February 27th

Ric played Kent and I like a violin.  As the E-vile Emperor, he endured my Rebelion's initial onslaught, beat back Kent the Hutt, and came from behind to claim victory.

But it was a close run thing.  The initial drubbing by my Rebels left the Storm Troopers weak and feckless.  The Hutts were making good gains as well.  Even with the Force Meter pushed far to the light side, the Empire kept gaining in strength.  Few Starbases fell and Duro was destroyed by the Death Star. 

In the end, Kent the Hutt had 8 resource planets and the Death Star on Nar Shaddar blocked his path to victory at Gamorr.  In a desperate bid for galactic supremacy, the Hutts attacked the Death Star and, even with the Force Meter bonus, were destroyed in vain.  With nothing else to lose, the hapless Hutts attacked again... and took out the Death Star! 

Quickly they reduced the garrison at Nar Shaddar, but the cost was too high.  Invading Gamorr, the battle see-sawed back and forth until the last Hutt faced the last Imperial legion.  Ric had the final lucky roll -- victory Empire.

February 20th

Somehow Kent won!

A Long Overdue Imperial Victory

Sith Lord Ric, Kent the Hutt, and General Karl took to their spacecraft and launched yet another battle for galactic supremacy, fueled by Rudy's BBQ. 

 Despite my best efforts to deal a quick killing blow to the Empire, the odds weren't always in my favor.  Here's the initial setup with an enormous concentration of Rebels on Coruscant.

This set up the opening sweep through Falleen and then the remaining Mid Rim systems garrisoned only with single legions each.  Casualties were so light that the force was able to capture Gamorr from the Hutts, an unexpected bonus.  Buoyed by that success, the Rebels continued into the Wild Space and finished off the singleton Storm Troops there.  

 Unfortunately, this allowed the Hutts to counterattack and capture the Wild Space sector, something that would not be neutralized until the end of the game.  The wiley Sith was not to be counted out and on Turn 3, the Death Star struck, destroying Duro and 5 legions of the Rebellion's best troops.  The Rebels never recovered; from that turn onwards, it was a battle between Hutt and Emperor.  

The next pivotal moment of the game was when Kent the Hutt cashed in a faction card straight (7 legions) and a reinforcements card (5 legions).  He led his overwhelming forces across the Mid Rim and held 9 systems after he crushed the weakened Rebels at Ord Mandell and Yavin 4.  Only 3 Rebel squadrons on Balmorra stood in the path of a Hutt victory.  But the thin yellow line held against all the odds, costing the Hutts terribly and denying them the win.  Sith Lord Ric countered with his own faction card straight and cleared out the last pockets of Rebel resistence.  Victory, Empire. 

A Tale of Two Losses

Sides:

• Horak the Hutt
• Sith Lord LaBan
• General Kent

Game the First

As the game's first turns unfolded, the Rebels made modest gains while the Hutts found no weaknesses to exploit.  As luck would have it, the e-vile Emperor came out on the first turn.  Ric placed him on Eriadu. 

Rebel faction cards quickly pushed the Force Meter one step away from the complete Light Side.  On turn 3 the Rebels invaded Sullust with the aim of taking the Eriadu starbase, just to nudge the Force Meter one more notch.  When Eriadu fell and the Empire was found, it was game over at a ridiculously early hour. 

Victory:  Rebels.

Game the Second

Since the first game collapsed so quickly and there will be no galactic warfare next week, we elected to try a second go at it.  Here's a little of the action taken with Google Glass.

This time the Rebels were thwarted by incessant rolls of 6s by the Sith Lord.  Despite this expense, most of the Outer Rim fell into their control.  With the Rebels significantly weakened, the Hutts took out the singleton garrisons on the way to Tatooine and garnered two faction cards.  The Empire gamely counter-attacked the Rebels and took an easy Hutt. 

On the second turn the Rebels attacked again at great cost to themselves.  The Hutts climbed to seven resource planets and garnered three more faction cards of the same type.  The Storm Troopers held their ground and even destroyed Arbra and it's large Rebel force.  By the third turn, the Hutt hand would look like this: 

Since Retreat and Mine Fields are particularly weak options, the Hutts instead built up a fleet of capital ships.  These in turn got them up to eight systems and a silly set of faction cards: 

In the end, the capital ship flush plus six additional legions from a well-played Sarlacc Pit card gave the Hutts the edge they needed.  A three-pronged assault, cleared the Mid Rim, captured Balmorra, and threatened victory in the El'Rood Sector.  Attacks from Bespin to Sullust were repulsed at Correlia, but the small garrison at Duro was able to break through for the win

Victory:  Hutts.

