Cover mechanics in AW

Hi,

I was thinking about how AW could have a more involved combat system without it being more complex. I hope some of you can help me out here.

I am thinking about how to introduce a concept like Cover in AW. A Cover could be a score that determines how good it is, and it could also have tags. But how should that score be implemented?

You'd have to find a way to assign a score to it. It could be an Act under Fire roll (maybe even a custom move, where more tactical choices could be introduced).

You could deduct the Cover score from the attacker's Inflict Harm roll: If someone has a cover of 2, any attacker will have a -2 on their attack roll.

You could also use it like armor - but what about characters who wears armor and are behind cover? They would be really hard to damage. Maybe you could make Cover destructible, so you would have to "wear it down" before you can get to the target?

Will this work? Or will it simply make combat more elaborate without making it more interesting?

If you have an idea, please share.

How about like the Hardholder's hardhold? +X armor if using cover (probably just +1 but maybe +2 for a pillbox or something). Character's might act under fire to get around the cover (while avoiding being shot up) to ignore it.

Cover can surely be destructible. The limited edition book have rules for destroying buildings that could be adapted (or if the characters are using a vehicle as cover use those rules)

What do you want to do that you can't do with the rules as written?

"As you walk up the road Sweathog yells "take 'em!" and the guys on the rooftops to either side here start opening up with their Uzis. Fishstick, what do you do?"

"Crap! Is there anywhere I can take cover?"

"Yeah, there's a little kind of low shack where someone's been living, like a hobo in a box but made of sheets of corrugated steel, just beside you, but it looks pretty seriously rusted out. You can duck behind it, or there's a concrete jersey barrier up ahead that looks sturdier, you could try getting to that but you're going to get shot at."

"I run for the jersey barrier. Acting under fire?"

"Yeah"

"That's a 7."

"Okay, you take 2-harm but you're now under pretty solid cover. June?"

"I'm diving back behind the rusted-out shack."

"They spray some fire at it. You don't get hit directly but little rusty scraps are splintering off and spalling. Take 0-harm, but make the harm roll."

"5, I'm okay?"

"Yeah, a little rattled but you can act."

"I yell 'Sweathog, you've got two choices! You can put the guns down and we can talk, or, well, Fishstick brought the grenade launcher!' That's a manipulate, and I get... whoops, a 5."

"Sweathog yells back 'Grenade launcher! Great idea!' A second later, bam, it feels like you both got hit with god's own sledgehammer. The jersey barrier is cracked in half, Fishstick, you're no longer under cover, and you take 4-harm and you're stunned. June, you're going to have to act under fire to avoid getting pinned under the shack as it collapses..."