I've never competed in any FFG tournaments, but I took this Imperial list whet 3-0 in a round robin for our FLGS tournament.

Krassis w/HLC + Rec Spec + APL

Jonus w/PT + Determination

Howl w/Swarm + Shield

I took a mod win against BBBAA, mostly from the player constantly fiddling with his dials every turn, so we ran out of time. I took out Chewie YT, Wedge & Prototype in under 30 minutes and then took out a 2x Buzzsaw & 1 BH in just over an hour.

Not bad for a player that normally plays Rebels, and always has a HWK on the field... oh wait, it means I know what the Rebel ships can do. Oops.

Elite 9s - Fel, Turr, Vader

789 - Turr, Jax, Fel

Royal Guards - 4x RGT with PTL
2x Bounty + Turr - 2x BH with Recon Spec. w/ Turr + PTL

The one where the imperial player rolls all evades and and the rebel player rolls all blanks. Oh wait... Got that backwards. The imperial player usually rolls all blanks and loses 30% of thier force on a die roll.

Does Vader + 4-5 Ties count as a swarm?

I would have said not.

Vader + Black Squadron involves a bit of skill because you've got people like Backstabber, who's got to get on the flanks, and Mithel, who's got to survive to close range. It's not the same as the much maligned "form up round howlrunner and advance at speed 2 throwing red dice at people"*. It rewards using them in pairs or solo, like baby interceptors.

Plus it's a very characterful list; Black Squadron pilots are the cheapest guys in the game with an elite pilot talent (I'm so glad Tala Squadron didn't get one), allowing you to mix and match abilities as you see fit - and most of them still come in under the price of a basic squint when you do so. That means a ridiculously customisable fleet that's going to keep getting better and better as more elite pilot talents come out - especially the cheaper ones like veteran instincts.

* Which does kind of annoy me when the person saying this was forming up around biggs.... and advancing at speed 2... throwing....never mind....

Bounty Hunter with Gunner

Bounty Hunter with Gunner

Doom Shuttle

-100 pts

Bounty Hunter with Recon Specialist, Seismic Charges

Bounty Hunter with Recon Specialist, Seismic Charges

Doom Shuttle

-100 pts

Bounty Hunter with Gunner

Soontir with Stealth, Push the Limit

Turr with Stealth, Veteran Instincts

-100 pts

If you are not a Swarm player, you need to embrace the Fire(spray).

Imho.

The one where the imperial player rolls all evades and and the rebel player rolls all blanks. Oh wait... Got that backwards. The imperial player usually rolls all blanks and loses 30% of thier force on a die roll .

so usually 70% of the Imp ships leave the playing field, seems the only other way to loose a ship - interesting

Boba & Kath

Krassis & Kath

Boba & Krassis

... are 2 sprays only competitive at all ?

I like Sable Gryphons bomber swarm...

5x Gamma Squadron Pilot + Seismic Charges

this will probably make me by a 5th bomber **** it!

If you ask me they should have switched the cost of the tie and the tie-bomber. The extra cost of the weapons on the bomber should have been better accounted for when they amade the ships. After ordinance is gone from a bomber they are weak ships and if you overload on ordinance they will die before they use it all. A cheaper launch platform would have made them useful. Not to mention ties have always been about 1 point undercosted anyway. One point would have forced diversity into imperial lists much earlier, and a cheaper bomber becomes much more attractive. Never mind the fact that missles and torpedos are all overcosted or underpowered. Anything that makes you lose 4-5 points on use should have a high likelihood of a kill and 4 die is not a likely kill on anything in this game. The lasers and ions are about right but 4 points discarded after one use can make you lose a match easily. Disposable ordinance needs a buff the next time they make any.

Boba & Kath

Krassis & Kath

Boba & Krassis

... are 2 sprays only competitive at all ?

