I'm planning on a classic swarm for my next tournament, academy pilots and howl runner. Never flown a swarm before and fancied a total change. Any advice on how to fly it? I've watched a few vids on the internets and got a few ideas but any and all tips greatfully received.

Not sure on my local meta, but expecting turrets everywhere.....

Keep Holwrunner in the back. Never break formation unless you have to. Take your time; you don't need to engage right away. It is best for the swarm to let the enemy come to them. Practice your maneuvers to make sure you know how to do your turns correctly.

I suffered the swarm at my last tourney. The key is concentrating your fire on one opponent at a time until that ship's destroyed. Then move onto the next one. Eight TIEs cut through my 3 X-Wings and Etahn, like a hot knife through butter.

Watch these video's: [edit: I just saw you watched video's, but it might be usefull still]

Practice. A lot.

You move first, make them bump your front line. They will be denied an action and your back line will be at range one. It's particularly nasty if you can block a K-turn. Anticipate their path and throw a ship in front of it. Tactical collisions and focused fire, it's that simple.

Don't bump if it means all of your other ships are going to do it to, though. Then you lose most of your actions, and can't roll squat on your defense dice.

Practice, practice, practice... TIE Swarm takes a lot of thought and planning to fly correctly. I would recommend a list to you that looks something like this:

Howlrunner

Backstabber

5X Obsidian Squadron Pilots

The Obsidians help to counter 'Predator', and in this high PS meta right now, PS 3 is almost as good as PS 1 anymore.
Howl obviously sticks in close to the Obsidians in a formation similar to this:

O1 - O2

O3 - O4

H - O5

Try to keep Howl on the outside of the field... keeping her at the further range from your opponent's ships. There is a great article here on an opening that will permit this formation after turn 1:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/110115-earning-your-wings-a-guide-for-understanding-movment/

Backstabber is a great flanker and a good distraction. People cant help but to point some ships at him and when they do, they get set up for the rest of the swarm to do their damage.

TIE Swarm is still competitive int he meta, they eat Falcons alive. You will find that you'll have some issues against Phantoms, but you just need to learn how to spread out and set up multiple arcs to trap those Phantoms.

I hope this helps, good luck!

Watch your spacing and concentrate fire then repeat.

Is there a typical strategy for asteroids? Both with your own placement as well as a maneuvering

Well, depending on your skill level, rocks can be an issue for the swarm. I tend to place at least two rocks as close to me as possible. With a simple 5 Straight, your swarm is past them and most likely will not be part of the game.

I use the three corners method, where two of the three are the corners close to me. This should leave you will a pretty spread out field of rocks which is much more manageable. Then, set up the swarm to the side less populated by those rocks. You can then turn into the asteroid field without much worry of hitting them.

Something like this:

_____________________________
| Rock |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

| |

|Rock Rock |

------------------------------------------------

TIE - TIE

TIE - TIE

There is a lot that goes into swarm flying before you put down your dials as others have mentioned already.

1. Know your formation. There are multiple types out there, the box, the vertical or horizontal offset, the pinwheel, etc. Mainly the purpose is to help you block of Ties fly in a tight formation. This helps you A. Have everyone in R1 of Howl B. Make both banks and turns as a group without bumping and losing actions C. Focus fire on one ship at a time D. Smaller footprint to fly through/around asteroids and E. Fit into the deployment zone. Know the position of each ship, and their PS order interaction, as well as if you are going to have a flanker not setup with the group (ie backstabber).

2. Asteroids. Reiterating what EvilEd said, you want to avoid have a clump of asteroids in the middle of the board. A good opponent will try to force you to fly into asteroids to engage him. Also, you tend to fly fast as Ties, so if you keep the first two on your side in your corners, you'll usually not have to worry about them again after the first turn. Then the third stays away from the other asteroids your opponent places.

3. Setup and flight paths. Often you will be placing first with AP and obsidians. Thus you have to know how you can manuever to meet your opponent's ships if he deploys everyone on the left, in the middle, or on the right. Most often he will start in the opposite corner from you, so know how you will maneuver the swarm to make contact without going through asteroids on T2,3, or 4 (accounting for his speed). Don't box yourself in before the game starts.

