The Draw of the Three

(with apologies to Stephen King)

Ric da Hutt, General Horak, and Sith Lord Wood took to their space pods after polishing off an entire CostCo pepperoni pizza.  Most of the action concentrated in the Mid and Outer Rim due to the Death Star occupying Elom in the initial placement. 

The Rebels did a passing fair job of hunting down and destroying lone legions on Imperial systems.  That cut their reinforcement rate down, although they made valient and sometimes very effective counterattacks.  That included denying the Rebels control of the Mid Rim.  The Hutts chugged along, biding their time. 

When the Death Star finally struck forth, it took out Sullust and a large Hutt garrison.  Then the Empire captured the Wild Space.  A large Rebel force attempted to reinvade the sector, but they were beaten off.  However, stormtroopers elsewhere were being decimated.  The Force Meter swayed back and forth before becoming lodged in the light side. 

Meanwhile, the Hutts slowly regained their strength.  After the stormtroopers captured Gamorr from the Rebels, the Hutts invaded the Mid Rim, but were stymied by a well-played faction card.  The Empire fortified their newly captured resource planets, constructed starbases in the safety of the Wild Space, and used the Death Star to block egress.  They were otherwise helpless to resist the Hutt onslaught. 

The Rebels attacked across the asteroids left from the destruction of Sullust and set up a force on Eriadu, set to invade the Wild Space.  The Hutts swept past the fortified starbases and conquered systems as far as Rodia, which fell to their Gamorran battle axes and laser blasters.

Thinking the game over, we congratulated Ric.  But in that final moment of "trust but verify," we counted systems.  Alas, the Hutts held only nine.  Gamorr was protected by the Death Star, Nar Shaddar was garrisoned by a starbase with five legions, Elom was safe deep in the Wild Space, and Sullust was gone.  There was little hope that the Hutts could take 10 resource planets until they could reduce Nar Shaddar or destroy the Death Star.  The Empire was effectively barracaded in the Wild Space and the Rebels would need many more turns (and faction cards) before they could defeat that hardened target. 

The exhausted players sued for peace and called it a draw.  

The 8-8-1-1-1-1 Kingmaker

With Wood's justly famous Sloppy Joes, aka Sloppy Hutts, under our belts, we resumed hostilities.  As the dice would have it, Kent drew the Hutt forces, Ric took the evile Empire, and I was left with the egg-sucking Rebels.  The setup proceeded in an fairly normal way, although truth be told, the Hutts had a good piece of the Mid-Rim resource planets and the Empire looked to easily take the Wild Space.  I vaguely recall that the game went thusly:

My initial assault set the Empire back with minimal losses to the Rebellion.  The Hutts croodled forth cautiously, but gained a 6th resource planet.  The Empire did indeed take the Wild Space and fortified it with the Death Star at Omwat and a starbase at Excarga.

Turn 2 required stern measures and the Rebels, reinforced with a bomber, fought through the Hutts at Gamorr to neutralize the Wild Space by taking the starbase at Excarga.  The initial assault on Excarga was decisively repulsed with 8-8 dice rolls.  A desperate and out-numbered Rebel force with nothing to lose continue the attack and were surprised with consecutive 1-1 / 1-1 victories.  The Hutts continued their slow advance.  The Empire, hamstrung by losses of numerous systems, struggled to gain faction cards, but did push the force meter to the dark side.  That trend continued and that alone kept them on the board as long as they lasted.

Turn 3 saw the Rebels run amok after a faction card straight.  They captured the Ison Corridor and the El'Rood Sector.  The Hutts recaptured Gamorr and ran their number of systems up to 7 for a bonus card, a dangerous situation.  However, the Hutts had now been forced out of half the galaxy.  The Empire responded to these combined threats by attacking into the El'Rood Sector at Sluis Van, which failed, and at Byfassh, which also failed.  They then destroyed the Rebel fleet and garrison at Excarga with the Death Star.  (This was the kingmaker move--had they instead reduced the Hutts at Gamorr, things would've gone differently in the end.)

Armed with reinforcements from two sectors, the Rebels continued to deal death throughout the galaxy.  The Hutts used faction cards to good effect and gained strength.  The Empire appeared to be on the ropes.

Turn 5 saw the Rebels spread thinly between the Empire who were gaining strength and the Hutts who were dangerously strong.  The Hutts continued to advance,finally taking away the Rebel sector bonus by capturing Bfassh.  The Empire continued to be the kingmaker by attacking Rebels in the Outer Rim instead of taking Hutt resource planets.

In the end, despite capturing 3 starbases and driving the Empire down to 8 systems, the Rebels could not resist huge faction card-assisted assaults that overwhelmed all that opposed them.  Victory Hutts.

Twice the Fun -- Twice the Embarrassment

General Kent not only reclaimed the Funky Chicken Trophy from Ric, but he humiliated us twice.  That brings his win percentage up to 30%, which is still well short of Ric's 38% lifetime average.

Game #1. 

Tying a previous record, the Rebels were able to attack through thinly-held Imperial lines and overrun the first starbase on the board at the beginning of their second turn.  Despite a garrison of three legions of Storm Troopers, the Rebels were able to succeed and capture Emperor LaBan.  Bummer!

Game #2.  

Resetting quickly, we dove into a second game, which turned out to be a much more involved affair.  Horak the Hutt was able to drive the Rebels out of the Ison Corridor and maintained control of that sector for the remainder of the game.  Faction card straights came thick and fast, first Hutt, then Empire, then Rebel.

General Kent and Sith Lord Ric battled it out, but the Empire was able to push the Force Meter far to the dark side.  As turns went by, the Hutts could only manage shallow gains, rarely getting into the bonus cards. The Rebels were gradually worn down and it looked like a sure thing for the Empire.  The Empire conquered the Wild Space and things were looking poorly for the Rebels.

But then the dastardly Rebels reinforced their last stronghold at Ylesia with the troops from a faction card straight and struck out for Elom.  Nar Shaddar fell, then Gamorr, next Excarga, and finally Elom itself.  True enough, the Sith Lord Ric was there.

Game Rebels.