If you ask me they should have switched the cost of the tie and the tie-bomber. The extra cost of the weapons on the bomber should have been better accounted for when they amade the ships. After ordinance is gone from a bomber they are weak ships and if you overload on ordinance they will die before they use it all. A cheaper launch platform would have made them useful. Not to mention ties have always been about 1 point undercosted anyway. One point would have forced diversity into imperial lists much earlier, and a cheaper bomber becomes much more attractive. Never mind the fact that missles and torpedos are all overcosted or underpowered. Anything that makes you lose 4-5 points on use should have a high likelihood of a kill and 4 die is not a likely kill on anything in this game. The lasers and ions are about right but 4 points discarded after one use can make you lose a match easily. Disposable ordinance needs a buff the next time they make any.

two words.

Munitions Failsafe.

this will help bombers quite a bit and even allow you to run 1-2 in a squad wout Jonus and they will actually be useful

If you ask me they should have switched the cost of the tie and the tie-bomber. The extra cost of the weapons on the bomber should have been better accounted for when they amade the ships. After ordinance is gone from a bomber they are weak ships and if you overload on ordinance they will die before they use it all. A cheaper launch platform would have made them useful. Not to mention ties have always been about 1 point undercosted anyway. One point would have forced diversity into imperial lists much earlier, and a cheaper bomber becomes much more attractive. Never mind the fact that missles and torpedos are all overcosted or underpowered. Anything that makes you lose 4-5 points on use should have a high likelihood of a kill and 4 die is not a likely kill on anything in this game. The lasers and ions are about right but 4 points discarded after one use can make you lose a match easily. Disposable ordinance needs a buff the next time they make any.

two words.

Munitions Failsafe.

this will help bombers quite a bit and even allow you to run 1-2 in a squad wout Jonus and they will actually be useful

The more I think about it, the more I believe we may be putting too much faith in Munitions Failsafe. While it certainly prevents ordnance completely going to waste on a miss, it doesn't make firing the ordnance any easier or more reliable either.

If you ask me they should have switched the cost of the tie and the tie-bomber. The extra cost of the weapons on the bomber should have been better accounted for when they amade the ships. After ordinance is gone from a bomber they are weak ships and if you overload on ordinance they will die before they use it all. A cheaper launch platform would have made them useful. Not to mention ties have always been about 1 point undercosted anyway. One point would have forced diversity into imperial lists much earlier, and a cheaper bomber becomes much more attractive. Never mind the fact that missles and torpedos are all overcosted or underpowered. Anything that makes you lose 4-5 points on use should have a high likelihood of a kill and 4 die is not a likely kill on anything in this game. The lasers and ions are about right but 4 points discarded after one use can make you lose a match easily. Disposable ordinance needs a buff the next time they make any.

two words.

Munitions Failsafe.

this will help bombers quite a bit and even allow you to run 1-2 in a squad wout Jonus and they will actually be useful

The more I think about it, the more I believe we may be putting too much faith in Munitions Failsafe. While it certainly prevents ordnance completely going to waste on a miss, it doesn't make firing the ordnance any easier or more reliable either.

for 1pt its insurance u will hit if u get ur missiles/torps off. i think this will lead to more squads using a single cheap bomber or perhaps two cheap bombers in support of a larger squad. mf isnt a silver bullet but it lets you reload the bullet and fire it again if it misses.

If you ask me they should have switched the cost of the tie and the tie-bomber. The extra cost of the weapons on the bomber should have been better accounted for when they amade the ships. After ordinance is gone from a bomber they are weak ships and if you overload on ordinance they will die before they use it all. A cheaper launch platform would have made them useful. Not to mention ties have always been about 1 point undercosted anyway. One point would have forced diversity into imperial lists much earlier, and a cheaper bomber becomes much more attractive. Never mind the fact that missles and torpedos are all overcosted or underpowered. Anything that makes you lose 4-5 points on use should have a high likelihood of a kill and 4 die is not a likely kill on anything in this game. The lasers and ions are about right but 4 points discarded after one use can make you lose a match easily. Disposable ordinance needs a buff the next time they make any.

two words.

Munitions Failsafe.

this will help bombers quite a bit and even allow you to run 1-2 in a squad wout Jonus and they will actually be useful

The more I think about it, the more I believe we may be putting too much faith in Munitions Failsafe. While it certainly prevents ordnance completely going to waste on a miss, it doesn't make firing the ordnance any easier or more reliable either.

for 1pt its insurance u will hit if u get ur missiles/torps off. i think this will lead to more squads using a single cheap bomber or perhaps two cheap bombers in support of a larger squad. mf isnt a silver bullet but it lets you reload the bullet and fire it again.

