Ringing out the Old and Ringing in the New

Friday December 5

Peetza arrived about 45 minutes late after a day-trip to Taos and back.  Horak the Hutt, Rebel Ric, and Sith Lord Wood battled until exhaustion set in around 11:30.  Despite being fortified by gringo chile, we called it a draw.

Thursday January 1

Same forces again, due to the luck of the draw in choosing fondue forks.  Ham, broccoli, yellow squash, baguette, mushrooms, merlot-soaked pears, melted cheese made for good eats.  Ric came out with all guns blazing and sent the Empire reeling.  Something like 8 systems captured with only two Rebel losses.  The Hutts did their gradual Hutt thing, snagging a couple stragglers and getting two faction cards.  The Empire limps along with terrible dice rolls, but manages to get three cards with help from the Force Meter.  Turn 2 is much the same, except the Sith pushes the Force Meter deeper into the dark while the Hutts eliminate the few Imperial garrisons at Omwat and Arbra to take the Wild Space. 

By turn 3 the Rebels have taken the Ison Corridor, but the Hutts are able to turn in a faction card straight and capture Bespin.  In later turns, while the Empire is still weak, the Hutts run up to 7 resource planets and poise themselves for a run for victory, but they weaken the Rebels, who might also win, significantly in the process.  The Empire starts to slowly gather its strength.  Eventually, they are able to destroy a large Hutt garrison at Elom, which simultaneously denies them their sector bonus.  

The Force Meter stays pegged on the dark side.  The Rebels have a set of lousy dice rolls against the Hutts that break their momentum before they can engage the Stormtroopers.  The Hutts are looking at having to reduce several starbases before they can garner 10 resource planets.  Good Hutt cards help them resist assaults from both opponents.  The Empire simply hunkers down behind a bevvy of starbases in the Mid Rim. 

Finally, turn 7 arrives with an Imperial faction card straight (their second in a row) and they run the board on the dozen or so Rebels systems that are left.  Not needed:  their ace in the hole--a blowie-uppie card for the last Rebel outpost in the Mid Rim.  Clearly, the extra cards from the skewed Force Meter was a tremendous asset to the Empire.

Victory:  Stormtroopers.