Battlefront WWII
Obscuring Sparse
A strict interpretation of the rules indicates that sparse terrain does not effect spotting distances for lines of sight that pass through the terrain, and only effect spotting against units that are either deep or conformed to the edge of the sparse terrain. However, as anyone who lives near cornfields or orchards can attest, certain types of terrain that are classed as "sparse" are hard to see through. As an option some types of sparse terrain can be classed as "obscuring sparse". Lines of sight that are traced to units deep or conformed to "obscuring sparse" are treated as normal sparse. However, LOS traced to a unit beyond the "obscuring sparse" feature are subject to a "down 1" on the spotting table. Rather than attempting to definitively classify every type of sparse terrain as normal or obscuring sparse, whether a feature is obscuring is left to the scenario designer. A forum discussion of this option can be found
here.