As most people have by now noticed, the Warzone rules include no specific rules for fighting in forests. The reasoning behind this is simple: since you're playing Warzone, your battle will be situated on one of the planets of the inner solar system. Each of these worlds has very specific environments. Thus, it makes sense to detail each environment specifically in its appropriate Forces at War book.

Very sane and logical, but not everybody plays that way. Our battles usually take place in a nondescript, slightly wooded urban area with several buildings, ruins and oddly shaped structures. The reason for this is simple: there are no terrain gurus in our group, and as such whatever we can patch together for the next game is fine. We don't worry much about specifics of terrain.

This also means that we felt the loss of specific forest rules, and so we've improvised some.

Forests are defined as areas, not as specific trees. The outline of the wooded area should be deliniated as such (we use patches of dark green felt). Models can see 3" into and through woodland. Within this range, the target counts as In Cover. Models cannot see more than 3" into woodland; models within a wooded area can see other models within a 3" radius area about themselves. Movement through forest is at 1/2 rate, even for flying models, who must now negotiate the dense environment. Models flying at height level 6 or greater may move at normal rate through forest since they are considered to be above it.

Models within Forest areas may attempt to climb a tree to gain the advantage of height. Models may climb one Height band with each Climb action; this is instead of the normal 1" per action, and is due to the fact that trees are easy to climb. Mark the Height band of the climbing model as if it were flying, although the model may not move laterally from his current position once he beings climbing. Each turn climbing requires one Climbing Roll as normal, but this roll only fails on a 20; models with the Climb special ability do not have to take climbing rolls while climbing trees. Models may descend at the same rate they ascended, or may opt to jump off, in which case they take falling damage as normal.

Note that it is entirely possible to fire weapons once you've climbed a tree to the desired height. Trees are considered to go up 5 height bands, so 15" is as high as a model can climb in a forest. Models who can fly can let go of their tree and do so; models who can Glide can climb trees to regain flight once they've touched down. Models can see all the way up within the 3" of woodland which they can see around them.

Models wishing to parachute into woodland face serious injury. Each time a parachuting model is deployed into a forest area they may be injured on a d20 roll of 1-5. Such models are hit with a Damage 7 attack. Models which have the Parachute Deployment ability, but who opt to deploy normally at the start of the game, do not have to worry about this.

Since we play that Flamethrowers ignore terrain modifiers, we also ruled that Flamethrower-equipped models could fire into woodland freely, without worrying about rolling to hit. However, a model more than 3" from the edge of a wooded area cannot be hit by a template weapon, such as a flamethrower, originating beyond that wooded area. Likewise, templates detonating within forest can only affect a maximum 3" radius area.

When firing a Flamethrower into the forest, that forest is lit on fire on a d20 roll of 11+. To represent the burning forest, place a Small Explosion Template (or place markers to represent the centre of such templates). Models within burning areas of forest when they are activated suffer a Damage 10 hit which is Incendiary. At the start of each turn the burning area goes out on a d20 roll of 1-5.

In our recent games with the Second Edition, we've taken to leaving the bodies of the fallen where they lie. Not only does it add something to the game (a desperate last stand looks much more desperate when those last few models are surrounded by their fallen comrades) but it allows you to use your teammates as improvised shelter.

In this rule, any dead body qualifies as Soft Cover. As such, models can go Prone to shelter behind a body, gaining -1 RC for being Prone cumulative with -2 for being In Cover.

Any model with Armour 11 or higher also qualifies as Hard Cover. Yet another use for those Atilla Cuirassiers. Also, the burnt out hulls of vehicles qualify as Hard Cover (to determine which way they fall, in the case of vehicles such as Eradicator Deathdroids, roll scatter).

Grizzly, yes. Morbid, sure. Effective? Absolutely.

Importing a house rule from Chronopia, this rule allows you to Feast on a model for a number of Wounds equal to half the Size of the target. You cannot Feast on vehicles. This rule change would allow models to spend an Action to Feast on some of the dead models littering the battlefield from the previous rule.

I've decided to add this rule into this section after a conversation on the webboard made me realize that it wasn't quite as obvious as I had thought. The subject was Line of Sight for prone models; the issue of contention was whether or not the model of the figure (standing) should be used to determine if a firing model could see it. Once the model goes prone, one reasons, any terrain which would obscure the prone model then obscures the individual that figure represents.

We draw LOS to and from a model's knees when that model is prone. If, then, the knees of the standing figure of a model who has gone prone are not visible, neither is the model.

We also apply this to prone in cover. When we use dead models as cover we assume that the prone model can see over the body. Likewise, any terrain which is up to the model's knees in height provides cover without compromising the prone model's ability to see and shoot.

We also allow models to fire from cover if the cover is higher than the model's knees provided that the cover in question is permeable. For example, a model prone behind a waist-height hedge counts as obscured but can fire from that position freely.