Boom-boom La Ban Rides Again

Two games to summarize today in order to bring the blog up to date.  Alas, both were La Ban victories, taking him two-thirds of the way to a Trifecta.  The next game will be a desperate one for all sides. 

Game the First

Rebel Leader Horak took on Darth Kent and Peetza da Hutt.  Bickering between the Storm Troopers and Rebels left an opening big enough to drive Jabba through, and that's just what Ric did. 

Victory:  Hutts.  

Game the Second

Horak the Hutt thought to have an easy time taking the Funky Chicken Trophy away from Sith Lord Ric.  Even with the tacit help of General Wood's Rebel forces, the Dark Side consistently held strong on defense and attacked even stronger on offense.  Hutt fleets were demolished after failed assaults (twice) on Ylesia.  The Wild Space was captured by the Empire and cordoned off by starbases and an asteroid field on Sullust.  Only a counter-balancing stream of reinforcements from the Ison Corridor kept the Hutts in the game at all. The Rebels kindly looked the other way rather than counter-attack into the Hutt sector. 

Despite General Wood's surprising attack through the asteroids, which successfully denied the Empire it's sector bonus, the dice and cards continued to fail Wood and Horak.  Eventually the Outer Rim fell to the Dark Side and then the Rebels were carved up for serving.  However, that was not before a desperate attack on a Mid Rim starbase, hoping to get lucky and snare the Emperor.  Of course, with the Force being so strong in Ric tonight, there was little danger of that.  The Emperor was safe and the Storm Troopers soon finished off the last of the Rebels.

Victory:  Empire. 

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.

Hutt Night

It being the Kent's birthday, he had the rare prerogative to choose his faction, which was the Empire.  With Sith Lord Wood bringing his justifiably famous "Sloppy Kents" for dinner, the battle for Galactic Domination was certainly well fed.  Birthday cake was a combination of birthday cupcakes and birthday chocolate chip cookies.  Altogether, it was washed down with Caol Ila. 

Horak the Hutt and Rebel Leader LaBan set out with the express goal of denying victory to the Empire.  The twosome did quite well in holding the Sith at bay, but the Rebels couldn't gain traction against the starbases and the Empire built up a significantly fortified zone in the Mid Rim. 

Later in the game, with an Imperial faction card straight, things started to go sour for the Hutts and Rebels.  Fortunately, the Rebels were able to reply with one of their own.  However, the sneaky Hutts built up their fleet, captured the Ison Corridor for a sector bonus, and used their own straight to overwhelm ten resource planets. 

Victory Hutts.

Blog Catch-up Post

June 25

For the 5th game in a row, General Horak led the Rebel Forces against Sith Wood and his Storm Troopers.  Peetza da Hutt did indeed provide pizza. 

Unlike last week's disaster, this time the Rebels were fortunate in getting a faction card that revealed the Emperor's whereabouts on Elom.  Knowing that the Storm Troopers would heavily reinforce that starbase as soon as they were able, the Rebels launched a desperate assault that swung through Sluis Van and Omwatt.  The battle at Elom was hard fought, but the last Rebel unit was able to overcome the last Imperial legion.

Victory Rebels

July 2

General Ric took up the Rebel forces and Kent the Hutt led the green team.  Sith Lord Karl positioned himself for a possible trifecta with the Hutts next week.  But it was not to be...

Although initial attacks against the Rebels set them back seriously, they were able to control the Ison Corridor for two turns early in the game.  As they counter-attacked, the Hutts slowly gathered cards.  Eventually, a Rebel faction card straight allowed them to partially recover, but they failed to set back the Hutts sufficiently.  (General LaBan would say that the powerful Storm Troops were remiss in attacking the Rebels so furiously, when the Hutts needed further attention.)  At any rate, Kent the Hutt used his faction card straight to break through weakened Imperial systems and take ten systems.
 Victory Hutts

The Hutts Strike Back

As luck would have it, things fell out such that I was playing the Rebel faction, Kent took the Imperial pieces, and Ric held the reins of the Hutt hoard.  My efforts to secure a third straight Rebel victory failed.  Sith Lord Wood came down hard on the Rebels and denied them any headway. 

After several failed attempts to gain traction, the Rebels hunkered down for the long game... waiting for cards, looking for a chance to take out the Death Star, hoping for a faction card straight.  Even with the Empire on the rampage, they took one turn too many attacking the Rebels.  With lightning-like swiftness, Ric the Hutt snapped up 10 resource planets. 

Game ova!

Double Rebel Whammy

Game #1

Rebel Leader Karl went up against Sith Lord LaBan and Hutt Spice Merchant Extraordinaire Kent Wood in a pizza-fueled battle for control of the galaxy.  In an unusual initial setup, the Rebels were very strong in the Mid Rim. 

After their first turn, they managed to capture the Wild Space, only to follow up with capturing the Ison Corridor and, surprisingly, the Mid Rim as well.  Of course, the Mid Rim was immediately invaded and neutralized. 

But the cards were all in the Rebels hand.  The Emperor's starbase was discovered and destroyed at the beginning of turn 3 for a short game. 

Game #2

After such a quick game there was time to spare, so we set up with the same factions for a rematch.  The Emperor came out on the first turn and his starbase went under the Death Star at Hoth.  The Rebels had drawn a "Move the Force Meter one space to the light side and look under any starbase" faction card as well as "Set all dice on their maximum value."  Playing the first card revealed the Emperor's hiding place and neutralized the initial +1 Imperial Death Star advantage.  The second card destroyed the protective Death Star and the remaining troops were quickly overcome by eager Rebels forces.  This represents the shortest possible SWR game (1-1/3 turns or 4 plays).

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.