I was inspired by Hothie’s Farve-Wing (and wanted to fly something other than Palp/Kylo/Boats/RAC), and honestly missed rocketing around the map with Defenders.

I’ve been through a few iterations, trying out both Ion and Tractor versions, and have mostly settled on the Ion version. Tractor is great, but just about every other list I face is with a large base ship, and they’re not hurt much by the reduction in Agility. Also, being able to ion more than one ship has been pretty important.

I’m definitely still learning, my flying has been not been perfect by any means.

The list:

Rexler – Adaptability, TIE/D, Ion, TIE MK II

Maarek – VI, TIE/D, Ion, TIE MK II

Scimitar Squadron – TIE Shuttle, Fleet Officer

Game 1:

Zuckuss (Stealth Device)/Fenn Rau (standard AT Fenn)/N’dru (Harpoons)

I apologize, writing this in retrospect I don’t remember exactly what Zuckuss was running.

I started in the bottom right corner, my opponent started both Fenn and Zuckuss in the upper left, and N’dru on the upper right. I split my Defenders and turned out around the rock in the lower corner and then back in toward the center to overlap my arcs. My bomber crawled up the far right side to feed Focus to Rexler. My opponent brought Fenn in alongside Zuckuss, I think worried that if he tried to flank it would take Fenn too long to get into the fight while my Defenders beat on Zuckuss and N’dru.

I was able to put 2 damage onto N’Dru, Bomber took a Harpoon but lived with a couple hull, and Ion’d/Primary’d Zuckuss. The first Ion shot hit and stripped Stealth Device, and then primary attacks from both Rexler and Maarek crushed the Mist Hunter, leaving him with I think 2 health. Fenn stripped 2 shields, but I was planning on taking a hit anyway. From here my Defender on the right K-Turned behind N’Dru and Maarek got right up on Zuckuss with a hard 3. I don’t think my opponent expected me to move past his ships, and K-Turned with Fenn, expecting a R1 on a 2 bank into a juicy Mist Hunter.

N’dru unfortunately barely clipped the rock in the lower right as he turned in, ate a crit, and died, which freed up my firing for Fenn & Zuckuss. I had planned on only pushing a primary into Zuckuss, as he was at 2 hull, and saved my ions for Fenn. He was still stressed from the K-Turn and a white turn in, so no tokens. Fenn did pull off his 5-dice shenanigans into Maarek, but he survived with 2 hull. Zuckuss went down quickly, an ion into Fenn, and it was more or less over with a K-Turn behind a 3 health, stressed, ion’d Fenn and 2 Defenders with guns in arc.

Win: 100/0

Game 2:

Fat Han with shield upgrade instead of Engine, TFA title

Zombie Dutch with TLT/R5-D8 and Hull Upgrade

Tanky list, Han punches hard, and lots of target locks. This made me a little nervous—not having the X7 title for the Evade had me on edge for longevity against such a large turret and consistent TLT’s.

Han rushed in, Dutch tailing, and I made an effort to start slow and control range until I could figure out where Dutch would be. I was able to Ion Han, Dutch was out of range, and get solid shots in from all 3 of my ships. In return, Han punched Maarek in the face and I rolled blanks on defense. I had intiative and moved Maarek first to bump Han, and was able to Focus. Rexler came in from the side at R1. Focus didn’t save Maarek, more blanks and he’s at 1 hull. The R1 was a gamble on Rexler, but he was fresh, double focused from FO and I desperately needed to burn down Han as fast as possible.

Han was on Hull at this point and a focus from Rexler turned the damage face up, picking up Blinded Pilot and Direct Hit in the stack.

From here Maarek turned behind Han, and I turned in Rexler to bump on Han to maintain arc, able to feed him a focus from FO again. (I love my little shuttle). PS9 simultaneous fire brought down Han before Maarek died (more blanks—making a total of 12 blanks in a row for Maarek—3 for Han’s 1 ^st attack, 6 from TLT, and another 3 from Han’s 2 ^nd attack). My bomber was still healthy, and Dutch stripped 2 shields off Rexler with his TLT before turning to run next round.

Rexler landed an Ion on Dutch, and more or less walked him off the board. Y-Wing with Hull Upgrade and R5-D8 is beefy.

