This goes out to everyone: before you use the Drunken Shark in a tourney, practice it extensively. Practice going left, right, slow, fast, medium speed, split formations or come together. Learn where you do and don't want asteroids to be (for example, if there is an asteroid exactly range 2 from your edge, can your front ties still pull off a 3 turn to start?) Plan out 2-3 rounds of maneuvers, so you have some idea of where you will be when the action starts. I can't emphasize that enough, because just setting up like that won't do much for you if you don't know where you are going from there.

The nice thing about that set up is you have all of those options available to you. It is flexible and unpredictable.

This goes out to everyone: before you use the Drunken Shark in a tourney, practice it extensively. Practice going left, right, slow, fast, medium speed, split formations or come together. Learn where you do and don't want asteroids to be. Plan out 2-3 rounds of maneuvers, so you have some idea of where you will be when the action starts. I can't emphasize that enough, because just setting up like that won't do much for you if you don't know where you are going from there.

The nice thing about that set up is you have all of those options available to you. It is flexible and unpredictable.

i'll be getting out my bases and templates soon as i get home

My tournament report using drunken shark: http://www.rule37.net/2015/02/x-wing-tournament-report-tie-swarm.html

Well done, JC. It's nice to know that a swarm can still be effective vs wave 5 ships and squads.

Obviously, this isn't the case for an Outrider. With two evade dice, a heavy laser cannon, and a close range 'blind spot', then it's probably worth the risk to rush it.

Yeah, Dash's strategy is to "kite", meaning staying at range 3 and picking you off from there. If you don't rush Dash, you will end up getting picked off one by one. So not only do you have to try and rush Dash to block him, you also have to try and get as many range 1 shots on him as you can. The Drunken Shark will help with this, spreading out to be able to block off more areas.

I was looking for some refreshers from these articles, but all the images are broken now. Is there anywhere else these could be found?

And how about the New Tie FO toys? Does the next evolution of the shark turn albino?

Just got home from a long weekend. Gimme some time and I will try to get some images up.

And how about the New Tie FO toys? Does the next evolution of the shark turn albino?

I've had a few games with the new TIE/fo. The 'Eyepatch' is a very different little fighter, despite the model similarities.

For starters, no matter what you do, you're going to end up with a maximum of 6 fighters, which is the bottom end of 'swarm behaviour' - when you're talking about low pilot skill light snubfighters, who love to block enemies, dropping two ships makes a huge difference.

At the same time, if you've been playing with Academy/Obsidian mix squadrons you'll be able to make the jump far better; there is no TIE/fo equivalent of Howlrunner. Yes, all right, Epsilon Leader can blank off stress, but he doesn't do it 'in time' for you to get actions that turn, and a TIE/fo has a very forgiving green dial so could probably have cleared stress itself anyway.

As a result, flying the six ships in two or three loose 'packs' will do you much better.

Equally, you can't 'fill' your points with generic pilots too well - they're just not nice round numbers of points. You're going to need to take some upgrades - either a named ace, or some modifications (like the Twin Ion Engines MkII or something).

The other problem is that whilst the TIE/fo is tougher, the overall durability of your squad isn't increased, a TIE/fo swarm has less firepower because you're losing out on 1-2 attacks. The only way you can make up for this is using your maneuverability (segnor's loops and green hard turns), which means you need to be flying in loose packs that can afford to pull drastic turns, and to get in close where your firepower is more effective.

I think the fo swarm shines with elite pilots more than generics -- you need a few tricks up your sleeve to make up for the reduced jousting efficiency.