Inspired by biophysical's list (see here), I took a slight twist on it to a local store championship. The one change was to trade a Hull upgrade on Zeta for a stealth device on Omega (see list here). While the hull upgrade would have saved Zeta once, the wall of green dice really helped Omega. I may consider switching Rexler' Hull for a comm relay on Zeta though, if I had two.

Funnily enough, I brought the 3 biggest asteroids, and so did all my opponents.

I ended 10 out of 21, better than my first tournament's 14 out of 15!

I'll note that I'm horrible with names and will fill in the blanks when it's up on list juggler.

First round: bye

I was very lucky that the TO has kids too and understood that I would be a few minutes late due to swimming lessons. I got a bye, but a straight up loss would have been fine, it was my fault and all. I just want to play adults once a month

Second round:??? (finished 4th)

3 T-70s: Poe, Red Ace, and a stressX

Rocks spread around, we set up in opposite corners, I had Omega on the edge next to Zeta and Rexler, he had his with the StressX facing the board edge. We met on his side, but he moved fast and I slow-rolled in after turning.

He didn't know Omega well, so aimed for Zeta first. During that time Omega worked on Red Ace, denying her the use of that token. Only integrated astromech saved her. A straight through a rock to the off stress instead of a k-turn took Rexler out of the game while Omega got slain. Then, trying for some points Rexler chased red ace around, but the dice were not helping. I probably should have changed targets!

Loss 0-100

Third round: Jason (finished 5th)

Ion Roark, stressbot, Tarn Mison and a FCS B-wing

Fun fact, Jason is a playtester for the game, and I'd swear he's got range rulers implanted in his eyes!

Similar rock layout and opposite corner starts. He flew an impressive formation zigzagging diagonally while I initially went straight then turned right into the asteroid field.

Not being certain which of his ship was the biggest threat, I went for the stress bot. Zeta going south of an asteroid and the others north. He aimed for Zeta first. I got the hog off the board (in part with Rexler' focus induced crits) while Zeta got stressed and ioned onto a rock where he met his demise. I then switched to Roark, with the other two in formation.

Roark died, but my guys got injured in the process, including a crit on Omega that causes damage if he bumps. I forgot about that crit twice in a row, to remember after whiffing a shot. I took him off the board, at least my forgetting had no impact on the game. Rexler completely missed a range 1 shot on Tarn and the return range 1 from Tarn and the B-wing hurt him severely. Given the board state, I couldn't run far enough from the B-wing, and he was at full health anyways, Rexler died the next round.

Loss 50-100

Final round:??? (finished?)

Regen Poe, Regen red ace and stressbot

Very nice guy, but he was having a bad day.

Similar setup for the rocks and initial position. Similar weaving into the asteroid too. This time, I pushed Omega and Rexler way further than Zeta before turning in (taking a target lock on red ace while I was at it) . This made it so that the stressbot had no arc on them. He got no shot off, and a 4 hit range 1 from Rexler using his ability added 4 crits on him, though no double damage.

Poe k-turned onto a rock while the FOs danced around slooping in position. Red Ace was my main target, but Poe got into range one of Omega and Zeta with no tokens. My dice got good and Poe went away. Then I chased red ace around the map trying to finish her off, while I finally did by joking with Omega

Win 100-0, my opponents was not having fun, which, to me, is the whole point, so it didn't feel too good.

Final

So 10 out of 21, not bad for my second tournament, but the bye is responsible for much of my ranking. I'm aiming for two actual wins next time.

I got the feeling partway through that I forgot a lot of predator and defensive wired use, so I made an effort to remember for the last game.

As discussed with others there, the point of this list is to engage and disengage from many sides, taking advantage of the peculiar abilities of those ships. You shouldn't joust, and chasing x-wing who pull green maneuvers is not easy.

I used Rexler's ability 2 or 3 times, to devastating effect, but only when the focus would not be useful for defense. I used Zeta's almost every attack, and got into the habit of mostly using evades for him. I didn't switch Omega's locks often enough, it would have saved him in the first game if I'd thought of defensive use instead of just focusing on the prey.

The surprising thing, to me, was that people do not expect a defender to pull red moves, or to willingly carry stress around. I got more than a few expressions of surprise when doing so, and playing him aggressive like this helped for some choice hits, he's 4 dice anytime!

I had fun, it's a fun list, though my sons refuse to let me use Omega against them now. I just need to figure out a rebel list for my next store championship next month now!

Great report, thanks for posting. What would you say your ideal match up would've been, and what would you have stood no chance against?

Taking one of my defenders out for a spin on Thursday, Vessary (TIE2, VI, HLC), Omega leader (CR, Juke) and two epsilons. If they do well they get to go to a tournament It's been a long long time since I got them out so I'm looking forward to it!

