I've noticed some people having success with bombers as of late and I'm considering trying them out myself. I'm wondering what has worked well and what stratigies you've found work best when running bombers.

Ok, I'm going to take a different tack with this craft. I like the TIE Bomber. It's a sturdy, effective craft. 2 attack dice is enough to get the job done in most cases and they have 6 hull. They can easily earn their stripes in a dogfight, especially against rebel craft with lower agility. They have an interesting dial, able to fill many roles. They may not turn well, but they have 5 green maneuvers and a 5k which is often a painful surprise for your opponent and almost always gets you clear of a jam. In short, they are decent fighter craft, even if they do collect crits like pokemon.

I placed Top 8 in the Houston Regionals with:

5x Gamma Squadron Pilot + Seismic Charges

Here I've created quite a unique threat. Almost every craft is deadly in front only. A craft has to be pointed at you to be a serious threat. There are some exceptions which have rear firing capability. But this one has a unique ability to destroy swaths of space. Moving behind it can be instant death. 5 Seismic charges is 5 free damage, enough to make even a YT-1300 wary and enough to obliterate an X-Wing in a single glorious fireworks show. The fact that it's area damage makes it even worse. A TIE Swarm is instantly terrified of this list because it's the one list it in no way wants to joust. It might take out 2 of the bombers if it's really lucky, but then it has to worry about losing every ship it has if it moves passed the bombers. Standard K-Turn and re-engage tactics are useless here. I've seen veteran players effectively panic and run away from this list, just trying to figure out how to fight it. Oh, it can be beaten, but it's always a risk and it can fell most lists.

Oh, and it's PS4, so it can fell a number of threats before they can even shoot. Plus, they are all the same PS so I can always choose move order (unless one of them has added PS0 to their crit collection).

Another notable list is:

2x Academy TIEs

Captain Jonus + Squad Leader

2x Gamma Squad Pilots + Various ordnance

Use the Academies as blockers and slow roll your alpha strike right into their high value targets.

I've been having fun with bombers, though I find they are tricky to master, especially if you're using self-propelled ordnance.

Because I really hate having my bombers destroyer with full ordnance bays, I tend to be a bit quick on firing my missiles/torpedoes. I'm starting to think that their 6 hull makes it worth it to wait until you have both a target lock and a focus before firing. They're a bit expensive to use for justa 4-dice attack without some bolstering of the dice-rolls beyond what they naturally have.

I really like that 5 bomber list, gonna give it a try! Also I was thinking about 3x Gammas + Seismic Charges and Bounty Hunter with Proton Bombs or Seismics with Gunner.

Recently I played this list:

OGP + Vader

Royal Guard Pilot + PtL+Targeting Computer

2x Gamma+Homing Missiles

The match was against 2 Bwings with FCS with Rookie and Outer RIm Smuggler with Anit Pursuit Lasers. I won with a bomber and interceptor left. Though RGP was a star, durabillity of bombers was really useful plus they are pretty good dogfighters. The only change I'd made is swaping Homing Missiles with Proton Bombs.

So would jousting be the best bet with a list full of bombers?

So would jousting be the best bet with a list full of bombers?

Usually. With my list, almost certainly because it has the highest chance to force the enemy to travel behind you, or to make maneuvering mistakes trying to avoid such a fate. There are times when that's not the case.

I successfully flew this list to a tournament win on the weekend:

Colonel Jendon + ST321

Captain Jonus + Swarm Tactic + Assault Missiles

Scimitar Squadron + Assault Missiles

Scimitar Squadron + Assault Missiles

Basic plan is to move as slowly as possible trying not to engage till round 3 or later, Jendon collects and passes out TLs prior to the first engagement at which point both scimitars have locks, a focus and up to 2 rerolls from Jonus. Jonus himself has a lock and his own focus, missiles away, neither of the scimitars rolled for less than 3 (more often 4 hits actually) the entire event which meant the splash damage hit every time.

Even managed to kill an interceptor without actually shooting at it in one game J .

Bit of a one-hit-wonder though as it took my opponents by surprise more than anything, a couple of them figured out how best to diffuse the alpha strike however in doing so scattered their fleet and my big white bus and bomber followers picked them all off with focus fire in formation flying while their ships were all to spread out to return focus fire.

