A Hutt too Far

The usual Thursday evening shenanigans led to pizza overdose and a fair bit of statistically implausible dice rolling.  Darth Laban, Horak the Hutt, and Rebel Leader Wood duked it out for galactic supremacy.  Amazingly, the galaxy survived. 

With the Death Star thwarting any chance of anyone taking the Wild Space, the night's setup was far from usual.  With that constraint in mind, the Rebels turned instead to the Ison Corridor.  After clearing out the few Storm Troopers, they heavily garrisoned both inbound hyperspace links.  The Hutts were left to cautiously creep forward.  Unfortunately, the Empire's first attacks meant to regain lost ground against the dastardly Rebels failed disastrously. 

In subsequent rounds, the Rebels spread like a plague, but concerted attacks by Hutts and Storm Troopers kept them in check.  One of the key features of this campaign was the back-and-forth balance of the Force Meter.  Often victory is determined by which side can move the Force Meter farthest.  This time, for every move to the dark side, the Rebels were able to match with an equal move to the light side.  With the Force in balance, neither side accumulated significant bonus cards.


The Hutts slowly acquired a fleet of ships and when they obtained a faction card straight, they launched a devastating sweep through the Core Worlds and Outer Rim.  A turn later, the Hutts, of all people, actually controlled the Outer Rim (and 9 resource planets). 

The Rebels and the Empire responded and knocked the Hutts back.  But another Hutt faction card straight turned them loose once again.  At the doorstep of victory again with 8 resource planets, Elom held fast, so the Hutts turned on Rodia.  It was a fateful mistake -- they should have taken unfortified Sluis Van first.  Although Rodia fell, it's Star Base fled to Sluis Van and after a brutal battle managed to survive. 

The dilapidated Rebel forces gathered once more and made a forlorn hope assault on Sullust, just to take out a Star Base and move the Force Meter one notch to the light side.  As it were, Sullust was protecting the Emperor.  With his capture, the Rebels gained control of the galaxy ... at least for a single week.