• Light wood, glass plating, thin metal - 5 Armour
• Storage crates, flakboard, sandbags, sheet ice - 10 Armour
• Rockcrete, stone, thick metal - 20 Armour
• Plasteel, Armourplas, voidship bulkheads - 30 Armour

These seem a little ridiculous, in the context of the values assigned to actual armour. Light power armour is five points on all areas except the chest, where it's six. So you're just as well off going to war in power armour as you are clad in a suit made of glass, or with a wooden sandwich board on?

These seem a bit too high compared to armour values. One of the two needs tweaking.

I think what matters is that each time it gets hit, the value of the cover reduces, whereas armour does not reduce. With the reduction in mind, I can see why its 5 points.

That's a good point that I didn't really consider, actually.

I think those cover ratings look about right to be honest.

I think I just suffered from the issue I often accuse other people of, looking at things in a vacuum and making silly direct comparisons. Without the degradation, this would be pretty iffy. But considering it, it's fine, really.

The other big thing, is that the book very much says that only certain parts of the body should be covered. That, if a character is using cover, it should only cover up about 3 parts of their body. The other 3 parts will be exposed if they make attacks.

If the target is completely behind cover that falls more under the Spray and Pray rules.

Otherwise, there should always be an exposed part for the purposes of taking a called shot.

Oh, yeah, definitely, something needs to be visible for you to take a shot. I was mostly looking at things from a realism perspective; wood being as resilient as power armour just seemed wrong. But if you look at it as combat armour being less protective in the short term than cover, but more durable, it makes perfect sense logic wise and balance wise.

The other big thing, is that the book very much says that only certain parts of the body should be covered. That, if a character is using cover, it should only cover up about 3 parts of their body. The other 3 parts will be exposed if they make attacks.

If the target is completely behind cover that falls more under the Spray and Pray rules.

Otherwise, there should always be an exposed part for the purposes of taking a called shot.

Which is silly because in reality anyway, it's fairly easy to create an improvised firing loop in, for example, a regular wall. Which would allow you to fire without ever exposing yourself.

Yeah, but then most walls you can punch a loophole through will offer next to no actual physical protection (other than hiding you).

The other big thing, is that the book very much says that only certain parts of the body should be covered. That, if a character is using cover, it should only cover up about 3 parts of their body. The other 3 parts will be exposed if they make attacks.

If the target is completely behind cover that falls more under the Spray and Pray rules.

Otherwise, there should always be an exposed part for the purposes of taking a called shot.

Which is silly because in reality anyway, it's fairly easy to create an improvised firing loop in, for example, a regular wall. Which would allow you to fire without ever exposing yourself.

Which is why terms like "probably" and "should" were used in that statement.

And as Luddite says, thats most likely the case. A solid burst at the wall would take it down. Othewise, its quite obvious the GM is just trying to funnel the players through a certain path, or is otherwise being a poor GM for throwing that at the players.

Which is why terms like "probably" and "should" were used in that statement.

And as Luddite says, thats most likely the case. A solid burst at the wall would take it down. Othewise, its quite obvious the GM is just trying to funnel the players through a certain path, or is otherwise being a poor GM for throwing that at the players.

Yeah, but if you look, the materials that make up a regular wall give 10 armor to start with. In fluff, it's not unknown for IG to create improvised loopholes with a melta, for example.

Most cover might also be "thicker" than armour.

Like you are comparing 5mm ceramite layer to a 10cm thick wood wall.