Tell me again, who won?

We're still trying to figure this one out... Darth Horak, Kent the Hutt, and Rebel Leader LaBan were dealing their usual Thursday night death throughout the galaxy.  It certainly looked like it was going to be Kent's night at first, with the Hutts getting high into the resource planet counts only to be knocked back down again and again. 

Things didn't go entirely badly for the Empire.  Gamorr was destroyed, denying the Hutts a resource planet and a home world while protecting the Wild Space.  The Emperor himself was secretly based on Excharga.  But an attack on Elom went awry and the Hutts denied the Storm Troopers the sector they needed.  

Meanwhile, the Rebels were doing very well in gradually conquering systems, harrying the Storm Troopers until they were holed up in their final redoubt, the Wild Space. With the Ison Corrior under their control, they were able to sweep the Outer Rim and the Core Worlds.  They just couldn't find the Emperor's starbase and put and end to the game. 

What wasn't expected was that the Hutts would turn on the Empire in the end.  Faced with the prospect of the Rebels getting all the glory and destroying the E-vile Darth Horak, the Hutts attacked the last Imperial bastion and destroyed it.  With nowhere to flee, the Emperor perished.

The question arises:  who won?  On page 22 of the rules, Section 5: Winning, it states, "The Rebellion wins the moment they take eliminate all Imperial armies OR when they take control of the planet with the Emperor's Imperial Base token."  Meanwhile, "the Hutts win the moment they conquer their 10th green resource planet."  It would appear that Hutts have failed to gain 10 resource planets and the Rebels have (indirectly) eliminated all Storm Troopers.  I'm calling it for a Rebel victory, but one could argue that the Hutts should have taken the Imperial faction cards and battled on.  Either the Hutts would gain 10 resource planets or the Rebels would conquer all 42 systems for a final determination of victory.

Hutts Under the Death Mark for the Rest of the Year

In a very different sort of game, the battle for Galactic Domination took a number of unexpected twists and turns.  Sith Wood, Rebel Leader LaBan, and Horak the Hutt replayed last week's arrangement of sides. 

Straight away the Rebels ran into trouble when their large initial concentration met with fierce Imperial resistance.  Casualties piled up and the offensive fell far short of its objective.  The Hutts did modestly well, moving up to 7 resource planets and gaining 3 faction cards.  But with the Death Star securely on Sluis Van, the Hutts in Elom had no egress to the Ison Corridor, Bespin, or the systems of the Core Worlds.  The Empire struck back and hammered both Hutt and Rebel forces.  Already it began to look like an Imperial victory. 

In subsequent turns the Hutts carefully cashed in faction cards to build up a fleet of 3 capitol ships and a bomber.  The Rebels could only field fighters and the Empire chose to use cards for troops and other nefarious purposes.  The first major Sith offensive burst into the Wild Space and took the sector.  With Sluis Van protected by a starbase, the Death Star moved to Excarga to completely lock in the sector. 

After two turns of Imperial assaults always assisted by the two reinforcements from the Wild Space sector bonus, the Rebels were seriously weakened.  The Hutts desperately threw everything onto Derilyn and struck out to Sluis Van and then Omwat, to deny the Storm Troopers the sector bonus.  Bolstered by easy victories, they pushed on to Arbra, then Elom.  Realizing that the Death Star was vulnerable to the huge Hutt fleet, the green hoard attacked Excarga.  Amazingly, the Hutts destroyed the Death Star with a 19 (5, 5, 8, +1) using only ship bonuses, a first for any Hutt, and captured the starbase. Sith Wood has vowed undying emnity for the remainder of the Earth standard calendar year. 

The Empire was still a significant threat and the Rebels unable to provide much assistance.  Control of resource planets, especially the Mid Rim, swung back and forth.  Rebels were reduced to nine systems and poised for extinction.  Amazingly, the Rebels managed to capture the Ison Corridor but were defeated on the steps of Tatooine.  Eventually they scraped together enough troops to make a run at the three starbases in the Mid Rim, but only captured one.  Little did they know that the Emperor had taken refuge on Toydaria. 

In the end the Hutts used a faction card worth 5 reinforcements, the 2 from the Wild Space, 5 legions for 16 controlled systems, and a straight for 7 troops to make a run for victory.  Hutt forces on Gamorr captured systems all the way to Kessel.  Forces on Sluis Van battled through Sullust and on to Duro for the tenth system and a surprising Hutt victory.

Sith Never Sleep

  Trifecta avoided.  

In a moment of ill-advised mercy, Karl chose the Hutts and Ric took up arms with the Rebels.  Despite losing the dice roll for choosing sides, Kent still managed to snag the Empire and had a real opportunity for a trifecta.

But that was not to be... in the second turn the dastardly Rebels took out the Death Star.  Amazingly, the next turn, the Empire rebuilt a new and fully operational Death Star.  Yaaa!!

