I attended a tournament at Area 51 in Grapevine, Tx yesterday and wanted to share my experience in the way to a third place finish with two Advanced and a Defender.

First things first, Area 51 was a great venue, the tournament staff was awesome and everyone one in attendance (12 people?) was great.

I brought my 'Steele Curtain' list:

TIE ADVANCED: · Maarek Stele (27)

Predator (3)

Adv. Homing Missiles (3)

TIE/x1 (0)

Advanced Targeting Computer (1)

TIE ADVANCED: · Lieutenant Colzet (23)

TIE/x1 (0)

Fire Control System (0)

TIE DEFENDER: · Colonel Vessery (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

I fly the squad in formation, Advanced in front and the Defender in the back. Colzet and Stele power Vessery's cannon and Vessery's cannon peels shields so Stele can start the crits. I absolutely love flying this list and love seeing people's reactions when I throw these ships on the table.

My Round 1 opponent was Sean, who was running a loaded Bossk with a pair of Warthog Ys. I focused on Bossk and was able to burn him down early (partially thanks to a Blinded Pilot crit thanks to Stele's AHM). I lost Stele shortly after Bossk was chosen. After that, I chased the Ys. Great first game and a weird ending in that I got the full win but he still had a Z on the board thanks to the YV-666 title.

100-34 win

1-0

Round 2 saw the Steele Curtain run up against Jeremy with his T-70 (Poe) and tricked out A Wings (Tycho and Jake). The initial approach saw Colzet get traded for Tycho. A couple rounds later and Vessery got traded for Poe. The next 30-45 minutes saw Jake and Mareek play ring around the rosey. Jake, with his greens and seemingly perma focus allowed him to outlast Mareek to give me my first lose of the day.

70-100 and 1-1

Round 3 was a bit of redemption for the Steele Curtain. My opponent Matt brought a Decimator and Phantom (Oicunn and Echo, I think). My dice were really hot in this game but I also think that this list eats 0 ability ships for breakfast. The Deci lasted about two rounds of combat before biting the popping. Echo was able to ace Mareek before the shifty Phantom followed her Decimator friend.

100-34 and 2-1

My Third Round opponent, Alex, brought a very interesting Deci/Punisher list (loaded Chirpy and Redline). I was really scared of Redline, so focus fired it down before any ordnance flew at the Curtain. My opponent misjudged my initial approach, so Redline got over extended. Colzet and Mareek were quickly downed by the Exposing Chirpy but Vessery's HLC was able to carry the day.

100-57 and 3-1

The final cut saw me sitting pretty in third place. I was pleased as punch already. This was easily my best finish at a tournament and I was having a blast with my list.

We cut to a Top Four and I saw my third Deci of the day across the table.

My Top Four opponent was James. He was running Kenkirk, Howl and two Academies. My priority was, again, the Decimator. I had a great initial approach, hitting Kenkirk with the AHM and preventing him from doing straight maneuvers and then Colzet flipping up a Pilot Skill zero crit. Sadly, tese crits turned the game against me. Kenkirk banked towards my formation and a pile up ensued. Colzet bumped Kenkirk and forced Mareek to bump Colzet and land on a rock. Mareek didn't last long between Kenkirk focus fire and the late arriving mini swarm. Colzet and Vessery downed the Deci after a few more turns. Not long after downing Kenkirk, Colzet was traded for Howl. Then it was Vessery versus two Academies. What ensued was done fantastic piloting by my opponent and some greedy play by me. In the end, Vessery stayed stressed and wasn't able to modify his combat dice and was downed by the Academy's best. It was a fantastic and nerve wracking game!

James went on to the finals for a rematch with Rich's four TLT Ys. I had to leave before the final, but Rich took the day with two full hull Ys left on the board.

I was super pleased with the performance of my list. I've been thinking about changing out the HLC for a Mangler (allows me to put TIE engines on the squad) but the HLC more than pulled it's weight. Colzet is the unsung hero as he feeds Vessery TLs and flips crits. Mareek is enemy number one. People see his missile, ATC and ability and zero in on him. I'll definitely keep flying the Steele Curtain!

All of my opponents were fantastic and contributed to a fantastic Saturday. I definitely plan to get out to Grapevine next time I am able!

Awesome list and nice tournament report. I've been playing around with ideas to combine Vessery and Colzet with Vader, but your idea to peel off shields with the hlc for Steele to get crits in is a good one.

Great spaceship setting, nice report.

Congratulations on results, keep up a good work!

