However elevated terrain IS blocking terrain if you are trying to make ranged attacks across it or through it. So where do you draw the line?

Also as the original poster I have to say that, while informative, none of what has been postulated above has really cleared up my question - more to the point it has only further confused me, as I am getting 'official' nods from both camps. Not trying to insinuate anything except that the fact that a definitive answer would really help as my venue has suspect officials, when they are there.

you draw the line at what type of terrain it is.
Just because it acts like a different terrain type does not make it that type of terrain.

Maraud is correct.
As I pointed out above, the ruling on the Fuel Tank object was that there are six squares adjacent to a section of wall. If you use the FT in a close combat attack that destroys the wall, all six squares are "splashed" by the FT's effect.

I see no reason why that precedent would not apply here.

My colleague apparently sees it differently, as described above.

There is no standard for identifying "ruling" posts from "opinion" posts. The Comprehensive Tournament Rules only says that posts from NBPerp and his deputies "are also legitimate means of rules communication." That doesn't mean their every post is a ruling, but on the other hand, it doesn't say otherwise, so how is anyone supposed to tell?

By default, if an orange says "this means X", that sure sounds like it should be taken as a ruling to me. And the only other official rule we have on the topic is that when there is a contradiction, the one with the most recent timestamp is the current ruling.

I kinda wish they had a declaratory font that would make it clear what was what.

Incorrect. If it's a ruling, that eradicates any gray area. (Assuming the ruling doesn't introduce a gray area of it's own, of course.) A ruling is a rule, plain and simple. The fact that the printed rules don't cover or support it is irrelevant, it's no longer gray when a ruling is released.

Since local judges aren't obligated to follow rulings, that's always a good idea! One thing that is completely clear is that the local judge is right, for the purpose of the event he is running.

***

Incorrect. Elevated terrain blocks, but that doesn't make it blocking terrain anymore than the fact that characters block make them blocking terrain.

The money quote from the rulebook: "If a line of fire between two grounded characters crosses elevated terrain, it is blocked." Nothing about elevated being blocking terrain for any purposes whatsoever.

Exactly.

Compare it to water terrain.

"Movement: Water terrain impedes movement, and is considered hindering terrain for movement purposes"

This specifies it's status as hindering terrain, so effects, like L/C, which ignore hindering for movement ignore water during movement, too.

If it just said that water hinders movement (like how it says that elevated blocks LoF), then you could not L/C or Fly over it.

Wow, did not mean to create a big bag of worms here, just wanted to get a clear cut answer to my question. As I have gotten a slew of no's and only a few yes's I guess I will have to go with the no's. As the person who the question was originally rationalized to I myself can see the argument for interpretation of the situation either way. Without getting the lions share of answers to the negative here however I have to say that I would still be in the dark as to what way it really is. Mainly due to the fact that those who have answered 'yes' here have made the kind of rational about their viewpoint in the same way I was lead to feel there was some question to begin with. In any case thanks for all the feedback and I guess the case is closed on that note. (?)

It's actually a good question and I posted it in The Final Word thread. Now we'll just have to wait for the rules posse to sort it out. Once they have an answer it will most likely get posted on this thread too. So just be patient now and hopefully a final answer will come down soon.

Hardly there is a whole parking lot full of things where what seemed like a ruling was made and then it turned out to be grey...a grey ruling is a grey ruling until its made perfectly clear that its not.

You can not expect every judge to read every post that normalview makes...its absurd to think that every post normalview makes is a hard and fast rule as soon as he posts it.

Some things need to be digested.

And yes sometimes normalview says "This is the way I would rule it"...which is a pretty strong statement but it leaves room for interpretation....I can list a whole bunch of these gray areas.

Most of which GOT a ruling, then got another ruling, then everyone decided to withdraw to the Parental Quite Study Area. : - )

My point was that by the rules, rulings ARE rules, and there is precious little way to determine, short of an Orange stating that their post is not a ruling, that it isn't.

If Harpua says X and nobody says anything else, X is a ruling.

If Harpua says X and then normalview says Z, X, despite being identical to the X above, ceases to be a ruling.

It's now how I'd set things up, is all.

I think we're discussing different things here. I don't expect every judge ever to be constantly browsing the rules forum, OF COURSE there needs to be digestion.

However, for purposes of WizKids super official sanctioned rules heavy tournaments, the rulings the RDs make ARE the rules. The only time there is gray area is when they disagree with each other, and then that gets sorted out (hopefully).

And then I'm also under the assumption that local judges want to be as close as possible to official rules (your milage may vary, some judges just straight up disagree or are unaware of rulings, that is correct). But then that would be considered a house rule.

I guess I'm just confused by what you mean when you say gray area. Even if the RD says "that's how I would rule it" I'm also just kind of assuming that he is rendering his own opinion, which due to being an RD IS the ruling, but is open that other RDs may disagree with him.

Though, I did just make two assumptions in my post, ha.

We probably are discussing two different things.

This is generally how I see it...

Somebody asks a rules question and an Orangie ways in....well thats a ruling usually quoting a rule end of story.

Sometimes the Orange doesnt quote a rule, and so somebody else knowledgeable in the rules (not an Orangie) looks it up and says, "Hey what about this."

Then the Orangies have multiple options:
1) They can say "This is the why ....xyz" (in which case its a ruling)
- this happens a lot

2) They can "say oh your right" (in which case - I say its not a ruling)
- this happens as well even Orangies forget things here and there

3) They can discuss it and get back (in which case - I say its not a ruling)
- this happens plenty of times

4) They can say "Well this is the way I would rule it" (in which case - its a heavy suggestion but not a ruling outside of their jurisidiction and your mmv)
- This happens as well

Hmm, after some brief research:

It seems that not all rules interpretations are rulings. So there is gray area on what is counted as a ruling or just an opinion... hmm, I had always assumed that an opinion pretty much equaled a ruling.

What I was saying is if a judge was unaware of a ruling, and made a call (incorrect/correct/or with no official ruling yet) it was a rule for that event. But if a judge was aware of a ruling and disregarded it, that would be a house rule. Kind of like Schrodinger's Ruling, knowledge of the ruling matters.

(Also is there a more recent tournament rules document or is the heroclix website up to date on that one?)

Bottom line, regardless of what might or might not have been posted by any of the (orange) rules guys, you need to ask your judge about how it works at the venue. Even if you are playing at one of the venues where one of the rules guys judges. I know I have seen at least one example where one of the (orange) rules guys ruled that Bane's SP can be used during an action, but had also posted in the same thread that they would rule that it could not if they were the judge. So sure, there are the official rules, but the official rules don't always trump the house rules. Always ask the judge if you are unsure how something might be ruled.

I'm fairly certain that the tourney document there is the most recent one.

That said, it needs to be updated. Technically speaking, Watchmen, Web of Spider-Man, Brightest Day, Jonah Hex, DC 75th Anniversary, and GSX are not legal in modern age.

It is.

You already have GSX?!?!?