My son wanted a new build to run against a friend yesterday, so on short notice, I quickly put together a list from the Imperial Veterans Expansion we just purchased.

He ran this against IG88B and C, both with Crack Shot, HLC, FCS, Autothrusters, IG-2000 Title, and Glitterstim.

His first game, he lost quickly. When they played again and he still lost, but killed B and had C down to 1 hull.

I'd like some feedback on anything that would make it run better or if you see any glaringly bad weaknesses.

Col Vessery Tie D. - Ruthlessness, Tractor Beam, Tie/D (39)

Countess Ryad Tie D - PTL, Twin Ion Engine, Tie/x7 (36)

Deathfire Tie Bomber - Ext. Munitions, Plasma Torps, Prox Mines, Long Range Scanners (25)

Strategy was to hold Deathfire back and lock on Vessery's targets to help him out and allow Ryad to Flank.

He found that Deathfire died quickly when engaged but he really liked Ryad's upgrades. I don't think he got to use the Prox Mines.

He said he likes it and wants to play with it some more to get his flying down. He's normally a Rebel player, so he's learning how the Defenders and Bombers move. I rarely have played a Defender, so any advice is helpful.

Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

I don't know about your list in particular (still fairly new to the game), but that Ryad is just so much fun to play. X7, PtL, and her Pilot Ability make for a really unpredictable, slippery ship that goes anywhere, and goes anywhere fast. I run her with a pair of Defenders with the Tie/D title and a cannon (Ion and Tractor).

I like the list. I am thinking of running a similar list at a tournament this weekend.

I am considering

Vessery with X7 title, juke, twin ion engine

Ryad with X7 title, PTL, twin ion engine

Deathfire - homing missiles proximity mines, extra munitions, guidance chips

Now you have me thinking that I should swap guidance chips for long range sensors. I could save Deathfire for the late game and just provide support from a safe distance.

If you happen to own Conner nets, they're about infinitely superior to prox mines

I play a similar list and trust me, Death fire is the flanker. The defenders are by far the tankier ships in the list so they go in to take the brunt of the damage and give you an opening to send D-fire in.

While approaching and waiting for his opportunity, D-fire has his ordnance to shoot

I put a pretty similar list together a couple days ago, and like it quite a bit. I would exchange Vessery's Tractor for an Ion Cannon. It's overall more useful, I think. Think about a different EPT than Ruthlessness, which is a bunch of fun, but of narrow utility. You probably need to drop it to a cheaper one to fit in an Ion Cannon. FGD is absolutely right abut Connor Net. Take that instead of Proximity Mines if you have it. Since you have Vessery, and Deathfire has low PS, you probably want your Long Range Scanners that came in Veterans. You can set Vessery up for a first turn salvo and you can get torps off first turn as well.

Small caveat that LRS can get annoying to set up again because range 2 is freaking MASSIVE when you don't want to be in it

But it still is the mod of choice, imo. Setting up vess and keeping dfire's action open for barrel roll mine laying gives it incredible utility

So my son decided he wanted to use my list at the last minute. He went 1-2. He won his first match easily against a small swarm. He lost the last two. With more experience he will learn not to split his fire. He got no luck with the proxy mines. I don't think anyone ever took more than one damage from one of them. In retrospect Conner nets would have been a better choice. Or just being luckier. Oh, and we did switch guidance chips for long range sensors. That was definitely the right choice.

Yet to pony-up for the expansion, but this is something I have been debating

Rexler Brath (39) - TIE Defender

Veteran Instincts (1), TIE/D (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Countess Ryad (38) - TIE Defender

Veteran Instincts (1), Ion Cannon (3), TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (23) - TIE Bomber

TIE Shuttle (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Fleet Officer (3), Darth Vader (3)

Thinking maybe an ordinance bomber may be better though from the above posts

Yet to pony-up for the expansion, but this is something I have been debating

Rexler Brath (39) - TIE Defender

Veteran Instincts (1), TIE/D (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Countess Ryad (38) - TIE Defender

Veteran Instincts (1), Ion Cannon (3), TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (23) - TIE Bomber

TIE Shuttle (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Fleet Officer (3), Darth Vader (3)

Thinking maybe an ordinance bomber may be better though from the above posts

This but Systems Officer not Vader. You want that Bomber to survive as long as possible double focusing your guys who get two shots per round.

Think I would try something like this: https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v4!s!70:27,-1,-1:33:-1:;195:18,-1,-1:33:17:;190:140,126,136,-1,-1,-1:-1:25:;163:18,-1:27:17:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

You can swap out Tomax Bren for the Inquisitor if you prefer, although I have enjoyed play Tomax the couple of times I have played him.

Tie/D Vessery REALLY likes Marksmanship for his EPT. He already gets TLs for both attacks, now he'll get a better focus for both as well! If I'm not using VI on him, Marksmanship is practically autoinclude.

Tie/D Vessery REALLY likes Marksmanship for his EPT. He already gets TLs for both attacks, now he'll get a better focus for both as well! If I'm not using VI on him, Marksmanship is practically autoinclude.

Only hesitation about Marksmanship is that it takes your action. I like the idea of a focus or barrel roll to help defensively.

So my son decided he wanted to use my list at the last minute. He went 1-2. He won his first match easily against a small swarm. He lost the last two. With more experience he will learn not to split his fire. He got no luck with the proxy mines. I don't think anyone ever took more than one damage from one of them. In retrospect Conner nets would have been a better choice. Or just being luckier. Oh, and we did switch guidance chips for long range sensors. That was definitely the right choice.

My son played the list against me and both times put Prox Mines in front of the same ship and I rolled no hits or crits on the dice.

If the points allow, I think Conner Net is better as guaranteed damage and ion effect but it means finding something else to change in the list.

My son really likes How Ruthlessness works with his Vessery attacks and hasn't lost a shield on Ryad in the 3-4 games he's played so far.