Their Finest Hour

The Battle of Britain and Operation Sea Lion

After the defeat of France in the spring of 1940, Britain alone remained in the war against German aggression. Follow-ing their triumph on the continent, the Germans organized and trained their forces for the campaign they hoped would win the war: the invasion and conquest of Britain. With the British army only slowly recovering from the tremendous loss of equipment it suffered during its hasty evacuation from France, the defense of Britain lay with the Royal Navy and, especially, with the Royal Air Force. For if the German Luftwaffe could drive the RAF from the skies of southern Britain, then the German armies would have a fair chance of crossing the English Channel and bringing the sparsely-equipped British ground forces to battle.

Their Finest Hour is a two-player game recreating the military situation facing Britain and Germany in the summer and fall of 1940. At 16 miles per hex, the maps cover the entire British Isles plus northern France and western Norway. Each player controls the air, naval, and ground forces committed to the invasion or defense of Britain. Air units are based on groups of about 40 aircraft; naval units represent flotillas of destroyers and individual capital ships and cruisers; ground units are scaled at divisions, brigades, regiments, and battalions. The rules use the basic Europa game mechanics as a framework, with specialized rules covering the historical situation in detail.