Daytime visibility is usually 5000m, but this can be affected by the prevailing weather as follows.

Category	Weather condition	Visibility
A	Haze, light rain, dust, heavy overcast, twilight	2500m
B	Light snow, heavy rain, mist, moonlight night	1000m
C	Heavy snow, fog, sandstorm, moonless night	250m

Settled snow.
Unless camouflaged for the conditions, any element will stand out against lying snow counting as in the open if in cover or otherwise giving a +2 modifier for acquisition. If painted white, vehicles will still suffer a +1 modifier, as will any other element not fully equipped with snow camouflage. The degree of preparedness must be decided before the game.

Dust obscuration.
This has the same effect as an artillery fire zone and is caused by firing a weapon of 60mm or greater calibre, reversing or observing to the rear when advancing, following within 100m of a vehicle moving at more than ¼ speed, all if in sandy or dusty terrain. GBHE ammunition will cause obscuration as for salvo rockets if under dusty or sandy conditions.

Twilight.
From first light at 40 minutes before dawn until sunrise visibility is one category better than the prevailing night conditions. From sunrise for the following 20 minutes visibility is Class A unless further degraded by the weather. Thereafter daylight conditions prevail.

Effects of terrain

Any element within a wood or built up area (BUA) and touching the edge can see out of it with no penalty, and will count as being in cover to any observer.

If both the target and observer are within the restricting terrain, the maximum distance they may be from each other is given in column A of the table 9.2.4, below. In a BUA, if one is occupying a significantly higher building than the other in line of sight, this distance is doubled. Both count as in cover.

If the observer is outside the restricting terrain and the target within and not on the edge, then the target must be within the distance given in column A and the observer within the distance given in column B of the edge of the terrain. The same applies for looking from inside to a target outside, the observer being within distance A and the target no further than distance B from the terrain edge.

Foliage variations.
Visibility into woods from outside is half the given distance in summer, late spring or early autumn due to the increased amount of foliage found at wood edges where sunlight can penetrate. Jungle and other tropical foliage, such as bamboo thickets, always count as lush cover like this.

Targets outside the terrain are visible at distances double that in column B if they fired a gun larger than 57mm, RCL rocket. It is multiplied by 1.5 if it fired any smaller weapon other than mortars up to 60mm, rifles or LMGs.

Contours and height

One contour is taken to be 5m high, thus tying in with map contours. A contour hides any element not touching it. An element is at the height of the contour on which it stands unless hull-down or in cover touching a contour, when it is at that higher level.

A vehicle that is touching a contour is considered to be hull-down. If equiped with a cupola, periscope or roof sight (most later AFVs) it is turret-down if within 1cm of the contour. Any other element touching a contour is considered as in cover. These conditions do not apply if an observer is on higher ground than a target claiming to be turret-down, as follows:
At least 2 contours higher and within 500m, or
at least 3 contours higher and within 1000m,
in which case it is hull-down and in cover to the observer.

A vehicle claiming to be hull-down or in cover touching a contour will not be so to an observer in the same conditions as above, but then counts as in the open.

• Tank A is at contour level 2, because it is in a hull-down position
• Tank B is at contour level 0
• Tank C is at contour level 0
• Tank D is at contour level 2
• Tank E is at contour level 4
• Tank A is hull-down to C and D (and B)
• Tank A is not hull-down to E

Infantry and heavy weapons dug in and claiming to be in cover will count both to an observer at the same or lower height. It will be in cover but not effectively dug in to an observer at least 2 contours higher and within 500m, or 3 or more contours higher and within 1000m.

A linear obstacle such as a hedge or wall counts as half a contour high and vehicles touching or within 25m of it are considered as hull down. Infantry and heavy weapons touching it are in cover; if not touching but within 25m they are out of sight. A bocage hedge counts as one contour high.

Trees are 2 to 6 contours high. When checking lines of sight, D10 ÷ 2 + 1 gives the height to be looked over.

Three building storeys are equal to two contours including roof space. Alternatively, measure the height of the model, one contour being 8mm.

Smoke is 1 to 4 contours high at its source (D4) and 4 to 6 contours high at the downwind end, or when fully developed if no wind.

When there is intervening ground or a non-linear terrain obstacle between the observer and target, there may be dead ground behind the intervening terrain, which may make the target invisible. Measure the distance between the observer and the far edge of the intervening terrain contour or obstacle, then refer to the dead ground chart. Multiply the measured distance by the number on the chart to give the amount of dead ground beyond the back edge of the obstacle.

Dead ground chart

Observer’s Height Above Target, in Contours	Intervening Object’s Height Above Target, in Contours	Multiplier
2 3 4 5 6	1 1 1 1 1	1 0.5 0.33 0.25 0.15
3 4 5 6	2 2 2 2	2 1 0.67 0.5
4 5 6	3 3 3	3 2.5 1
5 6	4 4	4 2
6	5	5

In the example above, the observer on level 5 is looking over a two-contour building 450m away. The multiplier from table 9.3.11 is 0.67. 450 x 0.67 = 300, meaning that nothing can be seen within 300m the of far side of the building. So the T-34 is visible, but the Churchill is out of sight even though it is the larger target. The reverse lines of sight also apply, with the T-34 able to shoot at the Panther while the Churchill cannot.

Visibility arcs

Vehicles and heavy weapons have a normal visibility arc of 90° either side of straight ahead. Infantry elements have arcs of 360°. Suppressed AFVs have arcs 45° either side of straight ahead.

Permitted firing arcs. Troops should be given arcs of fire for which they are responsible, especially when static. If not stated in orders, arcs will be 30° either side of the element's or sub-unit's axis, which will be a continuation of the line of advance if not otherwise ordered. As a general rule, a line of elements or sub-units will engage an opposing line of enemy on a 1:1 basis from flank to flank. Arcs may be widened without orders if to a flank not covered by friends.

An element on reconnaissance may attempt to identify something of the enemy by listing for sounds coming from the direction the enemy is expected to be in. All sounds can be checked for, though some will of course be easier to detect than others and any sounds nearer to the listener and within 45 ° of line of sight may mask them. Other sounds coming from outside that arc or farther away produce ranges double those shown on the table.
If sounds are coming from locations within the distances given below, the player is informed of their nature, approximate line of bearing and volume as being loud, medium or faint according to the actual distance in proportion to the possible distance.

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