Choosing your place to die..... terrain in 9th

[GuardDaddy]

ADMIN: if too general and not AM please delete. I thought its a key topic that frames list building and model choice for guard so worth starting. It also depends on reading 3rd part content (goonhammer article)

 

Really detailed and useful look at terrain from the goonhammer team.

https://www.goonhammer.com/ruleshammmer-guide-to-terrain-in-9th/

 

 

[duz_]

Perhaps if you give us your initial synopsis to get the discussion rolling for an Imperial Guard commanders perspective

 

It does appear to be a very thorough article of the new edition terrain rules

 

:tu:

[GuardDaddy]

challange accepted!

 

Key to terrain in 9th is understanding both what the terrain does in general and then the interactions with the unit key words.

 

The first thing as guard commanders we will need to get our heads around is 'obscuring'. Essentially this means that terrain over 5" high with this key word (handily thats 1 floor in GW kits.... its almost as if they have made rules for their in house terrain....) counts as an infinitely tall solid block. This is great for our tanks that now hide if that keyword is on a terrain piece even if there is true line of sight through it - so for example through a window of a GW kit.

 

HOWEVER - as soon as you touch, or enter an obscuring piece of terrain it becomes transparent - you can both fire through it and be shot. This is massive mechanic in terms of managing tanks especially as there is no reason to keep them static with Heavy Weapon change.

 

Example - you set up an inch behind an obscuring piece of terrain with a leman russ. This means it is hidden during opponents turn. At start of your turn move onto terrain (an inch of movement) and the terrain now vanishes from a shooting perspective. Essentially you have changed the terrain by your interaction with it. This is critical in this edition. Terrain is designed to be interacted with.

 

Also important is that the label of the terrain - 'dense cover', 'light cover' etc are just that, descriptions of the interaction, not the piece of terrain. So when you read for example that you gain the benefit of cover if within 3" of an 'obstacle' for example - it means your unit gets the interaction from the cover type assigned to the terrain. So being 'in cover' now has no real meaning without the label of the cover type.

 

Good example of this is that if I had a hedge or wall on the board I would be tempted to assign the hedge as 'light' cover and the wall as 'dense' cover (anyone remember this from Rogue Trader..... if you do you are old...). However in 9th each label of 'light' or 'dense' means different interactions. Dense = -1 to hit, light = +1 save (e.g. 8th edition cover).

 

As a guard commander you need to learn the meanings of each label so understand how it shapes the board. So put down your spreadsheets of unit costs..... and read the article!

 

For me whilst there are odd situations, the basic idea of the landscape impacting the game is neatly preserved by this system.

 

Key winners for me are infantry, they gain from interactions more than any other unit keyword (we don't have beasts/swarms!). But if you want to exploit this you need to define the terrain. I expect to see tournaments clearly defining what terrain types are. 

 

Final note - you can assign more than one terrain label. I would have a wall as 'obstacle', 'dense cover' and 'light cover' for example (infantry benefit if behind within 3", +1 save and -1 to hit with ranged attacks). 

Edited July 21, 2020 by GuardDaddy

[The Titanz0r]

Would this mean that Tallarn's 'Get Around Behind Them' would be infinitely useful? Move into terrain, order, fire all weapons, move out of terrain. Your opponent gets shot, but can't shoot back.

[GuardDaddy]

yes, good job