Hedgerow terrain in CMAK?

[Slappy]

The problems with the original bocage were not just the special vehicle rules. They had far more to do with infantry behavior w/r/t the bocage. Real bocage is something akin to rough with woods on top. It should provide substantial cover and protection to infantry, but did not in CMBO.

In fact, being in the bocage was very exposed and dangerous for infantry. "Well, it's just like a wall, you should be behind it, not in it", critics will say. Fine, but TacAI considers only the terrain units are in when going to cover/panic, not intervening terrain. This made the bocage terrain in CMBO fundamentally unhistorical and unusable without foxholes placed behind it to calm the infantry due to the large swath of open ground on either side.

As it stands, you'd be far better off using an elevated string of woods to represent the bocage (good cover and concealment, impassible to vehicles). I am very excited to see this 'large hedge', but if it's simply the CMBB hedge extended up to 2m, it won't work for bocage any better than what we had in CMBO. Unless units in the terrain recieve and recognize cover, or cover panic is seriously toned down, it will continue to be unusable for hasty defense.

Another angle on this which would have considerable rewards for other situations as well would be the ability to place terrain like walls and bocage INSIDE other terrain. This would allow you to place a large hedge in a rough or scattered trees tile, thereby simulating the terrain more realisticly. It would also solve the cover panic issue and make the TacAI much more 'comfortable' near the bocage. As a side benefit, it would allow walls and fences running through scattered trees (why not) and make realistic modeling of dense european villages and towns much easier.

Anyway, that's my opinion.