That last game at Nuke con, you guessed every one of my maneuvers. kudos on the win, you played that list superbly.

Thank you sir. It was a great game worthy of the anals of history!! Or maybe it's the annals of...oh nevermind. I'll see you in a month!

In the meantime i faced a Tomax and 2 Royals squad tonight. This game was noteworthy because he did something no one else has done yet. First round i tl his Bren with mine. Second round he brought the Royals into range but left his Tomax behind. So i had to switch my tl with my tomax to one of his royals, which meant the assault missile didn't have focus. It would have resulted in 4 hits if i had focus, but was only 2 otherwise. Maybe i should have tl his Royal in the first place, but he had them all together after the first round, so i figured he would keep them together.

The assault missile still hit, with the tractor beam shot before it and Bren's crack shot. Next round i pounded his Bren but didn't kill him. His Bren rolled nothing on his Plasma torp, so that could have hurt. Two rounds later i kill a royal, them Bren next round, then the last royal in the next round. So the game lasted 7 rounds, and he only did some shield damage to my vessery.

Vassal game tonight vs one of the world-famous Foss clan from Down Under. Travis was running a Dash Norra list. He split them up during set up, and the first 4 rounds ran norra towards Dash and k-turned. Meanwhile Dash came out of the corner, so i slowed my squad down and started aiming for him. First combat round we traded 3 shields on Dash for 3 shields on vessery. He played Dash well, anticipating my moves and not repositioning so that i collided, limiting my shots against him. But the bad part was the shots i was getting were range 1, so Dash didn't have shots either, and especially not at vessery so he had to split his fire. Eventually i get 3 range 1 shots on 4 hull Dash and finish him off. By that time norra joined the fight, but it was too little too late. After killing dash i turned my ships at norra and burned her down in 1 round before she fired. 100-0.

That felt good to get the win vs a really good player playing a difficult list matchup for me. It's always a good game vs the Foss clan.

I real enjoy this threat. A very creative list. Did you thought about changing the assault Missile with a Homing?

I real enjoy this threat. A very creative list. Did you thought about changing the assault Missile with a Homing?

I have thought about it, and i decided on Assault missile for these reasons:

1. Vessery always shoots first in my list. If i am facing a target that has an evade token, they usually spend it on either the tractor beam shot or vessery's primary shot. And if they still have it then, i can always shoot with maarek before bren to try and strip it off. So the part of homing about not being able to use evade token is moot.

2. Assault is better vs swarms and biggs lists. Also if my opponent chooses to stay together anyway, they still will eat the splash damage. Because between tractor beam, vess primary shot, bren focus, and crack shot, the Assault missile will hit.

3. If they fear the splash damage, they will split up, so the Assault missile is better than homing just for making my opponent fly differently than he wants to.

The only reason a homing is better is that i don't have to spend my tl, which will help vessery in later rounds. But maarek can tl, so that's usually how i work around that.

Good points. Thanks for your insights.

Ran the same squad in a small tourney locally today.

First round against Jared running luke, Poe, and stresshog. First round i tl the stresshog with Bren. Next round i pull off the tractor beam, vessery hit, assault missile vs 0 AGI, then maarek finished off the y-wing before it ever fired a shot. Next round my squad all converged on Luke and took him out before he could regen with R2. 2 more rounds later Poe was toast and the game was over. 100-0. The game lasted 5 rounds. It's not supposed to work that well. So he and i chatted about how he could set up and play s little better, squad ideas, etc.

Next round was against Justin running Ryad x7 Juke vessery x7 juke, and Omega Leader.

I did my normal tl ryad. First combat round vessery strips all of her tokens, and Bren launched tge Assault Missile, spending focus for 3 hits and crit. Ryad rolled 1 evade, which i used crack shot on. Next shot Maarek finishes Ryad off before she ever fired. Next round it was range 1 shots at Omega Leader. He died quickly from vessery double shots and Bren, so maarek fired range 1 at his vessery. His x7 vessery lasted a long time, but eventually succumbed to multiple shots every round. Again i didn't lose a ship, and i took one off of the board before it fired. 100-0.

