4.1 does not adequately cover spotting for hedges

Norm

Member
I am surprised that there is not a paragrah that deals with spotting targets that are immediately behind walls and hedges, all the rules are about ‘in hex’ terrain features.

the dilema is that a hedge for example is blocking terrain, but not being ‘in hex’ terrain, the in hex part is classed as open.

So while it becomes obvious that a LOS that crosses a hedge does see into the hex of which the hedge forms a hexside ..... it is no way made clear whether troops in that hex for spotting purposes are in an open hex and auto spotted or ‘hidden’ behind the blocking terrain of the hedge (across which the LOS passes) and therefore would need to be spotted.

Without a specific rule, due to all other definitions, the troops are simply in an open hex and don’t need spotting - this seems to be the supported view in some unofficial answers!
 

gashlycrumb

Member
Hi Norm, yes, I struggled to understand spotting across hexside terrain (like walls and hedges). Based on reading BGG posts and from questions I posted here, here's how I understand spotting across hexside terrain (although I'm still learning the system, so I could be wrong :) :

Map 14:
14-I4 to 14-I6 (assuming hexside terrain is hedge) - 14-I6 is automatically spotted
14-E4 to 14-C3 (assuming hexside terrain is hedge and Low Crops are in season) - 14-C3 is not automatically spotted

http://forums.lnlpublishing.com/threads/spotting-across-hedge-wall-bocage.2590/
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/793899/los-questions

LNL Tactical is my favorite game system, but the rules are confusing (and prone to errata/grammatical errors), that make trying to learn the system more difficult :(
 

Stéphane Tanguay

Moderator
Staff member
Unless there is a specific mention in the hexside terrain description (such as for bocage), units in open terain behind a hexside terrain are auto-spotted. When the hexside terrain does mention that unit behind it must be spotted, use said hexside type to determine the required spotting roll. Thus, you would need to roll 2 or less to spot a unit standing in the open behind a bocage hexside
 

Norm

Member
I agree that the rules as written mean exactly that ..... though
we are relying on the implication caused by the Bocage special rule in the HoN game to support that view
plus we rely on the fact that spotting is driven by the hex terrain (i.e. the centre dot terrain) so an open hex bordered by a hedge is classed as open terrain, despite the fact the hedge, which is blocking terrain is between the target and the spotter and so intuitively, one should expect to spot, in the same way that a wall gives +1 protection because it is between firer and target.

It just feels like the hexside terrain rule for spotting has been left out of the current rules (4.1) and that we are relying on the existence of the bocage rule in one module (which you may not have) to give us a clue.
 
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