40K NEEDS a Cover Save
Pimpcron explains why terrain is the most important part.
Yo yo yo! The illest mutha sucka you done ever heard about is here this week; and his name is Pimpcron. So sit back, grab some gin and maybe some juice, and get educated by The Cron on how terrain will save your game.
Many of us make a terrible mistake when setting up our game boards: not enough terrain. Then we complain that our footslogging Orks get shot off the table by entrenched Tau, or all of our vehicles get popped by Devastator squads. Cut it out bruh! Put more trees and junk and stuff on your board.
Evens The Playing Field
In a world where Grav and Plasma is everywhere, you need cover. This is the most obvious benefit to having lots of terrain on the field. I won’t get too much into this because it is so obvious. If your opponent has low AP on his shooting weapons, take cover dummy! It’s for your health!
Cover can make the difference when you have a low-performing codex against a more powerful one. But it takes strategy and cunning to use the board to your advantage. Despite this obvious advantage, I see most boards being a sparse landscape with a ruin or two.
Gives Melee Armies a Chance
As the editions have progressed, shooting has taken a larger and larger role in the game. Some codices are so efficient at shooting, that foot-slogging armies get shot off the board before they close. You play Nids or Orks without terrain? Sorry for your loss. Obviously, you don’t want the board to be all terrain or the melee armies will reign supreme. But the sweet spot for game and codex balance is to have at least 2 line-of-sight-blocking terrain pieces in the center of the board.
Middle board terrain gives you a place to hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband.
This way, a savvy melee army will take cover in those as they race across the board and a savvy shooting army will position to shoot around said terrain. The melee army will have a nice “pit stop” in the middle of the board to rest for a moment, and the shooting army has to maneuver to prepare for the coming charge. If the melee army is wise, they will bring at least one long-range shooting unit to sit in their back field and take pot shots at the juicier shooting army’s units while the melee units rush across.
Do you see how, using only terrain placement, the game just got way more balanced with points and counter-points coming into play strategically?
Terrain is a Situational Invulnerable Save
Let’s face it: any dingus can read a ‘net list and take units that have good rules. But it takes a really sharp dingus to position themselves in a way on the field that gives them situational advantages. If we take Ignores Cover into account, you could win a game with blobs of Grots on an objective that’s in a ruin. I don’t care what you hit me with: I have 30 wounds with what amounts to a 4+ invulnerable save. And being cowardly, they can go to ground for a 3+ invulnerable save. If I’m smart, I’ll take more than just a unit of 30 Grots, and I will have other intercepting units to protect them from an assault.
Sneaky Gits
Or what about being charged with a superior unit that doesn’t have Assault Grenades? Many a time I have positioned myself into cover when I know an assault is imminent from a better unit.
Or have you ever wished that your vehicles were just a bit tougher? One of my favorite tricks with my Guard tanks is camo netting that gives me +1 to cover. Then I make sure I use that cover save to my advantage. Brush up on cover save rules for vehicles and you’ll be a happy person.
More Terrain = More Pretty
In real life, you rarely find a barren field with two ruins and maybe a hill. But gosh-darn it, you see boards with that much terrain all the time. I mean, gee-willikers guys, when you put lots of terrain on the field, it’s just the bee’s knees.
“I’ll never understand what’s so great about their knees. Mine are good too. I use lotion.”
And many of you think of large buildings or hills as terrain, but it’s actually the small details that matter most. If you had a board full of large terrain, it would really look junky. But if you put down a decent amount of large terrain and add several small pieces, it adds variation and depth to your board.
When you look at my neighbor’s house, it’s not just a house sitting there in an empty lot. It’s a house, driveway, bushes, trees, children’s toys, a never-used pool that’s green, and a bunch of crap in the back yard. You’ll also see a couple trash bags, and- why do they have two trash cans that sit outside when they don’t get trash delivery? And why are the trash bags sitting next to the trash cans? Are the trash cans perpetually full or something? Would it kill them to just tidy up their back yard once in a while? I mean, that trampoline hasn’t been used in years and is falling apart. And don’t even get me started on that garden they start every year and let grow out of control.
Well, it Seems I May Have Gotten Off-topic
Point is, they have a lot of junky stuff in their back yard for all us neighbors to stare at every time we go outside. Besides their house. That’s a pile of hot mess too. But before I get mad again, it’s not just a house. If you want your boards to look more realistic, add smaller terrain around the large ones to simulate terrible neighbors or something.
[looks out window]
Aarrggh! Now there’s a used tire. WTF.
Don’t you agree that cover adds a whole level of strategy?
