[GZG] Re: [SG2] Terrain layout

I prefer to take an actual aerial photo or map and try my best to
recreate it.  Isn't always possible, and for Stargrunt it requires some
scaling, but it can be fun to set up something based on local terrain
that someone else might recognize.  "So, my Kra'vaks advanced from the
cover of the Starbucks, through the drainage ditch, up to the corner of
the Wal-Mart.  There's no way that your APC could have seen them from
behind that McDonalds!"  But seriously, real life can always kick the
butt of "imagined" terrain, and has a much more realistic feel than
heaps o' trees clumped together every 12".  Even if it isn't balanced in
terms of cover and concealment, the real world never is, either.  Some
real-world examples --

This motel is about two minutes' drive from my house:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=99201&ll=47.751898,-117.400927&s
pn=0.002536,0.006781&t=k

There's tons of different terrain in just that little patch of ground. 
Dense neighborhoods on the left with trees intermixed;	low-density
commercial on the right, with some wide-open parking lots to provide
danger zones and fields of fire.  

Here's my battalion's motor pools at my last duty station when in the
Army (Note the lack of tanks -- they've been in Iraq for many, many
moons now):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=98433&t=k&ll=47.066051,-122.5891
13&spn=0.002412,0.006695&t=k

Another example of open fields of fire interspersed with hard cover
(vehicles, buildings), soft cover (trees and brush), and linear
engagement areas (streets and tank trails).

Here's my alma mater:

http://chrismilian.info/cornell.htm

Again, a good mix of cover and concealment, danger zones, avenues of
approach, and so forth.

Maybe it's my inherent laziness (okay, it's *probably* my inherent
laziness!), but I find it best just to look to the world around me when
setting up terrain on the tabletop.

HTH,
Andreas

> Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 07:42:20 -0800
> From: "laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>
> Subject: [GZG] [SG2] Terrain layout
> To: gzg-l@lists.csua.berkeley.edu
> Message-ID: <4405c0dc.175.c9c.8023@quixnet.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> When you're setting up a SG game--say a pickup game on a 4x6
> table-- what's your rule of thumb for setting up terrain?
> How much hard cover, soft cover, and items that block LOS
> (hills, woods)?
> 

-- 
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