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Line of Sight Guide
Written by NickName
Saturday, 29 July 2006
Welcome to the Line of Sight Guide.
Line of Sight is an important concept in Star Wars Miniatures and while it's reletively straightfoward on its own, the rules governing Line of Sight are often confused with the rules governing Cover. For that reason, Line of Sight and Cover have separate guides.
Definition of Line of Sight:
Rulebook:
line of sight: A character can see a target that it has line of sight to. Walls block line of sight. To determine line of sight, draw an imaginary line between any point in one character’s space and any point in the other character’s space. If any such line is not blocked by a wall, then the two characters have line of sight to each other. The line is clear if it doesn’t intersect or even touch walls.
Now that we know what Line of Sight is, we can apply it to various situations.
1. BASIC LINE OF SIGHT
Luke has line of sight to all these enemy characters. Note that characters, and low objects do not interfere with having Line of Sight. The line can be drawn from any point in Luke's space to any point in the enemy character's space.
Rulebook:
Characters, low objects, difficult terrain, and pits do not block line of sight.
2. BLOCKED LINE OF SIGHT
Walls block Line of Sight. There's no single line that Luke can find that could reach the Stormtrooper withint touching, running along, or intersecting with a wall line. Luke cannot see the Stormtrooper.
Rulebook:
Only walls, closed doors, and big objects that count as walls block line of sight.
3. NARROW LINE OF SIGHT
Only one single valid line is required to establish Line of Sight.
Rulebook:
line of sight: ...draw an imaginary line between any point in one character’s space and any point in the other character’s space...
Most lines from Luke to the Stormtrooper are blocked by walls, but a line can be found, so Luke has Line of Sight. This allows for some very long range attacks across some maps though very narrow gaps in walls.
4. LINE OF SIGHT AND CORNERS OF A CHARACTER'S SPACE
Line of Sight can be drawn from any point in the characer's space to any point in the other character's space. Luke has Line of Sight to the Stormtrooper.
Rulebook:
line of sight: ...draw an imaginary line between any point in one character’s space and any point in the other character’s space...
It's a common misconception that you have to draw Line of Sight from corner to corner, but that is confusion between the Line of Sight and Cover rules. If tracing from the corner were required, every one of Luke's corners is a wall, so Luke would be unable to see the Stormtrooper from this position--luckily, that's not the way the rule works.
5. LINE OF SIGHT AROUND CORNERS
Luke has Line of Sight around the corner to the Vigo, but not to the Stormtrooper. Every line from Luke touches the wall next to him and touching even a single point of a wall blocks Line of Sight. The practical result is that Line of Sight around corners always ends one row/column shifted from the character's location.
6. LINE OF SIGHT IS ALWAYS BI-DIRECTIONAL
It's important to note that Line of Sight always works in both directions. If Luke can see the Vigo, then the Vigo can see Luke. This is always the case at any particular instant. There's no way to find a "perfect" position where a character will have Line of Sight to an enemy without that enemy having Line of Sight back.
7. LINE OF SIGHT AND BEVELED WALL CORNERS
Some wall corners are beveled and have slightly different rules. Luke and the Vigo have Line of Sight due to the beveled wall corners where they would not have Line of Sight if these walls ended in normal corners.
Rulebook:
If a wall outline does not extend to a corner, line of sight can be drawn only through that corner.
You can trace Line of Sight across the exact corner that includes the bevel. It's important to note that only the corner itself can be traced across so it will only happen when drawing a line in a case like the perfect 45 degree angle shown in the example.
There's a common misconception that you can draw inside the corner as in the NOT OK inset as long as you don't trace across the beveled wall line, but--as shown--it's not allowed.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 July 2006 )