Hills, ridge lines and LoS / dead ground? How do you...

[olicana]

I'd be interested how you would define hills like mine, in your rules, for ridge lines, line of sight, dead ground, etc.

These hills are made from 1" high foam board shapes, laid bread and butter fashion, under my tablecloth with top edge of each hill shape marked with flock contours for quick recognition. Note: My hill shapes are not cut straight down at their edge, they all have 1 in 3 slopes (which is about the maximum length of slope you can cut with a coping saw and close to the natural drop of the cloth when laid over); this means that troops don't 'pull / tug' on the cloth when placed on the slope.:



Hills in horse and musket games are always important but, because of the way most wargames hills are made, ridge lines and dead ground (on the top of a flat hill from lower elevations, etc.) are always hard to define. I hope you don't mind but, I'm not going to say how I do it because I'm more interested in how you do it: I'll throw my rules into the conversation later.

It's a perennial problem and there are plenty of people out there cleverer than I; I'm hoping one of you has come up with something simple, elegant and very workable.

[FifteensAway]

I don't have rules that do it and I cannot think of any of the rules I've come into contact with that define the "military crest" which is what matters - though it may change how that is defined for different periods, especially with the advent of indirect fire as a controllable element of the field of battle.  And then there is the matter of 'folds in the ground' being used to conceal troops, Wellington being famous for this.  So, I am curious to see how this conversation develops.  I would love to have a reliable mechanism that allows for a force in concealment in the middle of a battlefield that cannot be seen until encountered or choosing to reveal itself - that isn't reliant on real and fake markers, etc.  Only way I've seen is a declaration in secret to a game master. 

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Sealed or always visible envelope with the grid coordinate location pencilled in within, before the first move during setup.  reveal as needed.

[olicana]

I know where you are coming from on this but it wasn't really what I was looking for. I'm more interested in how the rules work for charging and shooting.

E.g.

Unit A is on top of a large 1 contour high hill; it is 6" from the contour line. Unit B is approaching the the hill on lower (0 contour height) ground; it is within musketry range. Can A and B see each other?

In the real world there are more factors. Is the hill flat topped or does it have a ridge line? If it's flat topped then is A in the lee of the contour and thus obscured; but, if the hill isn't flat topped is A on the up slope or behind the (unmarked) crest line?

This begs the question, do you, and how do you, mark ridge lines on your flat topped hill shapes? Or do you have a rule, or rule of thumb, that covers this?

As said at the start, hills are very slippery pieces of terrain unless you represent hills with high ground that is truly hill shaped, with proper ridge lines 'built in'. In most cases I can't / don't do this because my hills are the more commonly seen (on a gaming table) simple 'flat topped' shapes laid one on top of the other.

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Height of the hill matters as well as distance to the crest. If the hill is 300 meters tall and the scale is 1” /100 meters being 3” from the crest would put a unit immediately in the dead zone.  It’s basic geometry. 

Take a piece of graph paper and block in the vertically heights as a column on the vertical axis at the horizontal distances from the firer and draw a line between it and the lower target’s height. It’s as clear as if you had run a laser pointer on just the map.   We did this all the time for the old board game Squad Leader.   If the hill is mesa shaped it’s easier but if it is sloped you can judge easily enough with a 50% increment.

[FifteensAway]

I, too, use flat topped hills - the "wedding cake" style.  I think, if bespoke hills, marking the ridge line is probably a very good idea and could be done with a subtle but clearly visible line of flocking in a different, though complimentary, color.  And that allows multiple ridges on some pieces, say a large kidney shaped hill with one ridge being curved to 'one side' and then another ridge line that connects at one point with the other and veers off in its own direction - and the ridge lines can, and should, curve.  If not bespoke hills could use loose flock or perhaps better with some sort of 'weighted' string that will stay in place during play (string less messy and less wasteful at cleanup/put away).  I'm going to have to contemplate doing this on my hills - more so than I've done in the past, the considering.

As to making it work in rules, "was framed"'s ideas might work but maybe simplify a bit.  I think it can be as simple from ridge line to distance X, clear line of sight, beyond distance X, no LOS - and that works in both down hill and up hill directions.  Or can simply use the 'edge' of the flat hill, can see to it but not beyond it, but that seems less satisfactory, especially for the unit pointe uphill.  And units beyond ridge line by distance Y cannot see/be seen.

[olicana]

Time to throw in my own rules for this. They are a bit abstract in some situations but in general they work pretty well as a 'rule of thumb'.

Obscured, a term I pinched from Soldiers of Napoleon, is a negative modifier to shooting.

Contour refers to the top edge of a flat topped (wedding cake fashion) hill terrain piece.

All LoS is measured from the middle front of the observing unit to nearest middle of the observed unit.

I have simply cut and pasted the rule from my quick reference sheet - which is why there are no paragraphs - it is a space on sheet thing.

LINE OF SIGHT (LoS) / OBSCURED : Friendly troops block LoS to all but howitzers, or guns firing shot, overhead from / to higher ground. High ground, town sections and woods hide any units beyond. High ground can see over all terrain other than high ground but, town sections and woods cast 12” of dead ground immediately behind. The top contour of a hill will obscure troops if either the viewer or viewed is more than 3” from it on higher / lower elevations; lower contours obscure similarly if no higher contour is behind and in direct LOS. Linear obstacles obscure except when fired over by troops in contact or when fired over from higher elevations when they only obscure troops directly behind them. Units behind fortifications, or within 3” of a wood’s edge or similar, or in a town section, can see out as if in the open: Such units can be seen from outside, obscured. LoS deeper within woods, or similar, is restricted to 6” or the next town section, obscured. Note: If half of a unit’s stands are obscured by intervening terrain all of it is obscured.