Last round was against Steven running a Dash Norra list. First combat round norra was out of range 3 of Bren, but vessery had the shot. So vessery hits with the tractor beam and rolls norra into range 3 of Bren. Vessery hits norra for 3 damage, then Bren then fires the missile 4v0 for 4 hits. Maarek's shot was range 3 obstructed, so norra had 2 dice and evaded maarek's shot with 2 hull left. Otherwise i could have taken her off the board before firing, too. Next round i finish her off and start chasing after Dash. Dash got Bren down to 1 hull left, but never could kill Bren. Eventually i chased Dash down for my 3rd straight 100-0 win on the day.

There may be something to this squad.

Your Bren should have died against me but the WC voodoo chilled my dice hardcore. Was a fun game and a lesson to not joust your list or formation fly against assault missiles.

True, Bren should have died for sure, as he usually does in my games.

Last night vassal game against Alex, a really good player from the Minneapolis area. I really wish i recorded this game because i feel my words aren't going to do it justice. He flew Ryad juke x7, maarek juke x7, and quickdraw rage baffle. That's a squad that I'm really interested in flying against because i think it will be a top tier squad.

We set up the rocks on mostly my half of the board because i know he wants to go fast, so i can use the rocks to block his kturn options and possibly beam him onto. He sets up in my far right corner and I'm in my lower left corner. The first 4 rounds i do all 1 speed maneuvers to bring him to me.

He takes a slow jousting approach as well with the x7s and brings QD on my right flank. Round 4 is when we finally got into combat range. QD missed vessery with a long range shot. He hid ryad behind a rock and brought his maarek fast, but i rolled out of his arc, so his maarek didn't have a shot. My vessery TB and primary, maarek shot, and Bren missile all yielded a total of 1 hit on his ryad after tokens. Ryads return shot missed.

Next round his ryad 3 fwd over the rock she was hiding behind. She got her evade but no action. His maarek 3 turn away from the fight because he didn't have a good move option. My vessery 4k behind ryad, although she was out of his arc. My maarek 3 turn onto the rock, so i should have done 1 turn to be sure to clear it. My bren 1 bank. He brought QD in slowly and still didn't use rage or baffle yet. Notably that round bren took Ryad down to 2 hull.

Ryad 3 turn and roll right in front of bren. His maarek 4k. I figured his maarek 4k to aim back towards the fight, so i did 3 bank with bren to close some distance. Then i intentionally bumped vessery into maarek so i would have shots on ryad. My maarek 4 fwd into bren, which blocked his QD. I figured if i can block QD i can keep her from using rage and her ability.

Vessery shot at Ryad. She used her token on the beam shot, so the primary shot finished her off, only letting her have 1 attack (which missed) in the game.

Next round the rocks were in my way so i had to turn my maarek and bren and grab tls. My vessery 3 turn, which alex anticipated well and did 3 sloop, using baffle for QDs first damage and triggering her ability. That round alex stripped all of the shields off of vessery.

Next round i knew my vessery was about to he hung out to dry, so i 5 fwd over a rock to get him with my other 2 ships. Rolled a crit, loose stabilizer. More positioning from both of us.

Next round i 4k vessery and take stress while i get maarek and bren back into the fight.

Next round i 1 turn maarek, 1 fwd bren and 2 fwd vessery to clear stress. I should have focused, but instead i flipped the crit. His QD runs into my maarek. QD fires range 1 at vess, 2 hits. I rolled 3 eyes, which killed vessery, which was big. Bren took QDs last 2 shields, triggering the ability and getting bren down to 4 hull.

A few more rounds of repositioning and i get range 1 shots on QD to finish her off, but my maarek is down to 1 and his maarek is down to 2, i think at this point.

We get to round 16 and Bren rolls 2 hits, his maarek rolls 3 evades, which was big because he didnt have to spend tokens. My maarek shot, and he spent focus to evade it. He then shoots my maarek 3v5 with an evade token. He gets hit crit, i roll 1 evade, spend token, which he jukes to kill my maarek. Huge, game swinging rolls that round.

