A pretty simple build, but one I'm curious to try in the future.

Etahn A'baht + R2-F2 + Push the Limit + Fire Control System (40)

Five Bandit Squadron Pilots (12 x 5 = 60)

While not a Howlrunner swarm it makes for a semi-beefy list with a lot of guns. The attacks from the Headhunters get to change to crits from hits as long as the firing arc lines up with Etahn, which is easy to do with barrel roll in his arsenal of moves. R2-F2 is there to increase his longevity when paired with the other defensive actions in his bar. FCS is there to make Etahn's attacks more deadly especially when either facing tough opponent ships or you wish to divide fire between more than one targets.

Open for criticism! I am aware that killing Etahn is still reletively easy, but I wanted to do something with the new ships while doing a Z-95 mini swarm.

Open for criticism! I am aware that killing Etahn is still reletively easy, but I wanted to do something with the new ships while doing a Z-95 mini swarm.

I like the idea. I imagine this is exactly the use they intended for him (encourage getting more cheap ships in there). However, I have to say that for my specific play style I absolutely dream of facing lists like this. Lots of low PS ships. I love high level Interceptors, and I think I'm going to love high PS Phantoms for the same reason. I would love to see my defender squad go up against this.

but anyway, yeah, it seems like you're already aware of the glaring flaw in this build. Though even if they do kill Etahn first, there's still quite a few ships to deal with. Simple strength in numbers is what TIEs have been all about so far, and it's been quite effective for them. I wouldn't count the gnats out prematurely.

Thanks! I'm glad someone would have some fun fighting this list. It's certainly a bit of a kamikaze squad. However the nice thing about this list is you can easily tailor in different ships by simply subtracting Z-95's. Want Ion Missiles? Drop a Bandit. Want an X-Wing? Drop 2 bandits. 2 Naked Y-Wings? Trade out 3 Z's!

Well, keep in mind the strength is that you've got multiple opponents. Though 2 Y's have more HP, they also have fewer evade dice and more predictable flight patterns. Even with Obsidian Squadron TIEs, they'd be barrel rolling out of your arcs with ease (and then likely tear you up at range 1. The whole strength of having tons of them is that it's very very hard to get out of 6 firing arcs, much more so than it is to get out of 3.

Honestly, I think I'd love to have 2 Defenders and another cheap support ship to go against your original list. It would feel like TIE Fighter all over again. I loved to rip through some Headhunters in that game...

What about:

Etahn

PTL

R2F2

Hull Upgrade

Craken

Wingman

Tala Squadron

Tala Squadron

Bandit Squadron.

Raises PS to a better level, only drops on z95 to make Etahn super survivable. Etahn PTLs to focus and r2f2 Craken lets Etahn perform another of his many actions (such as evade) every round AND strips his stress every combat round. So now Etahn is ver survivable with 6 HPs, 4 defense dice every round and a focus and evade token to boot.

I had a similar idea a while back but with missiles.

Etahn + VI + R2F2 (36)

Bandit Squadron + Cluster missiles x4 (16)

Probably not amazing, but I like how many crits you could potentially get with all of those attacks.