Battle for Tatooine

The Battle for Tatooine was a joint effort between the Alliance to Restore the Republic and Saponza's Gang to drive the Galactic Empire's military forces from Tatooine during the Galactic Civil War.

Prelude
The conflict between Saponza's Gang and the Galactic Empire on Tatooine started with an attack on the Atom Edge, a freighter for the Alliance carrying supplies for Saponza's Gang. The freighter was destroyed and crashed in two separate sites, one secured by Imperial forces and the other by mercenaries. Saponza and his partner attacked the mercenaries to recover the supplies.

The Rebellion retaliated with a bomber attack on an Imperial Listening Post using X-Wings and Y-Wings. Sometime afterwards, an Imperial Patrol attacked Saponza's homestead, but were warded off by Saponza's Gang. The Rebellion followed up with raids on three different supply posts. Another Imperial Patrol then attacked the Homestead, but to no avail. Jennica Pierce then ordered an attack on an Imperial Operative in order to steal intel. After a successful attack, a final patrol attempted to siege the homestead.

Using the Intel, the rebellion destroyed an Imperial Base. They continued to attack the Imperials by freeing a small town, attacking an outpost, and raiding two alloy depots, and destroying another listening station. After these attacks, Jennica thought that they were ready to perform larger scale attacks on the Imperial forces residing on Tatooine.

The battle
The Alliance started the battle with an attack on Fort Sunfire, one of the largest Imperial bases on the planet. This infuriated Captain Kosh, the Imperial officer over operations on Tatooine. He performed two separate attacks on the Homestead, one with the entire 68th Legion, and one with a squadron of mechanized forces, but he could not destroy the Homestead.

Alliance High Command then constructed a plan to secure Tatooine. Saponza's gang would attack a base on Dandoran, where one of Saponza's soldiers would "defect" and feed the Imperials information regarding coming attacks. To get the Imperials to trust the mole, he warned them of an attack on an Imperial Operative on Tatooine, but not early enough for reinforcements to be sent. After the attack on the Operative, the Imperials attacked the homestead.

Han Solo helped drive the plan forward. He directed that a number of facilities on Dandoran should be attacked, so the Empire would spread their forces thin throughout the sub-sector. After the attacks on Dandoran, Imperial forces attempted to siege the Homestead.

Solo revealed that they were going to trick the Empire into thinking they were going to attack the main base on Dandoran, when really they were going to attack a holding cell containing the rogue senator Johhar Kessen. To convince the Empire that an attack on the main Dandoran base was imminent, the gang attacked a staging area on Dandoran, then an Imperial Operative, and finally an Imperial Starport on Dandoran.

The Rebellion was now ready to free Kessen. Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa, along with some Rebel Marksmen and soldiers, infiltrated the Detention Center that housed Kessen and freed him from the Empire. To gain Kessen's loyalty, Saponza and his gang had to help Kessen on his hunts. After defeating various big game (krayt dragons, rancors, etc), Kessen pledged his loyalty to the Alliance. With Kessen's help, many Imperial shipments were "lost in transit".

The final stage of the battle started with an attack on a Starship Depot that housed a number of Gozanti-class cruisers that Kosh had stolen from the Empire to use in his black market smuggling operation. They continued with two assaults on contraband smuggling facilities operated by Kosh and his 68th Legion, with the objective of seizing Kosh's contraband shipments and appropriating them for Alliance use. Kosh, however, retaliated with an attack on Saponza's homestead, deploying a considerable detachment against the fortified homestead. They were defeated by the homestead's defenses that had been provided by the Alliance.

With Kosh having exhausted his mobile forces, the Alliance again went on the offensive, destroying a reinforcement facility to prevent Kosh from reinforcing Fort Ironhand, the site of the vast majority of the 68th Legion's forces and the most significant base on Tatooine aside from Fort Sunfire.

The Alliance executed the assault on Fort Ironhand in three stages. The first assault took down the western garrison, with the second on the eastern garrison. The final stage of the assault focused on Fort Ironhand itself, and a group of Jawas participated in the assault alongside the regular forces. The combined Alliance forces, along with its allies, overpowered Fort Ironhand, ending the Imperial presence on Tatooine.

Aftermath
Shortly after the conclusion of the final assault on Fort Ironhand, Organa contacted Saponza's gang and congratulated them on their victory, while also asking them to continue fighting the Empire in other locations throughout the galaxy.

Behind the scenes
The Battle for Tatooine is the main conflict of Chapters 7 through 11 of the Rebel Alliance campaign in Star Wars: Commander.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Commander