickets refunded. That is a very real possibility. But basing policy off one study is ridiculous.

Cherry-picking a minority position? It's the other way around. 239 scientists recently asked the WHO, in an open letter, to amend its guidelines to reflect the risk that coronavirus can be spread through microscopic particles that linger in the air.

Well if SoCal Open puts as much space between people as those goalposts I'm sure everyone will be safe.

**tneva82**

Seeing remote controlled miniatures aren't thing that's pretty much impossibility without one game taking entire day. Your opponent kind of needs to be near the table throwing dice etc rather than 27 feet away ;-)

Good luck. Hopefully attendants are generally responsible folk and take precautions not to catch it before tournament as well.

**Reecius**

We will follow all precautions up to and including cancelling the event if that is what we are advised to do.

As others have noted, it is an extremely spacious venue, even bigger than last year and last year every table was at least 10' from another table in all directions. The new venue is essentially outdoor for all intents and purposes, it has giant rolling doors and is so big tables will be like, comically far apart.

However, there is still quite a bit of time, and the situation changes daily so we will just wait to see what the experts advise.

**Moorecox**

This seems irresponsible - threre are always people who will throw caution to the wind and go with no regard to safety.

**NinthMusketeer**

All in the execution; those people can be thrown out.

**Dragonbeef4Life**

Besides the COVID items being what it is for this event, I have a question on the registration setup for the 40k portion of this:

According to the SoCal 2020 registration website, the plan still appears to indicate using ITC 8th edition formatted event. Has that changed with the release of GT2020 and 9th? I see nothing on their FB page discussing this either, just AOS stuff recently unless I'm missing something. This seems to drastically change how 9th was setup for in terms of both the older mission style, game length, deploy, and what has to be declared pregame. Wondering what is happening here with it?

**NinthMusketeer**

They probably cut & paste the website from last year and forgot to change the 8's to 9's. Maybe because 7 ate all of the 9s?

**Dragonbeef4Life**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
They probably cut & paste the website from last year and forgot to change the 8's to 9's. Maybe because 7 ate all of the 9s?

While possible, would be good. Would like @Reecius to possibly outline what that is here as it really is a factor on at least my own interesting in entering.

**stratigo**

I think the Vanguard Tactics GT in the UK can provide a good template for running a tournament under the threat of COVID. So here's hoping things go as well here