Once you have contact, a lot of the basics still apply. Focus fire, target priority, etc. Also keep in mind the PS order, and when to K-turn or not. Also don't be afraid to break off an AP to fly straight into the enemy formation to block him up to deny action. Also remember that you have the ability to 'stall' your formation by having Ties in the back move and bump the front one first (often by doing a bunch of 1 hard turns inward). Oh, and pray you don't run into elite phantoms, those will tend to pick your list apart unless you are both lucky anticipating maneuvers (with blocking) and he is unlucky with green dice.

Thanks for the tips chaps!

Any advice on flying against phantoms? I'm guessing trying to cover as many arcs as possible...

Was contemplating 6xAP 1x RGP w/ PTL and a hull upgrade.

Hi, I have problems too to fight with my Tie-swarm against Phantoms. Has no one good advice for us?

Best tip against Phantoms; know when to cash your chips. The single worst mistake you can make against a Phantom is letting it lead you around the board trying to catch it like a fool when it's not going to happen. Now that's not to say you can't catch, or won't, because at some stage you will, but knowing when to go for it and when to ignore it and send the whole swarm on his support is key IMO.

Catch them, although its can be pretty hard with an traditional swarm.

I used 2 Academies, 4 Obsidians and a shuttle with vader for killing phantoms. You need to block movement so they wont get past you, strip a few shields with ties and get in that juicy crit.

Enjoy my paint skills on deployment, I did it quick but you get the idea. It also shows why I did not include Howlrunner and traded it for an extra Tie. I'd rather have an extra ship than just a few re-rolls in this set-up. And again this is just to get an idea of deployment.

Hi, thank you very much.

@ PS10 thank you so much mate for this painting. I understand how to move the squad to fight the Phantom.

@GodlessMimicry

Your tipps are great.How do I know if I should kill the Phantom or the support? I have problems to decide here.

Cheers

Dark Curse

Put you TIEs down on your kitchen table and then cover the table with asteroids, (you want lots more than 6). If you don't have enough upside-down bowels, glasses, almost anything will do.

Then plan a course through the obsticals. Once you have your plan see if you can fly through it. Also watch videos on Youtube about how things manuver together.

And finally, welcome to the Dark Side.

Find a formation that works for you, either standard block or a pinwheel or two. Place rocks so they aren't a problem for you but could annoy your opponent. Always put Howlrunner in the back and on the outside of turns. Practice your maneuvers. That way you can work on your initial spacing, how to move around asteroids, and learn how your formation changes shape as it turns. The strength of the TIE Swarm is it is a Juggernaut of Damage. You align all seven arcs in the same direction, and they all unload on the same ship. Focus fire is your friend. Don't be afraid to barrel roll or evade if necessary, instead of focusing, especially with Howlrunner.

Another strategy is blockers+swarmlet. Deploy 4 of your Academies in a Pinwheel, have Howlrunner bring up the rear at the edge of Range 1, and send your other two TIEs out front to deny actions. This one takes more practice and you will do less damage, but it is equally viable. If you don't let the opponent take actions or make the shots he once, you will eventually overwhelm him. Can help pin down maneuverable ships or ships that rely on action chains.

Do you guys really fly in a formation all the time? I always found that the formation was good going into things, but would then scatter and swarm once the scrum started. I found the manueverability of the Tie was too good to pass up on. Also, I would stick some Academy Pilots in the way....or potentially in the way and set up others to take advantage of it when your opponent got stuck bumping. It just seems a huge waste to ignore the manueverability of the Tie Fighter by flying in formation.

I guess that and I found Howlrunner died too fast and usually played without her. I did pretty well and have won a few local events.

Do you guys really fly in a formation all the time? I always found that the formation was good going into things, but would then scatter and swarm once the scrum started. I found the manueverability of the Tie was too good to pass up on. Also, I would stick some Academy Pilots in the way....or potentially in the way and set up others to take advantage of it when your opponent got stuck bumping. It just seems a huge waste to ignore the manueverability of the Tie Fighter by flying in formation.

I guess that and I found Howlrunner died too fast and usually played without her. I did pretty well and have won a few local events.

I agree with you now the game is all about maneuvering at the moment. Before the movement abusive ships were all the rage formation flying was superior. Now the game has become more about board position.

Howlrunner has gone from a must have to a good ship to have if you have the points for her IMO.

Still formations in openings are important, just not the clump it was.