How are the Mighty Fallen

How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished! (II Samuel 1:27)

Well, not quite...

In the evening's first game, Sith Wood made a major tactical blunder and left the Outer Rim in Rebel control. Generalissimo LaBan seized the moment and, with certain intelligence about the Emperor's whereabouts and ten legions of fresh troops, he struck out from Mon Calamari to Bpfassh. He quickly cut through the light garrisons there and at Dagobah before slaughtering the last holdouts at Hoth. Game Rebels.

I think that's five in a row for LaBan, three of them as Rebel Leader.

A second battle for galactic domination ensued immediately afterward. This time the mighty did indeed fall.

Empire and Hutts assaulted mercilessly, driving the Imperial Forces down to a last few planets. A bungled "final victory" sweep gave the Hutts one last chance but Tatooine was a planet too far. The Storm Troopers, in the end, eliminated every last Rebel troop.

Because Rebel Leader LaBan only won half of tonight's games, we are publishing only half of an embarrassing photograph.

Einstein's Definition of Insanity

Sith Wood and I have been doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, exactly Einstein's definition of insanity.  Of course, the Sith was out of sorts last Thursday, so it's not surprising that we got clobbered.  Those pesky Rebels under Generalissimo LaBan have been blasting Death Stars (fully operational ones) and taking out star bases at an incredible rate.  Most notably, the star bases always seem to be the ones concealing the Emperor.  The Hutts really haven't had a chance to accumulate resource planets.  :-((

At left, Generalissimo LaBan shows his prize-winning form. 

Peetza da Hutt Wins Again... Wait, those Hutts are Rebels?!

The table got turned last Thursday--Darth Horak played the slimy green Hutts, Deputy Squadron Leader Wood went over to the dark side, and Peetza da Hutt took up the Rebel cause.

Even with good dice (four 6's in a row anyone), five starting resource planets, and reasonable cards, Karl the Hutt slowly fell behind.  Once the Hutt menace was contained, Darth Wood chopped up the Rebels well and good.


After six turns the only Imperial bases that had been damaged were those displaced by Hutts.  The Core Worlds changed color like a chameleon every turn and in the end it was one system short of being an Imperial province.

With the fate of the galaxy looking dismal, the Rebels made a valiant last stand at Bespin... and survived.  Another Imperial onslaught in the Outer Rim also fell short.  Even so, the Rebelion was holding on to less than eight systems.  Darth Wood moved reinforcements to the Outer Rim to guarantee a crushing victory there the next turn. 

Except there was no next turn.  The Rebels played their "One in a Million" card (just picked up the previous round) and took out the Death Star at Duro.  The single Imperial garrison was no match for the modest but desperate Rebel assault force.  The Storm Troopers were wiped out and, to both Rebel and Hutt astonishment, the Emperor was captured.  A Rebel victory was pulled out of the hat at the last minute and it was a third victory in a row for Ric. 

At left Generalissimo LaBan dons protective gear before assaulting the Death Star.

Hutt, Hutt

Peetz da Hutt, aka Ric LaBan, delivered a deadly one-two punch with back-to-back victories this evening.  Game 1 was over almost before it began, with Rebel attacks crippling the Empire and Imperial counter-attacks taking a deadly toll.  Rebel counter-counter attacks ran afoul of Imperial 6's, which cost them dearly.  When the smoke cleared, the Hutts waltzed to victory on turn 3.


In Game 2, a much more even battle ensued.  Imperial ambitions in the El Rood Sector held off the Rebels but succumbed to a slimy green onslaught.  Even so, when the Rebel and Empire put aside their destructive impulses long enough to keep the Hutts at bay, things were balanced.  But Rebel weakness at Tatooine led to the fall of Duro and a second loss on turn 4.

Back in the Saddle Again

Star Date 29 April

After a lengthy hiatus due to all the work on the renovation up in White Rock, Deputy Rebel Leader Wood, Peetza da Hutt, and Darth Horak resumed their epic struggle for galactic domination last week.  Taking Brewster Rockit's comic of last week to heart, the Rebels and Hutts joined forces to become an "unstoppable union of destruction and tyranny."

On the first turn their combined efforts reduced the once powerful Empire to a mere 11 planets and only 3 reinforcements.  The Empire was never a threat thereafter.  The main event was the struggle between Rebels and Hutts, once proud allies and now mortal enemies.  The Rebels ultimately triumphed but had they failed to capture the Evil Emperor, the Hutts surely would have been victorious on their next attack. 

Star Date 6 May

This week a rematch found the dubious allies less coordinated, once again as per Brewster Rockit's bears and sharks. 

As it was, the Empire had several astonishingly good runs with far more 6's than statistics would deem likely.  Planets garrisoned with single squadrons of Rebels fell like kingpins.  With the Ison Corridor firmly locked up after one good counter-offensive by the Rebels, the Empire held the Hutts to zero bonus faction cards for most of the game. 

Only when the Empire concentrated on finishing off the crippled Rebels did the Hutts break out.  Although the Hutts managed to hold onto 8 and even 9 resource planets, the Death Star's second and third turn destruction of Sullust and Balmorra put victory out of reach. 

With the rebels down to a handful of planets and the Hutts locked out of victory, the "unstoppable union of destruction and tyranny" capitulated. 

Galactic Domination with Greek and Olympics

Greek take-out, Olympics on the tube, and Star Wars Risk on the table tonight.  Twas a long, hard struggle.  The Rebels under Deputy Assistant Squadron Leader Kent got the early advantage, but both the Hutts and the Empire converged to set him back.  Several star bases were destroyed but no Emperor was found. 

Faction cards kept the force meter pegged on the dark side.  Good card selection gave the Storm Troopers several large sets of reinforcements. 

When the Rebels destroyed the Death Star on Gamorr, it opened the way for the Hutts to reclaim their home planet and attack into the Wild Space.  An assault on Duro was successful to finish the game after 8 rounds.

Double Battles for Domination

Two battles for galactic domination tonight, along with significant quantities of pizza, beer, and Debbie's chess pie.  The Evil Empire was trounced both times.

Game #1.  After an oddly well-connected setup by all three factions, the game was off to solid start.  But by turn 2, the combined efforts of Hutts and Storm Troopers were starting to place uncomfortable pressures on the Rebellion.  With a piece of good luck, an extra move of the Force Meter gave the Deputy Rebel Leader Horak an extra card--and it was the dreaded One in a Million card.

Armed with that at the beginning of turn 3, the Rebels set forth with all their reinforcements from Bpfassh to Sluis Van on to Omwat and thence to the Star Base protected by the Death Star on Elom.  One in a Million and the Death Star perished.  The lightly garrisoned Star Base fell the next turn revealing the Emperor himself.  Game ova almost as quickly as it started to everyone's surprise. 

Game #2.  A much different game.  The Empire steadily ground down the Rebels with some improbably dice rolls.  As the Hutts expanded their reach while the Storm Troopers were distracted, they soon became a threat.  Not to worry--the Empire simply nuked Ord Mandell, then Sullust, and amazingly Balmorra.

With only ten resource planets left and needing ten to win, the Hutts were almost certain to loose as the Empire swept up the scattered remnants of the Rebels.  Three times Peetza da Hutt gained nine planets only to be thwarted.  The Rebels in their death throes attacked the Empire, which threw the balance to the Hutts who finally swept up ten systems.  Game ova!