Apologies in advance to anyone on iOS queuing solo Bronze

I applaud you sir.

Most I have done is put my daughter (just 5) in charge of the jump button when I'm playing a cossack hanger.

That makes for interesting games.

So a quick update, because it made my evening.

Before heading out to run an errand, I checked in on Liam and did a couple quick upgrades (he was rocking L1 stuff). The "tutorial achievements" challenged him to get a weapon, and what did he want? Yup, a frickin' Ecu shield for his Destrier. He is now also properly named, so if you see a player named Marty McFleech (his choice, long story but connected to his love of Abe's Oddysee) you'll know who it is.

Well, he took to that shield right away. Next board he played was Dead_City, and he hit the beacon in front of him and charged the spawn point of the enemy. Wouldn't you know it, that ridiculous shield kept him alive? If I tried anything like that I'd be killed on the spot, but somehow with the luck of fools and small children Liam not only survived, but actually suppressed the enemy in their spawn zone. I was literally watching my young son reenact an acethunder video before my eyes. I couldn't stop laughing at the crazy absurdity of it, though it didn't take long for the enemy to engage him and break out. Once they did, I told him "well done, son" patted him on the head, and headed out.

Fools and small children. What a night.

You might well be right. We had a "special offer" come in for a boatload of Silver and 1600 Gold for $5. I clicked out of it, but he caught it and asked me what it was. Now he wants to use his allowance on it... #WhatHaveICreated

Lol, couldn't you ask for a refund though?

Excellent point, I hadn't even considered that he might go shopping on his own accord. 

It's all good and you're right that a lot of the... unorthodox... players are in fact just kids having a good time
(My kid plays as well and though he's not totally clueless I still have to remind him to not shoot at the blue team)

Just make sure you let him get the $5 Gepard!

I have family sharing set up for my kids on our Apple stuff. So if he tries to buy something it sends my wife and I a notification and we can approve or deny. Works pretty well.

So last night, I had a brilliant idea. Having just discovered what "squads" were the other night when someone I randomed with invited me to theirs, I thought- as any father would- howabout I play a little bit WITH my son?

So I squadded up with Marty McFleech and, as luck would have it, we began on Shenzhen (my personal favorite). I felt a moment of pride as I swung back and saw him queued up behind me, still loving that ridiculous little Ecu shield. 




We got separated early as I went to cap the opening beacon, but sitting beside me he was giving me a steady stream of feedback in the form of laughs, and giggles, and commentary about what he was seeing. "Hey Dad! I got a beacon!!" 

"Hey Dad! I got another one!!" 

I kept on as usual, first using my Cossack to harass the enemy on their flank, then switching to the Gep when the enemy finally put the Cossack to the sword. Our teammates were a mixed bag, with one guy going AFK from the start. The other team was really holding it together despite my best efforts, putting in some solid damage. One by one, our teammates were disappearing, but I'd grabbed enough beacons to make it possible to scrape out a win (BEACONS, PEOPLE, BEACONS).

It was tense as hell, I was so busy doing my best guerilla warfare impression that I couldn't keep up with Liam at all- he was on his own. My Gep put in a serious shift, but eventually succumbed. I moved to the Thunder Schutze, played it out, died. I brought out my last bot, the "backup" Cossack. If I died now... that was it. 

Down to two bots on our team, I marveled at how much open space the enemy was giving me. It was almost as if something else had caught all their attention... 

Almost as if... 

I caught sight of this as I ran past and nearly fell out of my seat with laughter. Liam was getting it done! 75% of the hostiles were swarming him, and again he'd somehow managed to take the fight to their spawn zone. Go go Marty McFleech! 



Thanks to Liam being able to keep the attention of the enemies on him instead of me, I was able to keep at least one beacon going at all times, and we ground out the victory on fumes. Looking at Liam's numbers, it was another reminder that you don't always have to do a lot of damage in order to do a lot for your team. And he had more beacons than anyone else on the team, except his dad.

As for me, even though I only run a single MagGep, looking at the table I felt a little bit like a seal clubber.

I'm pretty lucky with Liam that his interests have followed mine. It's not just with video games, he loves playing board games like Stratego and Junior Catan. But who knows, maybe your middle schooler will find something else to connect over! 

By the way, how does one find one's trophies/medals? I still haven't been able to figure that out. 

Click on your name after a battle to view your profile and you will see it there. If you are in a clan, you can view the current # of trophies contributed to the clan by viewing all members and finding your name.

(You might already know this) The # of medals/trophies are accrued 1 trophy for every 100k damage rounded up & down.

40k damage = 0 trophies
51k damage = 1 trophy
100k = 1 trophy
151k = 2 trophies