I am now 3 wins 1 loss with

Rexlar + HLC + Lone Wolf

Alpha Interceptor

Alpha Interceptor

Alpha Interceptor

I made quite a few mistakes with my maneuvers in the loss game and my opponent played very well too (lvl 1 A-Wing with Proton Rocket, x2 lvl 3 A-Wings with outflank and push the limit, E-Wing that turns a hit to crits). I brought 3 ships down to 1 health each but could not finish them off. I got rushed very quickly and I was caught turn 2 with my Interceptors still too close to Brath so Lone Wolf didn't activate until mid game.

I am now 3 wins 1 loss with

Rexlar + HLC + Lone Wolf

Alpha Interceptor

Alpha Interceptor

Alpha Interceptor

I made quite a few mistakes with my maneuvers in the loss game and my opponent played very well too (lvl 1 A-Wing with Proton Rocket, x2 lvl 3 A-Wings with outflank and push the limit, E-Wing that turns a hit to crits). I brought 3 ships down to 1 health each but could not finish them off. I got rushed very quickly and I was caught turn 2 with my Interceptors still too close to Brath so Lone Wolf didn't activate until mid game.

High praises to you! I love seeing the lowly Alpha Sq. Pilots hit the table. As to your loss, Etahn A'baht really does a number on those poor, shieldless TIEs. Don't feel too bad about that one, but it sounds like you could have had him if you'd played differently. Nice job!

It kind of sucks that the Alpha squad was left out of Imperial Aces. I've got 5 interceptors but only one Alpha.

Last night I was quite impressed by a Defender without HLC. Those things are tough to kill with 2 Dice guns.

You are too hung up on named pilots, if you are going defender hlc then use delta squad

Update: Tie Defender Vindicated

This weekend I had the chance to play another game with the Rexler, HLC, Lone Wolf + x3 Alpha Tie Interceptors.

My opponent had XXZBB, all level 2, one B-Wing had a fire control system.

Turn 1-2. My Tie Interceptors pushed full forward and engaged the rebel list a tad too early. Rexler was too far behind trying to stay out of range 2 and flank.

Turn 3-4. The Tie Interceptors got all shot down. I tried to fly through the rebel formation with 5 forward and boost but passing 5 rebel ships without any of them turning around in time was impossible.

Turn 5-6. I have Rexler Brath at full health vs 5 damaged rebel ships: Z at 1 health, X at 1 health, X at 4 health and the two Bs with another 12 health between them (thats 3 to 1 health ratio, 14 to 4 fire ratio).

Image: The rebel player turn to anticipate different Tie Defender positions, the T/D still hasn't revealed its maneuver (1 bank towards the rebels, roll out of arc of the top B-Wing).

Turn 7-8: Rexler flies into the rebel swarm, dodging the top B-Wing with a barrel roll and causing some damage (the x and z are out of range). After that, the B-Wings and lower X K-Turn and the remaining Z and X move a bit forward. Rexler guns it 5 forward and knocks out the Z.

Turn 9-10: Rexler takes a bank 3 to become parallel with board edge while being chased by the remaining XXBB

Turn 11-12: Rex K-Turns in the corner of the map and shoots down the closest B-Wing with a perfect shot from the HLC + Lone Wolf (focus kept for defence and saves a crit from going through).

Turn 13-14: The remaining rebels try to box in the T/D but there is just enough space to escape and fly right past them, even getting a target lock on the 1 health X-Wing:

Turn 14-15: Rexler K-Turns and takes off the remaining shields off the B-Wing. All rebels turn to face Rex who advances slowly and shoots down the B-Wing with another perfect cannon shot courtesy of a lone wolf re-roll and focus.

Turn 16-17: The X-Wings advance on Brath but the damaged one gets shot down before it can fire. Rex then K-Turns and barrel rolls out of arc of the remaining X-Wing and shoots it down!

To recap: Rexler Brath was able to engage 5 damaged rebel ships worth 100 points and come out on top while loosing only the T/D's shields. The entire game I didn't think it would have been even possible but the HLC and lone wolf really came through at the end! Even though from a timed/tournament point of view the game was a clear loss for me I will claim a moral victory that I finally had a game where the Tie Defender felt the way it should: scary!

And that's the power of a well flown tie defender, excellent flying there mate.

Okay, so since everybody is posting their ideas, here's what I am running Monday. Talk me out of it, because it's awful!

Rexler Brath 37

Colonel Vessery + Decoy 37

Captain Yorr + Fire-control System

100 points

Okay, so I was finally able to run this squad at game night. Last week was Biggs night, so we all had to fly Rebels using Biggs to try to earn the Biggs alternate art card, and that was a catastrophe. It felt good to fly Imperial again last night.

