I have a tournament coming up this sunday and want to try out either one of the named defenders and here are the two lists I have come up with so far:

list one;

-Vessery with outmaneuver

-OGP with title and weapons engineer
-scimitar bomber with flechettes

-Black tie with predator

List two;

-Rexler Brath with predator and HLC

-OGP with vader

-academy tie

-academy tie

EDIT-

-5 points spare for upgrades/initiative bids

The only expansions I DON'T own are:
firespray

tie

tie advanced

imperial aces

x wing

headhunter

I don't currently own any duplicates either.

The tourney doesn't allow unreleased cards and I can't get anything extra before the tourney.


So with all that in mind, what would people recommend for tweaking the lists WITHOUT replacing the defenders, and going into the tourney blind which list will fair better against all comers?. (I am expecting falcons, lots of e and B wings and tie swarms and fire sprays though)

The second list looks like more fun to me, but the first list isn't bad at all. I'd probably trade the Flechette Torpedoes for Seismic Charges, though, and I'd seriously consider running two Scimitar Squadron Pilots (if you have an extra Bomber) rather than a Scimitar and a Black Squadron Pilot.

The second list looks like more fun to me, but the first list isn't bad at all. I'd probably trade the Flechette Torpedoes for Seismic Charges, though, and I'd seriously consider running two Scimitar Squadron Pilots (if you have an extra Bomber) rather than a Scimitar and a Black Squadron Pilot.

Thanks for the reply Unfortunately as I said in my post no duplicates or I would definitely be going for the second bomber.

Also I have been looking at the flechettes vs seismic charges and I'm not sure I am skilled enough to get enough out of the charges, beyond using them as area denial I'm at a loss, whilst the flechettes seemed a bit more straight forward, shoot and deal some stress, which can always come in handy.

With the second list is it worth taking the two academies out and replacing them with a named tie, I forgot to add that the second list has 5 spare points to play with or use for initiative bids, shall edit that in.

I don't know what upgrades come with each expansion but I can speak of two lists with named defenders.

My friend goes with something close to:

Vessery+VI+SD

Whisper + VI + ACD + FCS + Weapons Eng (WE?)

DC

If his greens are good it's a painful list to face. And TL+F means real output every single shot.

Mine is:

Rexler + VI + HLC + SD

Soontir + PTL + TC

BS + SU

Rexler against Han is nice and against RC crew he shoots before Soontir as stress is not a terrible issue for defenders but critical to PTL ints. Trade SU for EU on BS and suddenly your cheap flanker becomes a real threat and a decent game closer.

my 2 cents...

The thing about two Academy TIEs is they make great blockers. So they are good for action denial, helping your shuttle turn, etc. They are also pretty good at range 1.

With 5 extra points, you could upgrade your OGP to Yorr. Then you could slap a TC on one of the TIEs, a crew on the Shuttle or save it for initiative. Then you could swap out Predator for Push the Limit on Brath.

With Predator, you are generally only getting 1 re-roll. Push the limit can get you a full re-roll every turn with a target lock. It also helps out your action economy a lot. Defenders really, really want their focus for defense. So you can barrel-roll & focus, Target Lock & Focus, etc. With Yorr eating the stress for times when you can't go straight, it's pretty nice.

The reason I run named defenders so for outmaneuver and ion cannon. Run straight at them, hit them dead in the water. And come around behind them and light them up. It's magic vs b-wings- 4 focused red dice vs 0 green dice.

If you can, I recommend sneaking an Ion Pulse Missile in there somewhere.

I played in a tournament over the weekend and several times found myself in a position where an IPM would have taken a large ship off the board. Big bases end up in corners and at board edges with startling regularity, because that's where the rocks aren't. All it takes is for them to be facing the wrong way and to be around range increment 2. The Falcon only gets an extra few millimeters to play with.

I have a tournament coming up this sunday and want to try out either one of the named defenders and here are the two lists I have come up with so far:

list one;

-Vessery with outmaneuver

-OGP with title and weapons engineer

-scimitar bomber with flechettes

-Black tie with predator

I tried Vessery with the Shuttle+WE+Title this weekend and it was more effective than I thought at first.

What I ran was:

Vessery + HLC + VI + Engine Upgrade

OGP + WE + FCS + Title

Academy x2

Engine Upgrade was not useful so if I were to play it again, the only change I would make is remove it and upgrade one Academy for Backstabber to add a little more punch. The HLC was very nasty with F+TL on pretty much every shot, but not necessary, so these 7 points could be use elsewhere. FCS on the Shuttle allowed it to rearange the TL disposition every time she shot without having to take an action, so it was very useful. With that in mind, I never felt the need to have another ship use a TL for Vessery. Finally, since Vessery was perceived as the main threat, I'm not sure I had a situation where outmaneuver would have been useful.

With that in mind, I would suggest to change outmaneuver on Vessery for Veteran Instinct (if you are to face Echo or a non VI Phantom, you will be pleased to either move after them or shoot before them) and get a FCS on the Shuttle with the 2 point saved. I would personally try to fit a HLC on Vessery, but even without he'll be very deadly.

Good Luck!

Definitely list two.

As for the extra 5 points...hard to say. I think maybe bump the ap's to obsidian's and give a hull upgrade to Brath.

I really like some of the ideas so far thank you guys, for some reason I never thought about PTL on rexlar [facepalm].

Also the ion pulse missiles sound good considering I'm fairly sure I'll be facing yt1300's, can easily just put them in the secon list but with the first list I would have to drop either the ogp's title or weapons engineer, which would be missed less if I did drop one, not to mention swapping out the flechettes for seismics would be best if running ion pulse's on the bomber.


@ red castle, thank you for posting your experience with Vessery, it looks alot like what I'm thinking of running as a rexler list.
I'm still thinking about the pros and cons of HLC too and think it can be dropped if points are too tight.
The idea behind VI on the vessery then using the spare points for FCS on the shuttle for target lock realigning does sound good the reason I think outmaneuver maybe better is that I know that peeps in my group are fond of using c3p0 and relying maybe too heavily on out of arc turret firing with the yt1300's so the prerequisites of outmaneuver will hopefully be easier to pull off and the benefits might be that much more

I think predator is better than ptl on defenders.

Their dial is so so for clearing stress, and the only other action worth taking is barrel roll, but you could still barrel and do predator without getting a stress for it.

Vessery doesn't take Predator because he already has all of the rerolls ever.

I played a list similar to your Rexler list with Dark Curse instead of one of the APs making it 99.

Rex can be awesome, but also burstable if unlucky; he killed everything in the first game and I won, Second game he got hounded out and I didnt.

Given my crashy nature of flying the shuttle I did find myself wishing I had FCS, I went turns without an action.

Not quite sure how Id fit in though, I do love me some DK.

I'm leaning towards the second list and with trustybroom's recommendations. Predator is good and doesn't care if you have stress...PTL usually gives you more options but is crippled by stress counters so to me it's more about the flying style you would prefer.

Yorr is a good stress dump...but that makes PTL Defender contingent on being lassoed/co-dependent with the Cow so it can be tricky. This limits you if you decide to use Brath as a long range flanker/sniper.

List two looks good to me aswell.

I would use list 2, but 1 isn't bad at all. I think for list one i would swap out the ST-321 title for an Ion Cannon on Vessery or the shuttle. For list 2, i think i would use the 5 points to upgrade the TIEs to Night Beast and a Black Squadron.

I'd go with a variation on list one.

I don't really like the title + WE on the shuttle. I'd put those points towards and Engine upgrade and FCS. With a defender Yorr might be nice to have. Use remaining points to crew the shuttle.