Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm pondering some interesting battlefield features which could be added to games to make them more interesting. I doubt any of it would make for a good tournament type game, but for fun, it could be good to use.

Jidmah gave me the first thought, which is having multi-story boards. Effectively portals to a different board which functions as a different floor on a starship, or buried tunnels in a tomb world - that sort of thing. It would need a lot of extra space, but having a 2-story game board where the objectives are on the ground floor, and only infantry are allowed on the second floor (or have more access points between, so there are big ramps or elevators for tanks, but the infantry can escape and maneuver easier).

The second thought was a set of portals on the board, which you can embark units into (no limit to how many models) and then disembark from a different one next turn. They would feature a roll to successfully navigate the portals:
Roll 2D6:
2: roll a D6 for each model in the unit; on a 1-4 that model is slain. Surviving models then disembark from the same portal which they entered.
3: Roll a D6 for each model in the unit; on a 1 that model is slain. Surviving models then disembark from the same portal which they entered.
4-6: Roll a D6 for each model in the unit; on a 1 that model is slain. Surviving models then disembark from any portal.
7+: Disembark from any portal.

something like that.

I also thought of one for Psychic Resonance - fighting on a planet with a psychoactive atmosphere. Each time a psychic power is manifested, add 1 to the Psychic Resonance tally. When attempting to cast a psychic power, add 1 to the psychic test for each point in the psychic resonance tally. Perils if you roll over 12.

Obviously you'd only play this if both players have psykers, or it would be a bit unfair.

What ideas have you guys had for interesting terrain or battlefield traits?

 some bloke wrote:
I'm pondering some interesting battlefield features which could be added to games to make them more interesting. I doubt any of it would make for a good tournament type game, but for fun, it could be good to use.

Jidmah gave me the first thought, which is having multi-story boards. Effectively portals to a different board which functions as a different floor on a starship, or buried tunnels in a tomb world - that sort of thing. It would need a lot of extra space, but having a 2-story game board where the objectives are on the ground floor, and only infantry are allowed on the second floor (or have more access points between, so there are big ramps or elevators for tanks, but the infantry can escape and maneuver easier).

The second thought was a set of portals on the board, which you can embark units into (no limit to how many models) and then disembark from a different one next turn. They would feature a roll to successfully navigate the portals:
Roll 2D6:
2: roll a D6 for each model in the unit; on a 1-4 that model is slain. Surviving models then disembark from the same portal which they entered.
3: Roll a D6 for each model in the unit; on a 1 that model is slain. Surviving models then disembark from the same portal which they entered.
4-6: Roll a D6 for each model in the unit; on a 1 that model is slain. Surviving models then disembark from any portal.
7+: Disembark from any portal.

something like that.

I also thought of one for Psychic Resonance - fighting on a planet with a psychoactive atmosphere. Each time a psychic power is manifested, add 1 to the Psychic Resonance tally. When attempting to cast a psychic power, add 1 to the psychic test for each point in the psychic resonance tally. Perils if you roll over 12.

Obviously you'd only play this if both players have psykers, or it would be a bit unfair.

What ideas have you guys had for interesting terrain or battlefield traits?

We did a game where it took place on a demon world and a demon unit would spawn within 3" of an objective whenever a non-vehicle unit came within 3" of the objective. You couldn't claim any points for holding the objective until the demon unit was no longer contesting it, and after it was claimed the marker would disappear and then reappear in a different spot on the map.

We would roll 2d6 to determine what demon unit would spawn. On a 2 or 3 nothing happened, on a 4-7 a unit of bloodletters would appear, 8-10 a unit of flesh hounds, and on an 11 or 12 a demon prince.

To determine where the objectives would be placed we broke the board up into 6 tiles and rolled a D6 to determine what tile it would be placed in. The player who didn't secure the objective would place it where they wanted within the tile, and then roll a scatter die and 2d6 to see how far it deviated from that spot.

The demons would move towards and attack the closest unit, so if they wiped whatever had tried to claim the objective they would start running around the board hacking up whatever they came across. Made for a fast and fun casual game.

