In this battle, I lost one Omega Squadron Pilot. However, I was in control of the fight from the beginning.

I am not sure which Squadron I like better. I never had an opportunity to use Crack Shot in the last game, but it was very valuable in the previous two. Omega Leader only got targeted once, and was a perfect companion for Vessery. I am curious what the community thinks is better, and if either of these are tournament worthy. I will have a few more options when Imperial Veterans arrives, but my first tournament is this month and I doubt the set will be out before then. I want to run a Defender before the Meta is overloaded with them. Is Omega Leader worth the loss of two Crack Shots? Of the two, which would you prefer to fly?

I think they're both solid. I think the second one might be a bit better, but I'm not very convinced of that. Defender+miniswarm is a really solid archetype right now, and there have been some tournament wins with a few variations recently.

Edit: to answer your last question, I do think Omega Leader is worth two Crack Shots. With Juke, he's worth at least two Crack Shots because of his ability.

Since day one, I knew Vessery's had an amazing ability, and it has only gotten better as more Imperials have been released with Target Lock. Omega Leader is a better version of Dark Curse with the ability to inflict damage. Therefore, I am inclined to pick the second squad. However, I am concerned about having fewer blockers. More to the point, I am concerned about having fewer attack dice remaining when I block. The squad also has fewer attack dice in general, which means it will be harder to take out a TLT Y-Wing in one round. That said, the Omega Squadron Pilot should take more focus fire to take down than a Black Squadron so maybe I do not need to worry about that.

I have been flying something very similar to some success.

Im going to try this at a store tournie this weekend:

Colonel Vessery (35)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

"Omega Leader" (21)
Juke (2)
Comm Relay (3)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Crack Shot (1)

Academy Pilot (12)

I feel I need that HLC on Vessery to really hit through the high agility of IGs and Soonitr.

Although Bio gave me some good advice on maybe swapping the crackshot Omega for Epsilon Ace to have the PS12 getting target locks and being an annoying distraction

I have been flying something very similar to some success.

Im going to try this at a store tournie this weekend:

Colonel Vessery (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

"Omega Leader" (21)

Juke (2)

Comm Relay (3)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)

Crack Shot (1)

Academy Pilot (12)

I feel I need that HLC on Vessery to really hit through the high agility of IGs and Soonitr.

Although Bio gave me some good advice on maybe swapping the crackshot Omega for Epsilon Ace to have the PS12 getting target locks and being an annoying distraction

These last few games are the first time I have flown Vessery or Rex without HLC. Vessery is amazing with one. I chose to fly without one in anticipation of Imperial Veterans (as this way my list will only improve once it is released). However, I have yet to face either Soontir or IG-88. I was able to remove Corran in one round of combat with my first squad, but he is not as hard to kill as the others. If I was using HLC, I think I would select Epsilon Ace for the early target lock.

I have been flying something very similar to some success.

Im going to try this at a store tournie this weekend:

Colonel Vessery (35)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

"Omega Leader" (21)

Juke (2)

Comm Relay (3)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)

Crack Shot (1)

Academy Pilot (12)

I feel I need that HLC on Vessery to really hit through the high agility of IGs and Soonitr.

Although Bio gave me some good advice on maybe swapping the crackshot Omega for Epsilon Ace to have the PS12 getting target locks and being an annoying distraction

These last few games are the first time I have flown Vessery or Rex without HLC. Vessery is amazing with one. I chose to fly without one in anticipation of Imperial Veterans (as this way my list will only improve once it is released). However, I have yet to face either Soontir or IG-88. I was able to remove Corran in one round of combat with my first squad, but he is not as hard to kill as the others. If I was using HLC, I think I would select Epsilon Ace for the early target lock.

hmm Ok I might stick in EA in there then. I was just a little worried about the rest of my list getting hits in but I guess he can be a distraction from vessery

DF4

Rexler Brath (37)

Predator (3)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Total: 100

I think this is the better squad by far. In my experience playing similar squads with the defender, Vessery just doesn't cut it in the end game, once all his team mates have been killed. Also Rexler's ability is HUGE against decimators and falcons and y-wings/b-wings. If you were to do anything, it might be best to drop one black squadron pilot and give Rexler a heavy laser cannon, then upgrade the remaining 3 ties to Omega Sqdrn Pilots. Making them both more maneuverable (s-loop!) and hefty (+1 shield!).

Something like this maybe?

Since I am going to be playing in my first tournament this month and wanted to test my squads against "meta" lists, I asked a friend to fly a generic squadron consisting of Y-Wings equipped with Twin Laser Turrets (TLT). This was the first time I had played against TLT spam, so I was not certain how effective it would be. I played two games with DF3 (listed in my original post). In both games I only lost a single ship.

In the first game, I lost an Omega Squadron Pilot (OSP) in the opening volley. Over the next few rounds, luck swung back in my favor and the green dice prevented me from losing the other OSP. I bumped my own ships twice, which almost cost me the second OSP. That ship ended the match with one hull. Since this was a generic TLT Y-Wing list, I did not have to worry about tricks. I simply focused fired and tried to get a few ships in the range 1 C blind spot. Consistent damage from my ships removed a Y-Wing roughly every other turn.

In the second game, I lost Vessery. However, this was not before, doing ample damage with him. This was despite making the mistake of placing him alone in range of all four Y-Wings on the opening exchange. I made up for it the next couple turns by removing a Y-Wing each round, and placing Vessery in the blind spot of two of the Y-Wings. When Vessery went down, I thought the match would be close, However, I quickly made short work of the remaining enemy ships. Omega Leader proved to be a well rounded pilot, who only got better as the enemy was reduced in number. With Target lock, I was able to continue doing damage with the OSPs even after spending both Crack Shots.

My opponent made a few mistakes in the first game, but flew very well in the second match. Overall, I think I do not need to worry about pure TLT spam. Given the outcomes of these few matches, I see myself losing one or two ships against it. Unfortunately, I do not have time to play a lot of games before the tourney. Does anyone have suggestions about which meta list I should practice against next to make the best use of my time?

Miranda/Poe/stressbot lists or any rebel regen is where this will suffer, I think. You've got to be able to keep hitting hard or your opponent will recharge shields, and not lose your big hitter.