I've used swordfall dugan to remove the middle section of the prison map making it a veritable no mans land. Played with deep shadows and my skrulls just sat back and waited like machine gunners in WW1. Of course I didn't expect Origins Superman would walk across like a tank and squash my guys.

But back to swordfall, it's the most useful trait in the game bar none. I've used it to depants turtles so often that when they come to the game, they don't even try it anymore.

S.W.O.R.D.fall: Before the beginning of the first round, choose
one area of elevated terrain or blocking terrain on the map.

Does this happen before or after characters are placed? I'm taking it's after seeing how it's worded.

The way I've always played it, we put down our figs, call out our feats, then I say where I'm using swordfall. You can do it anytime you like, before they lay down their army or after. I usually do it after to see if my opponent will try to be a jerk. If not, then I choose something that might benefit either of us. If he's being a complete jerk, I choose something that will make his turtling much more difficult if not impossible.

You do it immediately before the first turn. Set up everything normally and then, before the first player begins his turn, pick the area.

I'm not sure what you mean by "no mans land", but do note that Swordfalling the Prison map's blocking terrain would still leave all those walls in place, just make them hollow.

So if non flier were on elevated terrain and you removed it would it actually damaged them? I'm guessing no since the game hasn't started.

The power says nothing about dealing damage, so no damage is dealt.

Is anything on that map "elevated"? I thought it was all indoor blocking? (I assume you mean the Sinister map?)

S.W.O.R.D.fall says elevated OR blocking

What am I, some kind of dumbass? Jeez.

Rep to you for me being obtuse!

And how does that work? the Walls are blocking terrain and therefore should be removed with the use of the power. I've used it in two different venues and both judges agreed that it removes the whole middle section. It was the first question I asked them before I tried it.

As for the "No man's land" reference, it was back in World War 1 with the charges across no man's land from trench to trench where people would get mowed down. If you try to come across the middle of the map, I'll just outwit you and then peck you to death with my swarms. That's what I was going for there.

The area of blocking terrain is the stuff inside the brown lines. The walls are the solid black lines; they are not part of the brown.

The judges you had previously ruled it incorrectly. Not a big deal, particularly if they were consistent in their application of the ruling, but it was incorrect.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to. Most players miss it until someone points it out (I know I did!), but there are walls in addition to the blocking terrain on that map. It's either really clever design on the part of the map-maker or serendipity, because it makes the walls of the prison "reinforced", requiring a lot of work to "break out". And if you were going to make a prison for super-villains, wouldn't you want the walls to be as strong as possible? : - )