Abstract The process of ignition in aero-engines raises many practical issues that need to be faced during the design process. Recent experiments and simulations have provided detailed insights into ignition in single-injector configurations and on the light-round sequence in annular combustors. It was shown that large eddy simulation (LES) was able to reliably reproduce the physical phenomena involved in the ignition of both perfectly premixed and liquid spray flames. This study aims at further extending the knowledge on flame propagation during the ignition of annular multiple injector combustors by focusing the attention on the effects of heat losses, which have not been accounted for in numerical calculations before. This problem is examined by developing LESs of the light-round process with a fixed temperature at the solid boundaries. Calculations are carried out for a laboratory-scale annular system. Results are compared in terms of flame shape and light-round duration with available experiments and with an adiabatic LES serving as a reference. Wall heat losses lead to a significant reduction in the flame propagation velocity as observed experimentally. However, the LES underestimates this effect and leads to a globally shorter light-round. To better understand this discrepancy, the study focuses then on the analysis of the near wall region. An a priori analysis underlines the shortcomings associated with the chosen wall law by considering a more advanced wall model that fully accounts for variable thermophysical properties and for the unsteadiness of the boundary layer.