Trifecta Averted... Well, not really

It was an ugly match... with an ugly ending.  There were two conflicting goals:  Ric the Rebel needed an orange victory to gain his Trifecta Badge while Sith  Kent and Karl the Hutt sought to deny him this at all costs. 

The initial deployment had the Hutts at 3 resource systems, but firmly entrenched in the Wild Space and El'Rood Sectors.  The Death Star held sway over the Ison Corridor.  On turn 1 the Rebels had terrible rolls.  The Hutts fared slightly better, gaining ground in the El'Rood Sector.  But the Empire struck back with great good fortune, significantly hamstringing the Rebels. 

By turn 2, the Rebels were suffering from continued poor dice rolls.  The Hutts managed to capture the Ison Corridor and the Empire continued to grind down the Rebellion. 

On turn 3 the Rebels neutralized the Hutt sector, only to lose the Wild Space.  This sector bonus would greatly assist Horak the Hutt for several turns.  Meanwhile, the Empire continued to salt the Mid Rim with starbases. 

The Death Star marched forth and destroyed Dathomir with its large Rebel garrison.  Neither Hutt nor Storm Trooper elected to disrupt the tenuous balance between Dagobah and Hoth--each side gained benefit.  The Hutts managed to get sector bonuses from El'Rood and the Wild Space for one turn. 

Rebel assaults against the starbases in the Mid Rim failed miserably.  The Hutts could not gain traction beyond 6 resource planets.  In the end, the Empire slowly strangled the Rebels, ending Ric's dreams of a trifecta. 

In two weeks:  Darth Horak will attempt a first-ever Imperial trifecta, 3 Imperial victories in a row. 

Snatching Victory from the Jaws of Defeat

Rebel Leader Kent and Ric, the Pizza Delivery Hutt, went up against a seemingly unstoppable Darth Horak in this week's battle for galactic supremacy.  By ignoring the opportunities of attacking large numbers of weakly held systems, the Sith Lord was able to control the Wild Space in the first turn and protect its hyperlinks.  The Death Star plus a starbase made attacks on the sector futile.

Even better, the Death Star was able to destroy Gamorr and turn it's attentions to the protection of Sluis Van.  With two extra legions coming in regularly and the Hutts prevented from occupying 3 of 13 resource planets, the Empire slowly but steadily ground down the opposition.  Starbases accumulated in the Wild Space with little chance of their capture.  At one key juncture, the Empire used a "Snarf one Rebel card" faction card and managed to eliminate a "Snarf two cards from any opponent."  Both Hutt and Rebel were ready to sue for peace. 

But when the Death Star left its protective station to take out Balmorra, the wiley Rebels were able to launch a sneak attack from Bfassch.  Reinforced with a bomber, they attacked the starbase at Sluis Van, capturing it quickly and then moved on to Omwat.  As luck would have it, that system fell revealing the Emperor's redoubt.

Victory Rebels.

Ric La Ban, King Maker Extraordinaire

April 30

Wood the Hutt came out against Horak the Hutt and Darth Ric.  The Empire grabbed the Wild Space and began to put the hurt on both opponents.  Then the Sith Lord played the dastardly "Name an Imperial planet.  All troops must flee..." against a mighty garrison at Gamorr.  While it was easy for them to flee to Elom, it opened the way for the Hutts to capture Gamorr and Rodia.  With the addition of a faction card straight, the ten required systems were quickly taken for the victory.

Side note:  On April 24, McGoey retired from Boeing.  :-)

May 7

Tonight Horak drew Hutts and LaBan took the Rebels, thus sticking Wood with the unenviable position of playing the Empire.  The initial set up left the Hutts in control of 6 resource systems.  By turn 2 they had one capital ship and captured a 7th resource planet.  Meanwhile, Ric had pushed the force meter completely to the light side.  The E-vile Empire was hurtin' for certain. 

On turn 3 the Rebels attacked Imperial and Hutt forces thoughout the Mid Rim from his stronghold in Kessel.  This drove the Hutts down to 5 systems, but it was too costly.  The capital ship plus troops already on Rodia sweep up the Rebel bomber and garrison on Gamorr followed by the destruction of the weaker force on Nar Shaddar.  At the same time, a Hutt straight gave them a huge force on Ylesia, which overwhelmed in turn Kessel, Ord Mandel, Yavin 4, and finally Balmorra for the win.  Victory Hutts.   

Hutt Trifecta

Darth Ric faced off against Rebel Leader Karlos while Kent the Hutt lapped up the victory.  With the Wild Space neutralized as a sector of interest by the Death Star on Omwatt, the Rebels set up on Bakura opposite the large Imperial garrison on Bespin.  The addition of the 5 legions of turn 1 reinforcements ensured a high body count.  The Hutts were not disappointed -- something like 28 troops destroyed.  After a few more ill-fated 3:1 attacks, a desperate 2:1 took out enough Stormtroopers to hold their reinforcements down to 4. 

