Detection in tabletop games (was: EW)

Fog of war, hidden units, hide'n'seek etc. are all fun. IMHO, the single
most fun aspect of playing Steel Panthers (the original -- I don't do
modern) was the agony of trying to find out where the enemy was before
he found you...

Unfortunately, hidden things is where computer games excel and
miniatures
suck.

Boardgamers have double-blind (though even that has its share of
problems), but our problem is heightened by not having a discrete
playing
ground (i.e. no hexes), and further in games like FT where the exact
heading is important in addition to location.

Who can supply two gaming tables with the exact same terrain?

Hidden movement would be nice, but IMHO practical considerations
preclude
actual playable implementation in miniatures games...

When was the last time you saw a miniatures game about submarine
warfare?
(Apparently TTG makes one, but it's one of theirs I don't have) WWII
carrier warfare?

PB(e)M, OTOH, effectively turns the game into a computer game in this
regard -- you get hidden stuff and can hide horribly complex calculus in
program subroutines, but you lose the minis and the visual spectacle
(and 
no, scanned images of miniatures don't help ;-)

I guess it's about having your cake and eating it too...

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