House Rules for Terrain

[eldurand]

I have begun to make terrain, buildings in particular, for Malifaux, and it leads me to a question on terrain and movement, specifically in terms of doorways and entrances. In the rules it says if a character's base cannot pass through a gap, then the figure cannot move through that gap. In terms of the aesthetics of structures, IMO, that leads to doors that are excessively wide. Since I personally prefer to have the buildings look more proportionally correct rather than having extra large doors, that leads to a dilemma.

The easiest solution is obviously to use house rule for the situation. I am thinking of something along these lines. Any figure on a 30mm base may pass through a doorway as small as 25mm (which is the smallest I use). Any models on a larger base that are part of a swarm of smaller creatures that individually would be on 30mm bases may pass through 25mm doorways.

Do others have similar house rules? Also, since I assume tournaments are played with the rules "as written," would having great terrain with narrow doors preclude them from being used in tournaments?

Thanks!

[nilus]

Do others have similar house rules? Also, since I assume tournaments are played with the rules "as written," would having great terrain with narrow doors preclude them from being used in tournaments?

Its really up to the TO and the people playing but in my part of the world we generally don't worry to much. Best and simplest way to handle it is to just say any model can move through a doorway.

If you want to be more detailed then you can opt to have 30mm move through fine, maybe 40mm can but it counts as severe terrain and say 50mm can't at all. That works fine for close nit groups and open play. For a tourney its best to just stick to simple and say everyone can go through doors.

[Iamwyrd]

At my lgs if we use buildings we usually allow any model to move through. It Just counts as severe terrain to move through. Cause if you think about it, if killjoy wants to get into the building he will by smashing through, so instead of destroying terrain, he hypothetically crashes through, etc for everything that is on a big base, except hamelin of course. Lol

[Darguth]

Alternatively you could use the Ht of models as the size requirement rather than the base size. So you could have say Ht:2 doors or if you've got some grand double-door leading into some structure it could be a Ht:3+ door etc.

[Omenbringer]

I think Darguth has the right approach to house rules for building entries, though you could use both measurements to limt oddly shaped models using the buildings.

[Darguth]

This also means that you could have small holes or broken boards etc. in the sides of buildings that could serve as Ht:1 entrances too, so that only little critters and the like can use them

[eldurand]

Thanks for the tips. I really like the idea of using a model's height. I'll have to try it in some games and see how it works.

[The Madman]

Our league has a component to make terrain to add into the game

so Making it "Model Friendly" is a MAJOR concern of mine as this a new endevor for me...

Korrova (one of our veteran players) suggested we consider each model as a Ht 2 30mm or ht 3 whatever...

CILINDER

it's good advice for establishing LOS and building doorways & movment zones among the terrain features

[ispep]

At my lgs if we use buildings we usually allow any model to move through. It Just counts as severe terrain to move through. Cause if you think about it, if killjoy wants to get into the building he will by smashing through, so instead of destroying terrain, he hypothetically crashes through, etc for everything that is on a big base, except hamelin of course. Lol

Anyone else think this calls for a conversion? Killjoy in red, with his cleaver swapped out for a Kool-Aid pitcher?

[jmp_mydog]

One thing to consider is that even if you restrict access based on model height or the base size, there are rules for breaking terrain.

Think of it like a Tom and Jerry Cartoon. A gremlin is hiding in a small building with a Mature Neph. trying to get at it, eventually it just smashes the wall and comes in.

So restricting entrances works in game terms just fine, even in a competitive environment, since the game already addresses the issue. No real need for house rules.