This afternoon I ran three games against the same list.

Jan Ors // Recon Specialist / Blaster Turret

Wedge // opportunist

Etahn A'bat // Ion cannon?

using,

3x Delta Squadron // Stealth Device

I had heard of someone at another local store using this build to terrifying ability and wanted to give it a try. I ended up going 3-0 against this list.

I'm not sure if it was a weakness in my opponent's list or not. Each of our games was getting closer and closer as my opponent learned better how to use his list. Still, 3 Defenders seemed powerful...

...but it kind of feels like a three bomber list. Insomuch as it's an uphill struggle the entire way and it's not an easy list to win with. The fighters are more than capable but going last is a very difficult thing. I was happy that I was able to do as well as I did with the list but I'm not confident about taking it into tournaments, as much as I'd like to.

Has anyone else run 3 Defenders? Stories to share? Thoughts?

I'm thinking that the Hull Upgrade is the best option.

Though Ion Cannons would work well against other 3-ship lists.

Ion them, flip in behind them, Ion them again if you can't get to range 1 and then cut in close behind and blast one into atoms before turning tight out.

Well...

In theory.

His squad is not set up well at all against all PS1.

He is PS9, 8, 5, you are 1, 1, 1. So he dumped about 15 points into the PS bid.

Opportunist on Wedge is a total waste, since he is the first to shoot and his target should always have a token. So that's another 4 points thrown away.

Blaster turret plus Recon specialist is iffy at best for its points. A 5 point Ion Cannon Turret will do almost the same damage as the Blaster turret against agility 3/4 targets, and Ions give great control.

Jan's ability is best used when one of your ships can TL + Focus to maximize the extra dice. PtL + R2 would have been far better on Wedge.

Ethan's ability is an AoE, so it is best used when there are many friendly ships, not in a 3 ship squad.

So in total the Rebel build is wasting about 20+ points vs your PS1 ships. So also considering potential player skill differences, going 3-0 is certainly possible.

Ewings don't have cannon slots.

As for your list, I had one Defender survive the attentions of XXBB for three turns, piloting error on my part followed by the poor guy getting ioned, having 4 def dice sounds nasty. Keep your stealth devices and hope they don't have the other named Z.

Try adding Vessery to the two Deltas. You'll have 5 points to throw in upgrades as well. I might do ST and HU on Vessery. You'll get to shoot two Defenders at PS 6.

There is actually a ton of combos to run with three Defenders. A lot more flexibility than running 3 Bounty Hunters.

I used two defenders to great effect have not used 3, but i had my friend fire 3 ships into vassey and the only reason he went down to one hit was a crit result, next turn i vaped wedge and his e-wing and he decided to call it.

I ran two Delta's with SD alongside a vanilla Bounty Hunter to great effect last week. It was a nice tanky sort of build. Did take a couple of games to get used to it though. I did like the symmetry of having three 33pt ships though...

My most used 3 Defender build to date is Rexlar+Predator and 2 Deltas, That Extra PS is helpful and so is the predator reroll, Braths ability is sorta gravy if you can actually get it to pan out (most of the time I find, I spend the focus to gain extra hits or that the ship I shot at would be dead anyways)

I ran

Rexler w/ predator

Delta

Delta

Against

Rookie

Rookie

Rookie

Bandit

Bandit

Bandit

I set up one delta on the right side and the the second toward the center, to force my opponent to choose if he wants to joust or flank. He chose to joust and set up 3 rookies and 2 bandits across from the right defender and set up a flanking bandit. I set Rexler on the left to flank.

I k-turned the right defender twice to draw him in and flanked with rexler and the center delta. The flanking bandit was taken out in the second turn but the XXXZZ formation turned into my flank. At this point my deltas were in trouble shooting last. A couple of shields were taken off the x's before both my deltas went down. Rexler with predator was the all star, against two agility targets with pilot skill 2 lots re-rolls and hits went through that we're turned crits. Most of which we're direct hits. In the end rexler took out 3 rookies and 2 bandits only loosing his shields.

I like Rexler with predator a lot. Sure it's 40 points but with a pilot skill 8, built in rerolls and the ability to manufacture Crits (don't forget the white k-turn) he was alway in position to make some one have a bad day

The delta squadron pilots I probably won't fly 2 of them again. 30 points for a ship that shoots last doesn't work well with my play style. For the same price I can run soontir with PTL.

