if I am reading the the new rules correctly, forests now don't block LOS. you just get a soft cover penalty when shooting through a forest. on top of it, they give no protection at all from warmachines not using BS. that's pretty lame in my opinion - seems the forests got really thin in 8th just wanted to check what you guys think of this / if I got the rules right.
That is correct. Myself, I would think it would give hard cover (as it is hard to see through a forest). On the plus side, park some chameleons in there and they can shoot out of it at no penalty.
forests are no longer shooting protection, they are there for CC now as units inside can't be steadfast. just wait for the big units in the forest and have a good ol' 7th combat without ridiculos stubborn getting in your way