The Come-back Kid Comes Back Again

General Horak started the game off with great concentrations, good positions, and excellent connectivity.  Then it got better--a tremendous run of good dice rolls pushed Darth LaBan to 15 systems.  Kent the Hutt finished the job by kicking Ric to the curb and knocking him down to 4 reinforcements. 

Despite all that initial goodness and a steadily growing fleet, Imperial stormtroopers kept multiplying, starbases were proliferating, and the force meter was darkening.  Faction cards poured in and soon Darth LaBan had the Ison Corridor. 

Meanwhile, the crafty Hutts, led by the uber-crafty Kent, were knocking off resource planets left and right.  A major assault on Mon Calamari en route to the Empire's stronghold at Kessel demolished a major Hutt concentration, but did little to slow them down.  When they hit 8, alarm bells went off in Rebel headquarters. 

I played the dreaded "Name an opponent.  Randomly remove any two of his faction cards" faction card.  Busted the winning straight. 

But Kent didn't respond by crippling the Empire.  The result was a hamstrung rebellion and, with faction cards for fleets and troops, the Darth LaBan conquered the galaxy. 

Imperial win!