After watching an 8 Tie swarm chew through all opposition with nary a scratch on the paint work, I was wondering if there was a Rebel build that could not only defeat these Empirical shenanigans but also have a good shot at the newer high PS builds.

My thinking here is

Lt. Blount w/Opportunist, Assault Missiles

4x Bandits w/Assault Missiles, Munitions Failsafe

The plan is to use Blount to either one shot the main threat while softening up anything within range 1 while the rest of the swarm then concentrates on any other targets that allow for the auto 1 pt damage, such as ships within range 1 of cloaked Phantoms or Tie Fighters parked next to Dark Curse and other such valid targets.

Is this a good build and strategy, or am I nerf herding here?

What is a good build for anti-swarm that can also hold up against high PS builds?

If anyone has a phantom parked near anything they are doing something wrong, it should never be close enough to get hit by aoe attacks.

Blount with Opportunist doesn't make a lot of sense. Blount is going to be shooting first in your list, so your opponent will very often still have their tokens on their ships. Drop Opportunist and add Predator or PTL so that Blount can fire his missle with focus or Predator reroll support. I don't think Opportunist is going to be used enough to be worth the points.

The assault missile swarm is nice against a holwrunner swarm, but weak against anything else.

Opportunist is strange on blount, knowing that he fires first.

Consider that an 8 tie swarm does not need to group in order to focus fire plus your odds of hitting with 4 unmodified dice are not really that good. If you do not hit with the missiles on the first shot, then you will probably not be able to fire again even with munition failsafe as the Imperial player will stay at range one of your own ships.

To break even on your assault missiles you need to remove 3 ships from play with the missiles...

Let's imagine that the fighter swarm breaks into pairs (balance between limiting splash damage and grouping fire )

with 4 missiles and an auto hit missiles you have if you fire on lock:

61% chance of hitting with each missile with an average of 1 damage per missile.

You're first question is :how do I spread my target locks around?

Take Opportunist out and give Blount Deadeye and Upgrade Bandits to Tala Sq. Pilots

23p Lt. Blount / Deadeye / Assault Missiles

19p Tala Sq. Pilot / Assault Missiles / Munitions Failsafe

19p Tala Sq. Pilot / Assault Missiles / Munitions Failsafe

19p Tala Sq. Pilot / Assault Missiles / Munitions Failsafe

19p Tala Sq. Pilot / Assault Missiles / Munitions Failsafe

99p total.

if i had enough z95s i'd probably just run 7 of em, 4 with conc missiles. enough artillary for a decent alpha and swarm enough to fight a swarm.. plus the 4 missiles will make short work of at least one falcon/shuttle/slave. think it's more rhobust than taking all assault missles as it will work against more than one type of list.

Additionally a z95 is excellant value for its pt cost. so why not?

Or you could take 8 Z-95...

Most lists should be able to take down at least 1 bandit Z95 without focus before it fires plus you'll have target lock issues with VP2. But it sounds interesting, I'll try it tonight.

The plan is to use Blount to either one shot the main threat while softening up anything within range 1 while the rest of the swarm then concentrates on any other targets that allow for the auto 1 pt damage, such as ships within range 1 of cloaked Phantoms or Tie Fighters parked next to Dark Curse and other such valid targets.

Blount is not well-suited to one-shotting anything. If you expect to roll that well, there is not really a purpose in taking Blount.

My anti-swarm swarm which after 3 games have worked quite well.

Crakken w/SL

Blount w/Assault Missile

3x Tala Squad w/Assault Missile and Failsafe.

Crakken can give out 2 actions with Squad Leader and his ability, so that means Blount auto hits with the AM, and 2 Tala have TL + Focus when they fire their alpha. So if the other guy flys tight at all he's going to be hurt. But if he splits up too much then Howl no longer is much of a factor.

My anti-swarm swarm which after 3 games have worked quite well.

Crakken w/SL

Blount w/Assault Missile

3x Tala Squad w/Assault Missile and Failsafe.

Crakken can give out 2 actions with Squad Leader and his ability, so that means Blount auto hits with the AM, and 2 Tala have TL + Focus when they fire their alpha. So if the other guy flys tight at all he's going to be hurt. But if he splits up too much then Howl no longer is much of a factor.

crakken w/sl is a great combo.. might steal that from you if you don't mind

crakken w/sl is a great combo.. might steal that from you if you don't mind

Not at all, just as long as I you send me royalties.

Crakken w/SL lets him give out 2 actions per turn, which for 21 points is pretty killer.

I still like the idea of 5 Bombers with Seismic Charges...or 3 Bounty Hunters. Dunno how it would play out though.

I love all this anti-swarm talk when no one plays swarm anymore. Know what beats a swarm? A phantom dancing outta the volley and crushing howlrunner then mopping up. There's also no one running assault missle heavy z lists since no one is playing swarms, and once again, phantoms will kill you. It's all different I guess if the context here is kitchen table games or maybe at the local store and not regionals etc. But for the most part with the game right now, you need to decide if you're on team phantom or team falcon.

My anti-swarm swarm which after 3 games have worked quite well.

Crakken w/SL

Blount w/Assault Missile

3x Tala Squad w/Assault Missile and Failsafe.

Crakken can give out 2 actions with Squad Leader and his ability, so that means Blount auto hits with the AM, and 2 Tala have TL + Focus when they fire their alpha. So if the other guy flys tight at all he's going to be hurt. But if he splits up too much then Howl no longer is much of a factor.

crakken w/sl is a great combo.. might steal that from you if you don't mind

Sneak a cluster missile on him and he can hand out 3 alpha strike actions if you can get the TL.

I love all this anti-swarm talk when no one plays swarm anymore. Know what beats a swarm? A phantom dancing outta the volley and crushing howlrunner then mopping up. There's also no one running assault missle heavy z lists since no one is playing swarms, and once again, phantoms will kill you. It's all different I guess if the context here is kitchen table games or maybe at the local store and not regionals etc. But for the most part with the game right now, you need to decide if you're on team phantom or team falcon.

Don't furball with a swarm. Split up and take them out 1 by 1 it shouldn't be too hard with only 3 hull, who cares if they evade and have 3 agility.

You made a post titled: "Anti-Swarm Swarms!"

Me like Dat.

5 ships is not really a swarm. The real anti-swarm swarm:

Blount, assault missile

Tala x6

Blount forces opposing swarms to spread out and lose focused fire or be reduced to 2 HP as soon as the game begins, which means that the blob of Z-95s can overwhelm a ship or two at a time. And PS 4 counters the people who like to take PS 3 TIEs in their swarms, while simultaneously matching or beating the PS bid on a lot of other popular lists.

Sneak a cluster missile on him and he can hand out 3 alpha strike actions if you can get the TL.

Sure, but SL is more useful in the long run then a 3rd action. With the failsafe if the one who doesn't have the TL+Focus misses it's not quite so painful.

Plus this way if the swarm player doesn't keep things in tight formation you can split the list up with Crakken taking 2 Tala and Blount taking 1.