Hi all,

When some of the Australian players have been posting feedback and/or battle reports there have been some replies along the lines of "These reports don't count because the Australians use their own house rules".

In order to ease the discussion and comparison of results across different continents, I thought it would be helpful if I was to post a complete list of all the commonly used Australian House Rules in local scenes and the major tournaments as well as the explanation and thought processes behind why we implemented them.



Reasoning behind these implementation

1) If rule #1 is wrong, then I don't want to be right. It's just good sportsmanship (also we often play at 'wet' events)

2) All joking aside, the Aussie A/C's have undertaken a lot of effort recently to encourage the local players to post more and better battle reports back to Taccoms, as battle reports are the true currency on how to provide feedback and improve the game for all. These players have been getting quite discouraged when all their efforts to report have been dismissed out of hand by this myth that seems to have gotten out of hand.

Any tourists that are visiting our southern land are very welcome to visit any of our local clubs and experience both house rules #1 and #2 and report back!

We play infinite height on all terrain in Swedish tournaments. I.e if you're behind a piece of terrain (not in it) you're fully covered and can't be shot at thru that terrain. Do you do the same?

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Mordoten, in one event (Castle Assault) from the many that were run around the country in 2014 we trialled area terrain at infinite height. It had mixed reviews. Again in 2015 Castle Assault was the only event to trial a "tiered height system' and a comp score system for lists. All other events remained by the book to my knowledge and i played in few. 2016 and 2017 have seen no deviations yet on the rules at any events.

Regarding the rule deviation of infinite height, I actually largely like this idea. I feel it simplifies things alot, especially for new players coming to grips with the game. It only becomes bit of an issue when you have a tiny ruin or forest blocking the line of sight of a Warlord titan or such, and is why in one event in 2015 we trialled the 'tiered height system' for area terrain.

Cheers

Mic

Thanks for the insight Mic

So, irrespective of "who is right" etc, does this approach permit units to shoot over other 'lower' terrain, eg hills , trees, buildings?

And if so, is this limited to Titans and WE, or can any unit shoot over 'lower' terrain if it has range and LoS to the target?

Remember that this thread is certainly not about what is the 'right' or 'wrong' way to play the game, it's about bringing harmony between the different geographical locations.

Using infinite height for terrain is a perfectly valid, and often more straightforward rule that is easily covered in the 5 min warm up.

Not using infinite height means that some of the very tall miniatures can see and shoot over terrain. So if a reaver titan is taller than a grove of trees, and the gun barrels clear the terrain, than it can shoot over. Of course the enemy can shoot right back at it.


Realistically there is very little impact on the game. Only a few of the tallest titans are affected. And can be circumvented entirely by modelling very tall terrain.

What about shooting "through" terrain, gaps in buildings and that kind of thing? That would have a far larger effect. I've not played for ages so I can't honestly remember if that would be trumped by the 10cm of terrain rule.

[edit] I have no real bias either way to be honest, I first played with 1st ed rules and I can't remember terrain being anything other than literally true line of sight. I guess it's just that some of the reports and opinions on list strength seem *so* different people just want to make sure they're totally clear of anything that could be having an effect one way or another.

Thanks Elsaurio, I am only trying to understand how this is played, and the possible extent that it affects a game. In 'real life' battles are fought for hills precisely because they command surrounding areas.

I was asking whether this principle was extended to all units in your games not just Titans standing on the tabletop, and whether it included units on 'higher' terrain shooting over 'lower' terrain (which sounds probable). So for example, can infantry put on top of a building see and shoot over a nearby WE?

Pretty much, yeah, in all the games I have played

If some space marines tacticals are standing on top of a 5cm tall hill, they should be able to shoot over a pile of rubble 2cm high.

If you can draw a straight line from one model to the other, it's in a line of fire and can be shot, as per the "Who may shoot 1.9.2" However you should always apply the -1 cover modifier 'liberally'. War Engines have no special rules for blocking line of fire either. If you can see over the baneblade, you can shoot over it.

Any wierd or unusual terrain is usually brought up in the 5min warm up.

