knighkrawler's krap [rules]: LINE OF SIGHT

[Tott]

as soon as i read 'the chest of one figure' it made me think about the direction that the figure is facing, maybe that's me being a bit too literal though.

[Sjeng]

I wouldn't let the miniatures shape play any role at all in the game to be honest. It's irrelevant. You'd be making the sculpt a serious factor, while it shouldn't be.

[Daedalus]

Using a Square:

After you have used all your Movement Points you may re-position your figure within the square it is currently occupying in any way that keeps the figure's base rim completely within the square. This way you might be able to utilize the LoS rule to your advantage. Your figure's position within the square is not to be changed until its next movement.

It should work okay with all figures but really wonky ones, like the Giant Wolf. It can attack any adjacent square, even one from its rear. It could be positioned so that it could attack around a corner with it's rear square and be out of LoS from almost all other attacks but the adjacent one. Conversely, it could also be positioned so that its chest is in LoS around a corner while its base isn't. Sounds like by rebasing or proxying the figures you've solved that problem, so no worries.

Using a Square:
After you have used all your Movement Points you may re-position your figure within the square it is currently occupying in any way that keeps the figure's base rim completely within the square.

...If an imaginary straight line can be drawn from the chest of one figure to the chest of another figure, the figures are in each other's Line of Sight.

So I can turn my back on a figure and he can no longer see me? Can't he shoot me in the back?
Does this count as using the LoS rule to my advantage?

as soon as i read 'the chest of one figure' it made me think about the direction that the figure is facing, maybe that's me being a bit too literal though.

I didn't have a problem with chest, but perhaps midsection would work better. Midsection works better with a snake or squig, too.

[Big Bene]

After you have used all your Movement Points you may re-position your figure within the square it is currently occupying in any way that keeps the figure's base rim completely within the square. This way you might be able to utilize the LoS rule to your advantage. Your figure's position within the square is not to be changed until its next movement.

I wouldn't let the miniatures shape play any role at all in the game to be honest. It's irrelevant. You'd be making the sculpt a serious factor, while it shouldn't be.

I'm all with Sjeng here.
Simplicity is the key.
Well, KK, it's your ruleset, and you can use what you want and leave what you want.
But you asked for advise, and my strong advise would be - and as much as I see, I'm in line here with Sjeng, drathe and Daedalus - not to use the actual figures for taking any measurements in game. The minis are just tokens representing a charakter. A goblin may well be a good deal smaller or bigger in the "real" game world. And think about all the charakters the Chaos Sorcerer Mini stands in for!
Thats why I (and the others I named) use the gameboard squares, and this was the main point in the suggestions in my first post. I like the thought you have put in the realism of your LoS rule, but I fear players won't appreciate it when playing a "simple" dungeon crawling game and then have to take complicated measurements whenever trying a ranged attack.

We're touching the field of narrative vs. simulation here, wich is a constant pairing of opposites in roleplaying / dungeoncrawling games.
Perhaps it's more clear to use examples from other media - compare Final Fantasy to Skyrim. Skyrim is more of a simulation of a fantasy world than a game. The story is there, but when you are palying it for the story, you will be disappointed, cause the details of the world distract from it and interrupt it. Final Fantasy is all about story - it leads you from climax to climax and while you play your charakter (with relatively limited choices) the epic unfolds before you. I think it's more fun to play, but fans of "open world" games - i. e. simulation - will be disappointed by the linear storyline.

It's an underlying pattern of nerd culture:
Simulation <-> Narration
Skyrim - Final Fantasy
Star Trek (new serials) - Star Wars, Babylon 5
Tolkien - Howard, Moorcock
Rolemaster - AD&D
Warhammer Quest - Heroquest

As you may have suspected, I' all on the narraton side

[knightkrawler]

I never wanted to complicate things, and haven't taken into account figure's posings and just how important the rule wording is and how the figures disrupt simplicity.
You're all right here. I presented this to avoid getting off into complicated specification again like I did when I first delved into this hobby.
That's what this discussion is all about. Keeping me sane. And what my ruleset is all about.
Thing is, I read the rules once to my players, if the situation occurs and someone is about to make a mistake, I explain and that's that. Very intuitive when played out. Still interpretable however I put it all into words and the sculpt defining rules is really really not called for by anyone.
It's a conundrum started by the sloppiness of HQ EU edition 1 and 2.

A quick solution to accomodate for height differences and ranged attacks over figures being possible, would be a new re-worded rule, accompanied by a monster special rule. Like "does not block LoS" or something on the cards of Goblins, Skaven, Kobolds.
Seems simple to me. Doesn't discriminate against specific heroes when shooting and when being shot at both.