Slitherine

Hi All,

A very broad subject, but I'm wondering if anyone has any hints or suggestions on placement of terrain.

Lets say for example you take a gentle hill. You want to place it as close to the centreline as possible on your side of the board.

If you get a '6' for placement, you can put it TOUCHING the centreline, but then if the opponent gets a 5 he can move it over HIS side. If he only gets a 4 he can get the piece pretty much ON the line etc etc.

So, what do you do when placing terrain? Hold it back a little so that the opponent can't move it on his side? Take the gamble he'll roll a 1?

Just a bit of fun. No real tactics involved here I'm just wondering what people think. It's a very complicated subject as the randomness of 'what you get' and 'what's already placed' affects things a LOT.

Thoughts?

Ian

Always play by the 'whatever you decide will be wrong' rule. Makes life so much easier

Scrumpy wrote:Always play by the 'whatever you decide will be wrong' rule. Makes life so much easier

How very defeatist of you

Ian

One of FoG's strengths is that the basic mechanics of terrain placement are quickly understood and that there are basic and obvious tactics anyone can learn, but that refining terrain doctrine along with tactical doctrine can yield continuing dividends. It really is a case of trying to get a battlefield that fits the army.

What I've collected so far is mainly in Part 6 of viewtopic.php?t=6832.

DaiSho wrote:

Scrumpy wrote:Always play by the 'whatever you decide will be wrong' rule. Makes life so much easier

How very defeatist of you

Ian

45 years of life have taught me that one

Scrumpy wrote:

DaiSho wrote:

Scrumpy wrote:Always play by the 'whatever you decide will be wrong' rule. Makes life so much easier

How very defeatist of you

Ian

45 years of life have taught me that one

Well, everyone else tells me you're very good at being defeated

Ian

Terrain Placement:

OK, Maybe i'm missing something, but outside of general guidelines on picking type of terrain, it appears that placement is pretty random?

Player 1 places his mandatory (by die roll) and player 2 moves it (or not) again by die roll.
Player 2 now does the same with his mandatory
Player 1 now places his 2-4 optionals again all by die roll
Player 2 now does his optionals.

We now have 6-10 pieces of terrain scattered around the table. Occaisionally a piece will be blocked for no room in the specified area and some will be picked up.

But all the placement/movement is random from a die roll; so I don't see any control after you pick out your choices

So what am I missing

John

I'd say put it where you would like it to be. There is only a 50% chance it can be moved anyway. Except for gentle hills, you should have picked terrain choices that benefit you more than your opponent so it shouldn't matter too much if it ends on his side of the table anyway. You can't feasibly place it with the expectation that your opponent will move it - if you place it 6" back from the centre, your oponent could just move it towards your table edge where it will be unlikely to be useful to you.

DaiSho wrote:Hi All,

A very broad subject, but I'm wondering if anyone has any hints or suggestions on placement of terrain.

Lets say for example you take a gentle hill. You want to place it as close to the centreline as possible on your side of the board.

If you get a '6' for placement, you can put it TOUCHING the centreline, but then if the opponent gets a 5 he can move it over HIS side. If he only gets a 4 he can get the piece pretty much ON the line etc etc.

So, what do you do when placing terrain? Hold it back a little so that the opponent can't move it on his side? Take the gamble he'll roll a 1?

Just a bit of fun. No real tactics involved here I'm just wondering what people think. It's a very complicated subject as the randomness of 'what you get' and 'what's already placed' affects things a LOT.

Thoughts?

Ian

The way I look at it is as follows:

I've picked terrain either for me to walk through or to stop enemy movement.

If it's for me to walk through then i need to be able to do that. So it's an issue of who gets to move first, and whether he can put troops in the terrain to stop me. Terrain that gives uphil advantage or cover is a real pain if he gets to it first as i may not be able to shift him. Then you've got to look at the chances he'll be able to shift it. Ignoring removing the thing entirely, it's 40% chance of not moving, 40% of 6MU and 20% of 12MU. So I tend to go for placement that would be OK wwithin 6MU of where it's placed. if he rolls a 5 too bad.

Blocking terrain is a bit different. If it goes on a side edge I try and get it reasonably near the middle - If it moves 6MU it'll still be a decent block. If it comes in the middle of the table it can help you fight on a narrow front (if you want that) or can mess up deployment for either side. It can also be quite handy if the terrain splits the open areas into two channels.

Graham

I see little value in gentle hills on their own; as has been pointed out, there is only an even chance it will land in your favour. But placing another pick on them can be usefull in removing options from the enemy.

Steve P

stenic wrote:I see little value in gentle hills on their own; as has been pointed out, there is only an even chance it will land in your favour. But placing another pick on them can be usefull in removing options from the enemy.

Steve P

So when you pick a hill, it is plain; but you can add another pick to make is brush, village, etc. combinig 2 picks into one?

John

Yes, there are some special rules about this in the set up appendix

stenic wrote:I see little value in gentle hills on their own; as has been pointed out, there is only an even chance it will land in your favour.

The balance of gentle clear hills is more favorable for shooty cavalry against melee armies, since they provide points where shooters can secure a POA if needed but enemy sticking to them for the uphill POA can be shot up. They also ensure a zone of clear terrain around them - again, for some match-ups the hill won't really hurt the attacker.

Generally, though, you are right that they offer good value in the ability to combine the hill with other terrain as a single selection (although multiple pieces towards the maximums).