Next round bren can't get through his defenses and he puts 2 hits on bren. We each had 2 hull left, but it was late, and i realize the only way i win is if he completely blanks out, so i called it.

It was an amazing game against a great guy and great player. I'm not sure what i take away from this loss. I had good early rock placement and approach. I took ryad out early without her doing any damage. I was blocking QD preventing the rage baffle. Really only thing i change is focus on vess instead of flipping the crit, which would have kept him alive and likely taken out QD that round with beam, vess and bren range 1 shots. It was just a well-played game. And his maarek juke x7 came out on top with 2 hull left.

Do you really think quickdraw with rage and baffle will be Top Tier? My thoughts are that quickdraw will only be good vs PS9+ Shops if you have to move first?

I don't know at this point, but extra attacks, especially during the activation phase, can be game changing. I personally am not a fan of the "damage yourself" aspect of it, so i tend to squad build with backdraft, but QD could definitely be worth the points for sure. Time will tell how effective QD will be in the meta.

lots of games to catch up on for the week, so im going to post an abbreviated version.

Vassal game vs Marcelo flying Inqy, vessery, and ryad. I was flying my crazy 8s squad of Bren, maarek, and vessery. First combat round ryad was range 1 of his vess, my vess, and my maarek, but i assault missiled her with bren anyway. Between my vess, bren missile, and maarek, i killed ryad before she ever fired. He was able to kill my maarek a few rounds later, and i killed his vessery. So it was Inqy vs my vess and bren. This ended up being a very close game, and his greens saved him from a few sticky situations, but he won after something like 17 rounds.

So i switched it up a little for another vassal game against james flying a vader, Inqy, vessery list. I changed bren to a lower ps bomber and added a prox mine and i think some other upgrades on the defender. He outflew me early, doing a flyby with vader just to grab a tl for vessery. He killed the bomber first before i could drop the mine. I think i killed his vessery, but he killed another of mine. I don't remember how it ended, but he flew really well and i conceded late, i want to say.

Monday on the table i faced Kyle running a Deathrain, ryad, and 2 tie fighter list. Again i tweaked my squad to include a seismic on the bomber. This game was a comedy of errors from me. I was colliding with myself, hitting rocks, hit maarek with my own seismic, and managed to fly my bomber off the board late. He killed maarek early, but somehow i pulled out a win with my vessery vs his ryad.

So i decided to change it up a bit. I ran glaice with tractor beam and 5 Obsidians vs Andrew running a fenn, ndru, guri list. First combat round he one shots a tie with ndru homing missile. Guri one shots another at R1. I ended up killing guri and ndru, but by then his Fenn was flying circles around my glaive. He ended up flying fenn off the board, but i made him change his maneuver so we could shoot it out and he killed my glaive.

Then i played an ion defenders list vs andrew again running a ryad RAC list. That one was brutal. He killed my deathfire in 2 shots, and vessery died very soon after. He had very good rock placement and flew really well, also doing a type of hit and fade with ryad.

Then, i think i finally decided on my Regionals list.

My squad didn't really have a good answer to high ps arc dodgers, and I've been seeing a lot of Fenn lately. I also have been giving a lot of thought to Maarek vs Vessery vs Ryad.

So i played this squad in a vassal game with aged whiskey:

Vader, adapt, x1 title, adv targeting computer, engine

Maarek v7 adapt

Ryad VI, x7

He flew a Rey Poe squad. I managed to block Poe and get a range 1 shot with vader to strip his shields. Next round i put a thrust control fire on him, giving him a second stress (he ptl for the first one), which all but sealed his fate. Next round i kill Poe. Next round Rey killed vader, but against 2 x7 defenders, it was just a matter of time before i killed Rey.

So I get that x7 defenders are very tanky and defensive, but they tend to not be as good offensively. So i dropped Ryad VI for vessery, and my squad is now this:

The DMV

Darth Vader, adapt, x1, ATC, engine

Maarek adapt, x7

Vessery, adapt, x7

It's a tanky build, with Vader grabbing tl at ps10 for vessery to use. Maarek and Vessery have offensive abilities. Vader is an ace hunter, and I'm fine with any of the ships being my endgame ship. So, I like the build, and I'm going to be working on it for the next month or so.

