Recently, during a family reunion on Mount Ida, two Muses – Clio, the Muse of History and Calliope, the Muse of Lyric Poetry - ran into each other in the little library that Hephaestus had built to house the many volumes of the Loeb Classical Library that they had accumulated over the years.
‘Calliope, it’s good to see you!’
‘Indeed, Sister, it’s seems like centuries since we have enjoyed a proper chin wag.’
‘Time flies.’
‘You should know.’
‘Well said, Calliope, you’ve always had a way with words.’
‘I am a professional. Do not try this at home.’
‘Speaking of professions, how are things at work?’
‘Well, as you know, there isn’t much call for lyric poetry these days.’
‘More’s the pity.’
‘Alas. But I have found a new project, what the kid’s call a “side hustle”.’
‘Do tell.’
‘I’ve been inspiring the creators of tactical decision games’.
‘How very Athena of you.’
‘Actually, it was her idea.’
‘Well, it’s a small world.’
‘How so.’
‘Not long ago - at least as such as we count years - Athena convinced me to branch out into the realm of decision-forcing cases.’
‘What are those?’
‘Well, they are a lot like tactical decision games …’
‘Except …’
‘Except they are based on real events, things that actually happened, wie es eigentlich gewesen ist and all that.’
‘Now, you’re making me think of Schiller. There was a guy who knew his lyric poetry.’
‘Leopold von Ranke, actually, a great historian. That was his motto. It reminded him to search for “the way things actually were”.’
‘I bet he read Schiller.’
‘Indeed he did. So, full marks for lyric poetry.’
‘Thank you, Clio. It’s lovely when things work out that way.’
‘We complement each other nicely, n’est-ce pas?’
‘We do. And that relationship extends to the exercises that, of late, we have been inspiring.’
‘Your tactical decision games foster imagination, and, in particular, the ability to envision the reality behind reports and the consequences of decisions. My decision-forcing cases allow players to compare their solutions to the course of action chosen by the protagonist, a real person who, at some time in the past, found himself faced with the problem at hand.’
‘Have you been reading The Tactical Notebook?’
‘Guilty, as charged. And, I bet you’ve been enjoying Shadowbox Decision Games: Warfighters.’
‘I have. I especially enjoyed the video in which John Schmitt and a decision-forcing case enthusiast discussed ‘Contact at the Seven Mounds’.
‘There are no secrets in this town … or, to be more precise … this mythical mountain.’
IRL I’d take any decision and any forward enemy facing leader could be a fat half blind idiot if he would DECIDE and face the consequences personally.
See Bondi Beach today.
Grumpy Veteran; GUILTY
Amen
Loved the intro- hysterical. Does this audience know that the US Army produced a book in the 1934 titled infantry in battle- great lessons learned stuff; the introduction is by George C Marshall when he was in charge of the infantry school. And on another note. A British Company called Matrix Games produced a simulation series called the operational art of war. About 300 scenarios. You can also build your own the WW I and WW II sims are great. I bought a Dell gaming laptop just for this series of sims