I played Napoleon with Dave last night. An old classic. (I mean the game, but could equally well apply to Dave!) My Gamma Two Games edition is dated 1974. We actually played with Dave's Avalon Hill edition (1979) which has much clearer printing on the blocks, but also has a battle board which unnecessarily (I thought) turns the simple battle resolution procedure into an ASL-style procedural nightmare.

I took the Allies. I played this game a lot when I was a teenager, and I thought I was quite good at it. What illusions we cherish about ourselves. Dave soundly demolished my forward deployment with a centre/left strategy. We switched sides, and I sent the Grand Army up the centre. Dave used cavalry screens to slow me down, and managed to link the Prussians with the English to defeat me again.

Sigh. The only way to salvage any self-esteem was to cynically introduce Dave to a new Euro, so out came Lost Cities, which I duly beat him at twice while he figured out how the game works. It was low work, but my ego was desperate for affirmation. Sometime you have to do these things......