Defending Terrain

[hithero]

Something that cropped up in a game tonight, are there or should there be any combat bonuses when defending an obstacle such as a wall? We were thinking that something simple like a +1 Tough save would be appropriate.

[Kryptovidicus]

That sounds like a good idea. You could also have miniatures enter buildings.
As far as I'm aware there are no cover bonusses and such in WoT (but I have yet to play my first game so I could be wrong). Perhaps you could also rule that the defenders (or the ones into cover) receive an extra 'oran' stone while defending.

[Carcharoth]

There aren't currently rules for defending linear obstacles - not normally relevant for empire vs devanu skirmishes but I should add them at some point.
The rules as they stand would make it impossible to engage a model over an obstacle - you would have to go round or find a point where you can move over it cautiously.

One option would be to allow a model to initiate a combat over a barrier, but the defending model gains an additional stone. If the attacker wins then it has the option to cross the barrier as a bonus movement (if there is space).

It'll need play testing though.

[Kryptovidicus]

With the flying frenu it is probably going to need another set of rules. 

I like the rule where you can initiate a combat over a barrier.
The extra support stone is the same as with the 'obstructed' rule, right.
But I suppose other miniatures in contact with the barrier can add support, just like in a normal combat.

It might be useful when you create scenarios, like an Empire town bunkered in against a Delgon assault.

[hithero]

Adding an extra Oran stone would make sense to make it consistent with the shooting rules and not make 3+ Tough defenders being over-powerful in defence with a +1 bonus.  I'm thinking of needing a rule to open up the possibility of attacker/defender scenarios, villagers/militia defending their homes waiting for the knights arrival or a caravan holed out in a way station being attacked by bandits or Devanu, an underground complex being attacked with the defenders throwing up hastily erected barricades to slow the advance etc etc.

[TuffSkull]

We came up against it before with regards to defending woods ad such, but decided that in this small scale of combat, both sides would be helped and hindered by the terrain.

Linear obstacles such as walls however, they would make sense to have some defence rules added, and counting the defender as obstructed would make sense and be simple to stick with current rules.

Since I'm looking at making some terrain soon, have to say I particularly like the idea of a defend the settlement scenario!

[hithero]

The only problem I see at the moment with adding a combat stone is combats that involve multiple supports.  Adding the stone is fine with 1 on 1 fights but what if both sides have 2 or 3 supports, the one stone then becomes almost irrelevant.  I'm thinking that if you have a row of models attacking another row behind a wall, then fights must be split 1V1 where possible.

[Kryptovidicus]

I came to that conclusion too, hence my question about support in an earlier post.
A solution could be to get an automatic oran. Cancelling out one of the defenders ecran stones right away. And as such rellying less in luck. While the attackers really needs more luck.

Another thing to consider if the contact with the wall counts as engaged. They are not in base to base, so in fact they could shoot at each other. Or the rule could be the defender can shoot while defending the barrier. While the attacker is busy trying to get over the barricade.

[hithero]

We tried out a scenario utilising defendable cover last night.  The defender gains an extra Oran stone just like shooting, using the same method keeps things simple.

The rule seemed to work really well but we did have to introduce a zone of control rule or enemy models could easily bypass defenders which would defeat the objective of having defensible terrain.  We kept it simple and just said that an enemy model could not cross the wall if within 1" of a defender.

We imagined the wall not being there when working which models were in B2B contact which meant that a maximum of 2 attacking models could be in B2B with 1 defender.

The next conundrum we faced was when the defenders wanted to pull back from the wall.  Breaking of allows for a Cautious move and in theory, the attacker would move the same distance for crossing an obstacle.  But instead of the models ending in contact again (as if they were in difficult ground) we still took the width of the wall into the equation so the attacker would fall short by 10mm or so.  We think this is reasonable and realistic allowing defenders to break away.

All in all it worked really well, even if it did give some nice targets for the Delgon area weapons.  In our game the attacking Delgon just about achieved their objective (take two points within the compound) before the reliving knights wiped them out.  The Delgon were just one turn away from losing.  Here's a couple of pics:

Delgon closing in.

At the end of the game

[Kryptovidicus]

Very cool looking terrain!
Thank you for posting your idea's about the defendable terrain.
When I've painted enough I will no doubt try out your test-rules.

[Carcharoth]

Thanks for sharing that! Interesting comments as well. I'll have to do a defending style scenario on the Twilight day to try out rules...