Terrain Talk - the Road to Civilization

 New Keywords

Our first test run with new Terrain Pieces was a huge success among our group; eager to try out more new Terrain, this time we've added some new Keywords to go along with it.

Smooth: Units moving into, out of, or through this Terrain add 1” to the total distance they would move

This Keyword is created to be the exact opposite of the Rough Keyword & will be used on the new Road terrain piece we'll be trying out.

Exposed: If the Defender is in contact with this Terrain piece during a Charge, the defender suffers -1 to their Defense Dice Rolls vs. that attack.

This Keyword is meant to be the opposite of Fortified; however, Fortified in exact reverse has some weird interactions.  If worded like Fortified, an Attacker charging a unit from within Exposed Terrain would benefit from that ability against a Defender who may be nowhere near that Terrain.  With that in mind, it's been adjusted to require the Defender be in contact with the Exposed Terrain to suffer its effects.

We initially tested out granting these negative bonus against Ranged Attacks also, but have decided to eliminate that for two main reasons.

1. In general, the game avoids modifying ranged attacks & we believe, with good reason, it's best to stick with that more cautious approach.
2. On our first trial at least, it wasn't intuitive to remember this would also apply to ranged attacks. Terrain only affecting charges is more in line with all other, similar Terrain rules.

Besides the new Road Terrain, we also have applied this Keyword to our Pond Terrain piece from our previous article instead of Fortified.

Piece #1 - The Road

Terrain Keywords: Smooth, Exposed

Special Rules: Placement by D6, 1" spacing from other terrain

This piece was designed to speed up the movement of units across the battlefield, but at the risk of a more exposed position to the enemy if you linger there for too long.  And thus, we applied both of our new Keywords to this Terrain.  Conveniently, we also glued our Road Pieces to the opposite side of our previously created Rivers (and they feel even more like official pieces of ASOIAF terrain because of it!)

Like the river, this is a continuous piece of terrain that spans edge-to-edge and is not place-able by players during normal terrain setup.  This terrain is also pre-located on the map according to the roll of 1D6, as shown in our previous article: Terrain Talk - Adding Some Water Features

(Try out a map with a Road and River, if you're feeling adventurous!  Then where the two might cross, add a bridge!)

Piece #2 - The Cottage

Terrain Keywords: Cover, Fortified, Destructible

Special Rules: None

The cottage provides a suite of Keywords you might recognize together; this piece is basically a destructible Forest.  The piece felt appropriate for the theme of the week though; after all, nothing says "civilization" like commandeering and subsequently destroying the local population's homes and farmland for your own gains.

Piece #3 - Statues & Gallows

    

Terrain Keywords: Inspiring/Horrific, Destructible

Special Rules: None

The Statues & Gallows are designed to give morale modifiers (Inspiring & Horrific, respectively) with a much smaller footprint than the Weirwood & Corpse Pile.  These Terrain pieces, being "man made" features, seemed fitting to also give Destructible.

While small, the 6" morale bubble around each piece still should not be discounted (as well as a 6" bubble to edge out other Terrain during Set Up).  Additionally, being smaller in size actually works in these Terrain pieces' favor, as it requires deliberate positioning if you intend to destroy either.

Piece #4 - The Hill

Terrain Keywords: Elevated, Hindering

Special Rules: None

This is a Terrain piece that many will be somewhat familiar.  The Hill was introduced in the Kickstarter, but eliminated thereafter.  While it made sense to cut it - a 3D piece of terrain on an otherwise 2D game is extremely inconvenient & I'll throw away the hill before I ever risk trying to balance a unit tray half hanging off this terrain & the Elevated keyword, considering how Line of Sight works, is not particularly impactful, we decided to see what happened if we reintroduce it.  To account for Elevated being generally useless, we also gave this terrain piece Hindering. (It's hard work, running up a hill!)

(Note that this piece of terrain fits well on the reverse-side of the "Cottage" too.)

Piece #5 - Expanded Fortifications

This one is less a new Terrain Piece, and more a new take on several existing pieces.  In keeping with the theme of battles in more populated towns & provinces, one can assume that the area will be built up more so than a more remote battlefield, whether from existing structures or easier access to materials.

This suggested rule would apply to all the standard destructible Terrain Pieces, Stakes; Walls; Hedges; and Palisades.

Special Rule: Place 2, Treat as 1

When a player elects to place one of these pieces of Terrain, they will instead get to place two of those Pieces in any configuration they want, as long as the two are in direct contact with one another in some way.  These will be treated as a single Terrain Piece (including if/when they are destroyed during the battle).

Modified Random Pool:

Now that we've published two articles on custom Terrain, it's a good time to create a new Random Terrain Table that incorporates all the new Terrain ideas we've come up with so far.  We've opted for rolling a D20 instead of 2D6, since we have more options than 2D6 can accommodate.  As you come up with more options within your own group, just continue to reduce the size of the "Player's Choice" range! (17-20 most closely replicates the original table's chances of giving Player's Choice, as the odds of rolling a 7 is about 17%.)

• [1]: Corpse Pile
• [2]: Weirwood Tree
• [3]: Bog
• [4]: Forest
• [5]: Palisade*
• [6]: Stakes*
• [7]: Hedge*
• [8]: Low Wall*
• [9]: Road
• [10]: River
• [11]: Pond
• [12]: Hill
• [13]: Cottage
• [14]: Gallows
• [15]: Statue
• [16-20]: Player's Choice

*For Palisade, Stakes, Hedge, & Low Wall, re-roll the D20:

• [1-10]: Place the Terrain Piece normally
• [11-20]: Place the Terrain according to the Expanded Fortifications rules above