i dont see how Vessery does more damage than anyone else. The targetlock is gained after he attacks, and you have to have someone else applying the initial targetlock to begin with.

The TL can be used on every attack as long as there is another red TL. The /D will give him modified attack on both attacks. He will be even nastier now.

Oh i see my folly. because it doesnt say "when attacking" i assumed it was the same as the upgrade card which gives it to you after the attack. The way his pilot skill is worded is just preventing him from getting a freebie Missile off without using his own action.

Well...that would have been nice to know for that local tournament i brought him to. Might have went up a few places lol

It's a real shame the Glaive came in at 34 points, as there is no real reason to run them with Ryad at the same cost and Vessery/Stele one point more. On the bright side, I now don't need to buy three red Defenders to run triple x7 Juking Glaives, so it saves me some money.

P.S. WTB Vader in Defender. Will trade points and dollars.

I disagree with the stuff before the ps but am 1000% on board with the ps

Great post OP.

The Countess stands out as a pilot, can't wait to fly her. Easily my new fav ship/pilot combo.

My first lists to go for will be:

3 x Delta/D + Ion Cannon

3 x Onyx/x7 + Stealth Device

Rexler Brath 37 points

Favorite build: none

Before Imperial Veterans Rexler made a lot of sense. Now he is expensive, consumes an action to activate and probably won't be fielding a heavy laser cannon. You can still build a list around him, but it will be a focuses glass cannon.

Rexlar is still total trash to me. Expensive as crap and a pilot skill that almost never goes off (always either hitting shields, only doing 1 damage which was a crit anyway, or outright killing the target). I ran him ~10 times and never once got to use that ability, despite saving a focus every time hoping to use it.

He is nasty against Large Ships but usually dies because of this: he's focus-fired down so fast. Give him survivability, costs 1/2 your army just about.

You want defensive?

Rexler /w LW, X7 and Stealth Device. 40pts

Add PalpShuttle for extra salt and he can take a serious beating.

You want offensive?

Rexler /w Predator, X7, flying alongside a Twin Officer Shuttle.

38pts. (+Shuttle)

^ You can even pair him with King Vessery.

Before you dismiss him, proxy those cards and test him out, I have - and Rexler absolutely wrecks stuff.

The named TIE FOs can run Comm Relay and Juke and make tight turns without becoming stressed and vulnerable.

Omega Leader with an extra shield is still 4 points cheaper than that Glaive setup.

Onyx with cannons will be a decent way to smash TLT Ys.

Delta as a cheap x7 blocker? AC Advances do it for 7 points cheaper, but I suppose both have their merits.

I can find a use for the named pilots and the cheapest generics, but that Glaive is just over the breaking point. Anything you want to do with him you can do better on a named Defender or on a different cheaper Imperial ship. Juke Barons have 2 fewer hit points, but they cost 10 points cheaper even with Autothrusters.

Whilst not every Pilot has a role, the good news is that we now have a range of pilots and costs that are pretty competitive. Vessery is a damage king and Ryad is slippery as an eel with all those green moves. x7 Deltas are cheap and tanky.

Other pilots have their uses but I remain to be convinced. Glaives can run x7 and Juke for 34 points which is kind nice but at 6 points more than a Delta, I am not quite convinced. At 33 points I would have run 3 of them (or 2 and Ryad) but that extra point prevents us from tripling them.

The named TIE FOs can run Comm Relay and Juke and make tight turns without becoming stressed and vulnerable.

Omega Leader with an extra shield is still 4 points cheaper than that Glaive setup.

Onyx with cannons will be a decent way to smash TLT Ys.

Delta as a cheap x7 blocker? AC Advances do it for 7 points cheaper, but I suppose both have their merits.

I can find a use for the named pilots and the cheapest generics, but that Glaive is just over the breaking point. Anything you want to do with him you can do better on a named Defender or on a different cheaper Imperial ship. Juke Barons have 2 fewer hit points, but they cost 10 points cheaper even with Autothrusters.

That 1 extra red die in this days meta is worth the extra points. Omega Leader is the one exception since he can negate green dice. The advantage the Glaive has over OL is that he's not afraid to spend his evade. If he does he still got a 3-dice primary to fall back on. If OL does it, he's a little better than a Tie Fighter, granted he's got a TL on the target. OL is really good, but he's not very flexible and loses usefulness the more ships your opponent has.