No chance was the 3 TLT y-wings and 2 Z-95 (all scum) that were there. But that's largely because this guy is amazing. He lost 1 Z and 1 Y throughout the whole of swiss (in the last game against someone who started at Christmas!) in a room with many people with their names in the rulebook!

It's hard to really say since I faced a limited variety of ships though. I wanted to face the Deci/Vader build, I think Omega would have had fun with only 2 ships. I'm not sure at all I'd have wanted to face the 4 Lambdas, surprisingly beefy and it hits hard too. Crack swarms are not a thing here, people seem to go for fun builds, but I doubt I'd have enjoyed it.

I'm not sure about taking Vessery instead of Rexler. Biophysical already raised that the synergy is likely to draw more attention to Omega, which you should want ignored until the end game.

Then there's the PS6 issue. Yes, you can fix that with veteran instinct, but you'd then be missing the predator rerolls, which are very useful on a heavy laser cannon in a meta full of stress hogs.

It's especially wasted if you're hunting a regen red ace. Anyone else shooting at it will let her use her evade, lose a shield to regain it, then heal the shield. With Omega locked on and soloing it, that token is just pretty decoration.

And, for my own personal fun, triggering Rexler's ability is just plain fun, it happened three times in three matches for me, the crits on the stress hog made it skip its only attack of the game and caused all other kinds of pain to it (though a direct hit would have taken it out).

Initially, I thought that Zeta would be my 'meh' player of the day, but those range 1 4 dice attack with wired rerolls are very fun, and wired also triggers after a sloop, so you tend to keep him in the middle of it all. A comm relay on him would allow you to focus or target lock once in a while, which would be nice.

I hope you had fun, even though you had some losses. Do you think there's anything you could have done differently to improve your odds in those games?

I'm with you on Zeta Ace. When I first ran the list, he was "the other guy", but he easily proved himself. I almost liked him better than Omega Ace.

First game, I should have k-turned Rexler through that rock, being able to shoot that turn then chase would have been beneficial. Chasing red ace for the points with Poe following wasn't smart either, but looking at list juggler, I was 4 MoV from 8th, not awful heavy laser dice would have paid off marginally better.

Second game, remembering the crit on Omega would have kept it alive longer, k-turning Rexler to face the B-wing and hope to be lucky (with Omega alive and behind him) would have been better, though I was damaged enough that it would have likely just improved MoV some.

The last game, we'll, finding a way to keep it fun for my opponent would have been nice

In the end, a very nice teen with a Red Ace & Han took the championship, beating who I gather to be the usual winner (and national champion) running Torkil, 2 TLT Y and 2 Z-95. I had go leave after swiss, family obligations, but the top 4 would have been good to see.

Some thought I made a mistake not taking the alt art Han as a participation and going for the acrylic cloaks, but my son doesn't see the point of alt art and thinks acrylics are awesome

My next tournament is in March, and though I loved this list, I decided I wouldn't do repeats and would give equal presence to all factions, I'll need something of the rebel sort. I'll miss Omega

First game, I should have k-turned Rexler through that rock, being able to shoot that turn then chase would have been beneficial. Chasing red ace for the points with Poe following wasn't smart either, but looking at list juggler, I was 4 MoV from 8th, not awful heavy laser dice would have paid off marginally better.

Second game, remembering the crit on Omega would have kept it alive longer, k-turning Rexler to face the B-wing and hope to be lucky (with Omega alive and behind him) would have been better, though I was damaged enough that it would have likely just improved MoV some.

The last game, we'll, finding a way to keep it fun for my opponent would have been nice

In the end, a very nice teen with a Red Ace & Han took the championship, beating who I gather to be the usual winner (and national champion) running Torkil, 2 TLT Y and 2 Z-95. I had go leave after swiss, family obligations, but the top 4 would have been good to see.

Some thought I made a mistake not taking the alt art Han as a participation and going for the acrylic cloaks, but my son doesn't see the point of alt art and thinks acrylics are awesome

My next tournament is in March, and though I loved this list, I decided I wouldn't do repeats and would give equal presence to all factions, I'll need something of the rebel sort. I'll miss Omega

I don't really like K-turning through asteroids, if only because it means I'm probably going through them again next turn. Sometimes it's the right move, though, and a Defender has the hit points to manage it, and that build has a lot of raw offense even when it's got no Focus token to boost the attack.

On your second game, you might be surprised at how long a 1-hp Defender can last against a B-wing. The B's short K-turn and limited dial make them relatively easy to dodge around and get free shots against them. If you like this list, try setting up that Rex build vs 2 B-wings and playing both sides a few times (set Rex's dial, then plan the B-wing's dial). Make sure you have some asteroids on the field. Defenders have a lot of good tools against the Bs.