I hear what you're saying about x7s and their lack of offense. I always like to have some kind of offensive enhancement equipped, but you really don't have the points for it. Have you considered dropping one of them for Omega Leader maybe? He's almost as tough, and a lot fewer points. If, for example, you dropped your 33 point Maarek for 26 point Omega Leader, you free up 7 points, and have no real loss of offense (and a large increase in offense in certain situations). You could do VI on Vessery for 1 point, Hull Upgrade on OL to make him last, and Proton Rockets on Vader. That is an overall increase in PS and Firepower at the loss of some hit points, a white 4k, and some of the automatic evade brawniness of a second x7.

i find OL usually dies pretty quickly for me, so maybe i just don't know how to fly him well yet. In games i have played against him, he's a beast and can shut down other x7s. I'll look at it and do some testing.

OL dying keeps Vader alive longer, at least, right?

Thanks for posting this. I've been going through a similar struggle to find a regionals list, using a combination of high-PS Imperial ships, including defenders, Inquisitor, Quickdraw, Omega Leader, etc. For a while I thought I had settled on PTL-baffle-Mk 2 Quickdraw, Carnor with PTL, thrusters and Mk 2 engines, and a standard PTL Inqy with Prockets. The problem is our local meta is currently dominated by a guy running PS-11 Vader, standard Soontir and a Delta X-7 (99 points). Soontir and Vader are really, really hard to kill with small PS-8 ships. There a lot of guys in my meta and on Vassal running Fenn Rau and Old Teroch together as well, and they're annoying as all hell. I loved your Vessery - Maarek - Bren list but in my meta, Bren would never get to fire that missile. I love Carnor and what he can do against all the token-dependent builds out there, but I may drop him and try Quickdraw with a couple of tanky defenders. Anyways, don't know how much I'm contributing to your post, but thanks again for sharing your experience.

.

I'm goin to try out Bio's suggestion tonight to see what i can do with it.

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/584082/evolve

I'll be focusing on how i can keep OL alive as long as possible.

I've flown A LOT of defenders, and I feel pilot skill is not super important, so for me, I look at adaptability on a defender as a waste. Yes, I realize its 0 points, but still, that slot can be doing so much more for you than a meaningless +1 PS (which I see as only being useful if you are bumping up to 8 or higher and only because of Dash----who admittedly, is pretty rare).

Personally, I think X-7 defenders really need an offensive EPT to work. Crack shot, Juke and Predator are the ones you should be considering before anything else, imho. And of the three, I would say Juke is the weakest due to combination of its cost and situational nature of it (even if its not THAT situational on an X-7 defender).

I have also flown A LOT of Vader. He's my favourite pilot and while I love him to bits with Lone Wolf, I know not everyone likes that build. Proton Rockets are a double-edged sword on him, I find. Yes, you can really nuke something off the board, but if you try to get them off too early in the game, you very much risk trading Vader for whatever it is he procketed to death (and that is rarely a good trade, due to his cost!)

My suggestion:

Vader w/ VI, title, ATC & engine = 35

Vessery w/ crack shot, X-7 & hull upgrade = 37

Delta w/ X-7 = 28

100

I like the delta much better than Omega Leader. He can block when needed, has little trouble picking target locks (except on the first turn of shooting, but you have Vader for that). But best of all, you can fly him more aggressively than Omega Leader so he can put a lot of offensive pressure on the enemy and keep his k-turns open for better time on target.

You could of course drop the hull upgrade for proton rockets, and you can even drop Veteran Instincts to get a TIE mk 2 engine on Vessery (to help Vess against possible stress control opposition). So think this list has some versatility. I do like Hull on Vessery simply because he draws a lot of aggro, and at the same time, he hits consistently hard every turn he shoots, so I find keeping him alive longer helps keep the damage up and gives a better chance for a more favourable end-game scenario for Vader.

Just my 2 cents!

