Hedges

[martin goddard]

Most periods we game probably don't have hedges.
i.e CWB, WA,CK, PITS.

However PBI, ROF can use hedges.
I like them.
Bocage type hedges can really add to the look of a  game.  There should be a special rule for bocage hedges.

I usually base hedges in a 1 foot strip so they do not get knocked apart during the game.

Do you own and use hedges?  Where? When etc...

martin

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Turns out that the hedges used in Medieval Jersey were essentially 'bocage', since they followed the farming practice in Normandy of segregating livestock from tilled fields etc. by virtue of making sunken roads and boundaries stock-proof. I've made up 6" to 8" lengths using foam lumps, filler, various scatter, lichen and railway scenic bush and hedge tufts...
They seem to look the part

Neil

[John Watson]

From my limited knowledge I get the impression that hedges are very much a British thing (Normandy excepted). I don't know why though. They exist widely across the UK except where there is an abundance of stone or a shortage of trees and shrubs. In those areas stone walls predominate.
I use hedges in RoF, BB, and PBI (NW Europe). I also use them in other rule sets but we won't talk about those. My hedges are not home made.
Are there areas of eastern Europe, Scandinavia or north America where hedges are found?
John

[Colonel Kilgore]

I have a bunch of home-made hedges, from my days in the pre-RFCM wilderness.

They don't get used nowadays.

Simon

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Hedgerows are a feature of land use in a temperate climate and largely confined to NW Europe where settled communities have invested in parcels of land for growing crops. Hedgerows evolved as stock-poof boundaries. In Eastern Europe more open grassland is prevalent which favours ranching etc. and a more open form of land use. Alpine areas also more open grazing land. Kitchen gardens around settlements and pens for specific livestock are more favoured which tend to utilise fencing or walled enclosures depending on the abundance of local resources. There are still quite a lot of hedgerows in parts of France, Germany, Italy and Portugal.

Neil

[Sean Clark]

I have a load of S and A Scenics hedges that are eased almost exclusively  for English Civil War (nasty hedges in Regiment of Foote) or North West Europe WW2 (partials in PBI)

I have thought about making some as I have a lot of rubberized horse hair left over from other projects.

[Leman (Andy)]

I use hedges in Dark Age Britain, WotR, TYW, WoSS, SYW, First Schleswig War, Franco-Austrian War, APW, FPW and WWI 1914 France and Belgium.

[mellis1644]

I made a load of 15mm hedges and walls from pop sticks. That makes them about 3" long but very flexible for various games. I find them very useful.
The hedges are nice:

Walls come out really well as well - just painted on:


You can more pics here: https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/htl-hedges-walls-and-a-ditch/

[simmo]

On the subject of how we use hedges in our games. I do feel it is far to easy for troops to move up to a hedge poke their riles through to fire and claim soft cover from incoming. Then there is the ease at which they can cross the hedge. When I'm out an about in the countryside I often think about such things. Is there any information about tactical training in Normandy about hedges. I'd like to think troops went round them most often and only troops in defensive positions could shoot through them.

I appreciate this is more relevant to skirmish games.

Martyn Simpson

[John Watson]

There are hedges like we see most often in the UK that are more or less at ground level and there is Normandy bocage which was usually a hedge on a four to six foot high earthen bank. This was often as thick as it was high and required a bulldozer tank to make an entrance through it. The two present quite different issues for an army whether attacking or defending.
John

[martin goddard]

Indeed hedges are variable.In the wars of the roses some of the hedge were very big indeed. But some were quite small.
The Naseby hedge was quite important, but dragoons could engage the Royalist cavalry through it.

martin

[Leman (Andy)]

I like the idea of big old rough hedges in European wargames. And talking of hedges, I wonder how 5D are getting on these days.