Rebel Leader LaBan and Horak the Hutt took pains to keep the number of Imperial planetary systems low.  The Rebels managed to push the Force Meter far to the Light Side.  Hutt ships and faction cards began to accumulate.  The final insult was when the Hutts used their "Money is Power" card so the orders never came to attack into the Wild Space.  That bottled up a large Imperial force and ultimately led to their downfall. 

On turn six, the Hutts cashed in a faction card straight and broke out of Gamorr and Balmora.  Attacks carried the day in Elom, Rodia, all along the Mid Rim, and as far as Duro, Bespin, and Tatooine.  Despite a clever ruse claiming that only nine resource planets had been taken, a recount showed that the Hutts had indeed prevailed with ten. 

Two Thirds of a Trifecta

Kent the Hutt is well on his way to a trifecta:  three wins in a row, once with each faction.  Last posting we saw how Rebel Leader Wood nabbed his first victory.  Here's how it went down this week.

From the get-go Rebel Leader Karl was hard-pressed.  A large assault from Ord Mantell to Kessel ended in disaster as the Hutts inflicted six casualties.  That sturdy Hutt defense in turn protected a large number of Imperial systems that had been threatened.  Sith Lord Ric took advantage and continued to consolidate the Empire. 

Not to be outdone, the Hutts gained strength at the Rebel's expense.  When the Death Star, initially stationed at Bpfassh, destroyed nearby Sluis Van with it's large Rebel garrison, the door was open for the Hutts.  The Sith could have taken out Sullust, a Hutt planet, and that would have made it much more difficult to gain 10 systems.  As it were, the Hutts were able to capitalize on the weak Rebel position before the powerful Empire could finish the Rebels off. 

Game Hutts. 

Will next week bring the third victory for Wood?  He'll have to manage to select the Imperial faction and that will be unlikely. Stay tuna'ed.

One Third of a Trifecta

Somewhere in the deep mists of my memory, I vaguely recall that Rebel Leader Kent won out over Peetza da Hutt and Sith Lord Karl.  It wasn't pretty. 

With good initial position the Empire had blocked off Gamorra and Sluis Van, then stationed an enormous garrison at Omwat, safely under the eyes of the Death Star.  The substantial Hutt garrison on Elom looked to be a goner. 

But that was not to be, the Hutts drew a Blackmail card their first turn.  With all the Storm Troopers on Omwat, they were unable to capture a Rebel planet in order to resume their invasion.  Meanwhile, the Rebels busily harvested singleton Imperial garrisons elsewhere. 

On the second turn, you guessed it, another Blackmail card, another stalled offensive.  The Rebels continued to do their work unmolested.

On the third turn at least there wasn't another Blackmail card and Elom was overrun.  But the damage was already done; the great mass of Storm Troopers, even backed up by a sector bonus, failed to stop the Rebels.  Eventually the Rebels overran the Imperial starbase.  Game Rebels.

When will the Rebels ever loose?

Set your way-back machine to April 11.  After an error in setting up a saved game from last week, Sith Lord Kent carelessly lost to Rebel Leader Ric as "da man" sought to gain an easy Starbase.  Turns out, Kent had mistakenly placed the Emperor on the board when in fact the Big Guy hadn't really turned up yet.  Kent had failed to reinforce what he thought (and what should have been) a nominal Starbase.

Let's call it a draw...

So we dialed up another game using the same sides and fought on. The second game went on far later than we expected and farther than endurance demanded.  At times the Hutts (yours truly) seemed to be on their way to a victory.  At other times Sith Lord Kent looked to be on top.  The Hutts struggled to get extra cards; the Rebels got chewed up by the Empire; the Empire took hits from everyone.  It began to look like Kent was going to put this one away, but Ric pulled another rabbit out of his hat.  In the end, the dastardly Rebels took out the Emperor's Starbase and we collapsed in an exhausted heap.

Victory Rebels.

When Will These Hutts Ever Lose?

After lording over Ric and I for the past two weeks, Kent picked up the reins of power as the evile Emperor.  I drew the Hutts, leaving Ric to suffer on with the Rebel faction.  Kent came out of the gates swinging, pushing Ric down to a mere 4 troops for reinforcements.  However, he quickly picked up a couple bombers, which seemed to unerringly roll 7s. Kent counter-attacked the Rebels ferociously and then nuked Sullust with its garrison of 5 Hutts.  The Rebels in turn wreaked havoc among the Storm Troopers.

Meanwhile, the Hutts gathered their usual 2 faction cards on the first turn, which led to a bomber and "Wretched Hive," good for 6 extra troops.  That allow the Hutts to sweep the Mid Rim and got them up to 8 systems for 4 faction cards and the surviving Hutts pulled back to Gamorr.  The 4 faction cards led to another bomber and a faction card straight, good for 7 extra troops the next turn.  From Kessel the green hoard set out to capture Ord Mandell and finally, with incredible luck, Tattoine.  With the large force on Gamorr, the Hutts were able to storm into the Wild Space and take Elom, while another force struck out through Rodia into the Core Worlds and Duro.   Victory Hutts in less than 3 complete turns. 

Due to the abrupt Hutt victory, we began a second game.  To be continued next week.