Turn 2 witnessed two Hutt faction cards being swiped by the wily Karlos.  Sith Lord Ric built up his

Turn 3 saw the establishment of Rebel control of the Ison Corridor and the El'Rood Sector.  The Empire's faction-card straight was not enough to neutralize the Rebel threat and the Hutts used their faction cards to build up a significant fleet.  With it they were able to sweep across the Mid Rim and then strike out from Rodia through Falleen into the Core Worlds before doubling back through the rice resource planets of the El'Rood Sector. 

Victory Hutts.  Stay tuned next week for a possible Hutt "quad-fecta".

Hutt Victories #2 & #3

March 5

Ric, aka Peetza da Hutt, takes home the coveted Funky Chicken Trophy. 

March 12

Kent the Hutt makes it a rare Hutt trifecta.  There was foul play on the part of the Empire, but that is to be expected of Sith Lord Karl.  With the Dark Side looking unstoppable, Rebel Leader Ric managed to destroy the Death Star, invade the Wild Space, and march up to the doorstep of the Emperor's starbase only to be twarted by those damn 8-sided dice.  Kent took advantage of the momentary weakness to swoop across the Mid Rim for a victory. 

The 8-8-1-1-1-1 Kingmaker

With Wood's justly famous Sloppy Joes, aka Sloppy Hutts, under our belts, we resumed hostilities.  As the dice would have it, Kent drew the Hutt forces, Ric took the evile Empire, and I was left with the egg-sucking Rebels.  The setup proceeded in an fairly normal way, although truth be told, the Hutts had a good piece of the Mid-Rim resource planets and the Empire looked to easily take the Wild Space.  I vaguely recall that the game went thusly:

My initial assault set the Empire back with minimal losses to the Rebellion.  The Hutts croodled forth cautiously, but gained a 6th resource planet.  The Empire did indeed take the Wild Space and fortified it with the Death Star at Omwat and a starbase at Excarga.

Turn 2 required stern measures and the Rebels, reinforced with a bomber, fought through the Hutts at Gamorr to neutralize the Wild Space by taking the starbase at Excarga.  The initial assault on Excarga was decisively repulsed with 8-8 dice rolls.  A desperate and out-numbered Rebel force with nothing to lose continue the attack and were surprised with consecutive 1-1 / 1-1 victories.  The Hutts continued their slow advance.  The Empire, hamstrung by losses of numerous systems, struggled to gain faction cards, but did push the force meter to the dark side.  That trend continued and that alone kept them on the board as long as they lasted.

Turn 3 saw the Rebels run amok after a faction card straight.  They captured the Ison Corridor and the El'Rood Sector.  The Hutts recaptured Gamorr and ran their number of systems up to 7 for a bonus card, a dangerous situation.  However, the Hutts had now been forced out of half the galaxy.  The Empire responded to these combined threats by attacking into the El'Rood Sector at Sluis Van, which failed, and at Byfassh, which also failed.  They then destroyed the Rebel fleet and garrison at Excarga with the Death Star.  (This was the kingmaker move--had they instead reduced the Hutts at Gamorr, things would've gone differently in the end.)

Armed with reinforcements from two sectors, the Rebels continued to deal death throughout the galaxy.  The Hutts used faction cards to good effect and gained strength.  The Empire appeared to be on the ropes.

Turn 5 saw the Rebels spread thinly between the Empire who were gaining strength and the Hutts who were dangerously strong.  The Hutts continued to advance,finally taking away the Rebel sector bonus by capturing Bfassh.  The Empire continued to be the kingmaker by attacking Rebels in the Outer Rim instead of taking Hutt resource planets.

In the end, despite capturing 3 starbases and driving the Empire down to 8 systems, the Rebels could not resist huge faction card-assisted assaults that overwhelmed all that opposed them.  Victory Hutts.

Twice the Fun -- Twice the Embarrassment

General Kent not only reclaimed the Funky Chicken Trophy from Ric, but he humiliated us twice.  That brings his win percentage up to 30%, which is still well short of Ric's 38% lifetime average.

Game #1. 

Tying a previous record, the Rebels were able to attack through thinly-held Imperial lines and overrun the first starbase on the board at the beginning of their second turn.  Despite a garrison of three legions of Storm Troopers, the Rebels were able to succeed and capture Emperor LaBan.  Bummer!

Game #2.  

Resetting quickly, we dove into a second game, which turned out to be a much more involved affair.  Horak the Hutt was able to drive the Rebels out of the Ison Corridor and maintained control of that sector for the remainder of the game.  Faction card straights came thick and fast, first Hutt, then Empire, then Rebel.

