Intro:

I played another casual 100 point match against a friend, followed tournament rules, and played on the official Starfield Playmat. Unfortunately, X-Wing has not yet caught on at my local game store. As such, I have been slowly introducing the game to friends. This friend is a new convert to X-Wing. He in turn started playing fairly consistantly against his nephews who are now also hooked on the game. I have yet to take the time to figure out vassal, and I prefer to play with the official miniatures anyway, so I was glad to have another opponent to play against.

Squad Discussion:

I grew up playing the Tie Fighter PC game. As such, I was always a fan of the Tie Defender. Despite being overshadowed by the Phantom, and being too expensive, the white K-turn makes it fun to fly. Vessery has an amazing ability provided you have other ships providing target locks. Unfortunately, the best Imperial fillers lack the target lock action. Also, due to the range limitation, the target lock action typically favors high Pilot Skill (PS), so I wanted to fly him with someone with equal or greater PS. I had flown before him with Rexler, but at the time the forum was suggesting that multiple ships were better than highly upgraded ships. Given the high cost, it was hard to provide Vessery with multiple allies that had synergy with him. This will change with the advent of the Raider, but I do not like to proxy cards, so I had to make due with what was already on the shelves. Given the current two ship meta, and after reading about @Biophysical's success with his double Defender list, I decided to try a two ship build again. Rexler does not quite synergize enough for my tastes, so I decided to look elsewhere. At first, I considered Whisper. However, with every upgrade slot filled, the squad came in at only 93 points. That was an expensive initiative bid. I really liked the combo of Fire-Control System and Weapons Engineer, as it would provide two action independent target locks. Therefore, I selected the only other Imperial ship that would grant me both: the Lambda class shuttle. This also has the benefit of the ST-321 title, allowing me to target lock any ship on the play area.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Lone Wolf (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Proton Rockets (3)

Shield Upgrade (4)

Captain Kagi (27)

Fire-Control System (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Rebel Captive (3)

Weapons Engineer (3)

Engine Upgrade (4)

ST-321 (3)

Total: 100

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Etahn A'baht (32)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Enhanced Scopes (1)

Flechette Torpedoes (2)

R2 Astromech (1)

"Hobbie" Klivian (25)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

R2 Astromech (1)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Proton Rockets (3)

Tala Squadron Pilot (13)

Proton Rockets (3)

Total: 99

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Battle Report:

I forgot to get out the debris fields, so we selected the six asteroids from the Core Set as the six unique obstacles. Even with the Engine Upgrade, a Lambda is hard to turn. As such, I wanted to make sure I had wide enough lanes. We ended up crowding the center with the asteroids.

My opponent placed his Z-95s and "Hobbie" in the center. I responded by placing the Tie Defender in a narrow lane directly across from the Rebels. Etahn started a little to the right of the Rebel pack. I put Kagi in the opposite corner.

Etahn rush 5 forward. The rest of the rebels moved 3 forward. Despite being separated, I wanted to make sure that I was able to focus fire on the first round of combat. As such, I moved Vessery 2 forward. Kagi accelerated 3 forward and thanks to his upgrades acquired a target on both Etahn and "Hobbie".

Etahn did a left 3 banked toward the center. The rebel pack mantained their speed and all focused. I again selected a 2 forward for Vessery. For Kagi, I selected a left 2 bank. This put both of my pilots in range of "Hobbie". However, it also put Vessery in range of the entire Rebel squadron. He needed to survive this round of fire. If he did, I would be in the better position next turn as he had room to K-turn, and they would be actionless due to stress if they K-turned themselves. Kagi opened fire with his HLC and stripped the shields from "Hobbie". Due to his Fire-Control System he maintained his Target Lock for Vessery. Thanks to Lone Wolf, Etahn only removed one shield from Vessery despite rolling three hits. Vessery took advantage of Kagi's target lock and scored two hits and a crit, destroying "Hobbie" before he could return fire. Vessery now only had to deal with the incoming fire from the Z-95s. Between the two of them, they removed another shield.

Etahn move forward to avoid the cluster, lacking space to turn in torward the action. As expected, the Headhunters K-turned. Vessery K-turned placing him at range 1 of one of the Headhunters and range 2 of the other. Kagi selected a 1 bank. Unfortunately, the rebels were a few millimeters out of range, and he did not have the room to boost. He maintained his target lock on Etahn and put another on one of the Headhunters. I considered saving the Proton Rockets for Etahn, but decided it was better to use it while I knew I had a shot. Between his ability and the focus, he rolled 5 hits. The Z-95 exploded into dust. Vessery then proceeded to role three evades, negating all enemy fire.