That being said I will try one delta again in a list where I have another high priority target and can flank with him uncontested.

...

Has anyone else run 3 Defenders? Stories to share? Thoughts?

Hello, here is my experience with 3 Tie Defenders (T/D) since they previewed them:

x3 Delta Squadron Tie Defenders with Ion Cannons (3 x 33)

Wins: 1 Losses: 7 Win/Loss Ratio: 12.5%

Looks great on paper, but had horrible experience with it. The T/Ds don't have the dial to allow them to turn into an ionized ship nor can they slow down due to the lack of a 1-forward. Firing ion cannons reduces your potential damage from low (9 attack dice at range 2-3) to practically nothing.

x3 Delta Squadron Tie Defender with Hull Upgrades (3 x 33)

Wins: 0 Losses: 2 Win/Loss Ratio: 0%

For some reason in the two games that I tried this list out all but 1 of my T/Ds took damage that completely bypassed the Hull Upgrade. On a PtL Tie Interceptor (T/I), a player has evade, boost, and/or higher pilot skill to make that extra 1 hull go the extra mile. The T/D on the other hand seem to waste the extra health point with their 3 agility but few supporting actions.

x3 Delta Squadron Tie Defenders with Stealth Devices (3 x 33)

Wins: ~5 Losses: ~7 Win/Loss Ratio: ~40%

I have had some success with this list in a casual/non-tournament environment. I believe that out of all of the x3 Delta Squadron lists this is the best possible one! The Stealth Devices give the T/Ds extra survivability, the focus action can be used as an "evade" action when rolling 4 dice, and the ship is less susceptible to being ionized. Furthermore, very often there will be one T/D left late game with its Stealth Device still intact and it will be challenging to hit when the opponent has just a few ships left.

Unfortunately the Stealth Device list just doesn't seem to be better than x3 Firesprays. I borrowed some Bounty Hunters from a friend to test them out and I was blown away by their performance.

T/D Vessery with Swarm Tactics, T/D Delta Squadron, T/D Onyx Squadron

Win: ~9 Loses: ~6 Win/Loss Ratio: ~60%

This is the best x3 T/D list I have been able to come up with! The list has a ship that moves at lvl 1 and can block enemy movement, lvl 3 is low but still middle of the pack followed up by a lvl 6 that will move after most ships. In the shooting phase the list can fire at lvl 6,6,3. Vessery brings a much needed extra action to the action economy of the list, making it potentially 4 actions in a 3 ship list with his auto-target lock ability. Just don't get too greedy with it or your other T/Ds will end up needlessly without a focus action for defense and get shot down.

In conclusion, I have given it my best to find a way to play x3 Tie Defenders at 100 points. I have been able to play with them in casual game but have had very limited success in a more competitive environment. Every single game I try to approach the ship in it's FFG incarnation but I end up longing for the way it was represented in Tie Fighter (the computer game). What should have been the fastest, most advance Imperial fighter ever produced in mass has relatively low shields, has no native boost, no evade action, has the total health of a Tie Bomber, a dial disturbingly similar to a Tie Bomber, doesn't even have it's sensor slot and is piloted by pilot skill 1 or 3. For 30 points base, its an Epic Fail. Speaking of Epic, the Tie Defender does run well in Epic Play.

His squad is not set up well at all against all PS1.

He is PS9, 8, 5, you are 1, 1, 1. So he dumped about 15 points into the PS bid.

Opportunist on Wedge is a total waste, since he is the first to shoot and his target should always have a token. So that's another 4 points thrown away.

Blaster turret plus Recon specialist is iffy at best for its points. A 5 point Ion Cannon Turret will do almost the same damage as the Blaster turret against agility 3/4 targets, and Ions give great control.

Jan's ability is best used when one of your ships can TL + Focus to maximize the extra dice. PtL + R2 would have been far better on Wedge.

Ethan's ability is an AoE, so it is best used when there are many friendly ships, not in a 3 ship squad.

So in total the Rebel build is wasting about 20+ points vs your PS1 ships. So also considering potential player skill differences, going 3-0 is certainly possible.

All this, expect predator on wedge instead of plt + droid.