One thing I have in my project pile is a Baneblade turret + upper hull which I intend to build into a kind of bunker complex.

One scenario I have in mind that sounds interesting to me at least is to have the Bunker (think along the line of Baneblade turret, 2 twin Heavy Bolter turrets) as "neutral" faction in the middle of the board, surrounded by a coverless killing zone and the two players equally distant to it. The size of the armies should be in a range, were the bunkers firepower is a combat deciding factor. Half of the objectives are out of LoS and/or range of the bunker, half within. At the beginning the bunker is kind of automated and sees both factions as enemy, targeting the closest units. Then there is some kind of mechanism included, how each player can take partial or even full control of the bunker - later more.

The special thing about that would be that there are different approaches to victory:
1. ignore and keep away the bunker, go for objectives, use throwaway/very tough units to keep it distracted while you score objectives.
2. dedicate part of your force to take Control over the bunker - yet then you are short in men to take the objectives
And depending on what your enemy does, it might become really dynamic what course is best and might even change during the battle

Now regarding taking control I have two general ideas. The boring one is that there is some kind of terminal near to the bunker which can be captured like an objective. There is a kind of scale for its reaction:
0: Player A and B are targeted equally, +/-1 one player is not targeted, target selection is still "closest eligble enemy", +/-2: the controlling player can fully choose the targets.
For each turn you control the terminal you can shift the scale by 1 in your direction.

The other mode of taking Control would be to have an access hatch on each deployment zone which leads to a separate "Kill Team" game, with said console on the board. So both players can decide to send a small force inside the bunker complex and fight it out. Could be funny for a 2 vs. 2 match with one player playing the WH40k game and the other the Killteam game.

all cool ideas.

Regarding the bunker, I seem to recall an old white dwarf which had something similar, where players controlled turrets based on how many objectives they were holding - the objectives were the control systems, so the player who held most controlled 2 turrets, the other 1, and if one player had no objectives then the other player (if they had any) could control all 3.

Defensive structers for a defense offense type game mode?
Minefields, Barbed wire traps, etc.

You could make a creeping barrage type terrain system.
Basically you have a offensive and defensive side. The offensive side get's a creeping barrage area terrain that moves forward torwards the enemy about 6 -10" per turn. Units behind it count as -1 to hit or obstructed.

Maybee make it so that a player must roll a d6 and have the "terrain piece" have 6 numbers marked and at the rolled number there's now a dud that could go up if you get to close?

So, there are many objectives on the battlefield, and each army has at start only patrols, consisting of only troop choices and 1 commander per -- and only minimum wargear.

Each objective is worth a resupply point. A resuply point can ugrade a troop to any wargear you want (so a gaurd 10 man might suddenly be able to replace lasguns with a meltagun, heavy bolter, plasma pistol and powersword, for 1 point), OR it can be put on the supply chain.
In the supply chain its worth 40 points towards whatever unit your army wishes it had started with.

Now, the first turn, you are recovering salvage equipment from the edges of a major depo, but MOST of the objectives are in the middle circle of the field, and recovery is an action.

Inside that circle (maybe 12 inch radius aroudn the center) the salvage objectives all have a die on them, and the action is resolved by a die roll. On a 1,2 its a trap, and your unit of infantry (only infantry may recover) loses 2 models for every 5 or fraction of 5 it possess. on a 3,4 you get a single supply point, and on a 5,6 you get 2.

Of course, you will also be trying to keep the enemy from having their actions work. And to kill them.

Any die you get supply points off of is exhausted -- and you get to put it aside. (you could roll trap 3 times and it would still be live, but geting even 1 supply point gives you the die.)

Victory is based on how many dice you have in your pile on the end of the game, with any tie going to the person with more supply points in their supply chain line unspent.

I've got a really pipe-dream-y one that I'd been idly mulling over until I got interested in the battleship Yamato, and heard about the plan to beach her and use her as a fortress at the battle of Okinawa.

