Darth gets his choke on

I've succumbed to the meta, and ordered a pair of ships that have had some success if forums are to be believed:

DECI-MATES

99 points

PILOTS

Commander Kenkirk (56)

VT-49 Decimator (44), Ysanne Isard (4), Gunner (5), Rebel Captive (3)

Patrol Leader (43)

VT-49 Decimator (40), Darth Vader (3)

Game 1

First up was Phil with a Scum list that I've tried to duplicate from memory and looked a lot like this:

PHILS LIST 1?

96 points

PILOTS

Kavil (30)

Y-Wing (24), Autoblaster Turret (2), Unhinged Astromech (1), Push the Limit (3)

Binayre Pirate (14)

Z-95 Headhunter (12), Dead Man's Switch (2)

Tansarii Point Veteran (29)

M3-A “Scyk” Interceptor (17), Push the Limit (3), “Heavy Scyk” Interceptor (2), Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Syndicate Thug (23)

Y-Wing (18), Ion Cannon Turret (5), BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Setup and Phil's fleet deploys opposite two small moons...

First turn, and the fleets nervously edge towards each other, Kaval swinging left to join the rest.

The Patrol leader breaks to port to engage Kaval while Commander Kenkirk banks to starboard away from the kamikaze Z-95. Kaval pushes the limit preparing to pound his target. 

Meanwhile in the middle disaster strikes with the Y-Wing slamming into the back of the banking Z-95 and loses his action. The Scyk barrel rolls right and targets Kenkirk, earning him a stress token - thanks Rebel Captive!

The Decimators bank towards each other, turret guns hurling death at the Scummy Villains. Kaval and the Y-wing tag each other and switch targets. The Binayre Pilot in his flying bomb tracks Kenkirk enjoying a complete lack of return fire. The Decimators have taken damage but this gives Kenkirk an evade dice and a free evade action. Disaster strikes as the Scyk takes critical hits disabling his Heavy Laser Cannon and reducing his Pilot Skill to 0. (We both agreed afterwards this was the determining factor for the outcome.). He is reduced to moving 1 ahead to clear the accumulated stresses of targeting Kenkirk's ship.

Kaval, his shields down and ship damaged, takes enfilade fire from both Decimators and is blown to pieces. The annoying Binayre keeps chipping away while the Scyk carries on reducing his stress. The remaining Y-Wing hammers in firing both primary and secondary weapons. Unfortunately a single ion cannon token does nothing to Decimators. 

The Scyk is well on his way to pulling a Maverick, as this stolen footage taken from the Scum Battle Control Systems shows:

Despite having 9 square feet of playing space another traffic jam develops, even the M25 would be impressed by this.

The Scyk banks slowly as his allies scream at him to get back in the fight

With inspirational 80's battle music in his ears, the Scyk goes head-to-head with the Russian Mig Patrol Leader's Decimator, forcing it to fire on the Binayre instead.

Meanwhile the Binayre manages to cause his patented "crash for cash" scam on Commander Kenkirk, forcing him to target the Scyk.

Kenkirk hits the Scyk and blows it to pieces. The Patrol leader hits the Binayre, taking it to one remaining hull point. Vader strongly considers force choking the Scyk into the hereafter, but doing so will destroy the ship he's on as it only has two hull points left. The resulting explosion from the Dead Man's Trigger would harm Kenkirk too.

Disaster for the Empire as the Binayre lines up the Patrol Leader and shoots him down.

Kenkirk lines his guns up and shoots the Binayre down, victory for the Empire!

Game 2

Phil agreed to a second game, and his revised Scum force looked like this:

Ha! No really, it went something like this:

PHIL'S LIST 2?

98 points

PILOTS

IG88-B (51)
Aggressor (36), Veteran Instincts (1), Sensor Jammer (4), “Mangler” Cannon (4), “Hot Shot” Blaster (3), IG-2000 (0), Stealth Device (3)

IG88-D (47)
Aggressor (36), Veteran Instincts (1), “Mangler” Cannon (4), “Hot Shot” Blaster (3), IG-2000 (0), Stealth Device (3)

Deployment and four large ships hit the table from opposing corners. They edge towards each other even more nervously than before.

The IG-88's are extremely manoeuvrable, running rings around the lumbering Decimators. Disaster strikes again as Phil mistakenly chooses a red action for a stressed ship and I get to choose the movement instead, which is why the one bottom left is bugging out.

One of the 88's loops around gently avoiding the table edge while his compatriot harries Kenkirk but builds up stress from shooting at a Rebel Captive.

Looping around the Patrol Leader manages to knock an 88 down to one hull, and Vader gives his ship two damage to finish the 88 off. One down one to go!

The remaining 88 lands up in a crossfire, reduced to one hull too and Vader makes it two for two!

While Vader isn't always a wise choice (particularly if the enemy has shields) in this case he certainly was worth his 3 points and earned some light approval.