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I made this thread because it seems like there is some confusion and misinformation about terrain and its usefulness in 8th Edition 40k. Hopefully, that can be cleared up. If you don't find this useful, helpful, or in any way amusing, feel free to ignore it.

First, we'll address what the basic rules say about terrain.
1 - If you have Fly, you can move through terrain like it isn't there
2 - You cannot move through walls (without Fly) and the like, but you can scale them by moving vertically if you have enough movement to do so.
3 - If a unit is entirely on or within a terrain feature, add 1 to its save value against shooting attacks.

So far so good, right? Nothing about any percentage of the model covered. If you are entirely on or within a terrain feature, you have cover. Those are the basic terrain rules.

But wait, you say. Does that mean if one model isn't on or within a terrain feature, the entire unit doesn't have cover? Yes it does. However, because you can choose which models are removed by enemy fire, it is easy enough to assign the first wound suffered by your unit to that one model that is out of cover: once that model is dead, your entire unit benefits from cover.

Let's turn to the Advanced terrain rules. For those of you following along at home, those start on page 248 of the rulebook.

First up is Woods. Infantry that are entirely on the base of your woods terrain or otherwise entirely within the boundary of the forest have cover. Other models have to be 50% obscured. Charging through woods subtracts 2" from your charge distance.

Ruins: if you aren't infantry and can't fly, you are stuck at ground level. Infantry can move through the walls, floors and ceiling of ruins. Infantry get cover if the entire unit is on or within the ruin. Everyone else needs to be at least 50% obscured to get cover. Notice a pattern here?

Craters: infantry units entirely within craters have cover. Charging across craters gives you -2" movement.

Barricades: infantry units within 1" of a barricade and behind it from the PoV of their enemy have cover. Your fight range is now 2" instead of 1".

Obstacles. These come in Tank Trap and Tanglewire varieties. One affects vehicles and monsters, the other affects infantry. Both halve the charge and advance distance of the respective models trying to advance or charge across them.

Prometheum Pipes are Barricades that might explode. Battlescapes are Woods that give you a mortal wound if you roll a 1 after advancing or charging across them. Hills give you better elevation, and thus better line of sight to anything else on the battlefield, but don't do anything else.

This next bit isn't mentioned in the book, but is absolutely vital. How vital? If you aren't using it, you are failing at 40k. It's called line of sight blocking terrain, and if you read nothing else from this post, read this.

What does it do? It blocks line of sight. It physically prevents enemy units from seeing your units, thus denying them the ability to shoot you. Bare minimum, you should have at *least* two pieces of line of sight blocking terrain on your battlefield. It doesn't have to be a building. It could be a tall hill. It could be a thick forest. It could be a sudden and steep valley in which a tank could hide. Whatever it is, it either needs to physically block line of sight or you need to rule that it blocks line of sight.

Line of sight blocking terrain is the difference between playing actual games of 40k, and playing, "hey, could my army's entire long range shooting ability kill your entire army before you can get to me?". It allows you to make actual tactical decisions. To selectively engage and be engaged. To force your opponent to make decisions. Does she or he move his or her heavy weapons squad and give them a -1 to hit, or do they target something else this turn? Do you place your Deep Striking troops behind the LoS blocking terrain, or do you set them up for an attempt at a 9" charge? And so on.

No board is complete without LoS blocking terrain, but even without it, terrain has a real effect on the battle. Though that effect is less than what it was in 7th edition, it can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Use it.

I recently picked up a couple boxes of Pegasus Gothic City Kits so my wife and I will have terrain to play with while we make hills and craters and such from foam for our new table.

Some of the walls are solid and some have windows. There are two swinging doors into the solid fenced area, one on each end of the board.

The two-story area counts as "Ruins," the walls all count as LOS blocking whether they have windows or not.

The walls act as a barricade and provide cover only to units in base contact who are being shot at from the other side of the wall.




This has led to a much more strategic game, as OP suggests.

It requires careful consideration of line of sight, range, and maneuvering.

Our table is 6x4. We always lay out the city kit so that the terrain is mostly spread out, cross-table shooting lanes are narrow, but there is always enough room between individual pieces that a Baneblade can maneuver from one end of the table to the other.

I'm with OP, more LOS blocking terrain is better.

I'm a fan of the Cityfight rules as well, using things like going to ground and higher elevation from structures.

I have 2 questions.

1) What about vehicles and MC moving thru woods or ruins?

2) Shooting thru woods, does it provide cover bonus?

I understand they wanted to keep the rules simple, but I don't see why shooting thru an area of woods wouldn't give you the cover bonus.

Boredflak1066 wrote:
I have 2 questions.

1) What about vehicles and MC moving thru woods or ruins?

Vehicles and MCs moving through ruins can't go through walls, floors, or ceilings. If a vehicle or MC is 50% obscured by the ruin, they get cover from it. Vehicles and MCs must similarly be at least 50% obscured by woods in order to receive cover while within the woods.

2) Shooting thru woods, does it provide cover bonus?

Only if the target is within the boundary of the woods and is either infantry or at least 50% obscured.

I don't see why shooting thru an area of woods wouldn't give you the cover bonus.

I agree, and I believe that intervening terrain should give cover bonuses if the target is at least 50% obscured by that terrain from the perspective of the shooter, but that's not what the rules say.

Thank you for the informative post and your points are valid, however none of these address my issues with terrain. I really wish that different types of terrain provided different types of cover - at the very least they should provide different modifiers and they should have differing effects on movement.. I also think that intervening terrain should provide cover; basically if I'm standing behind a copse of trees or a ruin or a rock wall that obscure your sight to me I should get cover, not just if the ENTIRE unit is on the base of that terrain. Lastly, dangerous terrain should still be a thing.....

Very good post, thank you mate !

I agree with the 50% obscured by terrain. We might house rule it.

 Marsyas wrote:

No board is complete without LoS blocking terrain

This point can't be stressed enough. Don't just update your armies for the new edition, update your tables.

How does one decide if a vehicle is entirely within the area of, lets say a Ruins terrain piece that's an L-shaped building, but the terrain doesnt have a base?

Thank you for this post. Exalted.

We've already been house ruling almost every piece of terrain as the book rules are pretty garbage. We've read them and understand them as written...and have chosen to ignore almost all of them. The only people who need concern themselves with the book rules are those attending tournaments.