the trees don't even block arrows
They would in squad leader
LOL, good one !! I wanted to add to your karma for that great comment, but I don't know how? .. there doesn't seem to be an "add to karma option" after clicking on karma?
... anyway, a very old example of a good board game that had RPG & strategy game elements was "Titan" made by AH back in the 80s. I loved that game & still have it in my collection. It's a collector's item now.
But, it had a game concept that monsters were "indiginous" to certain terrain types, so for example, a "serpent" in a jungle hex on the tactical board would recieve both an attack bonus and a defensive bonus (don't remember exaclty how much it was now, something like 16%, one out of 6 on a die roll), conversely, creatures "out" of their indigenous terrain, say a giant in a jungle hex, would be penalized by same amount. Hence a serpent in a jungle hex attacking an adjacent giant in a jungle hex would get a huge bonus, both in defence and attack, and conversely the giant would be weaker in attack and defense. The serpent would be more likely to win, but the giant is one of the strongest units in that game & would have a fair chance of killing the serpent depending on how the dice rolled.
This would be a very simple & perfect mechanism that should've been implemented in the game. As of now, tactical board terrain does little other than block movement, very occasionally I try to move a unit to a good +25%/50% defensive spot if conditions are right, but most of the time it doesn't matter since I level everything with archers & spellcasters.
... ok, I just noticed the little thumbs up icon on the lower left when you mouse-over the reply bar. It should be made more obvious, as it only appears when you mouse-over & I would never have seen it except by accident. So, you got +1 karma now !!