And there are cheaper missiles/torpscoming, too.

for 1pt its insurance u will hit if u get ur missiles/torps off. i think this will lead to more squads using a single cheap bomber or perhaps two cheap bombers in support of a larger squad. mf isnt a silver bullet but it lets you reload the bullet and fire it again.

Oh it gets you to land them, but one of the main problems with a lot of ordnance is that they rarely do the damage you pay for, due to bombers having very limited ways to get dice modifiers for their ordnance. Even if your torp hits for just one damage, it still counts as a hit. Not exactly worth the 4 to 6 points you spend on it.

And there are cheaper missiles/torpscoming, too.

Ion Pulse is awesome tactically because the ion lets you set up ships for other traps, so I'm looking forward to that one. But I'm not quite impressed with flechette. It's only one pip more damage and stress, with the same limitations as other ordnance. Right now the Empire doesn't synergise with handing out stress all that well.

My non-swarm imperial lists that I have done well with or are new and promising

Women in Red

(46pts) Kath Scarlet w/Expert Handling, Ion Cannon, Rebel Captive

(54pts) 2x Saber Squadron Pilots w/ Push the Limit, Stealth Device

"A fun control list that is hard to pilot well but rewarding."

Red Barons

(40pts) Kath Scarlet w/Expert Handling

(28pts) Tur Phennir w/Push the Limit

(16pts) Backstabber

(16pts) Dark Curse

"My current favorite. Loads of end game potential. Good against the current 4-5PS meta."

Fel's Angels

(34pts) Soontir Fel w/Push the Limit, Shield Upgrade

(33pts) Bounty Hunter

(33pts) Bounty Hunter

"Well balanced Fel end game list"

Untouchables

(84pts) 3x Royal Guard w/Push the Limit, Stealth Device

(16pts) Dark Curse

"Weak to high damage ship lists like Han shoots first and blue thunder, but wreaks tie swarms."

Four 3 to Won

(74pts) 2x Bounty Hunter w/Engine Upgrade

(16pts) 2x Obsidian Squadron Pilots

"Excellent against 1-2PS Meta ... Not the norm now ... But could be in your area or future."

My non-swarm imperial lists that I have done well with or are new and promising

Women in Red

(46pts) Kath Scarlet w/Expert Handling, Ion Cannon, Rebel Captive

(54pts) 2x Saber Squadron Pilots w/ Push the Limit, Stealth Device

"A fun control list that is hard to pilot well but rewarding."

Red Barons

(40pts) Kath Scarlet w/Expert Handling

(28pts) Tur Phennir w/Push the Limit

(16pts) Backstabber

(16pts) Dark Curse

"My current favorite. Loads of end game potential. Good against the current 4-5PS meta."

Fel's Angels

(34pts) Soontir Fel w/Push the Limit, Shield Upgrade

(33pts) Bounty Hunter

(33pts) Bounty Hunter

"Well balanced Fel end game list"

Untouchables

(84pts) 3x Royal Guard w/Push the Limit, Stealth Device

(16pts) Dark Curse

"Weak to high damage ship lists like Han shoots first and blue thunder, but wreaks tie swarms."

Four 3 to Won

(74pts) 2x Bounty Hunter w/Engine Upgrade

(16pts) 2x Obsidian Squadron Pilots

"Excellent against 1-2PS Meta ... Not the norm now ... But could be in your area or future."

i really like the look of red barons - every ship is a threat. every ship is good in the endgame

Won my SC with

OGP + Gunner + EU + FCS (32)

Turr Phennir + VI (26)

Dark Curse (16)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Been having an awesome run (against many different lists) with

Turr Phennir + VI (26)

Carnor jax + PtL (29)

Backstabber + EU (20)

Royal Guard + PtL (25)

I don't have a 3rd list, unfortunately. I do want to try out a bomber list, and there is always 999 (Darth, Soontir & Turr all with addons).

Cheers

I just updated the Store Championship thread with squad breakdowns.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100813-store-championship-results/page-23#entry1046787