The rest of the fight is foggy in my memory. Vessery chased Etahn down and destroyed him in two or three rounds of combat (losing two more shields in return), while Kagi turned toward the Z-95. Although unable to turn quickly (resulting in shots every other turn), the Rebel Captive kept the Headhunter stressed. The Z-95 removed 2 shields from the shuttle, and it lost another to an asteroid. However, Kagi was able to strip the shields from the Headhunter. Meanwhile, it only took a couple turns to get Vessery back into the fight. The final turn ended in my opponent's corner, with Kagi claiming the kill.

Final Thoughts:

The ability to acquire two target locks due to Weapons Engineer combined with Fire-Control System and ST-321 was great. It guaranteed that Vessery's pilot ability was always active, resulting in 3 or 4 hits (or 5 with the Proton Rockets) every round.

I finally made good use of Lone Wolf. This is the perfect squad for it as Vessery does not need to be anywhere near Kagi in the ST-321 to take advantage of the target locks. Since I did not lose the Lambda, I never needed to use the re-roll on offense. The defensive re-roll, however, was well worth the 2 points as it blocked 2 or 3 hits.

My opponent only acquired one target lock the whole game. This seemed to be mostly due to focus being the better option and pilot skill rather than Kagi's ability. However, I initially took Kagi for his pilot skill. I might consider using Jendon instead or even a generic if I needed the points for something else.

Is Kagi a tempting enough target for Rebel Captive, or will it only ensure that my opponent targets Vessery first? Any suggestions as to an alternate crew member?

I will have to see how Whisper compares. I have yet to fly a Phantom, so I am not sure if I can over come the difference in squad points.

Interesting list. Rebel Captive is definitely a good choice for a shuttle, because of the two, its easier to destroy than Vessery, although on the other hand, if it does deter your opponent from shooting at the shuttle (and he targets Vess instead), you really don't want Vessery to take too much damage early on since he's better for you in the endgame.

I have flown ace Defender + Whisper a number of times. I started with:

Whisper w/ VI, FCS, ACD & gunner = 44

Brath w/ lone wolf, HLC, proton rockets & shield upgrade = 53

I also tried subbing Vessery in for Brath, using the exact same upgrades. I found they were both pretty much equally effective. I went 7 - 4 on VASSAL before I moved on to other lists. Whisper's delcoak made it very easy to ensure there was enough space between them for Lone Wolf to stay active (yet give me shots on the same target) and the FCS combined well with Vessery' ability.

After reading about Biophysical's double Defender success, I would probably copy his Vessery Build and try that with Whisper:

Vessery w/ lone wolf, HLC & stealth device. I'd probably also add an Ion Pulse Missile given how useful it is against large ships (although its better on Brath because Vessery doesn't usually want to take TL as an action, and so you need his ability to activate to grab the TL for free and then not spend it on an attack so you can use it later to fire the IPM----which is not exactly ideal).

Interesting list. Rebel Captive is definitely a good choice for a shuttle, because of the two, its easier to destroy than Vessery, although on the other hand, if it does deter your opponent from shooting at the shuttle (and he targets Vess instead), you really don't want Vessery to take too much damage early on since he's better for you in the endgame.

I want the ships to be balanced such that I can take advantage of whichever ship my opponent targets. Due to the maneuverability, I would rather have Vessery end game. I need to use that to my advantage. I am debating Vadar or Mara Jade.

I have flown ace Defender + Whisper a number of times. I started with:

Whisper w/ VI, FCS, ACD & gunner = 44

Brath w/ lone wolf, HLC, proton rockets & shield upgrade = 53

I also tried subbing Vessery in for Brath, using the exact same upgrades. I found they were both pretty much equally effective. I went 7 - 4 on VASSAL before I moved on to other lists. Whisper's delcoak made it very easy to ensure there was enough space between them for Lone Wolf to stay active (yet give me shots on the same target) and the FCS combined well with Vessery' ability.

The list I am considering is very similar to yours:

Colonel Vessery (35)

Lone Wolf (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Proton Rockets (3)

Shield Upgrade (4)

"Whisper" (32)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Fire-Control System (2)

Weapons Engineer (3)

Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Total: 93

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

After reading about Biophysical's double Defender success, I would probably copy his Vessery Build and try that with Whisper:

Vessery w/ lone wolf, HLC & stealth device. I'd probably also add an Ion Pulse Missile given how useful it is against large ships (although its better on Brath because Vessery doesn't usually want to take TL as an action, and so you need his ability to activate to grab the TL for free and then not spend it on an attack so you can use it later to fire the IPM----which is not exactly ideal).

