Pub Battles is experimenting with new terrain rules. There is no longer a one third movement reduction for entering cover. Terrain effects on combat and LOS have not changed, and road movement rates still apply.
Kriegspiel, from which Pub Battles was modeled, does not use varied terrain costs. It was felt unnecessary.
Once again, in Pub Battles the chit draw moderates everything. Are you racing your opponent to a a critical point on the map? You are not moving a squad of men across a street, you are ordering 4-6,000 men, horses, and equipment, over a mile across uncertain terrain with unknown enemy countermoves. Yes, terrain will factor into the equation of how far the block of troops can move, but it is only one of many limiting factors.
Are the orders clear and understood? What if there are considerations or recent developments the commander was unaware of? What if there is some terrain obstruction that does not appear on any map? What if a nearby enemy formation gets the jump on you? How will you react?
How can a playable game possibly model all of those circumstances? Does it make sense to pick out one factor (terrain) and make it the only consideration? Terrain is often selected because it is the most obvious, but does that make it best?
I submit that the chit draw does a better job of regulating movement and maneuver between two armies. Of course, all this discussion is merely discussion. How does it play?
When Command Post Games first asked me to play test this, I thought “What the hey? No way! This won’t work! “Try it” they said. So I tried it.
Having played many games this way, I can assert with confidence that it plays more smoothly, allows more maneuvering, and that it doesn’t “break” anything. Switching formations in and out of march column, as well as changing facing, still costs the same. A block still has to be within command range if it wishes to contact an enemy block. All you are really gaining is an additional third in most situations, yet I feel as if the training wheels have been taken off. Without this change, terrain and maneuver players are often reduced to moving one third of a movement stick. Now I call playing that way “The Battle of Molasses”
Boom Simple Musket Battles 