How important is terrain in your games?

Discuss anything related to the Asrai, our forests, or camps around the Old World in here.

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Sidewinder
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How important is terrain in your games?

Post by Sidewinder »

Do you spend much time choosing and setting terrain pieces on the board?
Do you use the terrain generator in the book or do you and your opponent simply chose pieces to use?
What other important terrain questions am I forgetting to ask?
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Hyarion
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Re: How important is terrain in your games?

Post by Hyarion »

Long enough to get a good variety.
No, we don't use the dangerous terrain types either, so all forests are regular forests no Blood Forests or Venom Thickets etc.

Other questions:
Do you scatter terrain? (yes, all terrain moves artillery dice inches in scatter dice direction).
We also continue to use the 7th edition rule that forests block LOS after 2 inches (nor do we use True LOS at all).
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Billthesurly
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Re: How important is terrain in your games?

Post by Billthesurly »

I play the vast majority of my games with the same friend and we are on the same page when it comes to terrain. We play using the BRB's terrain selection system and we are almost never disappointed. Using the terrain generator makes every battlefield a new and interesting challenge. You are never quite sure of exactly what you are going to get.

After randomly generating the terrain pieces we take turns placing them on the table. Then you have to tailor your battleplan to take into account the advantages or hazards to best advantage. Never a dull moment. It really does add a deeper element to the game.

If you have never done it I recommend it very highly. Sure, some of the features are kinda silly but try not to take the book descriptions literally. Think of them as terrain hazards of a more natural nature and you will enjoy it more. Yes, I know, river of boiling blood is stupid. Just think of it as rapids that nobody believes can be crossed and then it makes more sense.

We place the terrain in alternating turns.
We use true line of sight. It took some getting used to but it also made us consider our terrain pieces more carefully. My woods are THICK and my buildings are substantial and can be quite tall. My hills are multi-level. You get my point.
So it's no longer the BRB, now it's the DERB. (Digital Edition Rule Book) I am all in for 9th Age.
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GeoffDiGeoff
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Re: How important is terrain in your games?

Post by GeoffDiGeoff »

I love using terrain, the more the merrier. We normally use what we have, but select special types from the rule book. Normally end up with a selection of forests, walls, structures. We take it in turns to place the pieces.
The way terrain is placed can really screw with your pre made battle plans, but adapatability is a great edge to any battle.
The only thing that bugs me about terrain is the scale of it, our hills are really only 1.5-2 times as high as our miniatures, which make them lumps, not hills. But I've yet to get round to building a more to scale hill so only myself to blame :)
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Hyarion
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Re: How important is terrain in your games?

Post by Hyarion »

our hills are really only 1.5-2 times as high as our miniatures
That's why we don't use True LOS.
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If you refuse to capitalize on your strengths or make the most of your opponent's weaknesses, you are begging to lose.
There is no combat without movement.

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Re: How important is terrain in your games?

Post by ~ Wardancer ~ »

We also use the terrain generator and placement rules from the BRB. The above comments on the terrain having to factor into your battle plan is bang on. In many a game the advantage has been gained on initial set up by utilizing the terrain to an army builds advantage. We've also expanded on all the terrain features from the BRB over time and have developed our own system for determining if a feature is anything but normal.
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Re: How important is terrain in your games?

Post by Aezeal »

In our shop we usually:

let one of us set up the table.
Usually 2-3 forest and 2 hills then some other stuff (usually 2 largish pieces) that is usually impassable terrain.
Buildings are impassable, they don't like fighting in buildings.
Forest are normal forests (except my extra forest when I think about it).

One places the terrain, the other picks a side of the table (so it's usually a bit evenly distributed)
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