Line of Sight & Writing
October 08, 2008

  

Back again with a letter from Nathan:

 

My friends and I love to play each other and just use an army of shooters.  They like to sit them
behind walls and peek and shoot.  How do you determine line of sight to a character from behind a corner or to the character behind the corner from another corner.  How much cover is provided?

My second question is this.  Is it possible for a gamer like me to write reviews  for your site?  is there some kind of an audition, like writing a sample review for you?  I've just wondered this because I've been a hardcore gamer since Minis came out and I make it a habit to study each piece much the same way you do. Thanks for your time. 

Nathan T.

 

Thanks for the letter Nathan.  Your first question is easy in its simplest form.  Line of sight is found by drawing a line from anywhere in the attacker’s base to anywhere in the intended target’s base.  If you can connect any part of their square with the attacker’s base without going through a wall, then you have line of sight.  It doesn’t matter how many lines do not make it through walls.  You only need one line to connect anywhere.  Lines from the tip of the attacker’s corner and the tip of the intended target’s corner do not count.  It must be from inside both squares.  When in doubt line it up on the corners exactly and see if there is any room for it to be moved before hitting a wall.  Some maps have some tremendously well-hidden lines.  Now this is just line of sight.  Cover is completely different.  The very best article written on this comes from Jason Tanner, the rules rep over on the Wizards boards.  Here is the address to the article.  Read it well and more than once because when it first came out it taught even the senior players a thing or two. 

 

http://www.the-holocron.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=56&Itemid=55

 

As for your second question about writing reviews, as people have probably noticed, reviewers have come and gone with me being the only constant.  This does make it hard on me at times to keep things moving since I have such a hectic personal life.  I would love to have more people reviewing.  There are only a couple things I really ask if any of you are interested.

 

1) You have to have a basic understanding of the game.  This is a given.  If you don’t understand the game, you wont understand how the pieces work and interact with each other.

 

2) This is a commitment.  If you are only looking to write a few things then it’s not really worth the time.  If this is something you are interested in doing and sticking with then fantastic.  There is no contract or commitment or anything.  It just helps me plan for the accommodating the writers and readers.

 

3) This is a plus, and certainly not required.  It would be great if you want to add your own personal articles on whatever interests you.  Basically, it would be your own Ask the Dragon section or something similar.  These are great because it can add more to the site than just the reviews.

 

If you are interested in joining up and stick to it, then by all means send me an email/PM and let me know.  I’d love to have more help and different perspectives on the game.

 

Thanks for the letter, Nathan.  Next article we will tackle a biggie – clock abuse and the slow player.  This should be an interesting one to write.  As usual, if anyone has any questions or areas of the game they would like me to address, drop me an email (sithdragon13@yahoo.com) or PM on the boards (pojo or wizards) and I will get to them as soon as I am able.  I am actually down to the last few in my saved file.

 

PS-On a side note I have had a few requests for top 10 lists.  If there is a top 10 list you would like to see, contact me and I will do one for your area of concern, but please be as specific as possible.  Asking for the top 10 minis in the game is a bit too subjective and broad to address.