Trifecta Averted

After General Wood's Rebel victory last week and Kent the Hutt's green victory the week before, he took up the mantle of Darth Patrick and sought a 3-game winning streak.  The man who would be king needed an Imperial victory to win the rare and much sought-after Individual Trifecta. 

From the get-go the Rebels vexed the Empire.  The setup was highly irregular and nonconformist:  the Rebels garrisoned no resource planets and concentrated all of their troops on two systems.  The result was Hutts beginning with 6 resource planets and heavy Rebel concentrations on Da Soocha V and Dathomir.  The initial Rebel assault ran from Dathomir through Tatooine, Wayland, Alderran, Correlia, and Byss, stopping only at the Imperial firewall on Bakura.  A lesser but still damaging attack started in Da Soocha V and took out the Empire's single garrisons on Toydaria, Bothawui, Kothlis, Falleen, and Coruscant.  The result was a mere 3 reinforcement for the Storm Troopers in their first turn.

By soldiering on gamely, the Sith Lord slowly recovered strength.  When the Rebels captured the Outer Rim, they were able to mount an effective counter-attack two turns later.  They managed to push the Hutts out of the Wild Space and made it their last stand.

The Rebels were unable to break through the Hutt blockade at  Sluis Van and so  had to attack Gamorr and Excarga.  With the Emperor safe for the time on Elom, the Hutts struck hard with a multi-pronged assault that carried the day with resource planets captured at Bespin and throughout the Mid Rim.  Victory Hutts.

Above, a 10 sec mini-video #throughglass showing some of the desperate action late in the game as the Sith Lord holds off the Hutts. 

Meanwhile, Somewhere in the El'Rood Sector...

Ric the Hutt, Darth Karl, and General Kent took to the galactic playing board once again, giving the Hutts a shot at a trifecta.  Horak the Hutt and Wood the Hutt each had won in the last two weeks.  A LaBan win would put the Hutts in the record books. 

The Rebels put in an excellent show on their first turn, slaying Storm Troopers, but lost most of their advantage in an ill-fated attack on Bespin, which the Hutts easily turned.  The Hutts held their own and Empire came out of the gates with much of the El'Rood Sector under control.

By turn 2, Imperial numbers were down but the El'Rood Sector was theirs.  Alas, repeated efforts by both Hutt and Rebel kept the sector from ever yielding an Imperial bonus.  Starbases accumulated, Rebel battalions proliferated, and Hutts frustrated the Empire with "Money is Power." 

In the end, poor Hutt cards let the Rebels score the first faction card straight.  6 + 7 = 13 legions led to an overwhelming force that crushed Hutt garrisons and allowed the Rebels to pound their way into the El'Rood Sector from Corellia.  Once past Sullust, Eridou fell quickly and with it, the Emperor's final redoubt.  Victory Rebels. 

Hutts, again

Kent the Hutt thumped General LaBan and Darth Horak yet again.  As leader of the imperial faction, I set up with the Death Star on Gamorr, serious garrisons on resource planets, and smaller concentrations acting as firebreaks scattered about.  These firebreaks served to contain any large Rebel runs against long chains of singly garrisoned systems.  It was fairly effective. 

Despite initial good results that diminished the Rebel forces and kept the Hutts at bay, the green hoard grew in power.  They were able to sweep the Wild Spaces even though the Empire was able to counterattack and drive them out.  The Hutt fleet slowly grew and they were able to take Sullust and eventually Sluis Van.

Unfortunately, the blowie-uppie card for the Mid Rim had been taken by a well-played Rebel card.  When a replacement card came along to permit some destruction in the Ison Corridor, the Death Star stumbled in its move towards its target.  The wily Hutts were able to put together an assault along multiple lines that just barely got to ten systems.  Victory Hutts. 

Next week we'll see if Peeta, aka Ric, the Hutt can claim a trifecta of three wins in a row by the Hutts.  Stay tuna'ed.