General de Brigade

[red lancer]

In the above scenario in the rule book it has the "fleches" as V shaped, is this correct as the old maps I have do not show any V shaped "fleches".

I have a copy of the Hyde map and another old one which were drawn not long after the battle, they show a line of sorts of a kind of defense but not v shaped. Would this be a sort of earth works or piles of logs or fence rails as I have read else where.

I know the rail fences at Bunker Hill were apparently stuffed with straw.

Also saw the Bunker Hill model at the Bunker Hill Museum and it does not show the V shaped fleches if I remember correctly.

any help appreciated
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Red Lancer

[Ronan the Librarian]

The problem with the fleches is that they were improvised (from fence rails and posts, as you say) by the defenders, and I strongly suspect these materials were then removed by the British immediately after the battle to create their own, more substantial, defences. This may well be why they are absent from many maps, even contemporary ones.

For example, a map attributed to de Berniere (and shown in Elting's monograph on the battle) shows only one fleche, although a later version shows three. However, the single fleche version also omits the extension to the stone wall across the beach built by Stark's men prior to the battle, so it cannot be relied upon absolutely.
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You can lead a horse to water, but a toy soldier can no longer be lead (due to Health & Safety Regulations).

[Axebreaker]

This is interesting,as I didn't know the rail fences were stuffed with straw. Can anyway explain to me as to how by either word,picture or even both if possible.

For the fletches should I make them using toothpicks giving them a regular appearance or would you say some balsa wood cut up at irregular cut and length?

[red lancer]

Thanks Ronan.

Axebreaker

I would say balsa wood cut to irregular lengths would probably be right, as the fences rails would not be uniform. To the fences stuffed with straw I would presume that it was fed through one rail and then through the next, like a sort of "weaving"
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Red Lancer

[Ronan the Librarian]

I always had the impression that the gaps in between the rails were stuffed with bales of straw, which had been cut recently and left out to dry. In any event, it apparently gave the Regulars the impression that it was a solid obstacle.
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You can lead a horse to water, but a toy soldier can no longer be lead (due to Health & Safety Regulations).

[Axebreaker]

[red lancer]

glad to be of help Axebreaker, for the straw may I suggest

Gaugemasters GM192 Rough Grass Beige.

It's a sort of grass mat that you can tear pieces off of to simulate clumps of rough grass it may be suitable as a straw substitute. It would also probably depend on what scale you were using, I am using it with Pendraken AWI 10mm figures and it looks okay.
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Red Lancer

[Charles BTB]

I am trying to find more information about the fleches and have not come up with much at all. They are shown on a number of secondary maps including the one produced by the park service. Talking the Ranger in charge if the battlefield history he indicated that during the bicentennial a retired Engineer Officer but them in based how defensive works should have been done at the time. But I have also found this debate in the Massachusetts Historical Society records from 1875, their conclusion was that Hyde-Page's map was the most reliable and that they should not be there.

The section of the line where the fleches were was the last to be fortified even after Stark works on the rail fence and the wall on the beach. So what ever it was it was not that substantial and did not connect with the trench running from the redoubt.

There was a recent article about the location of a mass grave of regulars at the base of the trench, however the battlefield has been built over an there is no remains of any of the fortifications or even the topography.

There is one fortification from the siege of Boston that still exists Fort Washington in Cambridge. It is semi circular in shape made of earth with positions for 3 guns.
I will post more information when I find it.

[red lancer]

thanks for the info Charles BTB
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Red Lancer