I've flown A LOT of defenders, and I feel pilot skill is not super important, so for me, I look at adaptability on a defender as a waste. Yes, I realize its 0 points, but still, that slot can be doing so much more for you than a meaningless +1 PS (which I see as only being useful if you are bumping up to 8 or higher and only because of Dash----who admittedly, is pretty rare).

Personally, I think X-7 defenders really need an offensive EPT to work. Crack shot, Juke and Predator are the ones you should be considering before anything else, imho. And of the three, I would say Juke is the weakest due to combination of its cost and situational nature of it (even if its not THAT situational on an X-7 defender).

I have also flown A LOT of Vader. He's my favourite pilot and while I love him to bits with Lone Wolf, I know not everyone likes that build. Proton Rockets are a double-edged sword on him, I find. Yes, you can really nuke something off the board, but if you try to get them off too early in the game, you very much risk trading Vader for whatever it is he procketed to death (and that is rarely a good trade, due to his cost!)

My suggestion:

Vader w/ VI, title, ATC & engine = 35

Vessery w/ crack shot, X-7 & hull upgrade = 37

Delta w/ X-7 = 28

100

I like the delta much better than Omega Leader. He can block when needed, has little trouble picking target locks (except on the first turn of shooting, but you have Vader for that). But best of all, you can fly him more aggressively than Omega Leader so he can put a lot of offensive pressure on the enemy and keep his k-turns open for better time on target.

You could of course drop the hull upgrade for proton rockets, and you can even drop Veteran Instincts to get a TIE mk 2 engine on Vessery (to help Vess against possible stress control opposition). So think this list has some versatility. I do like Hull on Vessery simply because he draws a lot of aggro, and at the same time, he hits consistently hard every turn he shoots, so I find keeping him alive longer helps keep the damage up and gives a better chance for a more favourable end-game scenario for Vader.

Just my 2 cents!

Thank you for your thoughts. I absolutely value your and Bio's experience, opinions, and suggestions.

For me, the VI on vader is a waste. Adapt is sufficient for hunting aces, which frees up the extra point for juke on vess. My thought with higher ps is honestly the mirror match. Vess and Ryad without a ps buff are 6 and 5, and i want to be able to react to their moves and outguess them and shoot first. Make them burn that evade token so they can't juke. I have to make a squad that not only includes an x7 defender, but can beat them, too.

I have tried an x7 delta instead of OL before, and im not sold on him endgame. Moving first means he gets arc dodged and killed more easily. In fact i lost an endgame match flying a Delta vs an OL, because the Delta couldn't do anything at all. So, I'll stick with OL for now and see what i think.

For me, it's either OL or Maarek, and I'm reluctant to give up on Maarek because his ability was so key to some of my wins in the tournament earlier this month.

I am a big fan of Defenders and also Omega Leader. My current go-to squad looks like this:

Omega Leader + Comm Relay + Juke + Shield Upgrade

Colonel Vessery + X/7 + Crack Shot

Countess Ryad + X/7 + Push The Limit + Twin Ion Engines Mk2

I think Omega is probably the most suitable ace for the current meta. He can be almost as resilient as Defenders, and he is immune to a lot of Scum tricks, including Zuckuss and Assaj (well he doesn't like getting the extra stress, but handles it much better than other aces).

I'm also still just learning how to fly him well, but I think the basics are to NOT engage unless he has farmed his evade and target lock tokens and keep out of the middle of the fight. If he gets a beating, he should disengage to farm the tokens again, and return to fight later.

But in 1 on 1 he obviously shines, and should not be affraid to use his excellent s-loops.

The fact that he still has his evade and target lock after red maneuver, or bump, makes him quite similar to Defenders imho.

I also like the Shield Upgrade on him, but that one could be switched around of course.

Ryad, though, im not sold on. I have killed her way too easily with previous squads. Her ability is fun, for sure, but she just doesnt have the punch i need to get through my opponent's x7s.

Flew Bio's suggestion, vader, Omega Leader, and vessery tonight vs Nick running a Inqy, Fel, ryad list.