I think Brath's best use is as a high PS tractor beam carrier. I wouldn't even worry to much about his ability. In fact, off the top of my head he and Ten Numb are the only one's who can bring a tractor beam up to PS 10. Brath has the much better platform though.

Brath + VI + TB + Tie/D (MkII optional) = 39 points

Its pricey, but you get the Tractor beam shot and a primary. With luck the target will have lower agility for the primary shot.

Rexler Brath (37)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Tractor Beam (1)

TIE/D (0)

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ion Cannon (3)

TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Fleet Officer (3)

Systems Officer (2)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE Shuttle (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

1 point to give Vessery an EPT or MKII on Brath or the Colonel. Basically Brath sticks to the shuttle which gives him a bunch of actions, while you send Vessery on a flank.

The named TIE FOs can run Comm Relay and Juke and make tight turns without becoming stressed and vulnerable.

Omega Leader with an extra shield is still 4 points cheaper than that Glaive setup.

Onyx with cannons will be a decent way to smash TLT Ys.

Delta as a cheap x7 blocker? AC Advances do it for 7 points cheaper, but I suppose both have their merits.

I can find a use for the named pilots and the cheapest generics, but that Glaive is just over the breaking point. Anything you want to do with him you can do better on a named Defender or on a different cheaper Imperial ship. Juke Barons have 2 fewer hit points, but they cost 10 points cheaper even with Autothrusters.

That 1 extra red die in this days meta is worth the extra points. Omega Leader is the one exception since he can negate green dice. The advantage the Glaive has over OL is that he's not afraid to spend his evade. If he does he still got a 3-dice primary to fall back on. If OL does it, he's a little better than a Tie Fighter, granted he's got a TL on the target. OL is really good, but he's not very flexible and loses usefulness the more ships your opponent has.

I think Brath's best use is as a high PS tractor beam carrier. I wouldn't even worry to much about his ability. In fact, off the top of my head he and Ten Numb are the only one's who can bring a tractor beam up to PS 10. Brath has the much better platform though.

Brath + VI + TB + Tie/D (MkII optional) = 39 points

Its pricey, but you get the Tractor beam shot and a primary. With luck the target will have lower agility for the primary shot.

Rexler Brath (37)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Tractor Beam (1)

TIE/D (0)

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ion Cannon (3)

TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Fleet Officer (3)

Systems Officer (2)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE Shuttle (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

1 point to give Vessery an EPT or MKII on Brath or the Colonel. Basically Brath sticks to the shuttle which gives him a bunch of actions, while you send Vessery on a flank.

Tractor Beam is a force multiplier, it becomes more powerful the more ships you have shooting at the target. You want to use it to set up a swarm of TIEs because they all benefit from the lowered agility. You're spending 39 points to have a PS 10 Defender set up attacks for his primary plus two other ships. You could save a few points by having Stele do the same thing. Rexler is nothing but an expensive PS bid.

Of the named pilots, Vessery is still the undisputed king. If you are building competitively and put a TIE Defender in your squad that isn't him, you're doing it wrong. Even if you're not putting TIE/D on him, he works just fine with TIE/x7, getting Evade, TL and your choice of Focus or Barrel Roll for little effort.

The Countess and Maarek will both be extremely good, but they will suffer a bit due to simply not being Vessery. The Countess is... well, she's ridiculous (thank the Force she's only PS5), and though Maarek still has a pretty situational ability he has good PS for relatively cheap so can make up for it in other ways.

Poor old Rexlar, though, exists only for his PS, and even that probably isn't good enough of a reason to run him. The other pilots are all cheaper and come with abilities you'll actually use. RIP.

This is just wrong. Vessery is really good, and I agree that he is the undisputed master of offence with the D title but the Countess tops him by a good bit when it comes to flexibility. She is extremely unpredictable and her ability lets her outmaneuver even higher PS arcdodgers if played right because she has some many way of creating no escape situations.

I have said it on most imperial veterans based threads and I will again here but I do not agree with Vessery being the autoinclude defender. I wholeheartedly think 36 point countess is the 'I just want a defender, here it is'.

Don't get me wrong, Vessery is crazy, his ability is nauseatingly good, but he will 100% warp your list and your action economy. You restrict yourself to building with target locking ships and you will more often be placing locks to paint for Vessery while playing. Neither of those are particularly bad things but they are very important to think about and make Vessery a less all around freebie choice than others to me.

