Winding It Down (Up)

December 31st, and this will be my 116th post of the year...not quite as many as 2019, a bit more than 2020.  121 is probably what I should be shooting for (once every three days or so), but sometimes finding the time to blog is tricky.

The snow and ice continues to linger...no worries for my fam, though the wife is a bit stir-crazy (she's a runner and doesn't feel comfortable jogging on icy streets). When not out in the snow, the seven year old continues to work diligently on her 4,000 piece lego set; the boy and I are fighting our way through a second game of War in the European theater via Axis & Allies: Europe 1940. At the moment, it appears the Nazis (me) are crushing it, having established themselves as true naval power of the Atlantic (and consigning the rest of Europes ships to a watery grave); unfortunately, the damn Italians are faring hideously in their African campaign, and now the Russians are about to join the fight. If the Krauts are forced to fight the war on THREE fronts (west, east, and south)...well, it won't be good. I may just need to perform Operation: Sea Lion to stop Cairo from pumping out forces in the Mediterranean!

*sigh* Ugh! Italy! Those friggin' spaghetti-eaters are going to lose me this war!

[I played the Allies the first time through, and won handily. It helped that Diego made the mistake of "poking the bear" (attacking the USSR) in the first turn. While not a terrible idea (maybe) to strike early, his utter failure to take Paris resulted in the French resistance to drive back the Western front, even without Allied bombing. He conceded the game, the Axis reduced to just Berlin and Rome, before Los Americanos ever set foot on continental Europe]

Ah, man.

[16ish hours later]

The kids got up. The day called. The blog post died on the vine. I am heading to bed now, but I will try to start 2022 with a better post than this. Apologies.

Oh, and for what it's worth: the War continues. The UK has fallen. The Americans languish off the coast of their own continent, too afraid of the Axis war machine (a tremendous fleet) to take action. The Soviets are painfully difficult to deal with. I am soooo unused to this more limited theater of operations...no Japanese to split the Red Army's attention and sap their supplies? Are you kidding me? The Italians? That's it?! Just...worthless. 

The remains of the UK continues to hold Cairo. I need eight "victory cities" to win. I have five: Berlin, Rome, Warsaw, Paris, London. Leningrad should fall in the next turn. But I am no closer to the others. The Italians have failed and failed and failed in Africa, and the Jerries are splitting between their attention on two fronts. I am tired...tired of this war. Besides shopping, cleaning, cooking, celebrating the New Year it has been nothing but war...WAR I say. Is this damn game rigged? It seems impossible for the Axis to win against a competent general. And my son...I am proud to say...is quite competent.

But I'm still better. More tomorrow. I must sleep.

Happy New Year.