As the title says, I'm interested in building around the Inquisitor, but I don't have the pieces for Palpaces and would be reticent if I did (I have a thing about not playing lists other people play). So I'm throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.

First is an idea I had pretty much from the announcement post:

Inquisitor w/ title, Push the Limit, Autothrusters (31)

Omega Leader w/ Juke, Comms Relay (26)

Colonel Vessery w/ Heavy Laser Cannon, Veteran Instincts (43)

Pros: squad-wide PS 8, multiple sources of target locks to give Vessery consistent firepower, three ships that are all harsh to fight one-on-one, synergy without formation flying

Cons: not *quite* enough firepower to alpha-strike a U-boat (mathematically possible but not likely)

I've had the idea in my head so long I've almost become bored with it. I'm a bit capricious like that... this is something that occurred to me since then.

Inquisitor w/ title, Push the Limit, Autothrusters (31)

Carnor Jax w/ Push the Limit, Authothrusters (31)

Zeta Leader w/ Cool Hand (21) (Open to suggestions on his EPT)

Backstabber (16)

The idea would be to perform an envelopment, with the Inquisitor on the table edge, Zeta Leader next, Backstabber flanking narrow, and Carnor flanking wide. If I can control the initial engagement well enough, something's going to die. After that all bets are off.

Pros: every ship can punch above its weight class, enough firepower to alpha-strike a U-Boat (plus Carnor severely inconveniences them)

Cons: a four-ship list with 14 total HP isn't exactly going to win many 100-0 matches. This list lives dangerously.

Thoughts?

Your first list is fine. Its fairly solid. When Imperial veterans comes out, you can give Vessery tractor beam, TIE/D & hull upgrade. Then use the last 3 points for proton rockets on the Inquisitor.

Your 2nd list seems okay too, although I'm not sure backstabber will earn his keep here. Wired is a good EPT on Zeta Leader.

There's a few good discussions on TAPs on the forum but the threads move so quick I can't find the specific one I'd link you too.

Anyhoo I've played with the below list which is absolutely disgusting and I'm yet to be beaten (casual only, no SC or tournaments mind)

Decimator

Captain Oiccun

Predator

Tie advanced Prototype

Inquisitor

Tie V1 title

Push the limit

Autothrusters

Zeta Leader

Predator

Anyone tries to block Oicunn and they regret it. Predator gives him a lot of punch when attacking.

Inquisitors job is to stay at range 3 of the most dangerous opponents and Wear them down.

Zeta Leader is there for blocking and added punch. To be honest the amount of battles I've had where people have ignored Zeta only for him to get into range 1 and throw 4 dice with a predator reroll is pretty great, he really pulls his weight here.

I'd experimented with Omega Leader but in the 3-4 ship lists I face I struggled to get him to the end game where he shines the most. Also meant I had to take a generic Decimator and therefore no EPT

I'll second blade_mercurial, although I'd go for Ion Cannon on Vessery over Tractor Beam, but I'm a weirdo.

I'll also note that "not alpha striking a U-boat" is not a Con, it's normal. Very, very few lists have the massed firepower to take down 9 hp behind 2 AGI in one turn. Most lists don't reliably kill a B-wing or Y-wing in a turn outside of very optimal range conditions.

So I went to a local tourney this weekend, and thought I'd check back in with the results of my games. I went with the first list above. To recap: standard 31-point Inquisitor, standard 26-point Omega Leader, and Vessery with HLC and VI.

The first game was against a mixed X-Wing list. Tarn Mison with Integrated R7, Tank Ace (Red Ace with R2-D2, Comms Relay, Auto), and Poe be Poe. We both started spread along the West half of the board, and right from the start it was clear our plan was to converge along the Western board edge. With my better speed I got there first and mauled Tarn, but I didn't finish him off, which proved frustrating later. I had to peel Omega Leader off to try and finish him, and in the meantime the Inquisitor and Vessery took some big hits as my opponent's squad converged.

This is where the list's synergy and the value of target locks saved me. The Inquisitor disengaged with a 4-ahead and took a lock on Poe on his way out. Tank Ace had expected me to stay close to the furball, so he'd done a TRoll that took him out of the fight for two crucial turns. Then Vessery did a 1-Turn into Poe's face, and (leaching Inqi's target lock) gave as good as he got. On the next turn, Vessery (still stressed) and Inqi both K-Turned, but both had target locks, and those heavy shots brought Poe down enough that Omega pushed through the last hit. Omega finished off Tarn on the next turn, and we went to time before I could seriously damage Tank Ace.

This was my first game flying Omega Leader and Inqi, let alone flying them together with Vessery, and my inexperience showed in a number of small ways. For example, I did a semi-needless barrel roll on Omega's first activation, which cost me the banked Evade token I so badly needed on subsequent turns. Nevertheless, the fact that I got out of there with a solid victory convinced me the list had promise.

