Hey guys, new here.

Since I've been lucky enough to win a Defender at Imdaar (4th place) I've been thinking how to make it work. I am an Interceptor enthusiast, so a Defender flight-style seems a little awkward to me, but learning somethin new is always a good thing.

So basically what you are about to see here is an example of how to turn a Defender into a fast moving mini Death Star. Or at least on paper, as I've not yet tried it, volunteers maybe?



Royal Guard Pilot + Push the Limit + Targeting Computer x2

Colonel Vessery + Opportunist + Heavy Laser Cannon

100 pts total


What is your objective here?
First fly Interceptors like you normally would, dashing forward and trying to flank, while sticking Defender slightly further back.
Squints Target Lock a desired ship, leaving them with another action to spend as they like, adjusting with Barrel Roll, or increasing their chances with Focus etc. Doesn't matter, Target Lock is what matters.
Ideally Defender is now at range 3 from a TLocked enemy ship, Focusing.

Now here's where fun starts.
You shoot first with Interceptors, but not spending at least one TLock. you want to strip the enemy from Focus/Evade. If everything went as planned, your enemy received some damage and kept his Focus/Evade, or prevented some damage and spent the token. If first - it's great. If the second;

Colonel Vessery now shoots 4 dice + 1 dice from Opportunist at range 3, with his Focus and a free Target Lock he received after rolling.


5 dice with TL+F at range 3 without an additional green dice for the target?

Ouch.



After that you get rid of stress on Vessery by either going 2 forward, so you can finish your target, or zooming out with green 5 forward, away from the danger zone.



Any thoughts?

As cool as 5 dice is, I'd rather see something like Engine upgrade to boost your mobility. Defenders don't clear stress well, and Opportunist is pretty situational... You're running a fragile squad here, with a lot of points in upgrades. 21 Points worth.

Vessery will work better with some form of Bomber or Shuttle support.

But conceptually very cool. I just don't see it working out well to have a 12 HP squad with a 46 point ship on it.

i'll take

Royal Guard(PTL+Hull+Shield)x2

Echo(VI+ADC+Int.Off.)

over that anyday.

as much FP,more HP and the unpredictable nature of Echo

I want to try a Vassery list with a Buzzsaw shuttle and a Dark Curse with TC. Put weapons engineer on the shuttle so you can maintain some unpredicatability in targets, and blammo!

i'll take

Royal Guard(PTL+Hull+Shield)x2

Echo(VI+ADC+Int.Off.)

over that anyday.

as much FP,more HP and the unpredictable nature of Echo

Why you suggest this? OP has a defender, not a phantom.

engine over opportunist on a defender. just not able to clear stress well at all.

I would not stress a defender.

engine over opportunist on a defender. just not able to clear stress well at all.

I would not stress a defender.

I also think Outmaneuver fits the defender a bit better than Opportunist. He has the White K-Turn after all and if someone is stupid enough to joust with you like that, you will get out of people's arcs pretty easily. And to me taking away an agility (aka doing an Antilles) is just as good as getting another attack die most of the time.

I would say Predator over Opportunist. I got a Defender at an Imdaar Alpha and have played three matches so far (won all of them). The white koiogran is great and it's fun to actually not use it when your opponent expects you to do so.

I used Rexler with HLC and Predator + Boba Fett with various upgrades. One match was against Dual Falcons and Boba Fett was nice here with Outmaneuver since it knocked down agility and mostly prevented the use of C-3PO (Outmaneuver shines on Firesprays with its two firing arcs). My two ship list might be weird but I should note that my dice rolls have been pretty exceptional in these matches.

Rexlers abilty is a MONSTER by the way. I hit both Falcons with three flipped hits. That hurt. At the end of the match Han Solo was flying with four active critical effects. Ouch.

Yeh, I love the idea of Brath, but I'm not sure I can make it work in 100 points. Its really nice against low agi ships, but dicey against higher.

Predator is not a great choice for the OP, since he wants to try to make Vassery work. Outmaneuver is still a good choice, especially if you go nuts and give Vassery an Engine Upgrade.

To be honest perfect EPT for Vessery is Andrenaline Rush. This + Engine Upgrade + some bombers, maybe shuttle and you've got hypermobile ship with lots of offensive capabilities. Adrenaline Rush opens Defender's dial so much that it's just plain crazy.

I used Rexler with HLC and Predator + Boba Fett with various upgrades. One match was against Dual Falcons and Boba Fett was nice here with Outmaneuver since it knocked down agility and mostly prevented the use of C-3PO (Outmaneuver shines on Firesprays with its two firing arcs) . My two ship list might be weird but I should note that my dice rolls have been pretty exceptional in these matches.

Would Outmaneuver work with the Firespray's Rear arc? I thought that normally cards that reference firing arc only referred to the standard primary arc. The Auxiliary Arc gives you the benefit of being able to shoot more often, but doesn't get the benefit from upgrades and abilities that require something to be "In Arc". That's how I've understood it anyway...

