Did you know you that almost all tournaments are narrative? It is true. They are not competitive events what so ever. Do you know how I know?

Alternating Terrain Rules

This is a condensed version of the rules.

  1. Set aside all the terrain you will need for your battle. Deploy fortifications first.
  2. Determine how many pieces of terrain can go into each 2 x 2 area by rolling D3 for each section. This will be the terrain limit for each section (Terrain Density Limit).
  3. Start taking turns placing pieces down until terrain density limit is reached or both players agree to stop. Large Terrain pieces count as one or groups of three small pieces count as one. Terrain must be at least three inches from each other.
  4. If one player chooses to stop placing terrain, their opponent is free to keep on placing terrain until they decide to stop, reach the terrain density limit or run out of terrain pieces.

Well it is easy as reading the rules, because if you are playing with a predetermined terrain set up then it is Narrative Terrain.  Now the narrative you are trying to forge might be how many battle points can I get, but never the less it is Narrative.

According to Games Workshop you should either use Narrative Terrain or an Alternating Terrain set up. I personally try to use the second choice, Alternating Terrain set up, but I have found a lot of resistance both in reality and on the Internet. I ask myself why?

At first I assumed it was all about "scary" change. Players didn't want to learn another step to the game and would rather rely on what they have gotten use to.

Now, we are fast approaching the half-year mark for 6th edition I still encounter almost universal resistance to the idea of Alternating Terrain and the only argument I find against it is the "time factor". Since people and gamers are generally lazy, they assume that this method is of terrain placement adds time to the game. In a tournament, this makes some logical sense, but for a pick-up it doesn't.

It is so simple! Gather terrain roll D3 three times and start placing. Instead of one person usually doing all the work of placing terrain and then the other person complaining about it. Games Workshop actually gave us a system for placing terrain! It is also invests each player; creating a board that each side can approve of. Better yet it adds a whole new tactical dynamic to the game, and for that reason alone every Tournament should use it.

Alternating Terrain is under the current rules the most competitive way to set up terrain, but tournament organizes are so afraid of the time factor. The reality is that if players used the Alternating Terrain set up regularly there wouldn't be much to worry about. You are looking at a 10 minute max, but reality it should be more like five. The real benefit though comes from the time Tournament Organizers save elsewhere, by not having to spend early hours "balancing the tables". Just take the terrain for each table, place it in a clump and let the players do the work for you.

Now the players have taken responsibility for how the board looks. They cannot complain about LoS blocking pieces in the center because it was them who placed it. They cannot complain about one side unbalancing the other, they allowed it to happen. Most of all with Fortifications their is this no more making up rules to accommodate them.

For me as a player and sometime Tournament Organizer, it means my experience is more tactical. Terrain placement is now a strategic part of the game.

Since Terrain set up comes after you know which side of the board you are deploying, it becomes critical how you place the pieces that are advantageous to you.

You can do so many things, like bluff with terrain, place terrain pieces to block lanes of fire, deny your opponent terrain you know he wants. Alternating Terrain even makes Objective placement even more tactical since it comes after the terrain is placed.

The cost of a few minutes to every game is well worth the tactical and strategic elements added in return. It solves how to deal with Fortifications. It saves man hours thinking about how to place terrain for your Tournament.
 
The biggest problem is the longer people go without playing the Alternative Terrain method the more unlikely it will be established as the norm. Unless you are playing a truly narrative event, why stress should player or TO stress themselves out wondering if their terrain is fair, when Games Workshops shows you the way?

Don't stress give it a try it is much easier than you think.

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Meat for Meta is rated editorial nonsense. These articles are meant to complain about some group, somewhere, that is playing the game for all the wrong reasons or simply to just make fun of 40k nerd rage.