I wanted to share the results from a 16 player tournament at our local store, since there haven't been many post-Imperial Veteran tournaments results yet. Our FLGS in North Carolina was lucky enough to receive three Veterans boxes early, and two of the recipients were kind enough to let me borrow their unused X7 titles for the tournament. TLDR is at the bottom if you want a simple synopsis.
My list was as follows:
- 3x Delta squadron Defenders with X7 title
- Backstabber
This list came about as a result of my love for defenders and play testing using proxy cards in order to find something that performed well against the meta heavyweights like U-boats, Crackswarm, and Palp-Aces. It performs extremely well against lists with only 2-3 ships due to each Delta receiving a F+E almost every turn, and can tank 4-hit torpedo shots while taking minimal damage. It also has enough health to weather the Crackshot barrage and keep fighting. I settled on Delta squadron pilots as it allows for extensive blocking against almost all other lists, and gives me the peace of mind in knowing that any focus tokens left over when I attack are safe to spend and not needed for defense. I have some tweaks I will make to the list after the tournament, but more on that later.
The below images are based upon my best recollection of how the games started and progressed. They are meant to represent the general flow of the match, and show general positions of ships. If I misrepresented anyone's deployments, I apologize. Yellow circles represent areas where multiple turns of combat took place.
Round 1: Scott. 100-16 Win
- Miranda (TLT), Esege Tuketu (TLT), Luke (VI)
Synopsis: I started on the right in an echelon left formation with Backstabber behind the Deltas, while Scott deployed his two K-wings in the middle with Luke on the far right. The defenders entered the asteroids at 90 degrees from the right, Backstabber paralleled my board edge before cutting in towards the middle, while the K-wings flew up the middle of the asteroids. The initial engagement occurred in the middle of the asteroid field, after which the defenders got in behind both K-wings and steadily racked up the damage. The Miranda was able to pop Backstabber with a range 1 primary shot, but the Rebels were unable to push damage through the token stack on the Deltas. Luke came in late from the flank, but the engagement moved too quickly for him to catch up, and by the time he started shooting it was him against three defenders, all of whom had shields left.
Round 2: Rob Baer. 83-44 win
- Contracted Scouts x3. One was a Bumpmaster with Intimidation and APL, and one of the torpedo scouts had 4-Lom.
Synopsis: I started the defenders in the same position, with Backstabber on the flank. The Scouts deployed in the middle, with the Bumpmaster closest to my defenders. The U-boats turned to engage Backstabber who was coming in quickly from the flank, while the defenders approached the gap between the two asteroids in the top right corner. The scouts took the bait and fired two torpedoes at Backstabber, who was positioned behind the left-most rock. Backstabber went down, but in doing so cut the number of torpedoes in the list by half. The remainder of the engagement took place in the open area of the top left. The defenders took one torpedo on the approach, and were able to burn down the Bumpmaster, followed soon after by the Scout with 4-Lom. One defender went down to combined turret fire from the scouts, and the game went to time with the remaining injured scout running towards the top right with two defenders in pursuit.
Lessons Learned: One of my key takeaways from the match was that multiple turrets really hurt this list. Usually I shotgun my defenders out in different directions after the initial engagement, forcing my opponent to split fire or chase a wounded Delta. In this case however, Rob's turrets were able to continue to focus on one of my defenders even after the torpedoes were gone, and the continuous rain of two dice attacks with Agromech burned down one defender and had another into hull by the time the match ended. My biggest mistake was engaging him in the open, as it gave him the space needed to maneuver and not get stuck on a rock. On the other hand, Backstabber made an excellent decoy, and saved the Deltas from taking a great deal more damage.
Round 3: Mario (100-28 win)
- RAC (Isarde, Vader, Rebel Captive, EU), Deathrain: (FCS, EM, Plasma Torps, Proximity Mines x2, GCs)
Synopsis: Mario's list included a fully-loaded Deathrain, and a fat RAC as well. I deployed as per usual, with Backstabber facing to the right and parallel to my board edge. Mario deployed in the top left. I started out slow-rolling the defenders, while Backstabber slow rolled in behind them. Deathrain made a hard turn towards the defenders, while RAC approached through the asteroid field. Based on previous matches, I knew that Deathrain could do significant damage if left unchecked, and that a single 3-dice Decimator posed little threat to me in the late game. Thus the Deltas came straight down the right side of the board towards Deathrain at full speed, and were able to burn him down in two rounds of shooting before he could get a second mine off. The remainder of the match was the Deltas and Backstabber chasing RAC around the board. RAC destroyed one of the Deltas on the last turn, but used Vader for the last point of damage and killed himself in the process.