****, defender is so nice looking TIE It would be great to see more of them in combat.

Wouldn't dropping the Advanced homing missiles and put Advanced Targeting Computer on Colzet as well and maybe the Tie engine upgrades make the list more well rounded and more maneuverable?

Wouldn't dropping the Advanced homing missiles and put Advanced Targeting Computer on Colzet as well and maybe the Tie engine upgrades make the list more well rounded and more maneuverable?

And I just love Mareek with the AHM, the sheer thought of one shotting a full shielded Corran makes me want to keep it in the list.

Great thoughts though!

Talking about Clozet

With Sensor Jammer he is one of best ~cheap blokers I can imagine

PS3 means he is going to often move as first and use TL on enemy he want to interact with - get close to block enemy ship and still use his ability. With Sensor Jammer he have quite nice defensive capabilities (I think it's one of the most underestimated system available). Predator won't reroll this dice so you have to use focus to move around it, you need 2 focus tokens to use it when firing TLT, and if you are taking Focus, you are left with one/none action. What's more it works with each TLT attack, not only one.

Would you mind checking out this list and let me know how it rolls?

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v3!s!149:-1:23:-1:U.44;22:27,-1:23:3:U.124;79:27,44,40:-1:9:

Lieutenant Colzet (23)

TIEx1

Sensor Jammer

Darth Vader (35)

TIEx1

Veteran Instincts

Advanced Targeting Computer

Engine Upgrade

Whisper (42)

Sensor Jammer

Advanced Cloaking Device

Intelligence Agent

Veteran Instincts

Clozet as a blocker, Vader as Imperial Ace that can do a lot of things and Whisper to make sure you are outnameuver low pilot skill ships, as well as his build is really tanky if enemy manage to hit you. Please let me know, that you think. I did some tests and it's brilliant.

PadrePadre, I think that is a great start to a defensive list. Whisper is aa elite blocker in her own right with IA, so Colzet and Whisper will be causing problems. Vader needs either Predator or Lone Wolf, in my opinion. His two actions allow him to turtle up every turn but you are going to want to ensure he is putting out constant damage. Colzet may struggle to get his locks, especially if you are going to be barrel rolling into blocking position. Just gotta fly it and see how it goes!

Nice tournament report! Congrats on third!

Glad to see Vessery with HLC can still do well, although I prefer Rexlar and autoblasters. (just my preference, not a suggestion)

PadrePadre, I think that is a great start to a defensive list. Whisper is aa elite blocker in her own right with IA, so Colzet and Whisper will be causing problems. Vader needs either Predator or Lone Wolf, in my opinion. His two actions allow him to turtle up every turn but you are going to want to ensure he is putting out constant damage. Colzet may struggle to get his locks, especially if you are going to be barrel rolling into blocking position. Just gotta fly it and see how it goes!

check it out mate.

Whisper is not exactly a blocker - I hope you are going to be pleased with this how 4 green dice + Sensor Jammer works against TLTs.

I was thinking about Crack Shoot on Vader, but after few tests - I'm sure he need PS11, just to get more control against high PS lists.

And don't worry about Clozet, he is going to handle and deliver Good luck, let me know if you liked it in battlefield!

Whisper is a great blocker with IA! Look at an opponent's dial then decloak into their path? That's what blocking is.

Loving the new Tie Advanced, not had a chance to use Steele yet, does his ability help that much? How times did you trigger it.

Loving the new Tie Advanced, not had a chance to use Steele yet, does his ability help that much? How times did you trigger it.

It works like a dream if I can be honest, my friend playing Empire is pleased with his performance.

Picking best possible critical hit from 3 cards is very powerful, for as long as you are not facing Cheewie

Even if you are facing chewie, you can get colzet to flip it or maybe r2 will do it for you.

Loving the new Tie Advanced, not had a chance to use Steele yet, does his ability help that much? How times did you trigger it.

Due to Mareek firing after Vessery, the ability was used somewhat often. Like Padre said, choosing the best crit of three for the moment is awesome. Helped take Bossk completely out of the fight in my first game.

I'm in hearty support of anyone flying Defenders, competitive or casual.

Good list and sounds fun! Definitely wish that the Defender was brought back to finals though. Maybe there'll be one in a new Imperial large ship...

I really like the list, it's very thematic of the TIE Fighter PC game. Plus it seems to work, which is all the better.

Great report and kudos on third. Some great food for thought discussion too on the pros and cons of some aces and sensor slot load outs. N

Cool! I hope that we see more Tie Defender in the future.

Cool! I hope that we see more Tie Defender in the future.

Oops didn't know I already said something