Terrain: house rules

For a while now, I've been thinking very seriously about how bad the terrain rules are for 40k and how they essentially destroy all possability of playing the kinds of games I would like to play as a terrain designer. In fact, they kind of impede the rather you're-right-there-ness that I think initially propelled 40k above the likes of Battletech or Carwars which were its contemporaries. These games used grids, whereas 40k said "any direction." And these games said, "this hex will be a hard bunker hex" whereas 40k said, "if YOU can see the model when you get down on the table then you can shoot that model." Okay, okay, yes I do remember the fights, but that's not my point. The fights happenned because, though the spirit of the rules were ingeneious, their application sucked. What GW has done since then has been to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Make rules that are better in that same spirit; that's my solution.

But of course, GW will never do this. Their goal now is to hook as many people as possible which means making the rules as simple as possible. Okay fine, but why not release a supplement that's a stronger answer to what terrrain is supposed to do.

To this end, I've decided to start the ball rolling with hills. First of all, I want to talk about the "footprint." The footprint aught to be that area that, when seen from above, obviously is the terrain. Thought of another way, if you were to wrap a rubber band around the terrain at the height which the terrain is supposed to represent (level one, level two, or level three), then that would be the footprint. So, take for instance a building, surround by rubble. The building is one terrain "zone" of say level three height, the rubble is another terrain zone of level one height. The entire area will not give you the building's save, nor will the entire area block line of sight.

A Note: Why Change Anything
I suppose the aswer, "because the current rules are ridiculous," or "because terrain becomes either useless or too useful," are not the answers I should give here. Okay, let's try this. Area terrain, stops too much fire and no one's really quite sure how it's supposed to work. For instance, let's say I put a wall down the center of my board. Does that block line of sight? What about people who are right behind the wall? What about city fights where there are various bits of terrain everywhere, should I always assume that I have a cover save, and that unless I'm ridiculously incompetent at tactics, I've blocked your line of sight. What I'd like to point out is that the current terrain rules for 40k only work if you use a few pieces of terrain, nothing too big, and you forget the rules half the time in order to make the whole thing work. People on one side of a wall, poised to shoot over it should get cover, but they shouldn't have line of sight blocked. A building of enormous size shouldn't just be level 3 if there are windows that one can shoot through on the ground floor.

But more than all that, 40k is a game of futuristic combat. Turn on any sci fi movie and you will see that futuristic means insane and often gargantuan landscapes. The death star is the size of a planet. The battle for the future in Terminator is covered with piles of debris the size of houses. Hell, even the pictures in the 40k guides are littered with gigantic bits of cover which could not be put on the battlefield lest they make play impossible. What I am essentially saying is, we need a set of rules for terrain that make those kinds of landscapes feasible. Keep the cheap and easy rules for people running games with one foam hill and three sets of trees. I want to fight in hive world and space hulks dammit; I need rules!

Being In Cover-
In cover and out of cover
Now, if we can conceive of the footprint, then we will define four modes of cover by it. The extremes are obvious. In cover means models wherein more than 50% of the squad are within the footprint. Out of cover means that there are more than 50% models to be chosen as targets in the same squad who have nothing between the shooter and the model to block line of sight or to provide cover.

Taking Cover
The other two conditions are a little more complicated, but only slightly. "Taking cover" refers to models that are not actually in the footprint but who are behind it and close to it. Models can be considered "taking cover" if:

1. More than 50% of the models are within 3" of the cover.
2. More than 50% of the enemies have a shot on a "covered" model (within 3" of cover) of the attacking players choice that must go through the cover that is "taken."

In other words, models take cover. The attacking player determines whether he can shoot any of the models within 3" of the cover without having to shoot through the cover. If he can't then the models are assumed to have taken cover.

Blocked fire

The last position, signifies shots wherein an attacker attemts to shoot troops with an intervening object within their field of fire. This type of fire occurs when the majority of the attacked squad (more than 50%) either cannot be seen or must be seen through a terrain feature by the majority of the attacking squad (more than 50%). For now, suspend the standard Warhammer 40k rule that any intervening area terrain immediately blocks line of sight.

Here's how this is done in practice: Take each member of the squad to be attacked in turn and ask the opposing player of that model, can this miniature be seen, seen but with intervening obstacles, or is line of sight blocked (more on blocking line of sight later). If the answer is yes, mark that model, and the model that can make the shot, and move on to the next attacked miniature. When you've gone through the squad, if more than half the squad cannot be seen, all members of the squad receive full cover save from the area terrain, and limited casualities (can only lose troops up to the number that are able to be seen to be chosen by the defending player). If more than half can be seen but are behind the terrain, the defending player receives a full cover save. Otherwise, the squad can be shot and wounded as normal.

Blocking Line of Sight

According to the 40k rules as they now stand, area cover of the attacking miniatures height will block LOS for anything behind it. Thus, a level 2 miniature cannot shoot through a level two terrain obstacle. He may shoot into it, up to 6" or something like that. What I suggest is this: given any piece of terrain one should be able to look at it and decide what can bee seen through it from eye level to the table. This can and should be used as the deciding factor of what kind of line of sight is blocked. So, for instance, if a terrain feature is put down on the table, and one can see the miniature beyond it, but not its base, then the feature blocks line of sight for level 1 miniatures. If one cannot see the miniature at all, then the feature blocks line of sight for level two miniatures, and if one cannot see something like a Predator beyond it, then the terrain blocks level three. This decision should be made by looking at the lowest point in the feature's footprint.

Two things are important here:

1. Some single feature may have multiple footprints. From the earlier example, the building surrounded by debris may block los up to level three though the debris only blocks los up to level one. A hill may have a level one footprint, a level two footprint, and a level three footprint.
2. Blocking LOS is not the same as providing a cover save. If that same building had windows at its ground floor, it might block LOS for level one only, but provide cover up to level three

There is conveniently, one exception to this rule. Before the game, while the players are discussing the scenery, they may designate a feature type which always blocks level three throughout its footprint regardless of what the feature's model actually looks like. Generally, this is a forest, but it might be something else depending on the nature of the board.

Hiding in cover

Squads that are actually within the footprint and with more than 50% of its members within 6" of the footprint's edge should be considered "hidden." As long as the cover is the same height as the hiding miniatures the squad cannot be targetted (even by miniatures with a height advantage). Likewise, the squad cannot target any squad outside of, or within the cover that has more than 6" between the majority of the squad and the footprint's edge. Simply take enough of the closest miniatures to make up a majority and measure from the furthest squad member to the edge of the footprint to determine whether attack is possible.

Providing cover

While blocking LOS is conservative (if I can see the miniature then LOS is not blocked), cover is more conservative. Generally, if the miniature is in the footprint, then it receives cover, if the miniature has taken cover, then it receives cover, and if the miniature falls into the situation described under "blocked fire" it receives cover. It should not be hard to get cover, it is much harder to block LOS.

I think that this effectively covers that basics. What I would hope for, and what I may write on this blog are some more expanded sets of rules for how to use terrain, especially the more common pieces, and yes, Avram, I think there is obviously room to make rules for gun emplacements.