Fords
How fords work in Messalith: the shallow crossings of a big board's rivers, what a step costs, the Aim bonus against a wader and why none can overwatch.
A big board has rivers across it, and a river is crossed at its fords. A ford is a stretch of shallows in the stream's bed. It is passable, where deep water is not, and the stream round it is still water.
What a ford does
- Cost: a step onto a ford costs 2 times a dry step, so a wade is slow and a dash through one buys little.
- Cover: none. Nothing on a ford gives any, and a unit standing in one has none.
- Aim against a wader: a unit standing on a ford is easier to hit, by +10 Aim.
- Overwatch: a unit on a ford can't take an overwatch shot from it. It can still be shot.
Water that isn't a ford can't be crossed at all, and it gives no cover. Sight passes over it. See height and terrain.
Where they are
A river is placed across the approach, between the deployment and the objective, with a few fords along it. The generator never leaves a board where the squad can't reach the far ground by at least 3 separate routes, and a ford that no one can reach goes back to water. The woodland streams and any crossing laid over water become fords too.
Crossing is a choice, then. A ford is the quick way over and the exposed one: slow going, a bigger target and no cover while the squad wades. Fords come with big boards.