It's very half-formed, but i was thinking about something similar, where a part of a large spacecraft with still-functional weapons is the main focus on the tabletop. Defenders get touse the cannons, attackers have to breach the hull and clear the inside.

 posermcbogus wrote:
I've got a really pipe-dream-y one that I'd been idly mulling over until I got interested in the battleship Yamato, and heard about the plan to beach her and use her as a fortress at the battle of Okinawa.

It's very half-formed, but i was thinking about something similar, where a part of a large spacecraft with still-functional weapons is the main focus on the tabletop. Defenders get touse the cannons, attackers have to breach the hull and clear the inside.

That's a cool idea. I wonder if it would work well with the dual-board design, where board 1 features the attempt to get into the ship, and board 2 features the inside of the ship. So you can have 2 battle lines as a defender, one of which gets the advantage of ambushing the opponent!

Night battle. Two armies collide in the darkness. You and your opponent have no idea of the other army's make-up. Just points.

You place markers on the table with the unit designation on the underside. A squad would share a marker, as every vehicle would have it's own. You cannot choose to fire on an 'undiscovered' unit, but once something fires or moves within 24 inches of an opposing model/token the model must be revealed (placed on the table top.)

 OldMate wrote:
Night battle. Two armies collide in the darkness. You and your opponent have no idea of the other army's make-up. Just points.

You place markers on the table with the unit designation on the underside. A squad would share a marker, as every vehicle would have it's own. You cannot choose to fire on an 'undiscovered' unit, but once something fires or moves within 24 inches of an opposing model/token the model must be revealed (placed on the table top.)

That's a cool one. I might go for increasing distance as dawn approaches, so start at 12", then 18" turn 2, 24" turn 3. Never was a fan of old night-fighting, where a turn is long enough to move al ittle and snap off some rounds, and then PING it's daytime now, yay!

I think if a model moves within 'certain amount' inches of an opposing vehicle that hasn't moved or fired only the moving vehicle is revealed. And the other vehicle is automatically revealed in the next turn. To represent it hasn't revealed itself but someone has stumbled upon it.

I like that idea, with dawn less suddenly revealing all on the board.

Some wild thoughts:

Minefields.
The battle field is littered with mines from many previous conflicts. Units must move carefully to avoid setting off the old and unpredictable ordnance.

Any unit that Advances, or Charges, into, through or out of any terrain feature must roll a D6. On a roll of a 1, that unit takes 1 mortal wound from an exploding mine.

Unstable Warp Portals
Daemonic entities, drawn to the raw emotion of combatants attempt to break through into the world where the fighting is the fiercest and pull unsuspecting victims into the warp.

At the beginning of every command phase, if there are any objective markers that are contested (i.e. have models from both sides within 3") Roll a D6, on a 4+ that objective marker becomes an unstable Warp Portal. In each subsequent Morale phase, any unit within 3" must roll for combat attrition as if it had failed a morale check. Any INFANTRY unit within 3" of the objective marker may carry out an Action in its shooting phase, in stead of shooting in order to close the portal.

Sector sweep and clear.
Probably works best if defending force is inferior to attackers. I can imagine it being particularly suiting for chaos/genestealer cultists insurgents vs guard attackers. Although guard trying to hide from Eldar warhost is equally suitable.

Board is set up with 2 agreed upon 'lines of approach' flalong a single board edge for the bulk of the attacking force which mu be deployed along these in convoy/coloumn formations. Apart from units with outflank or infiltration which must still be deployed along that board edge. Defender takes positions over the other 3/4 of the map.

If any attacking units are within 24 inches of an enemy infantry unit that is not in any cover it is discovered or if they're in LOS of a defending vehicle that is out of cover it is also discovered. Attackers are put on guard and defenders take up firing positions. The discovered unit cannot move and in the proceeding turn can be fired on if the attackers were not already on guard.

At the start of the first turn
Attacker rolls a D6 1-3 nothing and they must proceed towards opposite table edge in convoy formations moving half full movement distance, they cannot fire if they discover an enemy in this turn.

3-5 they are 'on guard's and are allowed to fan out in defensive formations and then proceed in them, activating their shooting phase should they discover the enemy in their movement phase.

