DK's Alternate Terrain Adjustment Rule

[Rich Gause]

Here is the rule we playtested:

1) Defender positions all terrain as current DBA rules.

2) Attacker rolls 1d6 for each area terrain piece. On a 1-2 he may shift that piece up to 1 Base Width(BW) in any direction, or rotate it up to 45 degrees. Move that piece before making further rolls. The terrain must be legal by the rules after the move.

3) If the table has no Bad Going(BGo) within 600p of the center of the battlefield, the attacker rolls d6 once more and on a 1-2 he may move the smallest piece of BGo as he wishes so that it is within 600p of the center of the battlefield, or place a new piece of BGo no more than 2BWx2BW in size within 600p of the center of the battlefield. The terrain must be legal by the rules after the move or addition. If the attacker places such a new piece the defender gets a chance to adjust it as in step 2) above.

4) After all adjustments, roll for board edge as normal.

[Rich Gause]

We playtested this terrain adjustment rule at our FADBAG DBA day in Kissimmee on 1/22/11 and it is so superior to the current rules that I would want to include it in any DBA event I ever play in. It should be given very serious consideration for DBA 3.0 IMO. I think the 1-2 die roll needed is just right for the moves and/or addition. 1 is absolutely too low and I think 1-3 would be too high for step two, and for sure too high for step 3. We had 15 games of DBA-RRR then 15 games of DBA, both on 30" boards. It definitely affected my terrain placement decisions as defender. Every game I put a small or larger patch of bad going within 4.5" away from the center. I didn't want the attacker to have a chance to move it outside of 6" and then have a chance to place another piece. One constricted battlefield with two big steep hills and two woods(I was playing Serbians with 7 Aux) that I set up had two of the pieces moved further out which lessened the favoribility of the terrain to me without eliminating my advantage entirely. I think the rule worked exactly like it was supposed to. It makes armies that are terrain dependent, especially ones with higher aggression, a lot more playable IMO. I believe it would work equally well with 24" boards and will try it next time I play on them, even though I am convinced at this point 30" boards make for a better game.

[Tony Aguilar]

Originally Posted by Rich Gause

We playtested this terrain adjustment rule at our FADBAG DBA day in Kissimmee on 1/22/11 and it is so superior to the current rules that I would want to include it in any DBA event I ever play in.

Yep, I'll probably include it in any event I run.

Originally Posted by Rich Gause

I believe it would work equally well with 24" boards and will try it next time I play on them, even though I am convinced at this point 30" boards make for a better game.

I have never seen 30" boards shine as well as they did yesterday. With the terrain rules and the larger board and the alternate terrain rules in play I suspect we will see more of those lighter, bad going armies.

[Paul Potter]

Interesting. Were there any negatives? -Paul

[Rich Gause]

Originally Posted by Paul Potter

Interesting. Were there any negatives? -Paul

None that I can think of. Off hand it might not seem like having a minimal size piece of bad going near the center of the board would make that much of a difference, but it really does compared to the standard postage stamps on opposite ends that is usually seen.

[SteveW]

Are there any thoughts as to how this type of system would work for BBDBA?

Steve

[Martin Smith]

Originally Posted by Rich Gause

Here is the rule we playtested:

1) Defender positions all terrain as current DBA rules.

2) Attacker rolls 1d6 for each area terrain piece. On a 1-2 he may shift that piece up to 1 Base Width(BW) in any direction, or rotate it up to 45 degrees. Move that piece before making further rolls. The terrain must be legal by the rules after the move.

3) If the table has no Bad Going(BGo) within 600p of the center of the battlefield, the attacker rolls d6 once more and on a 1-2 he may move the smallest piece of BGo as he wishes so that it is within 600p of the center of the battlefield, or place a new piece of BGo no more than 2BWx2BW in size within 600p of the center of the battlefield. The terrain must be legal by the rules after the move or addition.

4) After all adjustments, roll for board edge as normal.

Is there still a requirement for a BWD between area features AFTER the rotation or movement of the terrain piece(s) ?? Is that what is meant by 'legal by the rules after the move'?
Martin

[Tony Aguilar]

Originally Posted by Martin Smith

Is there still a requirement for a BWD between area features AFTER the rotation or movement of the terrain piece(s) ?? Is that what is meant by 'legal by the rules after the move'?
Martin

Yes- and you still need to have:
1) At least 3 quarters must include part of a terrain feature
2) At least 2 quarters must include a Waterway, River or some bad going
3) It cannot include more than 1 each of Waterway, River, Oasis or BUA, or more than 2 each of any optional type of feature.

[Rich Gause]

The other nice thing is it should add less than a minute to setup time. As the attacker how long does it take to roll up to 5 dice and move terrain a base width in towards the center or out towards the edge if you roll a one or two? 20 seconds maybe tops??, unless you are prone to dithering..........

[Tony Aguilar]

It is also OPTIONAL. There were two of the battles where I liked the terrain the defender had setup just how it was and saw no need to adjust it.