There and back again Friday Frivolity style

So the game of games we played for a season, seasons and half a season, Empires and Arms, was wrapped up some time ago.  Back in April, just as the Covid Era was beginning, we called quits on the game we had played for more than a couple years.  

In fact, that's one of the great problems with that game.  Some have called it the flawed masterpiece of wargames.  It has almost everything you could want to get a feel for the Napoleonic era on every level.  But unless you have a handful of people who can commit to about a year's worth or so of playing, it's going to be rough. 

So after going away, we're back.  As I've said before, the boys decided to stay home during this year of college.  They were thrust onto online classes last spring, just as they were preparing to move on.  Seeing the way things were, they reasoned it was senseless to spend the extra money to be on campus when all you would be doing would be shut in your apartments on campus.  

So there you go.  The balance is better this time.  Our oldest, and most timid and reserved, is Russia.  That does well to sit back and wait and defend.   Our next to the youngest is Austria, which forces on him his weakest ability, and that's diplomacy.  Plus he doesn't have the monster armies that Russia and France have to buttress his already excellent tactics, aggressive play and generally good fortune where dice are concerned. 

Our second oldest is France.  He's not a great player, but a wily diplomat, and though his dice rolls leave something to be desired, he now has France's bountiful benefits, and Napoleon.  That's something ol'Austria just learned the hard way.  He was used to wiping the floor with my second oldest, but this time Napoleon made the difference and Austria's Charles-led army was sent packing.  Now he sits with strong French forces ready to threaten an under garrisoned Vienna, the French fleet ready to resupply, and most likely left with the choice of suing for a conditional surrender, or watching France occupy his capital.  Choices, by the way, he's not used to pondering.

So it promises to be interesting. Already the boys' college has all but nixed Spring semester and all its activities, so they plan on staying close to home in the meantime.  They're plenty busy of course. The college answer to online classwork seems to be tons of meaningless busy work.  But it must be done.  And since, unlike Colin Kaepernick, my boys are awash with privilege, they also have to work long hours, sometimes with more than a single job, in order to get through their schooling without plunging into debt.  

On the flip side, socializing has been at a minimum, and those they are close to are, for the time being, at arms length through Zoom and other outlets.  So when they can, as they always have, they'll set some time aside and see if we can glide through another campaign from two centuries past.