I think the order for any given squad, barring specialized lists is:

Countess

Glaive

Vessery

Delta

Steele

Brath (relevant for fighting ghosts and decimators though)

Onyx

I have said it on most imperial veterans based threads and I will again here but I do not agree with Vessery being the autoinclude defender. I wholeheartedly think 36 point countess is the 'I just want a defender, here it is'.

Don't get me wrong, Vessery is crazy, his ability is nauseatingly good, but he will 100% warp your list and your action economy. You restrict yourself to building with target locking ships and you will more often be placing locks to paint for Vessery while playing. Neither of those are particularly bad things but they are very important to think about and make Vessery a less all around freebie choice than others to me.

I think the order for any given squad, barring specialized lists is:

Countess

Glaive

Vessery

Delta

Steele

Brath (relevant for fighting ghosts and decimators though)

Onyx

Brath really doesn't shine outside of Epic play, but there he is truely a force to fear.

I disagree with placing the Colernal below Glaives though, yeah he needs the right playmates to work his magic but TAPs, TIE Advanceds and Omega Leader are everywhere so its not like you have to go out of your way to find TLs for him.

I have said it on most imperial veterans based threads and I will again here but I do not agree with Vessery being the autoinclude defender. I wholeheartedly think 36 point countess is the 'I just want a defender, here it is'.

Don't get me wrong, Vessery is crazy, his ability is nauseatingly good, but he will 100% warp your list and your action economy. You restrict yourself to building with target locking ships and you will more often be placing locks to paint for Vessery while playing. Neither of those are particularly bad things but they are very important to think about and make Vessery a less all around freebie choice than others to me.

I think the order for any given squad, barring specialized lists is:

Countess

Glaive

Vessery

Delta

Steele

Brath (relevant for fighting ghosts and decimators though)

Onyx

I agree with Vessery not being suitable for every list, as he does require proper support to get the most out of his ability. The Countess will pretty much just drop into any list and perform. That being said, the barrier to entry on Vessery is getting lower every wave, and if he does fit, I think he'll perform much better than the Countess.

As for your list, I'm not sure that I agree with it. The Glaives have a terrible point cost and I doubt they'll see much play, while I think Onyx will see a lot more use (even with the terrible art) because they shoot with or before a lot of the current meta boogiemen.

If the number of Ghosts I saw in KC (or more accurately the number of complaints I heard about Ghosts) were anything to go by, Rex's ability will be **** useful. PS 8 is a pretty significant PS with the Inquisitor seeming to draw a spot formerly reserved for Vader.

If the number of Ghosts I saw in KC (or more accurately the number of complaints I heard about Ghosts) were anything to go by, Rex's ability will be **** useful. PS 8 is a pretty significant PS with the Inquisitor seeming to draw a spot formerly reserved for Vader.

Aren't most people running the Ghost with Lothal Rebel? Again, even the terrible Onyx Defenders will be sufficient to out PS them. Brath may as well not have an ability, as in order to reliably trigger it requires way too much support from other ships. It's a shame we can't swap Vessery for Brath, as Vesserys ability likes to shoot first and Braths ability likes to shoot last.

If the number of Ghosts I saw in KC (or more accurately the number of complaints I heard about Ghosts) were anything to go by, Rex's ability will be **** useful. PS 8 is a pretty significant PS with the Inquisitor seeming to draw a spot formerly reserved for Vader.

Aren't most people running the Ghost with Lothal Rebel? Again, even the terrible Onyx Defenders will be sufficient to out PS them. Brath may as well not have an ability, as in order to reliably trigger it requires way too much support from other ships. It's a shame we can't swap Vessery for Brath, as Vesserys ability likes to shoot first and Braths ability likes to shoot last.

Friend you missed his point. Ghosts are very present and 10 hull does not like having damage cards flipped against it. Ghosts and decimators being popular make brath not just high ps, but actually have a gross ability. When low hull ships are popular he is much worse than when high hull ships are popular.

Rexler Brath 37 points

Favorite build: none

Before Imperial Veterans Rexler made a lot of sense. Now he is expensive, consumes an action to activate and probably won't be fielding a heavy laser cannon. You can still build a list around him, but it will be a focuses glass cannon.

