Cover and concealment

Cover and concealment sound very similar, but they are not. They are in fact quite different and knowing how each one works is very important if you don't want your troops to end up resembling burgers.

Cover represents something that puts a protective layer between you and the sharp end of the enemy's weapon systems. So a wall is cover when your enemy is shooting crossbow bolts at you. When he is using a 40mm autocannon, then you may as well be hiding behind rice paper. So for an object to be classed as cover it must effectively block attacks.

Concealment represents the ability to hide from the enemy. Lying in long grass can conceal your troops, allowing them to advance unseen. But it won't even stop sling shot, meaning that it provides no cover. On the other hand a wood provides concealment and the trees also provide cover from a large number of weapons.

This brings us to the next point: not all cover provides concealment and not all concealment provides cover. There is some overlap, but it should not be taken for granted.

So in our example above, the wood provides both cover and concealment. It blocks attacks and hides you from the enemy. However, if your men are the remnants of a tank crew sheltering behind their smoking vehicle, you have cover but the big smoke plume tells the enemy exactly where you are.

When does all this become important?

If you happen to be on the defensive, then you will be seeking cover. It adds to the survivability of your troops and allows you to engage large numbers of the enemy without having your men drop like flies.

However, if you are the attacker, you will be looking for concealment so that you can approach defensive positions unseen and bring your weapon systems to bear. The closer you can get, the better.

Cover is normally less prevalent on a battlefield than concealment. Line of sight can be blocked in a myriad of ways - even your own troops can conceal the troops behind them.

Next time you wargame, keep an eye out for both and use them effectively. If you are the defender, seek out cover and deny concealment to the attacker. If you are the attacker, use concealment and deny the defender cover.

How you ask? We'll talk about that tomorrow.