General Kent and Sith Lord Ric battled it out, but the Empire was able to push the Force Meter far to the dark side.  As turns went by, the Hutts could only manage shallow gains, rarely getting into the bonus cards. The Rebels were gradually worn down and it looked like a sure thing for the Empire.  The Empire conquered the Wild Space and things were looking poorly for the Rebels.

But then the dastardly Rebels reinforced their last stronghold at Ylesia with the troops from a faction card straight and struck out for Elom.  Nar Shaddar fell, then Gamorr, next Excarga, and finally Elom itself.  True enough, the Sith Lord Ric was there.

Game Rebels.

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. 

Trifecta Averted Yet Again

In a most unusual initial setup, last night's battle for galactic domination featured Sith Lord Ric, Rebel Commander Kent, and Karl the Hutt. 

Initial setup before any attacks

The Hutts, fearing a secret agreement between the Rebels and the Empire to deny the Hutts any chance of a trifecta, hunkered down on 3 resource planets:  Ord Mandell, Balmorra, and Tattooine.  With only 3 systems to heavily defend, their garrisons were comprised of 6 legions each. 

The first Rebel assaults in the Outer Rim did a fair amount of damage, but left them with only small garrisons.  The Empire struck back with a minimal number of assaults, just for cards.  The Hutts then consolidated the Outer Rim, collected two cards, and sat tight while small outlying garrisons got picked off by the others. 

By the end of turn 2, the Rebels had captured the Ison Corridor, the Hutts controlled the Outer Rim, and the Empire held the Mid Rim. 

As luck would have it, the Rebels assaulted the starbase on the Wookie home world.  A poor roll on a defensive faction card left the system vulnerable.  As it turned out, it was the Emperor's starbase.  Victory Rebelion. 

Rebel Rowsing

General Wood led off with a very strong assault against Sith Lord Horak, which means he will never taste Jaime Oliver's pork stew again ;-).  Combined with a minor loss to Peetza da Hutt, the Empire only had 3 legions for initial reinforcements.  But between the Death Star on Endor neutralizing any threat of a take over of the Ison Corridor and large Imperial and Hutt garrisons in the Wild Space, the battles soon took to the Mid Rim, Core Worlds, Outer Rim and El'Rood Sector.

Yet Another Two Thirds of a Trifecta

Darth Horak took on Ric the Hutt and General Kent this week.  Except where the Rebels took out the Death Star on turn two, things were fairly even.  The Force Meter didn't get pushed too far out of whack.  Ships came and went.  Imperial dice were lots better than the week before. 

The Hutts became dangerous on turn three, getting up to 8 resource planets.  Starbases on Omwat and Elom where considered safe behind considerable numbers of Hutts.  However, in an ill-advised moment, Storm Troops were sent to Sluis Van instead of remaining on Omwat.  The dastardly Rebels came up with a flush for 6 extra legions and were able to push through all the defenders for a surprise victory at the beginning of turn 5. 

Victory Rebels. 

Hutt, Hutt... Hutt... Hutt!

In a rare double-header, the Hutts swept both games tonight. That make this three Hutt victories in a row.

Game #1

After a surprisingly unaggressive initial Rebel move by General Wood, the Hutts under Gamorran Leader LaBan moved up to six resource planets.  The Empire was in a strong position, but extraordinarily poor rolls caused massive casualties and limited their faction card gain.  Sith Horak was already in dire straits. 

By turn two the Rebels controlled the Wild Space and the Hutts crept up to seven resource planets.  Once again the Storm Troopers had catastrophic dice rolls and huge numbers of casualties.  They failed to make any headway against the Wild Space.  The Rebels soon controlled the Ison Corridor as well. 

With swelling numbers of reinforcements, it looked to be the Rebel's game, but on turn four the Hutts broke out and swept up the remaining three resource planets they needed.

Game Hutts.

Game #2

In contrast to the quick first game, after Ric and Kent switched sides, the game degenerated into a long slog.  No sectors were controlled, faction card straights were rare or ineffectual.  Rebels and Storm Troopers fought to a stalemate with about 14 systems each, plus or minus. 

The Hutts repeatedly reached 8 or 9 systems only to be beaten back to 5 or 6.  The heavily fortified resource planets weren't accessible.  Even after the first Death Star was taken out, the Imperial starbases repelled all attacks.  The Rebels pushed the Force Meter far to the Light side, but were unable to put together an effective assault on the well hidden base of the Emperor. 

Two minor mistakes led to the downfall of the major factions.  First, with a new Death Star, the Emperor elected to destroy a Rebel outpost instead of a resource planet.  Then the Rebels reinforced to Aldebaran, to prepare for an attack on Tattooine.  That left Duro vulnerable and the Hutts came pouring out of the El'Rood Sector and swept away Sluis Van, Sullust, and Duro for the victory. 

