So, I finally broke down and decided to play imps and try out a true swarm for the first time. Which, btw, as I suspected, I didn't like flying. Kudos to any of you who intentionally fly that at regionals / nats / worlds because it takes a lot more concentration than a 4 rebel build does.

I started with HR + 6 AP, but that only puts you at 90 points. So I was looking at what to do with the remaining 10 points. ST was a giveme, so I was left with 8. I suppose I could have upgraded two APs to DC or BS, but I wanted something for an init bid. So I ended up going with Mauler w/ ST, putting me at 99. Now, clearly a swarm would like to be at 97 or 98 ideally, but I've never come across adding Mauler to the squad. Never seen it in person, or discussed on the forums.

It worked great for me. Flying at 1 blocking whatever I wanted, and then shooting at 8 8 7 7, so I made sure I got those critical shots off. Both games I played I managed to kill something before it got to shot. Something I'm not used to seeing from a swarm.

So, besides the potential init loss against other swarms (which is possible even if you drop to 97 points)... what's the reason that you don't see this list? Is it truly because people want to put SD or SU on howl?

I have seen the following to be brutally effective.

99 points

Basically Backstabber flanking with Howl Runner with 4x Tie all at PS8.

It is a solid list. I do believe the biggest thing is, people worry about what happens to the swarm after you lose your 2 ST ties. Not only are you losing your dice buff, you are losing a bit of PS bid. Only real reason I could see it being a problem.

I have seen the following to be brutally effective.

99 points

Howlrunner; Swarm Tactics

Mauler Mithel;Swarm Tactics

Black Squadron Pilot ;Swarm Tactics

Black Squadron Pilot; Swarm Tactics

Academy Pilot

+ Backstabber

Basically Backstabber flanking with Howl Runner with 4x Tie all at PS8.

I must be missing something.

Why not just drop ST on Mauler. It doesn't do him any good?

.VI instead. you get 9, 8,8,8, 6?

Or do you want to swarm BS too?

I have seen the following to be brutally effective.

99 points

Howlrunner; Swarm Tactics

Mauler Mithel;Swarm Tactics

Black Squadron Pilot ;Swarm Tactics

Black Squadron Pilot; Swarm Tactics

Academy Pilot

+ Backstabber

Basically Backstabber flanking with Howl Runner with 4x Tie all at PS8.

I must be missing something.

Why not just drop ST on Mauler. It doesn't do him any good?

.VI instead. you get 9, 8,8,8, 6?

Or do you want to swarm BS too?

You leave it on him so when HR dies, you have a second person to swarm the BSP up to 7. Given, if you're going to run 6 TIEs, chaining ST, why doesn't one just run the 6 named and then have no need for ST?

Swarm Tactics based swarms are solid choices, as are the PS 6, 6 Ties swarms.

I'd say the only reason you don't see it is the lack of additional protection on Howlrunner, which can scare people away. A SD or a BSP + DTF body guard seems safer to people. Imo, it isn't all that necessary if you fly Holwrunner behind all 6 ties. Honestly, range q is farther than you might think, and if you keep Howlrunner in the back as far as possible, she is an additional Range behind the rest of your ties.

Thats's probably the gist of it.

If you play imps now, does that mean I have to play rebels???

My favorite swarm to run is all of the named TIE Fighter Pilots and a Stealth Device on Howlrunner. I am also a fan of putting a superiority craft next to a swarmlet. Howlrunner+4 Academies is 66 Points, leaving you 34 to play around. I have had success with a Bounty Hunter, or with Soontir Fel+PtL+Stealth. In fact, wasn't me playing, but that is the list that won the local Store Championship. Turr Phennir is a popular choice, as is a doom shuttle or buzzsaw. Vader+Squad Leader was a popular Wave 1 choice, can still be helpful as a swarm member, and stick a stealth on Howlrunner for good measure.

Swarm Tactics based swarms are solid choices, as are the PS 6, 6 Ties swarms.