6 they have discovered their quarry and battle is joined. Their movement and attacking is unrestricted.

Turn 2 attacker rolls 1-2 for nothing to happen, 3-4 to go on guard and 5-6 for offensive behaviour.

Turn 3-6 roll 1 for nothing 2-3 for offensive formations. 4-6 to begin engaging.

In turn the defender must roll on their first turn if battle is not joined. D6 1-3 no-one does anything suspicious. 4-5 someone mucks up enemy are put on guard, your guys take up firing position, and can return fire if discovered in the attackers next turn.
6 someone loses their nerves and fires! You are discovered battle is joined!

Turn 2 1-2 for nothing, 3-4 to take up firing positions and 5-6 to join battle

Turn 3-6 1 for nothing 2-3 take up firing positions 4-6 for battle to be joined.

Attacker gains victory point by destroying defender units. Defender gains points for units surviving after 6 turns

First of all, if you want people to use a cool terrain feature, don't make it randomly kill things.
We have had so many narrative games where cool ideas remained unused because the game punished your for using them.

So, a list of the best things I have experienced/done
1) Orbital platform. There was a huge battle (I think it was 8k per side) with a portal to that platform. The portal allowed infantry to pass unhindered, and had a chance to kill other models on a roll of 1, vehicles and monsters could not enter at all. The platform itself was 18"x18" and had three orbital cannons as objectives. For each of these three objectives, you could have the platform fire onto the main battle using the orbital strike stratagem). Terminators and other deep striking infantry units could deep strike directly onto the platform. In the end there was a squad of dark angels intercessors fighting a huge poxwalker infestation, while Kharn the Betrayer was indiscriminately killing both. A unit of WE bikers trying to join the bloodbath was lost in the warp.
2) Tau teleportation lab. This was during a rather silly game at a store where every building had some fun special rule (traps, angry marine launcher, a well to kick in adversaries), but this one stuck. My lootas entered the building to reveal its special rule and it turned out to be a tau teleportation lab. At the beginning of each turn, it traded places with a randomly determined terrain feature, messing up the board, and leaving Black Templars dug in in a defensiv position in weird places, but also having lootas appearing out of nowhere and opening fire on whatever was in front of them.
3) The doom train. One of our boards has railroad tracks across it, and some day someone brought a train matching those tracks. Every turn, on a 5+ the train would start to drive down those tracks at 16" in each movement phase, auto-killing anything in its path.
4) Summoning circle. A classic. If you are desperate, you can bring a psyker here and try to summon daemons without paying points for them. After summoning a unit you need to roll another 3 dice. If those 3d6 are lower than summoned unit's PL, you need to sacrifice a model touching the circle for each one point in difference, with PSYKERS counting 5 and you can't sacrifice any summoned units. You better brought some cultists along! If you don't have enough sacrifices, all your models touching the circle die and the daemon(s) will always move toward, shoot, smite and charge the closest enemy unit and considers all units that don't share their alignment as enemies.
5) Roads. Back in 5th, these were actual rules. All vehicles and bikes without FLY move an additional 2" as long as their whole movement was on a road.
6) Civilians. Have units using the cultist datasheet stand around on the battlefield which will get hit instead of the original target when ever anyone tries to shoot across such a unit and rolls a 6 to hit. They can be controlled like objectives, and if you do, you can move them 6", but not shoot or charge. In our game the players had narrative reasons not to just gun them down (the Alpha Legion player did so anyways, with chain guns, laughing maniacally), but feel free to add an agenda or secondary objective for rescuing civilians.
7) Battle of the Primarchs. A huge downside is that you need the models, but we once had Mortarion and Magnus duke it out in the middle of a 2k point game without either caring for collateral damage. Their battle started in the center of board. At the start of each turn either primarch would move 3d6 according to a scatter die and the other would move 3d6 directly towards his enemy. Mortarion had his aura pulsing, cast plague wind on the closest model and shoots Magnus with the Lantern, while Magnus used infernal gateway and smite. If one of them would end up within 1" of a unit but not within 1" of the other primarch, they would attack that unit in combat. Neither primarch could actually die or take damage