In a desperate attempt at redemption by the Vermont crew, a rare Toozday evening Galactic Death Match was scheduled this week. And like last Thursday, it was a rare 5-way event with the nephews reprising their role as Sith and Emperor while Ric and I took up the Rebel cause. Kent performed an encore of his starring role as Wood the Hutt.
This time around, the Rebels held the line on giving uncontested resource planets to the Hutts. Turns out, this was a strategic error, letting the Empire get ahead on claiming the small sectors. The initial setup had a huge buildup of White Empire vs Yellow Rebel in the Wild Space.
The first turn went badly for the Orange Rebels and the Grey Storm Troopers were able to claim the El'Rood Sector. When they also attacked in the Ison Corridor, the Yellow forces switched planets to forestall the attack, but instead succumbed quickly.
The Empire soon had established an almost impenetrable blockade around the Ison Corridor, held the Wild Space behind the well-defended Hutts, and fought a see-saw battle for the El'Rood Sector.
Eventually, faction cards and sector bonuses tipped too far in their favor and they heavily defeated the Rebels in a run by the Grey Stormtroopers. The Hutts were unable to take advantage of the weaknesses on the available resource planets and the Empire crushed the Rebels in the end.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Five-way Battle
The nephews were in town from Vermont and that could only mean one thing: a five-way death match between David, Peter, Karl, Ric, and Kent. The VT team took the Storm Troopers leaving Ric and Karl to struggle with the Rebels. Kent, aka Tut-tut the Hutt, would be attempting to lengthen his winning streak as leader of the slimy green faction.
In a new twist to the initial setup, the Yellow Rebels gave two resource planets to the Hutts, but in doing so, the Rebels were able to lay claim to the entire Wild Space. The Hutts started out with a strong lineup in the Mid Rim. The Empire held most of the Outer Rim and the Death Star held the Orange Rebels in check at Bakura in the Ison Corridor.
Eventually Imperial forces were able to push their way into the Wild Space from Sluis Van. Despite a Yellow Rebel counter-attack reclaiming Omwatt, the Hutts invaded from Gamorr and took Elom. The Hutts were able to reach 8 resource planets, but the prize remained out of reach when the stubborn garrison at Omwatt held on ferociously against an overwhelming number of Hutts. White Storm Troopers captured Ord Mandell, putting the Hutts in a double bind.
Meanwhile, Grey Storm Troopers were losing to Orange Rebels throughout the Mid Rim, Core Worlds, and even into the Outer Rim from the El'Rood Sector. The force meter gradually swung to the light side, then, with a lucky faction card, the Emperor was discovered on Dantooine. Although the Orange forces were turned back, a faction card straight gave the Yellow Rebels enough troops to drive through and take the system.
Victory Rebels.
In a new twist to the initial setup, the Yellow Rebels gave two resource planets to the Hutts, but in doing so, the Rebels were able to lay claim to the entire Wild Space. The Hutts started out with a strong lineup in the Mid Rim. The Empire held most of the Outer Rim and the Death Star held the Orange Rebels in check at Bakura in the Ison Corridor.
Eventually Imperial forces were able to push their way into the Wild Space from Sluis Van. Despite a Yellow Rebel counter-attack reclaiming Omwatt, the Hutts invaded from Gamorr and took Elom. The Hutts were able to reach 8 resource planets, but the prize remained out of reach when the stubborn garrison at Omwatt held on ferociously against an overwhelming number of Hutts. White Storm Troopers captured Ord Mandell, putting the Hutts in a double bind.
Meanwhile, Grey Storm Troopers were losing to Orange Rebels throughout the Mid Rim, Core Worlds, and even into the Outer Rim from the El'Rood Sector. The force meter gradually swung to the light side, then, with a lucky faction card, the Emperor was discovered on Dantooine. Although the Orange forces were turned back, a faction card straight gave the Yellow Rebels enough troops to drive through and take the system.
