So, based on the feedback I got from Blade and Fickle I have come up with a revision of my Punisher based list. Thematically, I don't have a two shot ship for my third ship. I'll just have to hold out hope that the Tie FO variant with the turret comes out soon.

Redline 27

Extra Munitions 2

Plasma Torpedo 3

Cluster Missile 4

Fire Control System 2

Total 38

Vessery 35

Veteran Instincts 1

Tractor Beam 1

Tie/D 0

Total 37

Gamma Squad 18

Extra Munitions 2

Advanced Homing Missile 3

Seismic Charges 2

Long Range Sensors 0

Total 25

100 Points

The principle idea is to have two ships making two attacks per round with both shots being modified.

The plan is to use LRS to set up the primary target, then use the VI Vessery to Tractor Beam the victim and soften it up with some quality primary fire. The Punisher then delivers a nice one-two punch of Clusters, with the Gamma letting loose as well.

I tired a variation of this list and found that my Punisher didn't have enough ordinance with just one Cluster Missile with Extra Munitions. I had similar feelings about the Bomber, and this build puts a couple rounds on the little guy. I gave him a bomb to cover his escape when he falls back to set up his second missile shot.

i normally use aces, and I wanted to use a list with a lot of secondary weapons and more durability. Thanks guys.

Nice. Looks good. The only possible change I think is to demote Gamma to Scimitar to free up enough points for a regular homing missile. Might be easier to use and in the end, probably deals more damage. But you can of course give this one a whirl and see how easy it is to fire the advanced homer...

Having tested a bit and now having listened to the latest round of community podcasts, I really think I'm on to something here.

My local group isn't big on proxy cards, so I haven't tried the unreleased parts of this list. However, even with that in mind this list has done pretty well for me.

I'm hitting this again because I've been wondering about a couple of things:

Do you think that having Vessery with Ruthlessness is worth trading out the Bomber and replacing it with an Epsilon Leader with Decoy? This way the tractor beam gets the splash damage while having fired before the other elements of the squad, maximizing the potential of the tractor.

Or should I keep things the way they are, only replacing the Bomber with 2 Academies? The idea here is that after the Tractor Beam shot there will be five additional attacks from the rest of the squad. Thanks!

I feel Vessery w/ TIE/D, tractor & ruthlessness is going to become the most feared Imperial Ace when its available. Not only is he tough (relatively), but he deals a lot of damage (and enables a lot more from the rest of your squad if tractor hits). Even more insidious is the fact that he will force people to change the way they fly (or if they don't, they will die quick). Most players like keeping their ships in some kind of formation, or at least, close together. Against ruthless Vessery, you can't really afford to stay close to wingmates and since a lot of players don't normally fly that way, it will be taking them out of their comfort zone...

Of course, he will become priority target #1, so keeping him alive may also become tricky. Flying some PS1 blockers are tricky here because then they become vulnerable to uncaring ruthless Vessery. For that reason, I think he will work best in a 3 ship build (going more than that creates greater risk of friendly fire...)

Thanks, Blade. It's funny because the focus initially was the Punisher. Seems like with all the heat Vessery is likely to draw, the ordnance will have a better chance to be used. Do you think Decoy to get Vessery to the top of the firing order will be too fragile? It seems like a shame now to give up the splash damage, but Valen could make a very stout third in this list even though the TaP is still a little ways out.