Hello

Earlier today I saw a forum thread asking for the best and worst ships of Wave IV and there was some wavering if the Z-95 is a good or bad ship? This inspired me to play this game against my friend who has just started practicing with his Headhunter pure list:

(Please excuse the poor image quality!)

Thanks for taking a look and I hope that you were entertained!

Your turn 2 picture has me all confused. a 3 bank should of put the left most defender on asteroids? btw love the report and acrylic target lock, is that a custom?

Nice pics, but I don't get why they use a time limit when you can clearly delay your opponent very much when playing a swarm in your advantage, they should go for a turn limit instead.

^ I was expecting to go against a headhunter swarm last week at the Regionals tournament here in Finland. But nope, few people had Cracken but that's it.

I've found a good use for Z-swarm that completely makes TIE Swarms obsolete. It's called Missiles. Blount, Tala, and four Bandits. Arm two Bandits with Assault Missiles and two with Cluster missiles, and give them Munitions Failsafes. Split them into two flights with Blount leading the Assaults and the Tala leading the Concussions. Begin both at either side facing a 45-degree angle.

Blount-flight should focus on a swarm with the Tala-flight focusing on any Aces or heavies. Blount is tailor-made to remove Stealth Device and the Assault missiles will kill at least three, if not more.

The Tala flight will make short work of whatever ace or big ship if you TL+F attack them with the missiles. After that, you should have no problem mopping up what’s left.

Oh, and don’t fly head-to-head. That favors the TIEs.

Your turn 2 picture has me all confused. a 3 bank should of put the left most defender on asteroids? btw love the report and acrylic target lock, is that a custom?

My mistake, I was being vague; I believe the Tie Defenders were barrel rolling every turn for the first 4 turns.

I think my opponent took some acrylic target locks and changed the letters to numbers.

Nice pics, but I don't get why they use a time limit when you can clearly delay your opponent very much when playing a swarm in your advantage, they should go for a turn limit instead.

The tournaments that I have been to have always had a time limit. In the case of this game, I had to pick up my boy friend from work and I was running really late! Eight or nine turns of play is not too bad especially compared to some other games out there.

^ I was expecting to go against a headhunter swarm last week at the Regionals tournament here in Finland. But nope, few people had Cracken but that's it.

Z-95s are starting to become very popular in my gaming store (GameKastle - San Jose, CA)

I've found a good use for Z-swarm that completely makes TIE Swarms obsolete. It's called Missiles...

I can't comment about multiple Z-95s with missiles but I can say that I have seen Lt. Blount with a missile a few times now and that guy is scary! The ion pulse missile will auto-ionize and still score 1pt of damage with Blount, while the assault missile will for sure do 1-2 damage. I always like to fly my defenders in a tight formation but I had to split them apart because I didn't want to auto-loose 2 shields from Blount's assault missile in this game.

I thought those Defenders looked a little funny..

I thought those Defenders looked a little funny..

I should have put a disclaimer: "No actual Tie Defenders were hurt in the making of this battle report!"

No they look really good, the wings being closer to the fuselage looks closer to the original Defender anyway. I think it looks cool.

No they look really good, the wings being closer to the fuselage looks closer to the original Defender anyway. I think it looks cool.

Thanks!

Nice report. Love the editing

A Z-95 pack isn't a nice thing to face with TIE defenders - they only have the same firepower as an X-wing, after all.

It's impressive the amount of hits it took to pull them down, though.

Not sure what you could have done differently, (aside from rolled well enough to actually kill blount!). Long Range would probably be your friend but staying at long range in a TIE/d isn't very easy...

I can't say I've ever suggested the Z-95 to be a bad ship. One on one, maybe, but they're so bloody cheap for what you get - especially the Talas, who are a point cheaper or a pilot skill better (depending on how you look at it) compared to the equivalent TIE/ln fighter.

Nice report. Love the editing

...

I can't say I've ever suggested the Z-95 to be a bad ship. One on one, maybe, but they're so bloody cheap for what you get - especially the Talas, who are a point cheaper or a pilot skill better (depending on how you look at it) compared to the equivalent TIE/ln fighter.

Thank you very much!

I am becoming curious, how good exactly are the Z-95s? We have heard a lot about the Tie Phantoms being powerful but I would like to see how this or a similar Headhunter list would tackle Whisper with additional phantoms escorting!?

Another thing that I would be interested to see is how the Tie Defenders compare to upgraded Tie Interceptors from Imperial Aces?

Not sure what you could have done differently, (aside from rolled well enough to actually kill blount!). Long Range would probably be your friend but staying at long range in a TIE/d isn't very easy...

No idea either. I think that 3 Tie Defender lists are just too limited. There are a lot of options if a person would be willing to go down to 2 T/Ds. One list I have tried and liked has been Vader w/Swarm Tactics, Vessery w/Swarm Tactics and Delta. Movement phase is lvl 1 (blocker), lvl 6 and lvl 9 but the list can potentially fire all at lvl 9! (2 wins 1 loss with that list)

Nice report.

Since you have the ships - can you do a battle report with this Z-swarm vs. the Howl swarm? I am interested to see how this battle will go.

Thanks

Nice report.

Since you have the ships - can you do a battle report with this Z-swarm vs. the Howl swarm? I am interested to see how this battle will go.

Thanks

Thank you!

Believe it or not where I play I do not know of a single person that runs Howlrunner Tie Swarm! I think there was a period about a year ago when every single swarm started getting demolished at our gaming club and people moved to Bounty Hunters, Shuttles, Bombers, Interceptors and now of course Phantoms.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for a Z-95 swarm vs Tie Phantoms game! It will show which Wave 4 ship is the best in a pure list!

Wow, that was a good format for a battle report. Really easy to follow.

the z-95s look good lined up in that top picture, and those custom defenders look amazing.

Do you think using more banks than hard turns would have helped the defenders avoid the asteroids and given them better positioning without having to barrel roll?

Wow, that was a good format for a battle report. Really easy to follow.

the z-95s look good lined up in that top picture, and those custom defenders look amazing.

Do you think using more banks than hard turns would have helped the defenders avoid the asteroids and given them better positioning without having to barrel roll?

Thank you for your kind remarks!

I think it's time to stop dreaming for what the Tie Defender could have been, expect it for what it is and pre-order Rebel Aces and the Outrider!

If people buy only 1 Tie Advanced and 1-2 Tie Defenders each FFG might consider some title/upgrade cards to improve the ships and boost sales (has worked for the Interceptors and will work for the A-Wing).