I'd say the only reason you don't see it is the lack of additional protection on Howlrunner, which can scare people away. A SD or a BSP + DTF body guard seems safer to people. Imo, it isn't all that necessary if you fly Holwrunner behind all 6 ties. Honestly, range q is farther than you might think, and if you keep Howlrunner in the back as far as possible, she is an additional Range behind the rest of your ties.

Thats's probably the gist of it.

If you play imps now, does that mean I have to play rebels???

Oh dear god no. I miss my rebels waaayyy too much to stick with Imps and their boring paint jobs. Do you know how hard it was for me to figure out which TIE was what? If I switched, I'd have to paint one red, one yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, black and white so I could determine which was what. The Rebels with my mismatched paint jobs are soo much easier to keep straight mentally. Biggs is in the StealthX... Wedge is in his X wing... Dagger is in the Red B, and my Prototype is in the prototype painted A (which I had to paint because I kept confusing myself when I ran my Green repaint as a prototype).

Howlrunner

Alpha Squadron Pilot x 3

Academy Pilot

Backstabber

not the highest PS ever but it's a good deal of firepower in the initial Howlrunner strike package. If the opponent goes for your big guns first it still leaves you with your higher PS ties, and even if they manage to take down Howlrunner (which is quite possible since she doesn't have any defensive upgrades) you still have interceptors+backstabber so your firepower is still a threat.

Swarm Tactics based swarms are solid choices, as are the PS 6, 6 Ties swarms.

I'd say the only reason you don't see it is the lack of additional protection on Howlrunner, which can scare people away. A SD or a BSP + DTF body guard seems safer to people. Imo, it isn't all that necessary if you fly Holwrunner behind all 6 ties. Honestly, range q is farther than you might think, and if you keep Howlrunner in the back as far as possible, she is an additional Range behind the rest of your ties.

Thats's probably the gist of it.

If you play imps now, does that mean I have to play rebels???

Oh dear god no. I miss my rebels waaayyy too much to stick with Imps and their boring paint jobs. Do you know how hard it was for me to figure out which TIE was what? If I switched, I'd have to paint one red, one yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, black and white so I could determine which was what. The Rebels with my mismatched paint jobs are soo much easier to keep straight mentally. Biggs is in the StealthX... Wedge is in his X wing... Dagger is in the Red B, and my Prototype is in the prototype painted A (which I had to paint because I kept confusing myself when I ran my Green repaint as a prototype).

Just out of curiosity, do you have pics of your fleet? I'm always curious about custom painted fleets..

I run a 7 Tie Swarm, built of the following.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

H owlrunner

+ S tealth D evice

+ P ush the L imit

-{ 24 }-

3x O bsidian P ilots

-{ 13 Each }-

3x A cademy P ilots

-{ 12 Each }-

Swarm Tactics based swarms are solid choices, as are the PS 6, 6 Ties swarms.

I'd say the only reason you don't see it is the lack of additional protection on Howlrunner, which can scare people away. A SD or a BSP + DTF body guard seems safer to people. Imo, it isn't all that necessary if you fly Holwrunner behind all 6 ties. Honestly, range q is farther than you might think, and if you keep Howlrunner in the back as far as possible, she is an additional Range behind the rest of your ties.

Thats's probably the gist of it.

If you play imps now, does that mean I have to play rebels???

Oh dear god no. I miss my rebels waaayyy too much to stick with Imps and their boring paint jobs. Do you know how hard it was for me to figure out which TIE was what? If I switched, I'd have to paint one red, one yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, black and white so I could determine which was what. The Rebels with my mismatched paint jobs are soo much easier to keep straight mentally. Biggs is in the StealthX... Wedge is in his X wing... Dagger is in the Red B, and my Prototype is in the prototype painted A (which I had to paint because I kept confusing myself when I ran my Green repaint as a prototype).

Just out of curiosity, do you have pics of your fleet? I'm always curious about custom painted fleets..

I've got a fair number of custom painted ships too, though, I was thinking instead of using the numbers, putting brightly colored beads on the stand stalks and matching color chips on the cards.. faster recognition.

