Year End Battle for Galactic Domination

Game Summary:  A see-saw contest tonight with first Darth Kent, then Horak the Hutt, then Deputy Rebel Leader LaBan taking the lead, although never a decisive one until the very last turn.  A strong Hutt initial deployment kept the others at bay for several turns but the Empire and the Hutts repeatedly traded control of Elom and the Wild Space.  Slow Hutt gains captured Tatooine and even dislodged a star base from Elom, which relocated to Gamorr.  But the Rebels managed to push the force meter over to the extreme light side, which turned out to be a critical factor in the game. 

An Imperial faction card straight brought a huge number of stormtroopers onto the board late in the game.  The Empire's heavy footstep echoed throughout the galaxy, especially in the Wild Space, where the Hutts were beaten back.

This was immediately followed by a faction card straight worth 7 additional squadrons for the Rebels.  The "One in a Million" card took out the Death Star on Gamorr.  The onslaught of Imperial forces then swept away the garrison, revealing the Emperor.  Game, Rebels.

Tactical Notes:   The force meter at the extreme end of the light side gave the Rebels a large number of extra cards that in turn resulted in the early appearance of "One in a Million" and a timely straight with its influx of reinforcements.  The appearance of the emperor was relatively early, but his placement on a hotly contested resource planet resulted in a forced relocation and eventual exposure.  Admittedly, the use of the Hutts as a inhuman shield is generally a good idea.  The threat of a Hutt-controlled sector (the Wild Space) distracted the Empire from maintaining constant pressure on the Rebels. 

Strategic Notes:  Have a very happy New Year!

The Empire Triumphant

In a cruel turn of events, for the evening's first game, Darth Ric and Deputy Rebel Leader Kent signed a pact to relentlessly destroy Hutts on the first turn.  Indeed they did, reducing the Hutt garrisons of 3 and 4 legions to so much rubble.  Interestingly, the Empire came out strongly on top, which means the Rebels really need to turn their attention to the Dark Side on the first turn. 

After the unholy allegiance was revealed, game one was terminated and a second one restarted.  Hard fought on all sides, the Hutts were badly set back when DRL Kent destroyed a large fleet of capital ships in the Mid Rim.  Then the Hutts were completely broken when the Death Star destroyed a large garrison on Sullust.  Without the Hutt threat to distract the storm troopers, the Rebels were hard pressed to hold their ground.  As the Empire spread into Hutt-controlled areas, their reinforcement levels overwhelmed the Rebel troops.  Hutts and Rebels capitulated in an inglorious defeat. 

A Doomed Rebellion

A most peculiar game this week -- the Empire started off with a terrible run of bad dice rolls and it began to look like the Rebels were going to grab the brass ring.  But then the Hutts focused on the Rebels, the Empire started to roll some decent dice, and cards began pile up for both Hutts and Storm Troopers. 

As the Hutts inched slowly up to eight resource planets, the e-vile Empire turned in a straight of faction cards and used the seven additional legions to sweep the Outer Rim.  The Hutts responded by controlling all Core Worlds, an unheard of situation. 

In the final turn, the Storm Troopers eliminated the Rebels in the Ison Corridor and Elrood Sector, leaving two lone holdouts on two systems in the Mid Rim.  Armed with a vast army on Gamorr, it looked like curtains with only a single Hutt in the way of total domination by the Empire.

Alas, with a single faction card, the Hutts were able to thwart the avalanche of Storm Troopers.  The Blackmail card prevented any further attacks because there weren't any other Rebel systems to capture.

The Hutts then were able to use their Uprising card to cause the huge garrison at Gamorr to flee to the Wild Space. 

The sole remaining troop was quickly eliminated.  Then an overwhelming attack on Kessel pushed the Hutts over the top.

Hutts... again

With Thanksgiving on Thursday (what a surprise), we delayed this week's battle for galactic domination until Friday afternoon.  The result was yet another Hutt victory.  In this case, it was Kent the Hutt defeating Darth Ric and Rebel Leader Horak. 

