I've been thinking about a good way to run a swarm and make it a threat in the fast turret meta. In general, lots of guns will certainly help take down the fat Han's and Decimators of the world. However, without a proper trap, it is definitely very possible for the Engine Upgraded turrets to kite you, minimizing the number of shots it takes while the rest of the squad assists in finishing you off.
Heck, my main move to running Fat Decimators was the over all amount of fun and challenge it was to use that ship to take on Tie Swarms and Rebel Swarms and what not.
With that in mind, the Tie Swarm by itself really doesn't seem like a counter to the most competitive turret builds, which most people think it is. I mean, I've beat Fast Turrets with Swarms, I've lost to Fast Turrets with Swarms, etc etc, I've seen it all done before, and honestly, especially in a timed match, this feels more like a 50/50 matchup for most of the top turret squads.
In order to win tournaments, you don't want your squad to only be 50/50 vs the main meta squads, but more like 60/40, and hope that player skill will help push you even further to the top (with some good dice luck too).
So back to the Swarm, I got to thinking, it's all right and good to rely on my swarm playing skills to beat up the turrets with blocking traps and whatnot, but there HAS to be a tool to push the matchup more in my favor. And the first thing I thought of, of course, was a Bomber equipped with an Ion Pulse Missile. That missile is quite annoying for big ships to deal with, in general, but there aren't a lot of squads that can really take advantage of it. But here is one squad that I think will work very well for a Scimitar toting some IPMs.
Howl runner
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Scimitar Squadron Pilot + Ion Pulse Missile + Ion Pulse Missile
100 pts
The archetype of 6 Ties + 1 Bomber I have flown many times, my favorite including an APT on the Bomber. I also know that last year one gentleman won a couple Regionals with an Assault missile on his Bomber, which was a perfect idea when swarms were rampant.
I think this new iteration fits the current meta very well. Big ships need to be fast and unpredictable to avoid being blocked and gunned down by so many tie fighters. Having another weapon in the Swarms arsenal will go a long way to getting that fast turret to go where you want it to.
Of course, the Phantom is a still tough, especially a Phantom + 4/5 Tie squad is difficult for the small guns of our friendly Tie Pilots. But heck, maybe the added Ion threat that the Bomber brings will be enough. And really, the more common Decimator + Phantom squads tend to just barely win the matxhup vs a full tie swarm. due to the small number of guns. A usual game in that matchup will end with Phantom vs 3-4 Ties, and the Phantom barely pulling off the last few kills before time is called, squeezing out the win with points, or the Swarm trapping the Phantom early and getting some lucky dice to finish it off.
Just thought I'd share my newest idea before making big use of it. Let's me be more honest when I find out that the squad blows, haha.