So a little background, ive been playing since feb but the only time i evr get to play is when i can get to a tournament. Ive been to 7 previous tournament, my first finishing dead last, solidly mid table in the rest apart from the latest i managed 2nd out of 29!!!
Now every time i use a different list, ive bought the ships-might as well use them right?
The defender has to be one of my favourite ships-it just looks so **** cool, but ive never been able to fit it in a list i like-its just too expensive.
However i want to use it and pair it with something else ive never used-the decimater. I ran:
Rexler Brath 37
Lone wolf 2
HLC 7
Rear admiral chireneau 46
Engine upgrade 4
Veteran instincts 1
Rebel captive 3
Game 1 dash, lone wolf, hlc, title, leebo corran, fcs, ptl,r2d2
Opponent sets up with dash on his right corner and corran left centre and i have rex to my right with rac range 2 away. Dash slowly moves in to the middle as corran and my imps move in for a joust.
Round 1 of firing sees i take a shield of coran with my hlc and rex loses 2 in return, i then have to bank rexler to avoid an asteroid leaving corran out of arc but dash in my sites
RAC and rex take a couple of shields of dash who does no damage in return,
Corran then double taps bringing rex down to 2 hull.
Knowing corran cant shoot my deci moves towards him and rex 4ks and barrel rolls into range 1 of dash. No shots for the outrider this turn. Corrans down to 1 hull!!!
Due to my barrel roll last turn i now have a choice. Turn away from the fight to avoid a rock or risk the roid to try block corran. I go for the 4k, take no damage, and sure enough corran flies straight into rex, no actions for him!! RAC finishes off corran but dash takes down rexler!!
Turret v turret!!
I fell this could be tough with the hlc and dash on my tail so i fly through a debris cloud to escape taking 1 shield in the process. Next turn i line myself up and manage to stay just out of range 3. Now i know what i want and 2 turn and boost into range 1 !!
The rest of the game i manage to stay on Dashs tail and always in r1 chip away till his down.
The only damage my deci took was from the debris field! Very happy with my flying 100-46 victory!
Game 2 scum boba and kath, both with rec spec, boba with hlc kTh pred and engine, cant remember other upgrades.
He splits the firespraysin either corner i xecide to go for boba first, slow rolling rex forward Nd chirpy down the left flank. The firesprays close into the middle at rex while chirpy gets behind boba.
Boba and rex lose 3 shields each and rex has to run away, cant k turn cause of a roid. The firesprays go for RAC and im forced to attack Kath. Chiraneau is slowly worn down while kath takes some damge. I get the reduce agility by 1 crit (tough to take on the deci 
) but go down next round. Rex manages to use his ability to reduce kaths guns by 1 and then takes her out next turn.
Its now 6 hull boba vs 1 hull rex. Boba takes out rexs last hull and he tries to go down in a blaze of glory! HLC-4 hits!!! Now i need 2 direct hits, rex uses his ability but alas not to be!! Boba survives with 2 hull remaining.
100-45 loss
After the game i realise i never used my rebel captive once-could have made a big difference!!!
Game 3 2x b with hlc, z95 with cluster, biggs!
Biggs and z start on the right and the bs on the left. I go for biggs to keep my deci away from the hlcs.
We both move fairly cautiously to start, edging forward. Evrythinv turns in towards rex while the deci flanks the left. Rex Nd rac take out bigs while rex loses a couple of shields. Avain im face with run with rex or 4k to fight. I k and just cant get out of arc of the bs. I die in a fireball but take all the shields off a b aith a r3 crom rac and rexs hlc. The z95 is double stressed from his 3k and my rebel captive so i ignore that and concentrate on the bs. I get out of ark of 1 and loose shields to the other, however now its stressed they split up. I quickly taKe down 1 and then make great use of the 2 thrns and boost with RAC to stay out of ark of the 2nd b and take him down.
Its now a full hull deci v 1 z95 on 2 hull. I like my chances. Howeved the next couple turns i cant get through and he uses his cluster missles and gets through 1 hit and 2 crits- both double damage!!
Luckily the stress from rebel captive stops bim k turning and i stay out of ark and take him down. Good game.
Victory 100-46
Game 4- torkhil with ion, paolo with blaster, 2 btl ys with ion
Final game against the guy in first. He's just beaten the twin firesprays who beat me so im expecting a tough game. He deploys zmack bang in the middle so i go for rex on the right and RAC on the left! Rex moves slowly forward 2 straights and barrel roll back whilst the deci races up the left flank. Every think heads for rex and the deci gets in behind the hwks. I decide to go for pOlob first, dont want my tokens stolen. Rac tKes off the shiels and rex at range 3 takes 3 hull leaving 1 to go. Only after do i realise i used my primary when i have a hlc-idiot!! Now rexs dice completely fail him and he gets 3 ion tokens and loses his shields.
Now the game changer, rex is ioned and the ys decide to 4k to get behind him-taking both off the board!!! At full health!!
I dont know whether to feel gratefull for my luck or just really bad for my opponent. Deci then takes out paolob while torkil ions rex again. Deci hits hwk the hwk ions rex taking him down to 1 hull.
Next turn rexs greens work for once and i can 4k to get a shot. I then barel roll out of the hwks arc, momentarily forgetting he has a turret-d'oh!
The deci atta ks and gets a crit through-discard a secondary weaopon!! My stupidity has just saved rex!! Facing a hlc shot from rex and a full health deci against a 1 hull hwk- my opponent concedes!
How different things might have been with the 2 ys still on the table.
Victory 100-0
So the prizes are announced and ive won!!!! I got 15 points with a 3 w and 1l, 2nd place had 14 with 2w, 1mw and 1 d. I do wonder how fIr this seems as he was undefeated but at the end of the day thoose are the rules Nd i come away with my first ever tournament win! I get an alt adt dash Nd rec spec, acrillic evades, a dice bag, a tie bomber and some mini sleeves. Not bad at all 
All in all i feel this was a day where i proba ly made more mistakes then i ever had in a tournament, forgetting rebel captive, forgetti g lone wolf a couple of times. But i also had some really good manoeving especially with my decimator, along with a fair share of luck.
I still love the defender but i just think its too many point. Its very squishy, how many times i wished i could evade action, and i only used rexlers ability once. However with more practice on how it flies, which will be helped out infinafely by the tie mRk 2 so youre not always avoiding the red turns, i do think it could be a great ship!