After a rousing start, it looked like the Rebels had a good chance at sweeping the e-vile Empire off the map while keeping the dastardly Hutts in their place.  For a time the Outer Rim was under Rebel control, but the Death Star took out a huge garrison on Wayland and the Rebels never recovered. 

Taking advantage of the weakened Rebels, the Hutts swept into the Outer Rim and Core Worlds.  The Rebels couldn't stop them and the Empire "forgot" to take out the weakly garrisoned resource planet at Elom in the Wild Space.  Victory, Hutts.  

Two More Hutt Victories

Play of the Day:  In a show of Bravado after Sith Wood rolled 6-5, Flight Squadron Leader Horak placed his dice 6-6.  Ric insisted on an actual roll.  Of course, it came up 6-6, blasting the attacking Storm Troopers to oblivion.  We laughed until our stomachs hurt. 

The Rebels nearly pulled this one off -- one battle, one roll of the dice were all that stood between them and Galactic domination.  Of course, at the time I didn't know that.  Thinking that the exposed star base was just another garrison outpost, I had no desire to exhaust myself on a tactically unimportant target.  I needed to save my troops to repel the inevitable Imperial counter-attacks.  Little did I know the Emperor was hiding within. 

Turns out, those counter-attacks never occurred.  The wiley Peetza da Hutt swept into the Core Worlds and with the capture of Duro, took control of the galaxy and the game.

In the second game the e-vile Hutts once again squeaked out a victory just ahead of Sith Wood's forces.  Kent had his standard hoard of reinforcements and faction cards for seven more legions--an almost certain victory for the Empire was assured.  This time the decisive battle was at Balmorra. 

Meanwhile, here are the summary statistics for 102 games that identified player roles in this blog to date.  (Nine other games were unattributed.  Four games were draws.)

	Horak	Wood	LaBan
Hutt	13	10	31	54
Rebel	7	11	7	25
Empire	14	2	7	23
	34	23	45	102

Clearly the Hutts have the easier time of it, especially when Peetza da Hutt is at the helm.  Interestingly, Deputy Rebel Leader Kent does well in command of the Rebels and Darth Horak has done well with the Dark Side.

My suggestion from this for a balanced and challenging game:  make everyone play to a weaker side.  That would mean Ric as the Rebels, Kent as Empire, and Karl as the Hutts.  Alternatively, Karl would play Rebels, Ric as the Empire, and Kent as the Hutts. 

The Rebels Go Down... and Down Again

After our last battles for galactic domination two weeks ago, where the dastardly Rebels twice fought their way to dominance, this week things went altogether differently.  Darth LaBan and Horak the Hutt both snatched victory away from Deputy Rebel Squadron Leader Kent. 

Game #1.  With uncharacteristic benevolence, both Empire and Rebellion allowed the Hutts to start with 5 resource planet.  After a horrible start in turn 1, the Empire rebounded.  By turn 3 things were looking grim for the Rebels and the Hutts never really got traction.  Only in the very last few turns did the Hutts manage to get even a single extra faction card.  The E-vile Emperor turned up only on the 6th turn and by then the Rebels were destituted.  Victory Empire.

Game #2.  Amazingly, the Hutts got some hot dice, some capital ships, and gradually built their way up to 7 resource planets.  With a straight of faction cards (7 extra legions), they were able to take Rodia, Sullust, and at the very limit of their ability, Bespin.  Victory Hutts.

Johnny Reb Takes Two

What more can I say?  The wily Rebels were able to knock back the Empire by successfully attacking numerous small, single-legion garrisons.  Meanwhile, the E-vile Empire kept the Hutts in check with well-placed star bases and dastardly use of the Death Star.  In one game, two resource planets were reduced to asteroids, puttin' the hurt on the Hutts. 

Chaulk two victories up for Deputy Rebel Leader Wood.