Double Trouble for the Rebel Rubble

Lately game nights have ended after one battle that runs into the late evening hours.  But this week, the combat was so furious and the outcomes so unexpected that we easily dominated the galaxy twice in a single evening.   Rebel Leader LaBan, Sith Wood, and Horak the Hutt took up their dice and when the dust settled two and a half hours later, there were two different victors with two different victories. 

Game #1.  The Rebels game out of their corner swinging, first at the Hutts.  I'm not sure if it was a matter of cold Rebel dice or hot Hutt dice, but the result was a horrible mangling of the Rebel forces.  The Hutts launched a successful couple attacks and then the Empire took the field.  They continued whomping on the Rebels but bounced off the Hutt concentrations.  The Rebels had few forces to attack with in the second round and about as much luck.  The Hutts swept the few opposing legions out of the Ison Corridor and would hold it for the remainder of the game (despite some strenuous attacks down both hyperspace links). 

This pattern held until the Hutts climbed up to 8 resource planets -- and the large number of faction cards that came with it.  The next turn the Hutts were up to 9 resource planets and had 7 faction cards ready to blast the galaxy wide open.

But the wiley Emperor had a faction card straight of his own.  Faced with four separate Rebel regions, he assaulted them with portions of his huge force.  In the end the loss of any one system would have meant an easy Hutt victory, but the Sith's luck held and he was just able to capture the last system.

Victory --> Empire

Game #2.  Since Game #1 was over in near-record time, the gang tooled up for an instant rematch.  This time the first round was much more balanced.  Even so, the Ison Corridor once again fell to the Hutts.  This was countered somewhat by the Rebels quickly taking the Wild Space.  The Hutts neutralized this two turns later with the an invasion from Gamorr to Elom. 

The Hutts went on an aggressive ship-building campaign, ultimately building up to 2 capitol ships and a bomber.  On the fourth turn a faction card straight plus bonuses allowed the Hutts (at seven resource planets) to undertake a series of bold assaults on three systems.  With overwhelming numbers they were able to take first one system and then with their fleet, conquer a second. 

But the third system, critical for victory was Rodia, which was attacked by two legions from Gamorr.  In the first clash at two against one, the Rebels held firm, but in the next, one on one, the Hutts came out on top rolling a 4 to best a Rebel 3.

Victory -->  Hutts