How are you guys achieving making light terrain? I’m pretty stumped on what to do. More specifically, how could I make an area of grasslands and my units still be able to function through it? Would I put small bases of grass down and mark out an area and if something moves through adjust the individual pieces as they go? Or would it be better to have a large base with scattered bits here and there?

I've been describing foliage as light cover and hard things like rocks as heavy cover.

Not sure how to make a large area of it. I've been making small chunks which allow units to move through it at speed 1.

Lichen, cheap as anything on ebay etc

I arrange them in kind of small lines(like the barricades) for liht cover and also some area sections with a base with plenty of room for figures bases.

5 minutes ago, VAYASAN said:

Lichen, cheap as anything on ebay etc

I arrange them in kind of small lines(like the barricades) for liht cover and also some area sections with a base with plenty of room for figures bases.

Do you have any pictures of a finished piece?

2 minutes ago, Patteous said:

Do you have any pictures of a finished piece?

I dont sorry.

The stuff is pretty cheap tho and imo works really well just placed directly on the table if arranged reasonably. certainly enough to offer areas where troops can find some light cover...as much or as little as you might want to add.

I have some pics of my scariff table with some light cover on it at home I think(at work atm)

I’ve been calling my terrain pieces with trees on them as “light cover” but I could easily see adding some stuff at ground level to make it more clear. May need to work on that.

Fences would also be cool, you could get some wire mesh and build some posts for it.

Area terrain works great for light cover. A couple trees or some patches of higher grass. Someone posted recently with tufts of tall grass and small bases to scatter around. Also hills are listed as light cover in the RRG, so if you make some small ones that don't completely block LoS that would work too.

Look around at what you have. A bunch of rubber jellyfish and some carpenters glue, and I made some non traditional flora.

Lichen is great, put clumps on the table and put the clumps back in a bag afterwards

Would these be heavy or light cover?

I would put a piece of felt down and put some trees in it for light cover/difficult area terrain.

11 minutes ago, The Cocky Rooster said:

Would these be heavy or light cover?

Yeah, I would personally play trees as light cover just to get some variety out there.

But I am pretty sure both players just decide what is what cover before the game. If there is a disagreement, just roll a die.

I know some people run craters as light cover/difficult terrain. Doesn't obscure LOS but I think it can still count as light cover? I know they are coming out with more advanced LOS/cover rules soon.

Depends on how densely you put them down. If you keep them as they are in the package, I'd say heavy both for vehicles and infantry. Otherwise, more spread out it would be light.

thanks guys

The Woods are light and we play that you can see in and not out of the area you can fire into. I have never been a big fan of having terrain like pictured and being able to see from one corner to the other.

I've been using forests and hills as light cover, and use the suggested rules as per the rules ref and the updated info from the designer (trees and decorations on area terrain don't block line of sight - we had been doing this anyway but good to know this was the intent).

Drawing from previous wargaming experience, I would assume that heavy/light cover translate as hard/soft cover. In other words, the difference between cover and concealment. If something would physically impede an incoming shot to a significant degree, like a rocky outcrop or some ruins or whatever, then it would be heavy cover. If the incoming fire basically just becomes less accurate because the target is obscured/concealed, then it would count as light cover. To me, light cover would be things like bushes, trees, fences, tall grass, etc. Hard cover would be things like solid walls, barricades, massive Endor style tree trunks, buildings, ruined vehicles, etc.

Since terrain can be such a varied thing, it always pays to have a quick discussion with your opponent before the game begins about which pieces of terrain count as which type, and where their boundaries are.

I have a different approach from a quick military background. What you can't see is harder to shoot at than something you know is behind a rock.

A dense wood can provide a surprising amount of cover, because bullet trajectory and power is affected by leaves, branches in the way. I would assume high energy weapons would function the same and react more on impact than on the density of the material it impacts.

Wargames always treat woods as some sort of plain with trees here and there. Ever walked in a wood? There are so many places to hide, so many ups and down and trees behind which you can protect yourself.

Wooded areas that aren't really dense are really bad however, almost like plains.

11 minutes ago, Deuzerre said:

I have a different approach from a quick military background. What you can't see is harder to shoot at than something you know is behind a rock.

A dense wood can provide a surprising amount of cover, because bullet trajectory and power is affected by leaves, branches in the way. I would assume high energy weapons would function the same and react more on impact than on the density of the material it impacts.

Wargames always treat woods as some sort of plain with trees here and there. Ever walked in a wood? There are so many places to hide, so many ups and down and trees behind which you can protect yourself.

Wooded areas that aren't really dense are really bad however, almost like plains.

You know the enemy is behind the rock, but you can't shoot through it to hit him, just around it in hopes he pops up in your line of fire.

You know the enemy is in a forrest, but not where in a forrest. Your shots could be flying wide by miles or just a few miliimeters. If you do know where he is however, foliage will likely not stop your bullets/lasers which allows you to hit the guy.

You know the enemy is in a forest. He can be behind trees, recesses, fallen trees, up in trees, behind an anthill, behind that bush.... No way to know. If he's behind that stone wall, it isn't that hard to shoot, mob stuff, etc...

Both are hard cover, but one is even harder to react to because the targets can be anywhere

10 minutes ago, Deuzerre said:

You know the enemy is in a forest. He can be behind trees, recesses, fallen trees, up in trees, behind an anthill, behind that bush.... No way to know. If he's behind that stone wall, it isn't that hard to shoot, mob stuff, etc...

Both are hard cover, but one is even harder to react to because the targets can be anywhere

In regards to Wargaming, an enemy behind a rock is simple. It's "Hard Cover" because your bullets don't go through the rock.

An enemy in a forrest is considered "Light Cover" because he has tree branches and fallen trees blocking your veiw to him.

I've always ruled it that if the enemy could "Spray&Pray" into the terrain and have a reasonable chance of hitting you, its light cover.

No matter how much you shoot that ruin, those bullets aren't going through the bricks.

The other thing to consider is that the solid terrain provides both cover, AND concealment. In both cases (enemies in a forest vs enemies behind a wall, as examples) you're equally likely to be aware of their presence. But the wall blocks your line of sight AND physically prevents small arms fire from penetrating. While a forest will, in reality, often prevent the penetration of small arms fire to any degree, the impact is less. Rounds can travel further, and will deflect less when travelling though sticks and leaves than if they impact a solid stone wall or a building or plasteel barricade or what-have-you.

Also to consider is that terrain is abstract and bespoke so it covers a huge range of possibilities. It could be a thick, impenetrable forest or a lightly wooded area with little to no ground cover. The other thing to consider is that while it's abstract, most 'forests' on a gaming table would only translate to a patch of woods maybe 20 feet across, which isn't the same as a densely wooded area.