Victory Rebels.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Three Thirds of a Trifecta
In an effort to make it a short night, Ric and I gave Kent an easy shot at his second trifecta...
Not!
Despite blazing lasers and ion canons, huge fleets of ships, and overwhelming numbers of Storm Trooper reinforcements from the Ison Corridor, somehow the wiley Kent the Hutt managed to sneak a couple faction cards, roll a few lucky rolls, and punch through to victory.
It wasn't without its humorous moments as a Hutt roll of 2-1-1, a certain loss, was met by a Rebel 1, an even more certain loss. Faction cards came and went, including a straight when the Rebels stole my capital ship and fighter cards.
That said, I should have known there would be trouble when the Rebels tried to take the Wild Space despite the Death Star on Excarga. The bloody and inconclusive battle only served to weaken us both.
Struggles over control of the Wild Space, the Ison Corridor, and the El'Rood Sector were key to the game. Attacks from Mon Calamari to Bffasch were key to undermining the Death Star's blockade at Excarga and the Star Base at Sullust. All in all, it was over too quickly (4 turns), before the Rebels could discover the Emperor hiding out at Da Soocha V since the second turn.
Victory Hutts.
Not!
Despite blazing lasers and ion canons, huge fleets of ships, and overwhelming numbers of Storm Trooper reinforcements from the Ison Corridor, somehow the wiley Kent the Hutt managed to sneak a couple faction cards, roll a few lucky rolls, and punch through to victory.
It wasn't without its humorous moments as a Hutt roll of 2-1-1, a certain loss, was met by a Rebel 1, an even more certain loss. Faction cards came and went, including a straight when the Rebels stole my capital ship and fighter cards.
That said, I should have known there would be trouble when the Rebels tried to take the Wild Space despite the Death Star on Excarga. The bloody and inconclusive battle only served to weaken us both.
Struggles over control of the Wild Space, the Ison Corridor, and the El'Rood Sector were key to the game. Attacks from Mon Calamari to Bffasch were key to undermining the Death Star's blockade at Excarga and the Star Base at Sullust. All in all, it was over too quickly (4 turns), before the Rebels could discover the Emperor hiding out at Da Soocha V since the second turn.
Victory Hutts.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Two-thirds of a Trifecta
Last Thursday's galactic brouhaha went down as another Wood victory, this time as the Hutts. With one Rebel victory and this Hutt victory, he only needs a third consecutive victory as the Empire to gain the much coveted "Trifecta" title. There's only two little problems with that plan: (1) Ric and (2) Karl.
The real winner of last week's match was "card lust," that insatiable desire to get that one extra faction card by knocking off a single garrison somewhere. When it goes horribly wrong, as it did for both Rebels and Storm Troopers, the result is a long list of weak systems barely defended waiting to be picked off by anyone with any troops at all.
Rebel Leader Horak quickly went down in flames with a long series of bad dice rolls against Hutt targets. Soon after, Sith Lord Laban did the same. Within 4 turns, the Hutts had amassed a critical number of resource planets, which in turn gives them a large number of faction cards. This in turn leads to more resource planets and then more cards. It's a positive feedback loop and it always ends poorly for two out of three players.
At least with a quick, decisive loss, I was in bed early after a long week at Sandia. On top of that, Wood gets stuck bringing dinner for the next battle.
The real winner of last week's match was "card lust," that insatiable desire to get that one extra faction card by knocking off a single garrison somewhere. When it goes horribly wrong, as it did for both Rebels and Storm Troopers, the result is a long list of weak systems barely defended waiting to be picked off by anyone with any troops at all.
Rebel Leader Horak quickly went down in flames with a long series of bad dice rolls against Hutt targets. Soon after, Sith Lord Laban did the same. Within 4 turns, the Hutts had amassed a critical number of resource planets, which in turn gives them a large number of faction cards. This in turn leads to more resource planets and then more cards. It's a positive feedback loop and it always ends poorly for two out of three players.