First round he comes fast at me, while i take it slow. Next round he runs Fel into ryad, vader TLs Fel. Vader rolls hit, adds a crit, fel rolls blank and 3 eyes. He draws one, then flips the DH to one-shot a sleathed Fel with vader. Few more rounds later i finish off Inqy. Then my 3 ships pound on Ryad, taking her down to 1 hull. Nick conceded at that point, having done 2 shields and a hull to vader, total.

OL rolled pretty badly for me, and I don't think he actually did any damage, even with juke because nick rolled at least 3 natural evades every time OL actually rolled hits. Still not sold on him yet, but I'll keep him for now. I did spend his tl and evade, then took 2 more turns out of the fight getting them back before re-engaging.

Although now there is a scum list that I'm dying to try. I saw snowhill play it last night on vassal, and i modded it to fit me a little better. That might be my next vassal game.

Vassal game tonight vs Darryl running his bosskaroo Worlds list that he has been working on for months. I ran my "Evolve" squad of vader, OL, and vessery.

I line up directly across from him, which must have intimidated him because he immediately turned his 2 ships away from me. Second round i give chase and close distance. Over the next 3 rounds i chase bossk across the board, taking away all of his shields. When he ran out of room and had to turn in i had all 3 guns on him and finished him off before he could attack.

I then work on chasing down manaroo. Vader's prockets take her shields down. She then takes vader down to 1 hull. Next round she bmst and finishes vader (thrust control crit round before.) A couple rounds later vess and OL have range 1 shots and finish the game.

Not a bad game, just surprised he decided to run instead of joust. It cost him all of bossk shots, because bossk never got a shot off. Still not enthused about OL. Lots of time lost getting tl and evade back for the second run.

Thanks for sharing all your game experience with these different pilots. I especially took note of those games where Tomax & tractor beam Vessery helped PS kill ships. My goto bomber has been Deathfire cause I almost always hit with the Conner Net. Your Tomax success gets me thinking...

Here's the list I've flown lately:

Deathfire / Concussion Missile / Conner Net / Long-Range Scanners

Vessery / Crackshot / Tie/D / Ion Cannon

Vader / Lone Wolf / ATC / Engine

Crackshot with Ion Cannon is such a game changer. Drastic changes would have to happen in order to fit in 30 point Tomax.

Thanks for sharing all your game experience with these different pilots. I especially took note of those games where Tomax & tractor beam Vessery helped PS kill ships. My goto bomber has been Deathfire cause I almost always hit with the Conner Net. Your Tomax success gets me thinking...

Here's the list I've flown lately:

Deathfire / Concussion Missile / Conner Net / Long-Range Scanners

Vessery / Crackshot / Tie/D / Ion Cannon

Vader / Lone Wolf / ATC / Engine

Crackshot with Ion Cannon is such a game changer. Drastic changes would have to happen in order to fit in 30 point Tomax.

Yeah, i wouldn't worry about trying to fit Bren in. Crack shot vessery at PS6 is less likely to PS kill something.

Although, you could go with a gamma vet with adapt instead of the conner net. That would get your bomber up to ps6. In that case, i would go assault missile for the biggs matchups.

Flew Bio's suggestion, vader, Omega Leader, and vessery tonight vs Nick running a Inqy, Fel, ryad list.

First round he comes fast at me, while i take it slow. Next round he runs Fel into ryad, vader TLs Fel. Vader rolls hit, adds a crit, fel rolls blank and 3 eyes. He draws one, then flips the DH to one-shot a sleathed Fel with vader. Few more rounds later i finish off Inqy. Then my 3 ships pound on Ryad, taking her down to 1 hull. Nick conceded at that point, having done 2 shields and a hull to vader, total.

OL rolled pretty badly for me, and I don't think he actually did any damage, even with juke because nick rolled at least 3 natural evades every time OL actually rolled hits. Still not sold on him yet, but I'll keep him for now. I did spend his tl and evade, then took 2 more turns out of the fight getting them back before re-engaging.

Although now there is a scum list that I'm dying to try. I saw snowhill play it last night on vassal, and i modded it to fit me a little better. That might be my next vassal game.

Did Nick not push to have a focus on Fel?