Terrain rules redux

Man, I just read my previous post and it was both long winded and complicated...the one on cover saves. So, let's try that again. I'm taking the level 1,2, and 3 from the regular 40k book. So, level one miniatures are like wripper swarms, level 2 is your regular miniature, and level 3 is a big miniature (a dreadnaught or a tank). Fine.

And I am also taking from the rules that if a level two terrain, say, sits between two level two miniatures, it blocks line of sight. Good so far?

On my boards, level one terrain is up to 1 1/2" tall, level two is between 1 1/2" and 3" and level 3 is above 3". Fair?

Alright, here's my problem. Officially if troops (level 2) are standing behind a level 2 hedge, they cannot be shot at nor shoot over. If the hedge were considered area terrain, they could move into it and then fire (so long as they were within 6" of the edge) but just on the other side, they would be blocked completely. The problem is that a hedge can be conceivably entered. The model of the hedge might even accomodate this, but what about a wall. Can a 1 1/2" wall not be taken as cover and be fired over? See the difficulty?

Also, the other problem is that quite often we play with ruined slabs of something or other or overhead things. Terrain that you can see through in spots but not everywhere. Should that block line of sight?

If your answer is yes to those questions then you're probably okay with the regular rules. But I don't know, I want the interaction between the minis and the terrain to be a bit more complex.

I think that the answer may very well be to divide terrain up so that it does two things (at least), it can block LOS and it can provide cover, but it does not necessarilly do both. What I'm saying is that you might define a plate of ruined buildings that are little more than skeletons as level 3 cover but unable to block LOS at all, or maybe they block line of sight at level one.

I think the way you figure this out is that you put a mini behind the scenery. If you can't see his knees when he's behind the scenery than the scene blocks LOS at level one. If you can't see the head, then it blocks LOS level 2, and if you can't see a space merine dreadnaught behind it then it blocks LOS level 3. If you can see these things, but there's still a whole bunch of stuff here and there, or you can't see these parts of the mini looking through the scene from every angle, then it will still provide cover to the level of the scenery's height.

Maybe say that vehicles can't get "hull down" unless LOS is blocked at level 2.

I would also say that scenery that clearly isn't area scenery (like a wall)--scenery that cannot be "entered", can be taken if it is equal to the miniatures height and the miniature is within an inch of the scenery. So, a unit of space marines lined up at a level 2 wall, would be able to shoot over it, and the enemy would be able to shoot at them. The wall would provide a cover save but it wouldn't block LOS. Of course, the unit would have to declare that they were "taking the wall"--I wouldn't make it automatic that just being within an 1" of this kind of cover would immediately make you a target.

That's what I think I was going for with all that crazy tech language.