Hutt victory.

A Rare Two-Fer

Game #1

While the World Cup garners most of the attention, a galactic struggle goes on with few the wiser.  General Horak took on Darth Ric and Kent the Hutt with an uncharacteristic setup that left the green hoard with 7 initial resource planets.  An epic battle for Kessel weakened the Hutts at the start, but Imperial attacks on the Rebels rapidly took their toll on both sides.  Within 4 turns, the Hutts had swept to power throughout the galaxy. 

Game #2

In a fit of optimism, Ric suggested a second game, perhaps to regain lost honor from our quick failure in the previous one.  Using the same forces, we launched into another battle royale.  Again, the Rebels came out with good results from the initial attacks, but combined Hutt and Storm Trooper assaults undid the early gains. 

Fairly quickly the Empire took control of the Wild Space with the Death Star on Sullust to guard that entrance to the sector.  Subsequent battles in El'Rood led to a collapse of that sector.  With two sectors in Imperial hands, it was only a matter of time before things went badly for the Rebels despite the Force Meter being firmly in the light side.

However, the Rebels had a large concentration backed up with two squadrons of bombers.  In an effort to neutralize the expanding influence of the Empire in the Mid Rim, they attacked out of Rodia through Hutt territory towards the starbase on Kessel.  En route, the Hutts played their "Money is Power" faction card and the orders never came for the assault on Da Soocha V.  With that attack blocked, the starbase was spared an overwhelming attack.  As I suspected, the Hutts were being king-makers. 

The Storm Troopers ultimately took the Ison Corridor and with overpowering reinforcements, they were able to mop up the remaining Rebels before the Hutts could muster any sort of a response.  Victory Empire. 

Trifecta Averted

With the usual twisted variant on a standard set up, Darth Horak and Kent the Hutt faced down General LaBan's rebel forces.  The Rebels did a passable job on their first turn, but didn't really cripple the Dark Sith Lord's forces.  The Hutts of course, just nibbled on a few systems to get cards.  The Empire, on the other hand, dealt death and destruction across the galaxy. 

Then the Rebels and the Hutts evened things out.  Sectors were won and lost, reinforcements came and went, systems were destroyed and... um, well, they never were un-destroyed.  After a particularly virulent attack by the Rebels, Kent the Hutt went ballistic, attacking everywhere he could, even at only 1:1 odds. 

Typically, this behavior results in catastrophic losses and ends the game quickly for someone other than Kent.  In this rare case, Ric kept up the pressure on the Empire (not knowing that the Emperor was still not on the board) and let the Hutts gather their strength. 

Ultimately, the forces of goodness and the forces of drug dealership together conspired to knock the e-vile Empire back to the stone age.  The Hutts consolidated faster than the Rebels.  In a last ditch effort, the Rebels bounced off the Emperor's starbase at Duro and that gave the Hutt's time enough, not for love, but for victory. 

Game Hutts. 

Trifecta Averted, but at what cost?

Ric was off to a reasonable start as Rebel Leader, on his way to the much sought after trifecta.  But the initial cost was high.  The Hutts had managed 6 resource planets in the initial setup, but were not able to hold on to 7 when the Empire struck back at the end of turn 1. 

In turn 2 Ric swiped 2 faction cards from Kent, but still the Storm Troopers pushed the Force Meter far to the dark side.  The Hutts clambered into the bonus points and began assembling their fleet. 

Eventually, the Death Star nuked Sluis Van and then the Imperial forces were able to lock down the Wild Space with a starbase on Elom.  Twice the Hutts climbed up to 8 resource planets, only to be repulsed.  In a rare turn of events, the green hoard captured and held the Outer Rim while the Storm Troops were distracted by the rebellious forces.  Gradually the Rebels took more and more casualties.  Faction card straights didn't turn up as often as they did for the Hutts (twice) and the Sith Lord (three times). 

Despite a strong Hutt fleet, their final assault faltered at Derilyn and again at Nar Shaddar.  The Rebels made a valiant last ditch counter-attack, but it was not enough.  A final Imperial faction card straight, extra troops added to the first invasion, and Wild Space bonuses were enough to give them the victory, Kent's first in about 6 weeks. 

Classic Risk

And now for something completely different...

This week I raided Toys R Us for a copy of the original Risk game, at least the updated version. We dove right in and quickly learned about the new rules for cities and objectives. I guess I grokked that bit first, because I soon overran the world. Of course, this was a shakedown game to learn the rules, so it doesn't count. Or does it?

The second game started out with us more aware of the nuances of the rules. Even so, Kent managed to take an objective early on and it was the Extra Attack Die, a huge advantage. Soon after Kent launched a crushing attack on North America from Britain, overrunning all of Ric's forces and finishing off the game.