In our club we've just ran our first tournament and had some LoS issues. after discussion (actually, after tournament) we've found that rules said nothing in regards "from which point terrain height should be measured when drawing LoS". Looks like rules assumed measuring height of terrain on start of the game. And nothing in rules said about "relative" height of different terrain piece (except case when 2 models standing on terrain of equal height, but this rule looks bizzare too)
For our local meta we've decided to measure terrain height from point where lower model is standing. Here is why:
1) It's a popular case from forums:
By RAW - G1 and G2 cannot see each other.
But if we measure terrain height from point where lower model is standing we are fixing these two Gamins
2) Another popular case:
By RAW - G1 and G2 doesn't see each other again. Since "If the acting model and the target model are both on vantage point terrain with the same Height, LoS is drawn normally." And normally - Ht2 terrain blocking LoS between Ht1 and Ht1 models.
But, if we are measuring terrain Height from point where Lower model is standing - there is actually no terrain between these 2 models
3) Not popular, but possible situation. Blue square on this image is a "river", on bottom of which models can stand, 2" deep:
By RAW - in Malifaux there are no such deep rivers. Ht cannot be "below 0". And there are 2 possible conclusions, both of them are actually bad/contr-intuitive:
1) Ignore such terrain feature either by banning tables with rivers/holes/etc. on it, or let models stand on top of this terrain (put something inside of this "hole", make a "bridges"), or not allow model to be pushed/moved inside.
2) Measure terrain from bottom of this "river", effectively making all terrain around river Vantage Points, 2ht (which is... bizzare, no one can shoot)
If we are measuring terrain height from point where lower terain stands - this river have Ht0. Which is perfect.
4) It's a new scenario, that I haven't found anywhere on forums/faq/etc.
By RAW Rasputina can't see Snowstorm (and vice versa), because all LoS from base to base are passing through Blocking terrain.
(Snowstorm is HT3 model, so they can always ignore terrain lower than HT3, and when measuring LoS for Vantage point - it's equal or lower, but HT4 is higher, hence HT4 terrain cannot be ignored)
But if we measure terrain Height from point where SnowStorm standing - elevation of Rasputina became Ht2 - and Ht2 will be ignored (it will be Hard Cover anyway)
So, basically there are two questions:
1) Is my RAW is correct, and by RAW all heights are broken if both acting model and target stand on Vantage Point / Elevation
2) Is our "home rule" actually a homerule, and if yes - does it make sense to you?