From: ke4bss@aol.com (Ke4bss)
Subject: Re: London's Burning

>Another note:  it appears to me that a Head-On attack is only useful against 
>bombers.  Head-On attacks against fighters usually result in a hit to the RAF 
>engine or pilot, since the enemy fighter can fire back one full round (two 
>dice) with its front guns.

>If the RAF pilot is hit, then that could be very bad, since pilots are in such 
>short supply.  Therefore it seems that Head-On is only useful for attacks
>against bombers.  In this case, the trade-off is that the RAF cannot attack 
>the Luftwaffe fighters during the first round of battle, and their 
>counter-attack can be just as bad as the return fire would have been in the 
>case of a head-on assault.

>It almost seems that the head-on attack is actually a disadvantage, and it is 
>a better tactic to attack normally, hitting the fighters first.  Then again, I 
>might be interpreting the rules incorrectly.

>What do you think about this?

>Robert D. Grossman
>Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.   USA
>r-grossman@nwu.eduI 

I have LB and am in my 4th game.  It is possible that you may destroy all
the fighters and leave the bombers unesecorted without them breaking off
unless damaged.   The bombers mission is to bomb their target.  They will
attempt to do just that unless their plane has engine damage, in which
they will abort their mission.   It is also possible to intercept raids
that are entirely composed of fighters ( Fighter Sweeps) or raids entirely
composed of bombers.  That is not an error.  It was a valid tactic of air
warfare of the day.  The Germans did intend to escort their bomber
formations but sometimes the fighter groups failed to rendezvous with the
bombers and the RAF would usually have a field day.  There were also
occasions were bomber groups were so well protected by German fighter
groups, the RAF fighters simply could not get into a position to attack
the bombers.

WW2 proved that bombers needed to be escorted.  Even the B17 needed
escorts or suffer heavy losses.

Dont be too worried about making mistakes during your first few games. 
Thats natural.  Just be sure to check yourself against the rules so you
are playing correctly.  Also be sure to read the entire rules atleast once
along with designers notes and historical background.  Historical
backgrounds usually help you to understand why the designer wrote the
rules as he did.  Its also great info about the war over Britian.

Strategy

Head on and Out of Sun attacks are intercepting advantages that you can
control.  They give your pilots a key surprise attack in the first round
of combat.

I only play the full campaign game.  Forget the targets on the lower
edge of the map, they are already gone before they are attacked.  I have
found the best stategy is to let the Raid complete about 2-3 pulses before
I scramble my fighters.   The only real danger in this is damage to radar
sites.  But fortunately, the damage is usually slight and easily repaired.
 Let the raid get 6-8 hexes in (including those over the channel) then let
the krauts have it with both fighters.  I always use my fighters as a
team.  Separating them is suicide and lessons your chances of adequatly
intercepting the raid.  Letting the raid draw deeper into your territory. 
This increases the kill chances for your pilots.  Remember that engine
damage will cause bombers to breakoff and head for France with the added
benefit that the plane may crash before reaching its airfield.  The sooner
you get your pilots to ace status the better your chances of survival.  

Dont fly wasteful (as far as fatigue goes) patrols unless pilot fatigue
can be recovered that night.  Head on attacks are great against bombers
and only good against fighters when combined with out of the sun
advantage.  Germans cannot return fire.  Try to always intercept raids
with some combination of head on and out of sun attacks.  Also, refrain
from attacking raids over the channel.  If a pilot has to bail out, his
chances of survival are less and damaged German aircraft have a better
chance of returning to their airfields.

I typically use my repair points to first replace destroyed aircraft.  2nd
is to repair radar sites.  3rd is damage to London and finally any target
that has damaged.  

That's about all I can think of for now.  The game does neatly have this
tactical element to where there is no definate strategy that works every
time.  After playing a few rounds, coupled with the hindsight of the
battle itself,  you will gain a sort of tactical sence of timing that will
be a great help to your chaps in the cockpit.  Good Hunting.

Wade Griffin

"If the British empire and its commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, 
men will still say...This was their finest hour."
                         Winston Churchill