With Lone Wolf, Stealth Device might be a better option than Shield Upgrade. Thanks for the suggestion. I thought I was going to get to play the Squadron today, but my opponent decided to switch Squadrons with me. It was his first 100 point game, and he wanted to control fewer ships. The other option was my Sleepy Prince squadron. I ended up winning, so I am still not certain how Vessery and Whisper fly yet.

Interesting. Inspired by your thinking but lacking some of your cards, I'm going to give the following a couple of outings to see how it fares:

Colonel Vessary with: Homing Missiles, Mangler Cannon, Opportunist and Shield Upgrade

Captain Kagi with: Fire Control System, Heavy Laser Cannon, Rebel Captive, Title, Weapons Engineer and Anti-pursuit lasers.

The basic idea being that Kagi sets up a target even if out of engagement range, and then strips shields and tokens away for the Mangler Cannon plus Opportunist to hammer.

It does assume that the opponent is not playing a dinky swarm of crap that stays behind the Lambda and negates the fire power!

Why Mangler and Opportunist? You are just better off with a HLC. I wouldn't run anything on a Defender that will stress it. They handle stress about as well as a Y-wing.

No offense OP but the list you ran against was less than optimal. He's packing 12 points worth of ordnance on ships that really don't benefit much from it. I just don't think dumping that many points into a shuttle is a very good idea. Shuttles just don't have the defense to withstand a concentrated attack. Anything with a turret and boost will just get behind the shuttle and wreck it.

Lastly, I think IPMs are much better than Prockets on the Defender. With Prockets you are paying 3 points for 1 more die once. They don't really give you enough utility for the points. I wouldn't run Prockets on anything but A-wings and the Tie Advance (maybe a HLC Outrider if you have the points). IPMs give you a bit of control and can deny a good bit of the board for large base ships. If they venture too close to the edge, nail them with the IPMs and watch them fly off.

No offense OP but the list you ran against was less than optimal. He's packing 12 points worth of ordnance on ships that really don't benefit much from it. I just don't think dumping that many points into a shuttle is a very good idea. Shuttles just don't have the defense to withstand a concentrated attack. Anything with a turret and boost will just get behind the shuttle and wreck it.

None taken. I am well aware that the squad was not optimal.

Lastly, I think IPMs are much better than Prockets on the Defender. With Prockets you are paying 3 points for 1 more die once. They don't really give you enough utility for the points. I wouldn't run Prockets on anything but A-wings and the Tie Advance (maybe a HLC Outrider if you have the points). IPMs give you a bit of control and can deny a good bit of the board for large base ships. If they venture too close to the edge, nail them with the IPMs and watch them fly off.

I considered Ion Pulse Missiles, but in the end chose Proton Rockets since they only require focus to fire. Plus, one extra damage can be the difference between destroying a ship, or letting a ship return fire. In my match, I needed that single extra damage to one shot a Z-95.

I considered Ion Pulse Missiles, but in the end chose Proton Rockets since they only require focus to fire. Plus, one extra damage can be the difference between destroying a ship, or letting a ship return fire. In my match, I needed that single extra damage to one shot a Z-95.

It depends on what you are a-huntin'. Proton rockets do some good damage and therefore can be useful against anything, but the range1 restriction does limit its use. In my 11 games with proton rocket on Rexler, I only ever managed to fire it once, primarily because I try hard not to get into range 1 with him (unless he's out of arc, which is almost never). The reason for this is, when running a 2 ship list, at best you have the same number of ships as the opponent, and at worst, you have less. When getting so close, the risk of getting blocked is high and if there's multiple enemies, even if you kill one before it fires, the rest get +1 red die right back at you. Not to mention, with HLC, Rexler's preferred range is 3, so it makes sense to book it when enemies get close and come around for another pass later on, even if it means giving up a shot for a turn or two. So if running HLC, I find proton rockets actually don't mesh well.

Ion pulse missile is situational, but given the current meta of low ship count lists, things are ideal for running it. It also has a psychological impact: once you put your target lock on an enemy ship, the opponent will be worried about that ion coming in (and you don't spend the TL to fire, so you get to re-roll the dice, and if you wait a turn before firing it, you will most likely have focus as well). This will affect their dial choices, possibly forcing an error, or even better, if they forget that you have the ion (after a few turns go by, its easy to lose track) and then when they get too close to an asteroid or board edge, you nail them with it and that alone can possibly win a game (especially if we are talking a high value target, like a 50+ ship, or even a phantom/interceptor).

I think I would reconsider proton rockets if meta switches back to mostly swarms, since the proton rocket is a great chance for a one-shot against low health ships, but who knows if things will ever swing back to high ship low PS again?

@ Jo Jo - yeah, I got three games in with it, and as you suggested, it flew as well as a duck with a plaster cast.

That said, I had a lot of fun - so I'm giving another version of the list a try this league night!