Shooting, or Ranged Attacks, in The Barons War game is the most popular topic I receive feedback on. I agree that it can be potent in-game, as I believe it historically was. However, this can be offset by placing one piece of area terrain or line of sight blocking terrain per 1' x 1' board section. The original playtesters used this approach, and it worked, which is why it made its way into The Barons' War rulebook as the guide for setting up the tabletop.

Placing Terrain and Scenery (TBW p.107)

It is a skirmish game, after all, so as far as we are concerned, more terrain the better; much more terrain is better still! Normally games take place on a 4' x 3' table and we divide this into 1' x 1' square board sections. We advise one piece of area terrain or line of sight blocking terrain per board section. A 4'x 3' table comprises of twelve board sections and would have twelve pieces of terrain.

If Ranged Attacks are currently dominating your games, as well as adding more terrain, I would encourage you to read an article titled Ranged Attacks or “What Can I Shoot At?”. 

RANGED ATTACKS or "WHAT CAN I SHOOT AT?"

Wargaming terrain comes in all shapes and sizes. I would go so far as to say our collections are all different. To accommodate this, for The Barons' War game, when we refer to Line of Sight (LoS), it doesn't mean getting your head down behind your figure to see what they can see. It is about the line across the tabletop from the centre of the Attacker's base to the centre of the Defender's base being clear from obstacles and, if not, what impact the intervening obstacles have in the given situation. This article has been put together to clarify how this works. It recaps Line of Sight, being Hindered, who can shoot and finishes with the effects of Terrain. You can download the full article at the end of this post as a PDF with helpful diagrams.

If you are still finding Ranged Attacks overpowered or want to try a different approach, I encourage you to adopt the following: 

Optional Rules for Ranged Weapons

The following are current playtest rules for Ranged Attack Combat Actions made by Ranged Weapons. Any Rules below are for playtesting only and are subject to change based on feedback. They should also be found in the most recent version of the FAQ.

Defending 10s at Long Range: Ranged weapons do not receive the critical bonus for rolling '0' on a d10 at long range. With any successful Defence Dice result, the Defender may defend a '0' at long range.

Maximum of Two: A group equipped with Ranged weapons can only make a maximum of two Ranged Attack Actions per game round. A group equipped with crossbows can only make a single Ranged Attack Action once per game round.

Crossbow Units: Warriors Armed with Crossbows may only make one Ranged Attack Combat Action per round regardless of the group's number of actions or if they are issued an Order Action. This approach represents the relatively slow nature of Crossbows and the time it takes to reload.

Slings: The Sling effect text now reads - Range 10. Quick Shot - *any successful hits may be rolled again as a second attack* if the group did not move, therefore stationary. The Quick Shot ability afforded by slings may only be used once per game round.

Not Ranged Attack abilities: The abilities Castle Forged, Cruelty, Damascus Steel, Finishing Blow and Frightening only work during Melee Attack Combat Actions and do not apply when making a Ranged Attack.

Finally, I'm not sure the following is evident in the rulebook, so I have included it as part of this blog post.

Do Ranged Attacks Cause Forced Back? (TBW p.39)

To simulate the defenders taking cover, ranged attacks will cause a defending group to be Forced Back only when the defending group suffers casualties.

Please let me know your thoughts on Ranged Attacks. I would especially be interested to know if anything presented here makes a difference to your games.