I stopped playing Valkyria Chronicles temporarily to play God of War III, and when I finished the latter, I was concerned I wouldn't find the inspiration to go back to the former. To give myself a chance to buy back in, I sat down with the tactical game a few days ago and reloaded my save that was about halfway through my latest mission--game chapter 6, if you're keeping score at home.

I was a bit worried that it wouldn't hold my interest, but then the stars aligned or something. A big tactical gamble on my part worked amazingly well: I had a lucky shot with an anti-tank lance and broke a hole in the enemy's defensive line. In one turn I swept my entire squad through a tiny opening in that flank, and found myself within meters of the enemy basecamp. In Valkyria Chronicles, you win if you reach the enemy basecamp. So, if I could get a pair of my boots to that flagpole before the enemy brought the hole in his line under control, I was in like nobody's business. I ended my turn (since I was out of actions) and watched as the enemy reinforced his basecamp with additional soldiers armed with machine guns and anti-tank lances, and slowly started bringing his tanks to address my incursion. Then, it was my turn. I moved one of my scouts up near the basecamp, so that he could spot all of the assembled troopers. There were about four or five of them there, waiting for one of my men to try to take that flag. Normally it would take a few turns of concentrated fire to clear that many enemies, but in this instance, I had an advantage. The enemy soldiers guarding the flag were necessarily close together in a defensive posture. This made it an ideal target for a mortar strike. So I ordered my tank to shell the area. The blasts killed half of the enemy infantry and threw the others clear of the flag. With none of them capable of defending anymore, my waiting scout rushed in and captured the base, granting an instant victory to my team. Awesome. One small twist of luck--that first lance hitting an enemy tank's radiator and opening the flank--had quickly repurchased my interest in the game. I am excited about this game again!

Of course, that meant I moved from chapter 6 to chapter 7, which is notoriously challenging. I learned why, last night. So far I've faced enemy tanks that might be something like the IT-2 PANTHER or the IT-4 COUGAR. Well, the primary target on chapter 7 is a tank the size of a locomotive that is probably designated in technical documents as the IT-99 FUCKYOU. Backing up that unstoppable armor is the titular Imperial Valkyria warrior, Selvaria Bles, left, and her "gatling beam spiral lance" which fires glowing blue beams of flaming infantry death and makes short work of any attempt to strike the tank. It is a tough mission, but I came really close to finishing it last night, and the next time I play, I hope to put it down. Hard.

Yeah, so that's how that is. The playoffs start tonight. Well, they started last night, but the important (AKA the Capitals) series starts tonight. I admit I probably won't see too much of the early games, but that won't stop me from being interested in the results.

It was spring cleaning weekend at home this past weekend and that mission continues this weekend. The house is looking brand new again, hurray! I have to get back out to the greens soon and work on my godawful swing. (Many people play golf. I play an identical game rulewise, but it should be called godawful when I play, because of how ugly it is.) Also, an old tradition might be coming back for this weekend! Let's check that out!

In other news, apparently someone is finally using the X-COM franchise to make another game, but it looks like it will be terrible. I'll follow the development to make sure. But for right now, I'm off to continue my own development tasks.