Trifecta Averta (again)

After two crushing victories in a row, the Empire stood to win its first Trifecta, an Imperial win by each of Kent, Ric and Karl.  Alas, Kent the Rebel king-maker attacked Darth Horak's storm troopers to the benefit of the Peetza da Hutt.  Ric was able to easily take 10 resource planets, since the Rebels were intent on denying the Empire a clean victory. 

On Turn 2 the Rebels were able to use a fortuitous faction card to destroy the Death Star.  That led to a complete flip of the Wild Space, which the Rebels were able to use to good effect.  It took several turns for a new Death Star to be built and then it was able to convert Omwatt to a smattering of asteroids. 

With the Wild Space neutralized and the Force Meter well into the Dark Side, it was only a matter of time before the Rebels were crushed.  But the ever-resourceful Rebels threw in with the Hutts and refused to attack them.  (Perhaps a non-aggression treaty?  We'll never know.) 

In the end, Hutt cards won the day and Ric will be carrying the Funky Chicken Trophy to Utah to share with friends.  For my part, Kent now has a Death Mark upon his head. 

Trifecta Averted... Well, not really

It was an ugly match... with an ugly ending.  There were two conflicting goals:  Ric the Rebel needed an orange victory to gain his Trifecta Badge while Sith  Kent and Karl the Hutt sought to deny him this at all costs. 

The initial deployment had the Hutts at 3 resource systems, but firmly entrenched in the Wild Space and El'Rood Sectors.  The Death Star held sway over the Ison Corridor.  On turn 1 the Rebels had terrible rolls.  The Hutts fared slightly better, gaining ground in the El'Rood Sector.  But the Empire struck back with great good fortune, significantly hamstringing the Rebels. 

By turn 2, the Rebels were suffering from continued poor dice rolls.  The Hutts managed to capture the Ison Corridor and the Empire continued to grind down the Rebellion. 

On turn 3 the Rebels neutralized the Hutt sector, only to lose the Wild Space.  This sector bonus would greatly assist Horak the Hutt for several turns.  Meanwhile, the Empire continued to salt the Mid Rim with starbases. 

The Death Star marched forth and destroyed Dathomir with its large Rebel garrison.  Neither Hutt nor Storm Trooper elected to disrupt the tenuous balance between Dagobah and Hoth--each side gained benefit.  The Hutts managed to get sector bonuses from El'Rood and the Wild Space for one turn. 

Rebel assaults against the starbases in the Mid Rim failed miserably.  The Hutts could not gain traction beyond 6 resource planets.  In the end, the Empire slowly strangled the Rebels, ending Ric's dreams of a trifecta. 

In two weeks:  Darth Horak will attempt a first-ever Imperial trifecta, 3 Imperial victories in a row. 

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!