Game two was against a triple Interceptor Aces list: Soontir and Carnor with the Interceptor Ace Starter Kit (PtL, Auto, Stealth), and Turr with VI instead of PtL. So, two ships fully capable of arc-dodging me all day, and Carnor to shut down my reliance on tokens. Unfortunately for him, he underestimated how much ground Inqi can cover-- when he has a mind to he can move like an Interceptor, and using that I was able to draw a bead on a tokenless Carnor on turn one. The crit that ensued reduced him by an agility to add insult to injury. He decided to dive into me with Carnor, but he ended up face-to-face with a slow-rolling Vessery. We traded shots, but I could sustain that kind of trade; Interceptors cannot.

Meanwhile, Turr and Soontir had come in through the center of the table. I'd split Omega wide from my other two, and on turn two Omega achieved lock on Soontir. This seemed to spook him, because he elected to blow past Omega to the Southeast, while Turr went northeast after the rest of my squad. This led to me building a beautiful killbox (if I do say so myself) on turn 3, facilitated by Inqi pulling a K-Turn to close the angle. Turr took shots from all three pilots, with Omega Juking the kill shot into him. After that, Soontir did what Soontir does and danced, danced, danced. He even finished off Vessery before Omega poked through the requisite three damage.

On paper this could have been a rough game, and obviously it's different if I'm out of range on that turn one lunge. That said, Omega Leader does love killing Interceptors, doesn't he?

My last game was against Brobots. I have a bit of a history against Brobots... not a good one, either. So I started getting deja vu when, on turn two, I was only able to deal two damage to my target, C, while the Inquisitor exploded. (In hindsight I didn't manage the range right-- I think I could have barrel-rolled so that Inqi would have been out of B's range. B would have had to shoot Vessery, which C couldn't shoot because of arc, and that splitfire would have been very happy for me, especially since he went all-in on Glitterstim and Crack Shot that round.)

After that, Omega and Vessery went to work, grinding away at C-- Omega's perma-lock on C meant Vessery had perma-lock on C, which worked very nicely, thank you. It was slow going, and Vessery was getting shot up by B for his trouble. Eventually Vessery had to disengage. My opponent set up a gorgeous crisscross: first B came in to block while C K-Turned and traded damage with Omega-- not a trade I could sustain. Then B went for a Sloop while C came in to block Omega. Only one maneuver would have gotten me off the block-- the 5-Ahead. Which was what was on my dial.

So Omega got away and spent a turn turning around while Vessery and C pushed each other to the brink of death. As Omega and B tried to re-engage, Vessery and C wound up going in for a death-or-glory face off, head to head, one HP each... except C *barely* clipped a rock and died. Don't get me wrong, I liked my chances there with the first shot and double dice mods, but I felt cheated.

After that Omega started damaging B in earnest (red dice finally coming around!) and pestered him into a K-turn, and the game ended with B caught in a vice between Vessery and Omega, and they combined to push through just enough damage to end him before he killed Vessery.

So! Three wins, lots of lessons learned. I think there's some real potential here, especially once I start ironing out the nuances of the playstyle. Fun times.

Great wrote up Cheers! Be really interested to hear of any changes you are planning on making.

Nice! That game vs interceptors is quite representative of a lot of my games with Defenders vs Interceptors.

My last game was against Brobots. I have a bit of a history against Brobots... not a good one, either. So I started getting deja vu when, on turn two, I was only able to deal two damage to my target, C, while the Inquisitor exploded. (In hindsight I didn't manage the range right-- I think I could have barrel-rolled so that Inqi would have been out of B's range. B would have had to shoot Vessery, which C couldn't shoot because of arc, and that splitfire would have been very happy for me, especially since he went all-in on Glitterstim and Crack Shot that round.)

That's exactly what Crack shot, stimmed IG88s do. They go all in for a devastating alpha strike, hoping to nuke one target early so they can have an easier time of it later.

Sounds to me like your hindsight is correct---had you barrel rolled, that would not have been nearly so close a match, since forced to split fire, the IG88s would have had a harder time dealing with three ships (despite two being damaged) rather than the two undamaged ships you had left at that point.

Good to hear you still managed to pull it out though----Its not easy to take a list these days that includes a TIE defender (without either of the unreleased titles)

Good write-up. Thanks. I was leaning towards your second list in your original post, but, it shows a plan can work with either list. I like Zeta Leader, and I think he would not have hurt your outcome either way (Zeta or Omega).

Keep rolling!

Since I'm into the "reporting results" part of squad evolution, I've shifted further discussion on this squad into the battle reports forum.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/217822-a-serious-casual-players-tournament-adventures/