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I'm getting ready to build some terrain - enough for 1 4x6 table, but without the 5th Ed rulebook LOS on hand (still shipping) - what kind of items should I be looking at building? The true LOS rules in V5 are making me think towards:

3x large items that can completely hide vehicles leman-russ size or smaller. Without the rules on hand, I have no idea what "area" terrain exists in V5. Can a forest template accomplish this? A dense forest? Will this have to be a solid hill / building?

4x medium items like open ruins or small forests / trench-works

6x barricades.

Could use suggestions as to what would be most functional.

My understanding of the terrain rules is that area terrain is no more. Ruined buildings and tree stands are out as LOS blockers. Instead we will need intact buildings, high hills, brick walls and tree stands with over lapping foliage.

Disgusting.

~sA

I think the most functonal and easiest to use will be purely urban type ruins. To me these are the easiest to use with true LOS rules. The standard forest with a flat flocked board and a few moveable trees on it is kind of a pain to use now since you have to keep track of where the trees are now instead of just tossing them to the side when troops move through.

??? Area terrain still exists, see p13 of the new rulebook. All that's really changed is when someone shoots _through_ area terrain (i.e. not into or out of it) - where the trees or walls or whatever are now matters for working out what if any cover saves the target gets

Check pg 16. A ruin does no good as a LOS blocker when your allowed to shoot thru windows and such. Even the pic on the page shows a situation that in V3/4 would have been blocked LOS.

yes, p13 only describes the movement effects.

But see p22 - 'Inside Area Terrain' - if the target model's base is in area terrain then it counts as in cover, regardless of LOS. Following paras describe shooting _through_ area terrain which is a bit messier.

I have been playing 40k since 1st edition, and LOS is/and has always been a bane/hassle for terrain builders.

Example;

Many terrain builders created the ultimate most awesome looking pieces of terrain ever seen. But some were terrible to play with, in, on, or around, so no one EVER chose them, or ever wanted said pieces to be on the table.

Then, what happened is all the “terrain-smiths” had “Measurement Standards” for things.

Examples (memory foggy, but you get the idea?);

Floors or Levels in a building or ruin ALL became 2 inches high, for movement sake.

Doors ALL became 1 ½-2 inches tall and wide.

Walls and Window Sills were all 1 inch or less tall, to allow troops to shoot over them.

Stairs or Steps were at least 1 inch square (each), to allow an “area to place a model.” This “area to place a model” also denoted how hills, slopes, ruins, and anything with height looked, (strange, with 1 inch square areas for placing models in a pile of rubble).

Vehicles had to be accommodated in a terrain piece also, which was difficult, so very few vehicles were used in past LOS versions.

So, “Area Terrain” rules were introduced (quite possibly to alleviate these problems).

My advice would be to start a “Standard Size” list for things, as examples above.

As for terrain advice, build what you think is awesome!

But set it up at an angle, NOT North, South, East, West angles (like most games I see, which creates long straight-aways for firing from one side to the other), but instead NW, NE, SW, SE, angles (etc) so players have to actually maneuver instead of camping.

Additionally, a “Riser” 2 feet by 2 feet, or 1 foot by 2 feet that is 2 inches to 3 inches tall makes a great battlefield accessory, because it adds dimension immediately with little effort. Some good examples of risers are on the Specialist Games Website under Mordheim.

Good luck!

I used a simple set of rules for building stuff. Hills were 2" tall per 'level'. A Level 1 hill could hide up to a 'size 2' model (most regular infantry and all swarms). It gave cover to 'size 3' models, though.

A 'level2' hill (4" tall) can hide vehicles up to a Leman Russ (or a basilisk if there was scrub/rocky stuff on the crest). It would still give cover to MCs.

A 'level3' hill is 6" tall. This can hide Land Raiders, "peeker"-fices, or whatnot. It can't conceal a monolith, without some other scrub or trees or somesuch on top, but concealed should be good enough for this near indestructible tank that can't be stunned and that can never have its main gun destroyed.

Buildings, however (and this includes ruins), used a 3" per level height. Mainly so we could use our existing necromunda or other 2nd ed 40k terrain sets and they would 'fit in'. It also allows the CoD sets to fit in.

Levels in ruins have points allowing access to upper floors (so 5th edition changes don't hurt us either).