It also helps if you have a lot of terrain, and it's large and blocky. it minimizes arguments if everything has clear edges

Hey Ginger,

I stress the Tier height system for terrain was only for one event in 2015 and is not the normal event standard.
Essentially though from memory, tier 2 was infinite height for everything, tier 1 only WE with DC 4 or greater could see and be seen over tier 1 with an obstructed shot either way. Tier 0 like creaters or swamps could be seen over by all formations. Each table at the event had a terrain sheet specifying what classification each piece terrain was. This system had mixed reviews.

So Sweden and U.K, Both use infinite height as a standard practice. Has this lead to building terrain to certain dimensions or has the "warlord Titan behind the tiny forest" not proved to be a concern?

Cheers

Mic

This is a particularly good point - it came up in the acrimonious terrain discussion last year but I'm not sure it was ever answered either way.



I'm struggling a bit to find photos of the tables from CanCon 2017, but found https://thepaintingbunker.com/2016/02/0 ... rmageddon/ for 2016. Would you say that these are typical tables?

My personal concern would be that being able to shoot through 'gaps' within area terrain on some of those tables would barely block Line of Sight, even for non-WE units:


Let alone something a bit taller like one of the old metal Warhounds.



UK tournaments tend to use flat base areas with loose elements like buildings or small trees on top, plus some low hills. Due to the abstract nature of the area terrain rules being used, the position of the loose elements has no in-game effect and they get moved around on the base or even removed during the game, as units move through the area.

Locally (but it's a very small meta), we tend to play a hybrid - area terrain is 'solid' and abstract for Line of Sight (with the usual shooting 10cm in/out/within) but is only as tall as the highest element. As we usually use the old card and plastic buildings, DZC buildings and hills designed for 28mm gaming, this means that lower pieces of area terrain can be seen over by War Engines, or by units on hills or buildings. Hills get played as-is, rather than being infinitely high blocks.

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Hi Mic, not really - in the UK tournaments, all terrain pieces are a minimum of 6" X 9" (15x22cm) and sometimes bigger. There are normally 12 such pieces, comprising hills, woods and built up areas. Usually though not always, a BUA is represented by several buildings or ruins on a base that denotes the extent of the BUA. Consequently we do not shoot through gaps. Occasionally we also have craters, rivers or other 'flat' terrain. I might add that the terrain has to be portable as well as functional as it is taken around the country to the various events.

Terrain is not usually placed within 15cm of any table edge, so formations in the deployment area start the game behind rather than inside terrain. Units are either in, or out of terrain, and there is no shooting through terrain (unless it is declared 'flat' and not blocking LoS). As such, all units including WE and Titans can therefore hide behind terrain, though they can also stand on an edge and shoot out / be shot at as usual.

I agree that playing 'infinite height' terrain can be a tad simplistic though it does help keep the game flowing, which is possibly more important in a tournament setting.

Ian and Ginger

Ok that gives me more to consider. We to generally build tables and terrain to be able to fit in a plastic tub and travel, they reckon Australia is vast and epic is played throughout

Ian does your group run events and if so how do other players find your terrain rules?

Ginger no terrain in the deployment generally! I reckon that in itself would certainly have an impact on the effectiveness of an orbital strike either bombardment or pinpoint first turn. It might also be why you guys have enjoyed more success with spaceship and air craft than us, (no right or wrong here). I will generally have a couple of pieces in the deployment which will offer possible arty formations or blitz guard some protection if a player wants. Death strikes are in particular vulnerable without any terrain to hide in intially.
I do see how you guys would also not have the drama of "warlord Titan behind tiny forest" if you have a standard size of area terrain. From what I have seen in Australia we are more varied in the sizes of terrain pieces.

Cheers

Mic

I can answer that one as I played at cancon 2016. Each one of those 'city blocks' was counted as area terrain and blocked LOS as per 1.9.2

You are right in that a tall unit (say a reaver Titan) could shoot along that green line at another tall unit (another reaver Titan) on the other side

Was anyone that firm in their language, or was it more, "I wonder if...".

Just trying to keep things nice.


How about an Eldar tank like a Scorpionm
What if it pops up, how is that played?

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Here's a few of the tables from 2017:

https://goo.gl/photos/bwRA7WhGUCmN3PpC7