terrain

The Beyond Normandy module has 3 terrain types that slightly sit outside the basic spotting rules as given in the rule 8.31 of the 2nd edition ruleset.

These terrain types are Elevations, Hedges (not bocage) and Light Woods. They have some of the attributes of limiting terrain but do not have that generic ability of both affecting spotting and blocking LOS in every single instance (as say towns, hills or woods do).

The new terrain confused me initially and I am grateful to Peter McCord at Consimworld for making things clearer. I thought this page of examples may help anyone else who needed similar clarity.

Elevations are NOT hills, so don't confuse the two things. Some modules have hills and some use elevations. Beyond Normandy uses elevations.

Elevations DO NOT block line of sight, so don't worry whether your LOS can go beyond a contour line - it can. So elevations do NOT count as limiting terrain for blocking LOS but they can count as limiting terrain for spotting purposes.

The British Churchill (2305) can spot the German Stug (2004). Even though the Churchill is in lower terrain and the Stug counts as being in limiting terrain for spotting, the Stug is within a range of 3 hexes of the Churchill and so can be spotted.

Note - the 17 pdr is also in limiting terrain (nothing to do with elevations) and so cannot be spotted by the German vehicles either (unless it fires or the Germans move to within three hexes of it).

What about Light woods - well yes, for the most part, they count as limited terrain. It works like this. The first hex of light woods entered by a LOS only limits the ability to spot (in the same way as elevations work) and does not block LOS.

However the second hex of light woods that a LOS enters, is treated fully as limiting terrain as per rule 8.31 - that is, it limits spotting AND DOES block the line of sight from continuing any further.

Conclusion - the 1st hex of light wood that line of sight enters, acts like limiting terrain for spotting purposes only. The second such hex that a LOS enters, acts EXACTLY like limiting terrain (rule 8.31) by effecting spotting AND blocking the LOS.

Hedges are limiting terrain and it makes an important difference whether units are adjacent to the hedge or not.

This example shows the simplest application of the rule, you have to be next to a hedge to see beyond it. Since neither unit is adjacent to the hedge, the hedge does block LOS and here, neither unit can see the other.

So here, because hex 0809 is occupied, the effect of the hedge is that the LOS from the Churchill will actually end in 0809. If 0809 was not occupied, then the LOS would stop at the actual hedge. However, it cannot actually spot the Stug in 0809 because the Stug is in limiting terrain and it is more than 3 hexes away. If the Churchill moved to hex 1111, it could spot the Stug, because the German vehicle would now be within 3 hexes. So effectively, in our example the LOS ends in hex 0809.

In our example, as the British Churchill looks towards the light wood, it could spot any enemy units lurking in hex 0505 (if there were some). This is because although the hex counts as being limited terrain the Churchill is within three hexes, so could spot. If the Churchill was further away, even just 1 hex back, it would not be able to spot anything in 0505.

Imprortantly though, since the FIRST hex of light woods does NOT block LOS, the LOS continues into hex 0404 but NO FURTHER because the 2nd light woods hex DOES block LOS. However, in this example, being able to see into hex 0404 does not do the Churchill any good, since the German Stug is in limiting terrain and the Churchill is more than 3 hexes away, so it cannot spot the German tank. If the Churchill advanced into 0706, it would be able to spot the Stug because it could see through the first light wood hex in 0505 and be within 3 hexes of 0404. If the Churchill moved to 0605, it could still only see as far as 0404 because 0404 (the 2nd light woods hex) blocks line of sight

In this more complicated setup, various situations are created. Firstly, the Churchill in 1312 can spot the PzIV in 1009, the view to it is fully clear.

With regard to the Stug, it is important to note that even though technically it is the hedge that blocks LOS, the rules make the exception that a LOS can always be traced to a unit tht is adjacent to a hedge (i.e. immediately behind it).

you have the problem that even though you have a LOS to the enemy, unless you are 3 hexes or less away, you will not be able to spot - and so it is here. The Stug and 17 pounder cannot spot each other unless the other fires (due to spotting range) The PzIV and the 17 pounder can spot each other, since they are within 3 hexes of each other.

Conclusion - Hedges are limiting terrain, so spotting range is important, other than this, they behave just like they do in most other tactical games (say Squad Leader) - they block line of sight at the same level unless you get adjacent to them. Basically for LOS purposes, if you are next to a hedge, ignore it, your LOS can travel until it hits another hedge.

The situation for the 17 pdr (1112) is only slightly different. The rules talk about how a LOS becomes blocked when it passes through a second hedge. This is no more complicated that the above example, all it means is that units effectively ignore the 1st hedge (i.e. the one that they are adjacent to). This simply allows a LOS to go between one unit behind a hedge and another unit behind another hedge - as is the case here, between the British 17 pdr and the two German tanks. Of course, since hedges are limiting terrain, then

it works like this - All terrain at a higher elevation than the spotting unit is treated as limiting terrain - but ONLY for spotting purposes, the terrain itself does not actually block line of sight as it would normally under 8.31. [so while a hill effects spotting and blocks LOS, an elevation just effects spotting].

In our example, there is a German tank column moving along a trail (1806 - 2004). All of the vehicles are at elevation 100, while the British 17 pdr (2207) and Churchill (2305) are at the lower elevation (at elevation 80 - because elevations work in increments of 20 meters). Because the Germans are at a higher elevation than the British, they are counted as being in limiting terrain for spotting purposes (only). This means the 17 pdr cannot spot them, because they are more than 3 hexes away (read rule 8.21). Even as they continue to move, the 17 pdr will not be able to spot them unless the range to one or more of the vehicles ever drops to 3 or less, or if one of the German vehicles fire - in which case, a spotted marker would be placed on the vehicle.

If the German tank in 1905 fired, it would have a spotted marker added to it and both the 17 pounder and the Churchill could fire at it.

Conclusion - basically a unit may have a very clear LOS into much of a nearby, featureless higher elevation - but still units on that hill are in limiting terrain as far as spotting them is concerned.