I was toying around with this. Excited to run something thematic and interested to see how it can do competitively.

Vader 29

Expose 4

Mauler 17

Backstabber 16

Dark Curse 16

BSP 14

Opportunist 4

It comes in at 100. You could easily drop expose and or the BSP to explore your options. I wanted to run something that all of the ties hit hard (for a tie) and it is the squadron Vader flew with at the battle if Yavin.

My tourney squad was just Howl + swarm, Backstabber, Nightbeast, and 4 Academies. I wonder if maybe at regionals and worlds it'll be different, but at my giant tournament there were so few Imperial players that it wasn't worth it to drop below 99 for initiative. I'm kind of ambivalent on whether the stealth, or following your advice about the hull upgrade, would make Howlrunner more of a target though. It might depend on your formation. The lateral spread makes it harder to keep her out of the way, which is why I usually do the 2x column of 6 with the flanker.

I haven't gotten a chance to try the named and 6 tie ps squads yet, since I only got my swarm a bit before leaving Michigan though. Mostly I'm going to be trying out the Carnor, Howl, 4 academy squads though. You should definitely give it more of a chance, since figuring out your path through the asteroids is a lot more interesting than doing a rebel brick.

Swarm Tactics based swarms are solid choices, as are the PS 6, 6 Ties swarms.

I'd say the only reason you don't see it is the lack of additional protection on Howlrunner, which can scare people away. A SD or a BSP + DTF body guard seems safer to people. Imo, it isn't all that necessary if you fly Holwrunner behind all 6 ties. Honestly, range q is farther than you might think, and if you keep Howlrunner in the back as far as possible, she is an additional Range behind the rest of your ties.

Thats's probably the gist of it.

If you play imps now, does that mean I have to play rebels???

Oh dear god no. I miss my rebels waaayyy too much to stick with Imps and their boring paint jobs. Do you know how hard it was for me to figure out which TIE was what? If I switched, I'd have to paint one red, one yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, black and white so I could determine which was what. The Rebels with my mismatched paint jobs are soo much easier to keep straight mentally. Biggs is in the StealthX... Wedge is in his X wing... Dagger is in the Red B, and my Prototype is in the prototype painted A (which I had to paint because I kept confusing myself when I ran my Green repaint as a prototype).

Just out of curiosity, do you have pics of your fleet? I'm always curious about custom painted fleets..

I just added some to this thread http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/102413-weird-stuff-you-buydo-for-x-wing-or-x-wing-hax/page-3

Swarm Tactics based swarms are solid choices, as are the PS 6, 6 Ties swarms.

I'd say the only reason you don't see it is the lack of additional protection on Howlrunner, which can scare people away. A SD or a BSP + DTF body guard seems safer to people. Imo, it isn't all that necessary if you fly Holwrunner behind all 6 ties. Honestly, range q is farther than you might think, and if you keep Howlrunner in the back as far as possible, she is an additional Range behind the rest of your ties.

Thats's probably the gist of it.

If you play imps now, does that mean I have to play rebels???

Oh dear god no. I miss my rebels waaayyy too much to stick with Imps and their boring paint jobs. Do you know how hard it was for me to figure out which TIE was what? If I switched, I'd have to paint one red, one yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, black and white so I could determine which was what. The Rebels with my mismatched paint jobs are soo much easier to keep straight mentally. Biggs is in the StealthX... Wedge is in his X wing... Dagger is in the Red B, and my Prototype is in the prototype painted A (which I had to paint because I kept confusing myself when I ran my Green repaint as a prototype).

Just out of curiosity, do you have pics of your fleet? I'm always curious about custom painted fleets..

I've got a fair number of custom painted ships too, though, I was thinking instead of using the numbers, putting brightly colored beads on the stand stalks and matching color chips on the cards.. faster recognition.

I've been say that for forever... I need to paint some red/blue so I can put it on the pilot card so I can be clear about it to the opponent.