At least with a quick, decisive loss, I was in bed early after a long week at Sandia. On top of that, Wood gets stuck bringing dinner for the next battle.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
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.
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.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Another Hutt Victory
Seems like the Hutts can do no wrong, although this time it was far from a sure thing. Horak the Hutt made good starting dice rolls and so had five resource planets to begin with and control of Gamorr. Rebel Leader Kent began with a solid position and excellent dice rolls in his initial attacks. Darth Laban came back with good play in general and things see-sawed back and forth for a few turns.
There were some notable disasters: the Rebels were twice unable to crack the pitiful defenses at Duro, Sulust held out against overwhelming odds, and the Death Star destroyed a large Hutt garrison at Omwat.
That should have spelled the end of the Hutts, but they clung on with 4 resource planets, using faction cards to build a substantial fleet. The other opponents meanwhile pushed the Force Meter into the neutral middle, denying both the benefit of extra cards.
When the Hutts finally collected seven cards, they had a straight worth seven legions, a faction card bonus that turned out to be worth six legions, and a card to subtract one from the Rebel's highest die. With that huge influx of troops they were able to capture all of the Mid Rim resource planets and then sweep from Sluis Van through Duro all the way to Tatooine. Victory Hutts.
There were some notable disasters: the Rebels were twice unable to crack the pitiful defenses at Duro, Sulust held out against overwhelming odds, and the Death Star destroyed a large Hutt garrison at Omwat.
That should have spelled the end of the Hutts, but they clung on with 4 resource planets, using faction cards to build a substantial fleet. The other opponents meanwhile pushed the Force Meter into the neutral middle, denying both the benefit of extra cards.
When the Hutts finally collected seven cards, they had a straight worth seven legions, a faction card bonus that turned out to be worth six legions, and a card to subtract one from the Rebel's highest die. With that huge influx of troops they were able to capture all of the Mid Rim resource planets and then sweep from Sluis Van through Duro all the way to Tatooine. Victory Hutts.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Hutts Win Again
In a desperate attempt to get caught up, I'll have to fabricate the results for the entire month of July. Fortunately, it's rather easy due to a two-week hiatus--one missed game on 7/12 and one week of travel that cancelled the 7/19 game.
Back on 6/28 Kent took home the crown, although I have little recollection of how he did it.
Then on 7/5 Ric regained galactic leadership as the Hutt, which he held onto throughout the hiatus. This gave him a nearly unprecedented three-week run at ruling the galaxy by default.
Last week on 7/26, Sith Horak took the field with Rebel Leader Laban wearing the orange. The game had many notable swings, including the early destruction of the Death Star, it's immediate replacement via faction card, and a huge Imperial buildup in the Wild Space being trapped by the "This system may not be attacked until your opponent captures a system from another player." A poor Death Star roll saved the huge Hutt garrison on Balmorra. Instead the Empire had to take out the secondary target, Duro, with it's garrison of only two Rebels.
In the end the Hutts were able to take their force on Balmorra and make a winning run at systems in the Mid Rim. Victory went to Kent the Hutt after a see-saw six turns.
Back on 6/28 Kent took home the crown, although I have little recollection of how he did it.
Then on 7/5 Ric regained galactic leadership as the Hutt, which he held onto throughout the hiatus. This gave him a nearly unprecedented three-week run at ruling the galaxy by default.
Last week on 7/26, Sith Horak took the field with Rebel Leader Laban wearing the orange. The game had many notable swings, including the early destruction of the Death Star, it's immediate replacement via faction card, and a huge Imperial buildup in the Wild Space being trapped by the "This system may not be attacked until your opponent captures a system from another player." A poor Death Star roll saved the huge Hutt garrison on Balmorra. Instead the Empire had to take out the secondary target, Duro, with it's garrison of only two Rebels.
In the end the Hutts were able to take their force on Balmorra and make a winning run at systems in the Mid Rim. Victory went to Kent the Hutt after a see-saw six turns.
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