I used Rexler with HLC and Predator + Boba Fett with various upgrades. One match was against Dual Falcons and Boba Fett was nice here with Outmaneuver since it knocked down agility and mostly prevented the use of C-3PO (Outmaneuver shines on Firesprays with its two firing arcs) . My two ship list might be weird but I should note that my dice rolls have been pretty exceptional in these matches.

Would Outmaneuver work with the Firespray's Rear arc? I thought that normally cards that reference firing arc only referred to the standard primary arc. The Auxiliary Arc gives you the benefit of being able to shoot more often, but doesn't get the benefit from upgrades and abilities that require something to be "In Arc". That's how I've understood it anyway...

I used Rexler with HLC and Predator + Boba Fett with various upgrades. One match was against Dual Falcons and Boba Fett was nice here with Outmaneuver since it knocked down agility and mostly prevented the use of C-3PO (Outmaneuver shines on Firesprays with its two firing arcs) . My two ship list might be weird but I should note that my dice rolls have been pretty exceptional in these matches.

Would Outmaneuver work with the Firespray's Rear arc? I thought that normally cards that reference firing arc only referred to the standard primary arc. The Auxiliary Arc gives you the benefit of being able to shoot more often, but doesn't get the benefit from upgrades and abilities that require something to be "In Arc". That's how I've understood it anyway...

The wording on the Firesprays rear arc implies yes. The rear firing arc functions differently from turrets in regards to effects like Backstabber which implies it should work with outmanuever.

The Backstabber FAQ rules that it is a Firing Arc in its own right, just one out of which you may not fire secondary weapons. Therefore, it is a Firing Arc for Outmaneuver as well.

I used Rexler with HLC and Predator + Boba Fett with various upgrades. One match was against Dual Falcons and Boba Fett was nice here with Outmaneuver since it knocked down agility and mostly prevented the use of C-3PO (Outmaneuver shines on Firesprays with its two firing arcs) . My two ship list might be weird but I should note that my dice rolls have been pretty exceptional in these matches.

Would Outmaneuver work with the Firespray's Rear arc? I thought that normally cards that reference firing arc only referred to the standard primary arc. The Auxiliary Arc gives you the benefit of being able to shoot more often, but doesn't get the benefit from upgrades and abilities that require something to be "In Arc". That's how I've understood it anyway...

The wording on the Firesprays rear arc implies yes. The rear firing arc functions differently from turrets in regards to effects like Backstabber which implies it should work with outmanuever.

I see the entry for Backstabber in the FAQ now. Copied below for anyone who is interested. I can see that the argument could be made for Firespray and Outmaneuver quite easily. I see a few other entries that point to you being correct as well. It's all kind of drawing conclusions based on obscure combos, etc. They should add another line or two to the Aux Firing Arc Rules and make it a little clearer. I think I imposed some of the Turret Rules onto the Aux Arc Rules and drew some wrong conclusions...Thanks for the clarification! Hijack over.

engine over opportunist on a defender. just not able to clear stress well at all.

I would not stress a defender.

True enough! The defender is the kind of ship where you would give a kingdom for an astromech slot and an R2 unit XD.

I also think Outmaneuver fits the defender a bit better than Opportunist. He has the White K-Turn after all and if someone is stupid enough to joust with you like that, you will get out of people's arcs pretty easily. And to me taking away an agility (aka doing an Antilles) is just as good as getting another attack die most of the time.

I agree with OM on the defender especially Colonel Vessery since he can gain target locks from his ability. Firing a HLC out of someone's arc with a target lock/focus is going to hurt....a lot.

You could try

Vessery-HLC+EU(or another 4pt or less upgrade)

Omnicron-Weapons Enginner, St-321

Royal Guard Pilot-PTL

2pts left over for a TC on the Royal Guard or FCS on the shuttle(or Adrenaline Rush on Vessery+Initiative)

I like the shuttle+WE as a better Vessery "escort" because you can TL ANY ship on the board and then not need to worry about having a Squint in range (and for the same points it is 2x the Target locks)

Personally for EPTs Outmaneuver on Vessery, Predator on Rexlar, I believe they included both in the Defender pack for a reason, one for each of them

excuse my newbness here but regarding Vessery's SA I just want to clarify how it works? Is it that vessery gets a free Target lock if one of your other ships has already target locked the ship he is attacking?

excuse my newbness here but regarding Vessery's SA I just want to clarify how it works? Is it that vessery gets a free Target lock if one of your other ships has already target locked the ship he is attacking?

More or less, that's how it works.

excuse my newbness here but regarding Vessery's SA I just want to clarify how it works? Is it that vessery gets a free Target lock if one of your other ships has already target locked the ship he is attacking?

The only functional difference is you can't use that target lock to launch missiles, but if you have a target lock launch your missile, you can then regain a TL to use on rerolls if another ship has its target lock on the target

How would this do?

Vessery + adrenaline rush 36pts

OMG + Gunner 26 pts

Bounty hunter + Gunner 38 pts

100 pts total