DBA Deep-Dive: 3. Terrain

The battlefield is produced by the defending player, placing pieces on a flat field representing GOOD GOING.

Defender bisects the battlefield into four equal quarters, numbered 1-4 clockwise from his left.

Choosing and placing features

Each army list has a list of terrain types for use when the army is defending.

·         Choose 1-2 compulsory and 2-3 optional pieces.

·         Must include at least one BAD or ROUGH or River or Waterway.

·         Can only have one of Waterway, River, Oasis, Gully, or BUA.

·         Can only have up to two of Roads, or three of any other single type.

Place Waterway first, then compulsory, then others.

Dice for each feature.

·         1-4 indicates which quarter it goes in.

·         5 means defender chooses quarter.

·         6 means attacker chooses quarter (but does not place it).

Plough MUST overlap one adjacent quarter.

Gentle Hills MAY overlap one adjacent quarter.

All other area features must be entirely within the quarter.

Linear features MUST overlap one adjacent quarter.

A feature that cannot be placed is discarded.

Each area feature must have at least 1BW of free space around it (but can be closer to a BUA).

Feature Size

Area features must fit into an area whose length plus width is within 9BW total.

Only one feature can have a length AND width less than 3BW.

 Length and width must not be less than 1VW each for all features.

A Gully’s length must be at least 3 times its width.

Length of other features must not exceed twice their width.

BUA and Plough can have straight edges. Others need to look ‘natural’.

A City or Fort can be combined with a permitted Hilly type which has a larger footprint.

Good, Bad, and Rough Going

BAD GOING includes:

·         Difficult Hills, Woods, Marsh, and Gullies.

·         It slows down movement and affects close combat factors for some foot and all mounted.

·         May also affect shooting.

·         Dunes and Oasis are BAD Going for all except camels.

·         Hills slope up to a central crest line and give close combat advantage to an element whose front edge is partly up slope of his foe’s base.

ROUGH GOING includes:

·         Rocky, Scrubby or Boggy flat ground, and Enclosures.

·         They affect some movement but not combat or shooting.

·         Plough is ROUGH if game’s first pip roll is a 1.

GOOD GOING includes:

·         Plough (but see above), Gentle Hills and all other areas not covered by terrain features.

·         An element only partly in GOOD GOING is considered in the other going type.

LINEAR features include:

·         Waterways, Rivers and Roads.

WATERWAYS:

·         are impassable,

·         extend along one battlefield edge.

·         can be 1-4BW wide,

·         no more than half its length can be more than 3BW.

·         can have a 2BW beach or flood plain which is GOOD GOING.

RIVERS:

·         run from one edge to another or join a Waterway.

·         Cannot be wider than 1BW wide

·         Length cannot be more than 1 ½ length of board.

·         Can cross any feature except Hill, Dunes, Oasis, or BUA.

·         Must be further than 4BW from any edge except end edges.

·         Can only be entered when attempting to cross it.

·         Condition is true for its whole length for the whole game.

·         Conditions determined when first element tries to cross (see a later post).

·         An element is defending the bank if all of it is on land and its opponent is at least partly I the river.

ROADS:

·         can be paved or dirt tracks.

·         Must be less than 1BW wide.

·         An element is on the road if the centre of its front edge is in the centre of the road.

·         Must run from one (non-Waterway) edge to opposite edge, bending minimally to avoid features if necessary.

·         A second road must join or cross the first.

·         Combat is made in going it passes through.