Since the announcement of the TIE Punisher I knew I'd have to include it in my lists as it was a tanky looking piece of imperial hardware and when I heard about Deathrain and the sheer amount of bombs he can throw around I couldn't wait to be flying the ship around. Fast forward to here we are and after a few games this is what I've been running for a few games and the list has been successful.
100 points Pilots
Delta Squadron Pilot - [Ion Cannon, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II] (34)
Delta Squadron Pilot - [Twin Ion Engine Mk. II] (31)
“Deathrain” - [Enhanced Scopes, Extra Munitions, Proximity Mines, Proximity Mines] (35)
Firstly yes TIE Defenders are in the mix utilising the new Twin Ion Engines. The plan when originally constructing this list was to bomb the crap out of the enemy squad which is fairly obvious. Next I wanted some help in ensuring said enemy squad would collide with my bombs on my terms.
Enhanced scopes certainly helps with this allowing Deathrain to move first and drop a bomb for his action. Secondly I added a single Ion Cannon to one of the Delta pilots to add a bit more flexibility to the list but to also catch any ships and get them off the board if I used Deathrain to deploy a mine in a 'corridor' forcing the enemy to move towards the table edge. The only thing I have been missing so far with it however is I'd love the Twin Ion Engine on Deathrain as well just to give him a few more green moves.
Anyway I've played with this list probably half a dozen times and it's been a lot of fun and I really do enjoy it. I find the enemy will either ignore Deathrain focusing on the TIE Defenders allowing my proxy mines to go unchecked, or they'll focus on Deathrain and generally remove him from the game because honestly he's not that hard to catch and by that stage the TIE Defenders have done some damage or removed a ship from play.
A lot of fun and I'm looking forward to burning more hours playing with this build.