Terrain Rules

Open Terrain normally does not have any effect on Line of Sight, Cover, or movement. All parts of the board that are not covered by any kind of Terrain Features is Open Terrain.

A unit must take a Dangerous Terrain Test at the end of the move, if it has been in contact with Dangerous Terrain during one the following moves: March Move, Charge Move, Failed Charge Move, Flee Move, or Pursue Move.
Dangerous Terrain Tests are performed by rolling a number of D6. For each roll of ‘X+’, the unit suffers a hit that wounds automatically with AP 10.

The number of Dangerous Terrain Tests a unit must roll is equal to half the number of models in the unit, rounding fractions up, and multiplied by the models’ Height. If ‘Y’ is written, only models fulfilling these criteria take a Dangerous Terrain Test. For example, a unit of 19 Height 1 Clan Warriors would roll 10 Dangerous Terrain Tests, while a unit of a single Height 5 Dragon would roll 5 Dangerous Terrain Tests. (For units with Attached models see the Reference Handbook.)
If one of the above-mentioned moves was performed by a unit, and it has been in contact with several Terrain Features that are Dangerous Terrain, all Health Pools in it must make a Dangerous Terrain Test, for each Terrain Feature with Dangerous Terrain it has been in contact with, one at a time, removing any casualties caused by the first tests before calculating the number of dice that must be rolled for the next test. If a type of model is indicated in the brackets (X), any model not fulfilling this criteria is considered Height 0 for Dangerous Terrain Test purposes.


If a unit has multiple Health Pools, treat each of these separately for Dangerous Terrain. This means that:


  • Only Health Pools that have been in contact with the Terrain Feature need to roll Dangerous Terrain Tests.

  • Calculate the number of Dangerous Terrain Tests to roll for each Health Pool that has been in contact with the Terrain Feature, and roll the tests separately. Damage from these tests is allocated towards the Health Pool that the tests were rolled for.

For example, a unit of 10 Height 1 Rank-and-File models is joined by two Characters of Height 2. If the unit moves through Dangerous Terrain in such way that one of the Characters never touches the Terrain Features, Dangerous Terrain Tests are rolled in the following way: 5 tests for the Rank-and-File Health Pool, 2 tests for the Character that touched the Terrain Feature, and no tests for the other Character.

Line of Sight cannot be drawn through Opaque Terrain, but can be drawn into or out of it. Models always ignore Opaque Terrain they are inside for drawing Line of Sight. Note that this means the Terrain Feature contributes to Hard Cover.

Covering Terrain contributes to Cover when drawing Line of Sight through it. The bracket (X) indicates if the terrain contributes to Soft Cover or Hard Cover.

Certain Terrain Features (such as Ruins and Fields) only count as Covering Terrain for units in contact with them. Ignore any Terrain Feature the shooter itself is located in for Cover purposes.

Covering Terrain always has a bracket (Height Y) associated with it that corresponds to the largest Height where this Terrain Feature can contribute to Cover. For example, Fields are Covering Terrain (Height 3), this means that anything with a Height of 4 or above cannot claim Soft Cover from Line of Sight drawn through a Field they are in contact with.

Units in contact with Disruptive cannot claim Combat Score bonus from their Proper Ranks.