Given the positioning of the ships and rocks, avoiding his arc (and Tarn's) was nearly impossible. I could (should?) have gone for the 1 or 2 sharp turn towards his position instead of running or k-turning.

I gotta say, I'm having a hard time staying with my resolution to keep switching lists for my next SC in 3 weeks, this one was really fun!

Knowing the right time to pull a 1-turn with a Defender is definitely a skill. I probably do it once every other game or so, but so often it's a key maneuver.

Knowing the right time to pull a 1-turn with a Defender is definitely a skill. I probably do it once every other game or so, but so often it's a key maneuver.

I almost never do. Does that make me bad?

I may have done it.....like a handful of times in dozens of (hundreds now?) games with defenders. And I don't think I've ever even used the 2 hard turn on a defender...

-confessions of a 3 hard turn defender junkie

Thanks for the write up drjkel. A very good read and it's nice to see the Defender still getting some much needed love. I'm going to run a very similar list for a few games and see if I can get some positive results.

Knowing the right time to pull a 1-turn with a Defender is definitely a skill. I probably do it once every other game or so, but so often it's a key maneuver.

I almost never do. Does that make me bad?

I may have done it.....like a handful of times in dozens of (hundreds now?) games with defenders. And I don't think I've ever even used the 2 hard turn on a defender...

-confessions of a 3 hard turn defender junkie

I'm pretty sure I've never used the hard-2 either. One of my favorite moves I've pulled all time was a hard-1, though. I was playing a double scum Firespray list and had finished off Kath. I had two Defenders then going for Boba. He had RecSpec and I was at close range, so he was basically negating 2 hits per shot, no bueno, even with an HLC. One of my Defenders was coming at him from about 45 degrees off the front at close range, and another was tailing him. The front Defender pulled a hard-1 to bring himself around and into a leading position on Fett at short range, blocking his next move and letting the tailing Defender eat away at Fett with no actions for offense or defense. Over the next couple of turns, I used the 1-bank and good guessing to block Fett, which brought him down pretty quickly with minimal damage to my ships.

I'm pretty sure I've never used the hard-2 either. One of my favorite moves I've pulled all time was a hard-1, though. I was playing a double scum Firespray list and had finished off Kath. I had two Defenders then going for Boba. He had RecSpec and I was at close range, so he was basically negating 2 hits per shot, no bueno, even with an HLC. One of my Defenders was coming at him from about 45 degrees off the front at close range, and another was tailing him. The front Defender pulled a hard-1 to bring himself around and into a leading position on Fett at short range, blocking his next move and letting the tailing Defender eat away at Fett with no actions for offense or defense. Over the next couple of turns, I used the 1-bank and good guessing to block Fett, which brought him down pretty quickly with minimal damage to my ships.

Now that's a hard 1!

My favourite move of all time was also a hard 1, but on a phantom (when I was playing Rex + whisper).

My opponent had a soontir, whisper, doomshuttle list (this was before Palpatine was a thing). I had given him initiative so my whisper could move last. My whisper killed Soontir early on, so that was nice, but then his whisper laid into mine, and also got behind while I was busy trying to get my whisper out of doomshuttle arc (Rexler helped killing soontir though----2 arcs from 2 different angles meant he could only dodge 1).

Anyway, his whisper chases mine all around the map, I keep using barrel roll to dodge arcs, but cannot recloak. He can't recloak neither though because no shot. Meanwhile Rexler got behind the doomshuttle and was tearing it a part, but instead of chasing it, I had Rex break off and turn back towards the whisper duel. My whisper is on a 45 degree angle close to the board edge (facing it more or less) and his whisper is behind, about range 2 but had no arc. My options are turn left towards the middle of the map and eat a range 1 shot from whisper, or make a hard 1 toward the board edge (it was really close...possibly off?). I figured losing whisper to going off table was the better move simply because Rexler would get a flanking range 3 HLC shot and he would have to decide: re-cloak or grab a token.

So I didn't go off and was able to barrel roll back to save whisper, and his whisper went straight and recloaked. Rex's HLC then killed Whisper basically ending the game (4v4 shot, but predator + focus vs no tokens and I think Whisper had only 1 shield left)

The look on my opponent's face though when I completed that 1 hard turn was totally worth it!

No Wave 8 before my next store championship (I had plans for that shuttle), I may just run this again, trying to fit a Comm Relay on Zeta this time. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

So I managed to try this list yesterday and just got spanked. I was against an A-wing swarm and I'm use to flying the Defender and managed to drop an A-wing in the opening round and then it all just fell apart. Both my TIE/FO's bumped into enemy ships and over two turns they were procketed to death. Rexler then managed to survive for another 10+ turns but my dice had well and truly abandoned me by that stage and eventually attrition won the game.

I think perhaps I don't possess the finesse for this list just yet.