Ringing out the Old

In what very likely will be the last game of 2013, Darth LaBan met General Wood and Karl the Hutt in a battle for galactic domination and a feast of tamales, chile, wine, beer, and whiskey.  Kent won the initial dice-off and Ric came in second, but surprisingly I was left with the Hutt faction.  And with a lucky dice-off for starting setup, I snagged five resource planets right out of the gate.  Even so, the Hutts were forced into the El'Rood Sector, the Wild Space, and the Mid Rim with a lonely outpost on Ord Mandel. 

The Rebels' initial onslaught was met with stout resistance, but they picked off the easy Hutt garrison.  After the Hutts picked up a sixth resource planet and two useful faction cards, the Empire had a major setback with the playing of "A Better Offer" card that successfully defended Omwat.  Despite that, they made good headway against the Rebel systems. 

In subsequent turns the Rebels continued to make good progress, capturing the Ison Corridor, but unable to raise their numbers above 15 systems overall.  The Rebels also used a faction card to remove two Imperial faction cards.  As luck would have it, they were both blowie-uppie cards.  The Hutts slowly accumulated a workable fleet, but had to leave many resource garrisons vulnerable with only a single garrison.  The storm troopers amassed upwards of 18 systems, but were matched by the Rebels' reinforcements aided by the Ison Corridor sector bonus.  The Empire suffered another serious setback when then attempted to take the single Hutt garrison at Duro.  Six legions were destroyed in that failed attack.

When a faction card straight let the Hutts deploy a huge force from Sluis Van, they were able to sweep the Rebels completely out of the Ison Corridor and they remained in control of that sector for the rest of the game.  The Empire continued to conquer systems despite occasional The Rebels began to feel the pressure now that their sector bonus was gone. 

The Hutts finally made a run at the Rodia but were forced back with only nine resource planets and six faction cards.  Those cards held off Rebel and Imperial attacks and still left a straight for the last battle.  Due to a miscalculation the starbase at Balmorra was forced off and it relocated to Nar Shaddar, the last resource planet needed.  But a last lucky roll took out the last defender.  Victory Hutts. 

Below is a poorly aimed timelapse of the game.  No tripod mount for an ASUS tablet.  :-/