Win: 100/40

Game 3:

Poe – VI, Autothrusters, BB-8, FAA

Wedge – VI, Autothrusters, FAA – unfortunately I can’t remember exactly what else Wedge was running

Fenn – VI, Weapons Officer, M9-G8

I started slow, my Defenders facing parallel to the base of the map, allowing me to K-Turn back and forth to gauge how my opponent was coming in. My bomber bumbled along with 1-Straights to keep him back as well.

Poe and Wedge rocketed forward after the second round of nothing and were able to use FAA to move into range. I had turned both of my Defenders in at this point and was able to keep a couple rocks between us as well. First round of shooting, bomber took some shots, Defenders were out of range. In retrospect, I need to adjust my opening to keep the bomber behind my Defenders until we’ve gotten into combat (this will be a recurring theme).

Second round, I had my bomber turned and pushed him further away, as the only options for my opponent with the rocks and my perpendicular position of Defenders to his approach with Wedge/Poe were to chase the bomber or disengage away, which would put my Defenders directly behind him. Poe moved in and just barely clipped Range 3 on the Bomber, and couldn’t use FAA to reposition. I was able to spread my arcs to catch both Fenn and Poe in each Defender’s range, but with both guns on Poe as well. REALLY unlucky greens for my opponent and Poe evaporated in the first round of shooting. Fenn took a stress but I got lucky in return with natties. I put another Ion on Fenn, turned my Bomber around a large rock in the corner, and turned both Defenders behind Wedge.

My opponent was able to eventually swap Fenn’s 2 TL’s to my Defenders, which slowed the bleeding, but from there on it was a losing battle. A bump or two, and an ion, and it was more or less over. I tried to get cute with a 5K on my Bomber and ended up putting him off the board, but that was it.

Win: 100/19

Game 4:

Vader – Standard VI/Title/ATC

Aggressor – TLT, LWF

Deathrain – Trajectory Simulator, Bomblet Generator, Harpoons, Autothrusters

I really wasn’t sure what to think about this list, but I can tell you 1 thing: I severely underestimated Deathrain’s mobility. And Trajectory Simulator. And Bomblets.

I started in the center and my opponent set up Deathrain and the TLT on the left, with Vader far right to flank. I pushed up the center after castling the first 2 rounds to bait Vader in closer. What I hadn’t really accounted for was Trajectory Simulator on Deathrain, which landed a bomblet neatly on all 3 of my ships. Rexler took 2, the others mercifully none. Vader plinked another shield off Rexler at R3.

I took more damage from Deathrain than I had planned, but baiting Vader worked perfectly. I was able to turn both of my Defenders and cast a pretty wide net to catch Vader, but not before he TL’d Rexler and moved into R1. Rexler survived the exchange with Vader at 1 hull, and put both an Ion and Primary into him, as he spent all his tokens on offense for the kill. Maarek’s follow up put Vader at 1 health, and my Shuttle Hero-of-the-Day finished off the Dark Lord of the Sith.

In retrospect, from here, I should have made a point of keeping an ion on Deathrain, but I was dumb and spent it trying to ping the TLT aggressor. I tried to K-Turn behind Deathrain and clipped about .01mm of my base on an asteroid with Rexler, rolled for damage and Rexler goes poof before firing.

Deathrain, in response to my ignoring him, dropped another bomblet that stripped shields off Maarek. Deathrain’s free barrel roll, hard 3, and boost pushed him way out of arc, but thankfully I was able to coordinate fire on the TLT. Did I mention my Bomber was Hero-of-the-Day? Natties from him sealed the TLT’s fate, but not before he put Maarek down to 1 hull.

I was halfway expecting the game to end up my Shuttle and Deathrain chasing each other around the map plinking away, as there was no way for me to approach Deathrain without him coming around the rock with a shot on Maarek—not enough space to turn and run, no angle I could use to avoid his arc.

The exchange went my way, landing an ion and a couple hits, and then a turn behind Deathrain had him walk the plank. When all was said and done, Maarek was at 1 hull and the Shuttle at 2. I definitely could have flown that one better, but it was a pretty long day and I was fairly fried from the day before.

Win: 100/41