Terrain
General Discussion
Significant terrain features are woods, Built-Up Areas (BUAs), hills, Linear Terrain Features (LTFs), and Redoubts. Woods and BUAs are treated exactly the same, save that BUAs confer a +1 morale advantage on units inside them and trees do not. A BUA is a village, large farm, or part of a town; single buildings don’t count. LTFs are stone walls, thick hedges, or streams; they confer a +1 morale advantage on units lined up with the LTF to their front but otherwise had no effect on the game. For game purposes, Redoubts are a combination of a hill and an LTF. Rivers are impassable except at fords or bridges but otherwise have no effect on the game. All terrain except hills makes movement more difficult: if a unit moves into or out of woods or a BUA or across an LTF, its movement allowance for that turn is reduced by half.
Woods and BUAs
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Only infantry can enter woods or Built-Up Areas (BUAs), and they do so at half regular movement, unless moving through them on a road.
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Exception: Cavalry can charge routed infantry that is sitting in a BUA.
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Small areas of woods and small BUAs can accommodate only one unit. Divide up larger ones into multiple areas, each of which can accommodate one infantry unit.
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A unit occupying woods or a BUA is treated as occupying the entire terrain feature: it cannot be outflanked, and movement and firing distances should be reckoned from the edge of the woods or BUA rather than from the edge of the unit.
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Position the occupying unit with its centre on the centre of the trees or BUA.
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To be in contact with a unit occupying trees or a BUA, it is enough to be in contact the trees or BUA, since the occupying unit is understood to be occupying the whole of the trees or BUA.
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Eager units occupying trees or BUA can perform charges, but if their enemies flee they are not obliged to “take the position” if this involves leaving the woods/BUA.
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Shaken units called on to flee from firing (the enemy’s or their own) do not leave the woods or BUA; instead they remain there and are marked as Routed.
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Units occupying woods or BUA may flee to an adjacent woods or BUA so long as the adjacent woods or BUA is not closer to the an enemy unit than the one they flee from.
Linear Terrain Features (LTFs)
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A linear terrain features (LTF) is any defensible line, such as a stream with steep banks, a thick hedge, or a stone wall.
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LTF bonuses apply only to infantry.
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To be considered as defending an LTF, an infantry unit must be in contact with part of the LTF, have at least half its front edge behind the LTF, and be declared as defending that LTF.
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An infantry unit defending an LTF receives a +1 bonus to morale.
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An infantry unit defending an LTF does not need to leave its position when called on to "take the position," though it may do so optionally.
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Shaken units defending an LTF who are called on to flee from firing (the enemy's or their own) do abandon an LTF and flee away.
Hills
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Hills have the following effects on morale and artillery fire:
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They confer a +1 morale advantage on any unit upslope of the nearest enemy unit.
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Artillery cannot shoot over them.
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Artillery on them can shoot at enemies if intervening friends are 2”+ distant from the target unit.
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Any unit on top of a hill or on the near slope of it is a valid target for enemy artillery, even if there are intervening units of either side who would normally block line-of-sight.
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Hills have no effect on movement or fleeing.
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Wooded hills are treated like woods but also block artillery line-of-sight and confer the +1 morale advantage for upslope troops.
Redoubts
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Redoubts are treated as a combination of a hill and an LTF.
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Only infantry or artillery may occupy a Redoubt.
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Only one unit at a time may occupy a Redoubt.
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The unit occupying a Redoubt is treated as being on a hill, i.e. gets a +1 bonus to morale if it is upslope of the nearest enemy unit; it is also treated as defending a Linear Terrain Feature that runs along the front of the Redoubt, and thus a further +1 to its morale. So a unit in a Redoubt generally gets a +2 bonus to morale, unless attacked from a side lacking a parapet and/or from upslope