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Black Hole Replay |
This page illustrates a replay of a game of Metagamng's Black Hole that Joe Hartley and Walt O'Hara played recently. We utilized Black Hole rules and map and the Cyberboard PBeM gamebox for it available here on the Emporium (see the Metagaming Section).
If you would like to view this game in Cyberboard to see everything that transpired (warts and all), you must download the Cyberboard engine, the Black Hole gamebox, and our scenario and game file.
Walt O'Hara (Blue)
Joe Hartley (White)
Blue Victory
None for the basic game, which we played the 1st and 2nd time.
Black Hole is a "purchase style" game, allowing you to buy a certain amount of units (40 pts worth) from the following unit list:
PSV-L (laser Personal Service Vehicle)
PSV-M (missile Personal Service Vehicle)
MPV-L (laser Mobile Platform Vehicle)
MPV-M (missile Mobile Platform Vehicle)
HEV-L (laser Heavy Equipment Vehicle)
HEV-M (missile Heavy Equipment Vehicle)
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| Blue Team (Walt) | White Team (Joe) |
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Joe's comments on his purchases: My rationale: lots of units to land, and an even number of each unit. My plan is to take 2 bases and try and hold them. I've got first move, and can land up to 4 units. I'll land 3: an MPV-M, an PSV-L and a PSV-M near the south base.
Walt's comments on his purchases: I like smashing power. I favor going after the other player's units first and then seizing bases. You don't get an early win that way, but this is a strategy that pays off in the long run. The PSV-Ms seem to be a waste of time to me, but the PSV-Ls can double their firepower close in, and a 4-1 attack isn't anything to sneeze at. The extra HEV can prove to be decisive.
this is a special turn for landings only, no combat.
Blue Landing (north map) |
White Landing (south map) |
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Joe has a plan to take the Southern base, and actually lands one unit right on top of it. Pretty hard to do! Walt spreads out more, going for the Northern base and Middle Base.
Comments (Joe): I've got first move, and can land up to
4 units. I'll land 3: an MPV-M, an PSV-L and a PSV-M near the south base. Next turn I'll
do the same near whichever base is further away from Walt's forces. Hopefully the turn
after that I'll land near his forces
And try to do damage to his actual forces - an offensive rather than a defensive
front - but I may not want to spread myself around that thin. We'll see. BTW, I chose the
south base because it's got more mountains around it than the other bases. That gives it a
tiny but more protection than the other bases. I'll take whatever edge I can get!
Comments (Walt): Well, he got the benefit of the first move, and the benefit of the South base with all its missile-blockin' mountains. That's okay, I'll try to deny him the middle, easy base and land in a heavy (though safe) landing around the Northern base. He took more chances than I would in landing, but then again, I lost a unit in last game's landing drill-- I'm not eager to repeat that. I land a HEV and PSV up North to take the top base, a PSV in the center to deny the middle base to Joe, and a MPV to cause trouble with Joe's forces in the South. As long as the firefight happens down there, I can consolidate and land more guys to attack his strong Southern position.
The dice favor Walt in this turn. He manages to nail not one, but two enemy units in the laser phase (a PSV and a HEV, giving him 8 vps). He is not as succesful in the missile fire phase, only disrupting the units that have collected on the Southern Base. Landings all go well. Joe blasts away with missiles in this turn and disrupts one of Walt's precious HEVs. Joe's landings are pretty bad... almost disasterous.
Blue Turn One (north map) |
White Turn One (south map) |
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Joe Comments: I ended up with 2 more pieces than Walt,
who likes the HEV's. I'd really
like to try and hold off and save some units for landing later in the game when things get
tight.The temptation to move all my units onto the southern base is great, but if I keep
the PSV-L off the base, I can hit the HEV-L at F3 with a double-power laser blast! I can't
resist that. Disrupted the HEV - I was hoping at 4-1 odds I'd be able to kill the
sucker. I will probably wipe it out with the missile I fired. I *hope* that I'll wipe it
out with the missile I fired! The landing went poorly. I rolled a landing roll of 6
for all 3 landings, including the MPV I tried to land in row K. I am *not* happy about
that! I'll land one of the HEV's that I was hoping to save for later in its place, and not
in row K, tempting as it is! All units land farther away from the north base than I'd
hoped. The PSV's should be able to take it next turn, though. Still, I have 2 units on the
southern base, so I'm getting an early start on the VPs.
Walt Comments: Not much to complain about here! Luck was on my side this turn. I take out a PSV-L AND a HEV! That's 8 pts. of his striking power down the toilet (Joe lost a MPV-M during his first landing, making it 28 to go). I've also disrupted the PSV-M and MPV-M in the Southern base, which doesn't deny him VPs, but will assure me that I'll dominate the board for the next turn-- and there won't be so many of those nasty missiles flying about. Joe's being cagey, holding some units back to make a reserve, but I wonder if that's sound. At this stage, I outnumber his active units on the board 8 to 1 after my landings, which went well (I didn't risk anything beyond the K row).
Just to trim the download times, the remainder of the replay is presented on these links.
