An account of the 7am raid on August 13 (Eagles Day) during my first
play of the solo version of London's burning, with some useful lessons
on what not to do to save England.

I randomly draw my first two pilots, Clisby (spits) and Waters
(hurricane). I also draw one spit and one hurri pilot (Richey and Drake)
in reserve. I choose Hornchurch southeast of London as my base, then
deploy my planes to two satellite fields: Marston, at the southeast tip
of England (Clisby), and Hawkinge northeast of Dover (Waters). Both
planes start on the ground-my first mistake. If you are going to
challenge the Luftwaffe so close to France you'd best start on patrol in
the air.

I draw the first raid (7am) of the day. A big one-five planes,
assembling at a reported altitude of 10,000 feet between Dover and
Marston. I scramble my planes, but in the five minutes it takes me to
get in the air the enemy raid arrives at Dover.

The enemy planes are flipped over to reveal 3 Me109s, a Do17, and a
Ju88. All are, as reported, at Angels 10. The bombers drop their loads,
doing 2 points of damage to Dover harbor.

The three Me109s should have warned me off, but I'm anxious to engage.
Waters climbs to Angels 10, and attacks alone, head-on against the Ju88
(Clisby is still 6 miles to the east). The head-on attack means I dont
have to make a performance check (important with three unengaged
fighters present) but am limited to one burst (2 dice). I get one hit,
on the frame, but because it is a head-on attack it counts against the
engine. The Ju88's return fire misses. The Ju88 is forced to break-off
and escapes to Franc e. (Farther inland it would have crashed and
counted as a kill.)

The Me109s swarm for revenge. The first passes its performance check but
gets only one burst, scoring one hit on the frame. But the second passes
with 3 bursts (6 dice) and scores five hits! The hurricane is destroyed
and Waters wounded. He manages to bail out, but dies of his wounds
before hitting the ground.

As the raiders (minus the Ju88) prepare to return home, Clisby climbs to
Angels 15, and dives down on them out of the sun. He targets one of the
Me109s. The out of the sun bonus cancels the two unengaged fighters, and
Clisby manages three bursts, destroying the target.

But the two surviving fighters attack Clisby in turn. The first fails
its performance roll and doesn't engage, but the second wounds Clisby
and damages the spit, which unable to reach Marston, lands at Hawkinge.
The raiders return to France.

Clisby's wound is very serious-his flying days are over. The spit is
repaired and Richey pulled out of reserve to fly it. But Water's
replacement Drake must wait for the destroyed hurricane to be replaced
that night before entering the battle. (Hurri number one is available,
but with spit #1 in play, Drake has to wait for hurri #2 to be rebuilt.)

I decide to put Richey on patrol at Hawkinge (I could have chosen any
satellite field, or Hornchurch (where Drake sits, waiting for a plane),
and await the next possible raid at 10am. Things, I tell myself, at
least can't get much worse.

I consider London's Burning to be a great design. It can also be played
2 players (either both against the system, or one as the Germans) and
there are three game lengths, including a short game that ends on August
18.  Hope my description helped give a feel for the game. And Ben, if
you read this, congratualtions.

Ted Raicer