Lessons Learned: Key take away from this match is that stress (Rebel Captive in this case) messes with defenders badly. There were times when I chose not to fire on RAC, as the stress from Rebel captive would have left the defender unable to de-stress and stay on target for several turns. MKII engines would go a long way to alleviate this problem.
Round 4: Rick (100-0 win)
- Marek Steele Defender (Tie-D, TB, VI, MKII Engines), 4x Black Squadron w/Crackshot
Synopsis: Rick was 3-0 going into this match, and the combo of tractor beam followed by Crackshot ties had proven very effective. I had seen some of his other matches, and knew he liked to come down the open side corridor in formation, waiting for a good opportunity to turn in and engage. My strategy going in was to come at him through the rocks, forcing him to canalize into the middle of the asteroid field where his formation would break up. The Deltas came in at full speed, and then banked in towards the middle, with the opposing ties and Marek turning in to joust. On the initial engagement, I was able to get the innermost defender into a good blocking position using a 5-straight followed by a barrel roll forward. This caused most of his formation (most importantly Marek) to bump. The blocking defender spent all of his tokens avoiding the tractor beam from Marek, and thus took 4 damage from the crack ties. Following the initial engagement, I was able to set up a kill box in the asteroids, with one defender constantly moving in for a block while the other two K-turned across the engagement to fire in. Marek went down quickly due to some bad evade rolls, and the rest was clean up, with the remaining ties unable to push damage through the F+E defenders once they had spent Crackshot.
Semi-Finals: Rick (100-44 win)
- Marek Steele Defender (Tie-D, TB, VI, MKII Engines), 4x Black Squadron w/Crackshot
Synopsis: Rick and I got matched up again for the semi-finals. I knew he wouldn't fly straight into the same engagement, so I changed up my deployment to look like I was going to head straight into the rocks to joust, and left a clear lane straight into the middle for the opposing ties. On turn one, all three defenders 1-banked to the right, while backstabber slow-rolled from the left. The swarm came straight into the middle, looking for a joust. On the next turn, the left-most defender turned into the rocks from the bottom, while the other two turned in from the right. Rick's Ties didn't take the bait to turn towards the right, and instead came straight on towards the bottom defender. That defender took several hits, but his green dice were good enough that only one Tie spent its Crackshot. I set up the kill box again, but the Ties and Marek worked to keep their guns focused on a single target this time, and killed Backstabber and one Delta, while getting a second Delta down to 1 hull. In the end, the last two defenders were able to take out Marek and the remaining ties. This game could have gone either way honestly, with the a couple of key dice rolls swinging things in my favor.
Lessons Learned: Key take away from this match is that I need a designated blocker (aka an academy pilot). Often one of the deltas would go in for a block, but was forced to aim its arc away from the engagement to do so. This significantly reduced the offensive output of my list. Also, Tie-D defenders with tractor beams are scary when backed by a swarm. I was fortunate that I was able to avoid all the tractor beam shots during both matches, but had one connected I probably would have lost a Delta in one turn. They do however need some form of action economy like predator or PTL, as otherwise they have one action to spend on two attack roles and an evade roll.
I think my list in the future will drop Backstabber in favor of an Academy Pilot, and add MKII engines to the Deltas. This will give me a designate blocker, confuse target priority, and give the Deltas options for dealing with stress.
Round 5: John (Intentional Draw)
- Vesssery (Tie D, TB, Ruthlessness), Ryad (PTL, X7, MKII engines), LT Colzet (X1, Accuracy Corrector)
John and I decided to draw for the final round. It was getting late, and my wife was stuck at home watching our baby. We agreed to schedule a friendly re-match at a later date, but both of us were tired and ready to call it a day.
TLDR: I went 5-0 at a local tournament with multiple X7 generic defenders. X7s are extremely tanky, and in my opinion will be very viable in the current meta. Of the top 5 lists at the tournament, 3 were based around Defenders running the new titles (to include Tie D), with the other two being U-boats and a Crackswarm. I would contribute part of this to players being unfamiliar with the new defenders, and not being quite sure with how to deal with them. Nonetheless, Defenders had an extremely strong showing, and are in my opinion very competitive.