Hello!
I had a very unique game last week between the three most elite Tie Interceptor pilots: Soontir Fel, Carnor Jax and Turr Phenir against the very point costly Tie Defenders! This is 3 ships vs 3 ships, all imperial, all small bases and no Phantoms in sight! The Tie Interceptors have higher pilot skill, more actions per turn and more maneuvering options while the Tie Defenders have 50% more hit points and their white K-turns. Enjoy:
(final turn in the following post...)
(... final turn)
Thank you for taking a look and I hope that you found this battle report enjoyable!
I've yet to see a pure Defender list excel, but then again, it's always been Vessery Onyx Delta.
I'd like to see how Colonel Jendon (Fire Control System) Brath Vessery does...
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
For my part, I had very good experience with Defenders, except for one very unlucky game. I have yet to try a 3 Defender team, but for now ran 2 and had a lot of fun.
Delta + HLC
Delta + HLC
Jonus + Predator
Hit very hard at first, then split up and come back to attack from all side.
Regarding your third point, a HLC with 2 reroll and a focus is VERY good against an agile ship.
Edited by Red CastleNice battle report, i especially like this battle report because most of them do not have pics and the ones that do are usually vassal simulated ones.
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
You might be right. I think they went a little overboard in its point cost and making the 2 hard turn red. Also, the generics having such a low PS. What FFG did with the Defender doesn't make sense as far as the canon goes. Which yeah, I know it doesn "exist" anymore. I do think going up against interceptors and especially those 3 pilots is an uphill battle for the less-manvuerable Defender.
Thank you Lagomorphia, jpltanis, Red Castle, tiefanatic and Jo Jo for your comments!
I've yet to see a pure Defender list excel, but then again, it's always been Vessery Onyx Delta.
I'd like to see how Colonel Jendon (Fire Control System) Brath Vessery does...
After playing 25+ games with triple Tie Defenders I am starting to think that it is not a good use of the ships.
Jendon+x2 named Defenders for target locks or Yorr for stress relief could work. In one game I tried Jendon and Vessery and my opponent just melted Vessery in three shots and the shuttle was left there for the slaughter.
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
As Jo Jo mentioned, the FFG T/D is really different from cannon. While it is pricey point wise I would like to emphasize that the Tie Defenders were able to draw the most elite interceptors into a corner and get quite a few shots into them. If the nearly full health Onyx hadn't fallen (luck) the game would have most likely gone to the T/Ds. Until the Phantoms came out Turr, Jax and Fel were the most slippery ships and getting to shoot them with low pilot skill pilots was extremely difficult! To the Tie Defender's credit, they were capable of luring in the interceptors (hopeless against Phantoms, those ships are in another class).
From Red Castle:
x2 Delta + HLC, Jonus + Predator
I think there are a lot of 2 Tie Defender lists that could work. Thank you for sharing that one, it looks really deadly!
One list I have really liked has been: Vader w/Swarm Tactics, Vessery w/Swarm Tactics and Delta T/D. The ships move at lvl 1, 6, 9 but at least all get to fire at lvl 9 with potentially 5 actions between the 3 ships.
I think the current state of the Tie Defenders and the Tie Advanced really opens an opportunity for a new Imperial Aces or a sub-faction: Zarin's Fleet:
Two models:
Cards: Grand Admiral Zarin, Admiral Harkov, tractor beam and jamming beam [sensor slots or new beam slot]Tie Avenger title card (increase greens, +1 attack), Tie Defender tittle card (add sensor slot, increased greens, add evade, add boost, +1 shield, native shield regeneration, increased pilot skill (cost of a large ship and then some))...
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
In the Defenders... well, defence, I'm not sure the right strategy was employed here. Bunching up and flying in tight formation didn't achieve much of anything, as Vessery isn't range dependent and Swarm Tactics was useless anyway. It might have been better to spread out a bit and cast a wider net with the firing arcs. The Defenders advantage is its extra health; if they can simply exchange fire with the Interceptors they'll come out on top when the green dice inevitably start failing.
From Red Castle:
x2 Delta + HLC, Jonus + Predator
I think there are a lot of 2 Tie Defender lists that could work. Thank you for sharing that one, it looks really deadly!
It is deadly! What you want is force the first contact at range 3. This way you have 2 attack (Because Jonus is at the back) at 4 dice + 2 reroll + maybe focus against their regular defense while defending at 4 dice, it gives you a good chance to get rid of one opponent ship or at least really cripple it. After that, break from formation.
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
In the Defenders... well, defence, I'm not sure the right strategy was employed here. Bunching up and flying in tight formation didn't achieve much of anything, as Vessery isn't range dependent and Swarm Tactics was useless anyway. It might have been better to spread out a bit and cast a wider net with the firing arcs. The Defenders advantage is its extra health; if they can simply exchange fire with the Interceptors they'll come out on top when the green dice inevitably start failing.
Hi DR4CO! This is what I thought in the beginning as well! Unfortunately I had the pleasure of facing Jax and Fel withe Tie Defenders several times before this game and I can guaranty you that in the open any elite Tie Interceptor can run circles around the Tie Defenders indefinitely. What I think this report illustrates well is a different tactic that currently only Tie Defenders can use: flying pass your opponent, making them chase you towards a map edge, then K-Turning to face then followed by K-Turning again while they have to scramble to turn their ships or K-Turn and loose all of their actions. In this game I had all 3 Interceptors lined up right in front of me without a single action on them on Turn 5 but my Onyx Defender which was undamaged save for missing 1 shield folded, it's a dice game after all.
Swarm Tactic was left in the list because where I play we never list tailor, and this is the first time ever swarm tactic did not come into play for me.
From the results of your 2 battle reports - it appears that the Tie Defender is over-rated.
1. It is pricey point-wise.
2. Has no more firepower than cheaper counter-parts.
3. Do not perform well against swarms or quick, agile ships.
For my part, I had very good experience with Defenders, except for one very unlucky game. I have yet to try a 3 Defender team, but for now ran 2 and had a lot of fun.
Delta + HLC
Delta + HLC
Jonus + Predator
Hit very hard at first, then split up and come back to attack from all side.
Regarding your third point, a HLC with 2 reroll and a focus is VERY good against an agile ship.
I ran tonight roughly the same but did Jonus + Swarm Tactics + Seismic Charge
Swarm Tactics is nice if you're keeping them in formation...worked really well against a 2 Falcon List.
Is to bad you couldn't get them closer to the board edge when you k-turned, that plan could have worked nicely.