Welcome everyone to round 3 of the Galactic Escalation tournament for the Fall of 2025! The squads for this round are 225pts.

Game length is 75 minutes and gambit is worth 11pts. There will be 1 week starting today (October 26, 2025) to get your matchups in. Please complete your games by midnight (Eastern time: GMT-5:00) on Sunday, November 2, 2025. If anyone needs extra time, we can extend the time needed; just let me know via BM.

After this round is complete, we will have one final round before the playoffs begin. For this final round, each player will play against the player from the other division that is in the same place as them. That is, 1st vs 1st, 2nd vs 2nd, 3rd vs 3rd, 4th vs 4th.

Here are the players and squads that will be competing in round 3:

Kessel Run Division













 
Hydian Way Division





 

Lightsaber defeats DarthMaim 2-0 (124-78) on Anchorhead

Round 1: Mel won map roll, I set up on the right and give Tulak Stifling and Bane Distraction. Everyone moves forward, and Mel pulls a very sneaky Override to lock me out of gambit despite literally starting there with the Nexus. 0-0.

Round 2: I finally start winning some initiatives this tournament. R2 decides maybe he doesn't want to be that close to Bane and wheels off, leaving the door open. I move Bane and start getting some Gambit. 11-0

Round 3: Luke gets bored and attacks Bane, hitting twice. I only remember I have LSdefence on the last attack, so I do that (Bane on 110). Luke retreats and Bane proceeds to miss. both. attacks of opportunity. Tulak runs in and rolls an incredible miss on Luke, meaning I can't Jar'Kai or anything :(. Bane does better, but all the damage gets bodyguarded by the Disruptive Wookiee, Chewbacca on 70hp. Bane takes a shot from Han, and I get gambit 22-0

Round 4: Mel wins initiative and activates the very Loose Wookiee (hits Tulak once) and Luke, who is trying as hard as he can to betray Mel. Luke rolls two ones on the first two attacks, but does end up putting 40 on Bane. Tulak hits Chewbacca once and Bane goes to town on Luke, rolling two crits and an 18. This onslaught finishes Luke and his bodyguard, and closes the door they were holding open. R2-D2 then opens that door and Sabine Grenadeses Bane, who fails the save, a reroll, and another reroll - even without the explosive traps, he would have failed these. He dies, Tulak gets OP. The DK assassin snipes an Uggnaught, and Vaklu takes some shots at Ezra. Tulak backflips over all Ezra's shots. Leia copies me and snipes an Uggnaught. The Nexus moves Mae, who was about to do something awesome - but then she gets shot in the head by Han and dies all over the floor. Time ran out here, and the final score stood 124 - 78.

Depending on the Overwhelming Force/Irrepressible Force interactions we might have to replay the game, but that's fine with me - the more SWM, the better!

Mel and I will be replaying the canonically accurate Battle of Endor on Saturday 1030 PST

Hi-Fives defeats NoffyD 153-106 (2-0) on Throne Room

I win map, and Noffy sets up on the left in the hallway.

Round 1: Mostly positioning, but towards the end of the round, R2 tows Rex for him to take out an uggie and his R7. No crazy shenanigans otherwise.

Round 2: I step my Gizka away from the door on the right, thinking he won't be able to get to Rex if I do (I was wrong). He moves an uggie up to open said door and blasts Rex into next Thursday with Mando. (Echo takes Rex's Ce.) This leaves Mando exposed, so my ARC scout puts a target on his head and takes some shots that get evaded and miss. Fives then moves up and manages to get 50 damage onto Mando, after which he GMAs back to safety. Noffy moves his Vornskr to the cubby south of the main room. R2 locks the door on the right, while repositioning Fordo, who shot an uggie previously. Noffy's guys group up near the Vornskr, and then after they have gone, I open the door again, and manage to put another 20 onto Mando.

Round 3: I win init, and take out his last uggie with my spaarti. This just leaves Mira for door control, while I still have R2 and a couple satchel charges. He moves some chumps. Ordo runs up and blasts two porgs with splash, and then R2 locks the door again. I move some chumps into the main room, and Mira blows the door and hides. The Vornskr runs up and puts 10 damage onto Ordo with some good dice luck for me, taking 30 from an AOO. Fordo responds by blasting the Vornskr, and Boba shoots a Gizka and an uggie. Mando blasts the new Gizka, and I fail the infest save, so no more pesks. I maneuver Fives, Echo, and the scout into the main room.