Good fun, my opponents couldn’t figure out if rushing me or splitting up were the best options turned out neither were in the end.

I've noticed some people having success with bombers as of late and I'm considering trying them out myself. I'm wondering what has worked well and what stratigies you've found work best when running bombers.

While I'm sure Sable has the better list overall, if you want to carry missiles, I've had success with this list:

Jonus: Homing Missiles

Gamma x2 each with Assault Missiles and Cluster Missiles

Black Squadron Tie with Draw Their Fire and Shield upgrade.

Jonus gets Homing since he doesn't have a built in reroll. He stays close to the Gammas until their missiles are spent.

The Gammas hit with AM at R3 and Cluster in close in the next round. The double loadout also gives you flexibility against any list you face, and gives an Alpha and a Beta strike that are both very damaging.

The BS is there to pull early crits off the gammas and help them get missiles off by living longer.

I've been able to make good use of my payload, never getting fewer than four of the five missiles off. The key to that, besides the BSP, is to avoid bumping the second round of shooting and make sure you get Target Locks, even if it means creating space (flying by and then pulling a K turn, for example). This is especially true when my clusters are a better option for the first round of shooting (higher PS opponent with an elite list gets in R2 and keeps his ships spread out so AM aren't as effective). Also, I don't wait for the exact perfect shot with AM. With Jonus rerolls and 4 red dice (and no range penalty) they are effective even without splash damage on most targets in the current meta (falcon, b-wings).

Biggs is a pain with this list, but I usually assume my opponent is going to hide behind try to either stay out of his range or establish TL on him by zooming in myself.

I have been having a lot of success using the bomb that deals a face up critu to everything in range 1, I managed to hit 4 ships with one bomb last night

A gamma with proton bombs is 23 points. Add a fletchette torp and it's 25. Dropping 2 bombs in the middle of a squad will mess them up good. I'm trying to come up with a 3 bomber list using 3 gamma's with proton bombs and fletchette torps, plus something else (doom shuttle or royal guard interceptor with ptl).

But haven't gotten around to it yet

I like these lists:

Captain Jonus

+Assault Missiles

+Seismic Charges

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

+Assault Missles

+Seismic Charges

x3

Does terrible things to swarms and can also hurt a 3-4 Rebel list pretty badly. Looking to swap out some charges to give each of them a Munitions Failsafe. Also, this squad is powerful:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

x5

Howlrunner

+Your favorite 2 point EPT

People might look at you funny when you put out 5 bombers without ordnance, but they have the same attack power as a TIE Fighter, plus you get a Howlrunner reroll, they shoot before Academy Pilots, and they are slightly more durable.

I got Top 8 at Kublacon Regional with:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot x 5

Howlrunner w/ Swarm Tactics

This, and any 4 + bomber list is going to be sturdy and made for jousting. With mine, Howlrunner rerolls are monstrous.

I occasional like to season a list with:

Gamma + Homing + Homing - 28pts

Homing missiles are definitely my favorite as you get to spend the TL on that attack.

Also, throwing a single Scimitar + APT into a list is pretty great. Adds a serious threat that your opponent has to kill or at least manuever away from or take a TL + F 5 dice almost auto hit. It works well with Howl and 5 Academy Ties.

I also liked:

Gamma + Proton Bomb

Gamma + Proton Bomb

Alpha Squadron Pilot x 3

Get to use those heavy hitting PS 1 interceptors and drop amazing bombs, what's not to love?

I love the bombers, and would recommend trying most of what everyone else mentioned. I've had a lot of success with this list:

4 Scimitars

Bounty Hunter + Recon Specialist (or Rebel Captive, or Weapons Engineer)

The firespray is the flanker here, and the bombers start off in a box formation for the first round or two, then they can split up. They can often survive a round of focused fire, then which ever one is most damaged can make a run for it, and return a turn or two later attacking from a distance while your opponent is focusing on your healthier bombers. I found the 1 straight and 5 K-turn help this list out a lot. Its great against low agility ships, but can have trouble with PTL a-wings and intercepors.