Unfortunately, there's not much to report. I played against a relatively new opponent who tried out "Whisper" with "Howlrunner" mini swarm. The TIEs set up in one corner, so I set my defenders to joust them. I set Yorr in the middlish on an angle towards the TIE corner. He set "Whisper" up to flank us all. The great thing about that was that the TIE fighters had a hard time getting through the defenders' agility while Yorr soaked up all the heavy shots from the TIE phantom.

It wasn't long before everybody was dead except Rexler, Vessery and "Whisper." That's when the real fun began. He was beginning to get the hang of decloaking, and I was getting the hang of banking in anticipation for a followup Koiogran Turn the next round. There was a LOT of outmaneuvering, and rounds with no shots. We were pretty aggressive, and it made it hard for "Whisper" to get a shot without being shot in return, and we slowly wore her down. Vessery got Damaged Engine, so he had to high-tail it out of there.

Overall, I am impressed with TIE defenders, and I don't feel Heavy Laser Cannon is necessary. Would it be helpful? Yeah, sure, if you have the points for it. Next time I will put an HLC on the defender and then I'll be able to make a better comparison.

Another update. Wednesday night I decided to try out some HLC builds. First was

Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas

up against

"Whisper" (VI, ACD, FCS and something else that wasn't Recon Specialist)

Bounty Hunter

Obsidian Sq. Pilot

Academy Pilot

Those HLC's really did their job, but it wasn't enough to punch through the phantom. I think I could get to like this list, but I'm not used to the range 1 flying. It was my opponent's first time flying a Firespray, so I think I would have lost even worse if he had more experience.

We played another game where Rexler + Predator + HLC managed to deal 4 damage cards to Chewbacca and flip them all face up. That was amazing! The rest of my squad was horrible, so I still lost, but I had a blast.

Overall, I think the HLC is a really good fit on the defender, but it functions fine without it, too, if you can use those 7 points in a good way for the rest of your squad. My next mission is to try out Ion Cannons on them, but I'm thinking Ion Pulse Missiles may be better. I don't think you're going to want to ion very often, and the pulse missiles can help out against large ships. Of course, you need to have a target lock with Ion Pulse Missiles, which is dangerous because I like having a Focus token for defense. [sigh] Decisions, decisions.

What are the thoughts on ion cannon with proton rocket? Sort of a one two punch.

What are the thoughts on ion cannon with proton rocket? Sort of a one two punch.

Sounds interesting, I need to try that out sometime. I've had more luck with Deltas with ion cannons than Rexler and Vessery with heavy lasers, personally. Proton Rockets might be worth it for that alpha strike.

"Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas"

isn't this 97 points?

I was thinking of adding flechettes or Ion missle to the Bomber to round it out.

"Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas"

isn't this 97 points?

I was thinking of adding flechettes or Ion missle to the Bomber to round it out.

squad leader would probably be much more useful

"Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas"

isn't this 97 points?

I was thinking of adding flechettes or Ion missle to the Bomber to round it out.

Doh, you're right. I also had Seismic Charges, bringing me to 99 points.

"Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas"

isn't this 97 points?

I was thinking of adding flechettes or Ion missle to the Bomber to round it out.

squad leader would probably be much more useful

That's what people ALWAYS say, and I feel like it's dangerous because Jonus can't keep a Focus for defense. So I tried it this way, and I think you're right -- next time I'll try Squad Leader.

"Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas"

isn't this 97 points?

I was thinking of adding flechettes or Ion missle to the Bomber to round it out.

Doh, you're right. I also had Seismic Charges, bringing me to 99 points.

"Captain Jonus (Adrenaline Rush)

2x HLC-equipped Deltas"

isn't this 97 points?

I was thinking of adding flechettes or Ion missle to the Bomber to round it out.

squad leader would probably be much more useful

That's what people ALWAYS say, and I feel like it's dangerous because Jonus can't keep a Focus for defense. So I tried it this way, and I think you're right -- next time I'll try Squad Leader.

Jonus isnt the main point of your squad; in fact, you'd be delighted if Jonus gets shot, because that means that the shots arent going to your HLC Defenders, which are what would win you your games. Not Jonus with his 2atk. And you got to take every step possible to protect your defenders, or at the very least get the most mileage out of them

I played in a tournament a few weeks back and went 3 and 2 with:

Rexlar w/HLC and Predator

Carnor Jax w/PTL

2 x Academy Pilot

I had a couple of decent uses out of Rexlars ability but it didn't have a huge impact. I also didn't fly against any lists that had Falcons.

The game that I had the most fun in was against 2 HLC Deltas flying with Jonus. Jonus had Determination and Hull Upgrade. I tried to use my APs to block and deny the rerolls from Jonus while I tried to focus him down. My opponent ended up getting to discard a couple of pilot crits so I just stopped using Rexlar's abiltiy on him. All told I think I ended up putting 9 or 10 points of damage on him before he went down. I ended up winning but I'm pretty sure that if the dice would have go e the other way on a couple of shots I would have ended up losing.