Cover limit lines in Kill Team
When do cover lines intersect with terrain features?
In Kill Team, a player (blue) can tuck an operative’s base behind terrain (orange) to be in cover:
An extreme example of this is when an operative is positioned on the corner:
If green is shooting blue, is blue in cover?
Assuming green is more than 2" away from blue, the relevant rules are:
The intended target is within 1" of a point at which a Cover line crosses a terrain feature that provides Cover.
To establish Cover lines, the active operative’s controlling player draws imaginary straight lines, 1mm wide, from any part of the active operative’s base to every part of the intended target’s base.
Ignoring that cover lines are 1mm wide for now, they could be drawn as:
The cover line crosses the terrain, so the operative is in cover.
How about if the green operative moves up?
Looks ok, but zoom in:
The cover line crosses the terrain, so the operative is in cover.
Where does green need to be, so that blue is not in cover? Can we quickly and reliably check if a cover line crosses terrain?
Take a look at the point where the blue base touches the orange terrain:
Zoom in:
As you zoom in, the arc of the base moves towards a straight line.
We can draw this line and extend it:
This line is called a tangent to the circle. To get the cover limit, draw the tangent at the point where the base touches a terrain feature.
As long as the green operative is past this line, we can be sure that all cover lines do not intersect with the terrain:
Just a little bit further back, and the blue operative would get cover:
So going back to the original position, with blue tucked in more behind orange, where is the cover limit?
The limit is drawn as a tangent at the point where blue touches the terrain:
In order for blue to not be in cover from green, green would either need to get within 2" of blue, or would need to cross the cover limit line marked in red.
How about if blue’s base is touching more than one point?
Cover limit lines are drawn as:
What about the 1mm cover line width?
As far as I can tell the 1mm rule serves 2 purposes:
- if you’re shooting through a small gap such as a window, the gap has to be at least 1mm, and the cover line you draw needs to fit through it
- if you are base to base with an enemy in smoke, and you have something that allows you to shoot from engagement range, you cannot shoot
There does not appear to be any clear guidance on where the 1mm “lines” should be drawn at their extremes. Touching the attacker and defender’s bases, partially or fully overlapping them?
I don’t think it has a significant impact on this regardless, so have ignored this detail. Let me know if you disagree.
WAAC
It may feel a stretch to claim cover from something that looks unrealistic on the board. In a casual game some players may think it is unreasonable to claim this as cover.
What is the alternative?
If you are controlling the blue player, how do you determine where you can safely move to? If you are the green player and attempt to shoot, how do you resolve if your opponent then tells you they intentionally positioned themselves in cover?
Agreeing intent when placing the model is important so that everybody is on the same page.
In a casual setting, players can decide to play how they want. They may prefer an element of realism in the game to “read as written” rules. If there is a disagreement, how should it be resolved? How do you reliably determine whether someone is considered in cover?
The line described above provides a way to mark the cutoff that can be used in both casual and competitive play, but keep in mind it won’t always be expected.