Why are the Losers Laughing?

Before I dive into last week's synopsis, I should mention that the previous match did not involve black holes, but rather a solid victory by Generalissimo LaBan as head of the Rebelion.  Darth Horak moved the Death Star into the Ison Corridor to create some tasty asteroids but neglected to move it back to Gamorr, where it had been shielding the Emperor.  LaBan took advantage of the unprotected star base and destroyed it, capturing the E-vile Emperor and winning the game in the process.

It was a different matter altogether last week.  The large battles started right off the bat with a Rebel assault out of the Wild Space and taking the heavily garrisoned Gamorr from the Hutts.  That set the tone for the evening with back-and-forth battles raging throughout the Mid Rim.  First the Rebels would sweep through, clearing out Hutts and Storm Troopers.  Then the Hutts would cash in faction cards and sweep back.  And then the Empire would come crashing out from their bases and clean out everyone else.  This repeated itself at least three times. 

Meanwhile, the Death Star wreaked havoc and the Rebel forces were slowly whittled down across the board.  Each time the Empire and Sith Lord LaBan thought they could finish them off, the wily Kent the Hutt pushed his forces up to 8 or 9 resource planets.  Frustrated, the Sith could only beat the Hutts back yet again. 

Finally, with yet another faction card straight and 10 or so troops, the Hutts launched an ultimate attack on the remaining resource planets.  Overwrought with the emotion of having been so close to victory so many times, the great Hutt was heard to say that he was going to leave the galaxy if he could not gain final victory. 

As is so often the case, the last battle was fought down to the last troop on each side.  And as is so often the case, the Sith's 8-sided die came up short.  In disbelief and emotionally exhausted, Kent the Hutt sank into his throne, while Sith Lord LaBan and Rebel Leader Horak jubilantly celebrated an amazing, see-saw series of battles.  Definitely one for the record books.  

Black Hole Engulfs Risk Game

In a bizarre twist of intergalactic karma, when the Death Star fired its destruct-o-matic ray at Balmorra last night, it ignited some kind of hyper-spatial cascade of high energy particles.  These seem to have focused on the game board itself and the result was a peculiar ignition of a dark energy source.  From our vantage only a few feet away, it would be described as a "black hole."

Apparently, it was small enough that Hawking radiation caused it to sublimate within a few seconds.  Kent was able to capture the aftermath with his Canon, which shows a totally destroyed Star Wars Risk game set and a severely ruined dining room table.

Fortunately for us, there was little smoke (apparently sucked into the mini-black hole itself) and no damage to we humans or the cats.