Which is why you /x7 and Juke him.

If the number of Ghosts I saw in KC (or more accurately the number of complaints I heard about Ghosts) were anything to go by, Rex's ability will be **** useful. PS 8 is a pretty significant PS with the Inquisitor seeming to draw a spot formerly reserved for Vader.

Aren't most people running the Ghost with Lothal Rebel? Again, even the terrible Onyx Defenders will be sufficient to out PS them. Brath may as well not have an ability, as in order to reliably trigger it requires way too much support from other ships. It's a shame we can't swap Vessery for Brath, as Vesserys ability likes to shoot first and Braths ability likes to shoot last.

Friend you missed his point. Ghosts are very present and 10 hull does not like having damage cards flipped against it. Ghosts and decimators being popular make brath not just high ps, but actually have a gross ability. When low hull ships are popular he is much worse than when high hull ships are popular.

Sure, it helps him make a decision when modifying his attack dice as he knows the opponent won't have any evades, but unless you roll zero eyes on your 3-4 dice, you still have to give up that damage to trigger his effect. You also lose that focus for defense. I'd rather save two points and go fishing for some good natural crits with Stele. But I've never flown Brath against a Ghost, so maybe it works fine on the table.

Vessery might be one of the few reasons people would bring decoy to the table

Rexler Brath 37 points

Favorite build: none

Before Imperial Veterans Rexler made a lot of sense. Now he is expensive, consumes an action to activate and probably won't be fielding a heavy laser cannon. You can still build a list around him, but it will be a focuses glass cannon.

Which is why you /x7 and Juke him.

I think you x7 and predator him. Predator lets him keep that focus for his ability more often than juke or any other non-reroll ability. Predator x7 brath is a legitimate threat to ghosts, decimators and to some extent jumpmasters. 38 points is a lot but the opportunity to smash 3 flipped cards into a decimator or ghost is certainly tempting, especially with something nasty like major explosion existing in the new deck.

If the number of Ghosts I saw in KC (or more accurately the number of complaints I heard about Ghosts) were anything to go by, Rex's ability will be **** useful. PS 8 is a pretty significant PS with the Inquisitor seeming to draw a spot formerly reserved for Vader.

Aren't most people running the Ghost with Lothal Rebel? Again, even the terrible Onyx Defenders will be sufficient to out PS them. Brath may as well not have an ability, as in order to reliably trigger it requires way too much support from other ships. It's a shame we can't swap Vessery for Brath, as Vesserys ability likes to shoot first and Braths ability likes to shoot last.

Friend you missed his point. Ghosts are very present and 10 hull does not like having damage cards flipped against it. Ghosts and decimators being popular make brath not just high ps, but actually have a gross ability. When low hull ships are popular he is much worse than when high hull ships are popular.

Sure, it helps him make a decision when modifying his attack dice as he knows the opponent won't have any evades, but unless you roll zero eyes on your 3-4 dice, you still have to give up that damage to trigger his effect. You also lose that focus for defense. I'd rather save two points and go fishing for some good natural crits with Stele. But I've never flown Brath against a Ghost, so maybe it works fine on the table.

Brath is a nightmare for ships like the ghost because two face up damage cards are almost always better then three face downs on a ship with that much health, its why Brath shines so much in epic, the higher a ships total health the greater the value of a crippling effect is over an extra point of damage.

...However the best thing for Brath to come from Vets isn't either of the defender titles, its the bomber one.

Nigeltastic, we are on the same wavelength.

Overall, TIE/Ds are going to be Ghostbusters (cue music). The Ion Cannon will almost always hit without modification (1 damage+token) and the primaries will be doing straight damage.

Tractor Beam is a force multiplier, it becomes more powerful the more ships you have shooting at the target. You want to use it to set up a swarm of TIEs because they all benefit from the lowered agility. You're spending 39 points to have a PS 10 Defender set up attacks for his primary plus two other ships. You could save a few points by having Stele do the same thing. Rexler is nothing but an expensive PS bid.

Putting that Tractor beam at PS 10 is huge though. You will be shooting before most of the pilots in the game and that gives you the chance to either deny them a shot, give you a shot for your other ships, or just the mind game aspect of it.

Besides, Vessery's double tap + the control is probably going to do nearly the same or close to the damage of a couple Ties. He's also easier to manage.