Round 4: I win init, and make the hard decision to let Noffy start. He uses Mira to blow up the Rodian, and to put 20 onto Fives and Echo (DR). Fordo moves up and puts 60 onto Mira, and the ARC trooper finishes her, and then puts 20 onto Boba. Boba kills the ARC, and hides, while Mando also hides. After some more minor maneuvering, I move Echo and Fives up to the top of the room behind the wall, so as to get some safer lines next round.

Round 5: The timer goes about halfway through this round. Noffy wins init, and pushes Boba up with Talon, and then Boba toasts Fives. Fordo activates, and runs up next to Echo, for Hand Signals, and for synergy. Talon and Mando run up near Boba to absorb some shots. Ordo draws a line on only Boba, and lands 20 splash damage on him. The Scout puts a target onto Boba, and, with some bad saves for Noffy, lands a full 60 damage onto Boba, leaving him at 10 hp. After some deliberating, Echo bases Boba, and takes him out, putting me ahead on points.

This was an intense game, with lots of key moving around to avoid damage. It really helped me to have taken out all his chump door control pretty early. Losing Rex certainly wasn't nice, but because of Echo's CE, I ended up being okay.
Good game, Noffy, and good luck with the rest of the tourney!

thereisnotry defeats gandalfthegreatestwizard 254-30 (3-0) on Throne Room


Joe won the map roll so we played on Throne Room. I set up on the left with my Yammosk at the end of the long hallway so that it would have LOS into the bottom half of gambit and into the other room (intending to steal Xamar's CE to help with tempo control), but that didn't matter since Joe set up his people on the top-right corner of the map, so almost nobody ever saw the Yammosk; maybe it's just a thing of legend.... Arca haunted Krynda. The 8th Cortex Shaper brought in a YV Consul (for wallclimber).


Round 1: Joe won init thanks to some massive Covenant Watch Circle initiative boosts. Round 1 was all peaceful, like the calm before a storm. I moved my people into gambit, and his guys were mostly in open area north-east of gambit. Gambit for me. 11-0.

Round 2: I won init and let the OR go first; Krynda walked around in the back. We both spun our people and didn't do anything, since none of my guys were close enough to attack anything; throughout the round they simply repositioned into position so that they could attack in the next round. Xamar's CE allowed Joe some tempo control, so he out-activated me and then pushed his guys forward. Tsalok fell immediately and Warmaster took some damage. Gambit for me. 22-27 for Joe.

Round 3: I won init because Joe rolled a 2 and I rolled a 17...that was enough to overcome his Covenant Watch Party (after the game he talked about how he should've used Sense the Future to steal the init). Warmaster eviscerated Feln and then rolled a 1 on his Cleave attack vs the Protector. The Protector and Xamar togwether put 80dmg into Yogand. He then charged up and killed Q'Anilia; this allowed Warmaster to move forward, to harass T3 and make it a little bit harder for Joe's guys to take down Yogand. Khalee Lah then charged in to put 60dmg onto Xamar (alive w 20hp). The Defender hit Yogand again (down to 30hp). The Sentinel hit Warmaster since he was right there in his face, then Raana hit him again (down to 90hp). Joe's Officer killed my Ugnaught. Gambit for me. 89-30.

Round 4: Joe won init, so Xamar (at 20hp) tried to kill Yogand (at 30hp), and he hit his first attack (successful armor save), so Yogand was at 10hp...then Xamar missed his second attack, so Yogand lived. This was the turning point in the game. Warmaster (90hp) killed Raana and then T3 (with the Cleave), and then Yogand (10hp) killed the Protector. Arca pushed the Sentinel forward, hoping to salvage a kill on Yogand, but he rolled a 1. Nagme killed the nasty OR Officer to avenge his murdered Ugnaught slave. We called it at that point. Gambit for me. 254-30.



Just 4 rounds, but they were very active! Losing Tsalok early (again!) was painful, but there really wasn't anything I could do, since Joe out-activated me and had a couple of movement boosts to help get his people there for some good damage. If Joe had stolen the init in Round 3, that would've allowed Feln another turn (likely doing 60dmg to Warmaster) before he died, and that would've affected how things played out afterward. But the big thing was Yogand surviving with 10hp, since he was able to lay down a whole lot of smack afterward. I think I only failed a single Armor save this game, and that ended up being a significant factor. Thanks for the game, Joe!