Rexler Brath, HLC, Predator, Hull Upgrade, Ion Pulse Missile = 53
Colonel Vessery, HLC, Lone Wolf, Stealth Device = 47
This list (with minor variations) was retired locally after winning 4-5 local tournaments. It got me second in a Store Championship and top 4 in Regionals play.
I'm interested in running something like this -- what would be your flying strategy, from opening to engagement time?
I assume you're keeping the Defenders far apart, or far enough to keep a steady Lone Wolf going on Vessery. Why the HU on Rexler, as opposed to another Stealth Device? Or swapping Predator with another Lone Wolf (since they're going to be apart anyways), and then bumping the HU to SU?
This list really appeals to me.
The main general piece of advice I'd give is don't try too hard to activate Lone Wolf, Vessery's pilot ability, and Rexler Brath's pilot ability. They are all great, but they are tools for specific situations. Lone Wolf combined with Stealth Device (even after Stealth Device is broken, thanks to AGI 3) is terrific against 2-dice attacks, even 3-dice attacks at long range. Vessery's ability is very powerful against a single tough ship. Rexler Brath's ability is useful against high hull ships. Know when you want to try and activate each one. The main tool of the list, though, is 2 HLCs that pretty easily get re-rolls and Focus. It lets you break through high defense ships, it lets you have one-sided long-range engagements, it makes the standard kiting position for a boosting Fat Turret better for you than for the Turret, and it helps kill things before they shoot at you. Defenders don't have great raw efficiency, but their in-game efficiency goes up when they kills stuff before it fires at them.
The Hull Upgrade is on Rexler, because sometimes I like to Target Lock early, Hull lets you just tank a hit from a ship instead of hoping a Stealth Device unsupported by a Focus token doesn't break.
As far as how I fly it:
Against swarms (from true TIE swarms to BBBB-style lists), I'll try and come at the swarm with the Defenders about 90 degrees apart. Make liberal use of Barrel Rolls to drift left or right with your ships into the proper positions, which mostly means putting yourself in a place where the best moves to engage you overlap asteroids. I'll try and place Vessery in the weaker position, because his Stealth + Lone Wolf can take a lot of pounding. Try and make use of the fact that it's actually really hard to bring all the swarm's weapons onto a single small-based ship at optimal ranges. The Defender that doesn't get engaged can start racking up a lot of damage, and once the herd is thinned it becomes much easier. If I trade one Defender for half the swarm, I consider it a good deal. 4vs1 is actually easier than 8vs2 in my opinion. Once you get the swarm thinned some, the white K-turn can abuse the swarm horribly. You can do repeated K-turns to joust extremely effectively, and Barrel Roll at close range do dodge arcs quite well.
Against Pancake + Ace lists, I go for the Pancake first, unless the Ace just parks theirself in front of both guns for a turn. I usually try to set up at long range to get bonus defenses from Primary Weapons and make it harder to arc dodge, but often I have to set up arcs so that boosting from the first arc brings you into the second arc. I try tor Target Lock with Rexler Brath early and just leave it on the Pancake to activate Vessery's ability, and also to let me take a shot at a good time with the Ion Pulse Missile. That missile can be a backbreaker, and is very useful even if never fired, because it restricts the good moves that big ships have available to them. If I can trade a Defender for a Pancake, I can usually rely on the other Defender, even if slightly damaged to win against most 30-40 point aces. Soontir Fel, for example, doesn't have the firepower to break through a Defender's combination of AGI and hit points in a timely manner, and still avoid fire himself. The Defender can take a hit, K-turn, and put Fel in a bad position for a couple more turns. Given infinite time, it's possible that he could escape, come around, work the Defender into a position where it couldn't bring its guns onto him, and slowly kill it, but that's hard to do without taking any fire from the Defender, and it's very hard to do in a timed game. The HLC with re-rolls is too capable of putting out 4 hits for Fel to just take his chances with a shot, and the white K is a great equalizer in positioning games.
As to starting apart or together, it just depends on the opposing list. Sometimes there's a main target you want to take out fast, and I'll group them together to take it out easier. Often I deploy them a little bit apart, and shift as needed depending on how the opposing squad moves, where the asteroids are, etc.
Edited by Biophysical
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