So I've been seeing people in the world are having success with "Tarnation";

Tarn Mison, with R7 and Hull Upgrade

6x Bandit Squadron

I wanted to try this on the table to see how it goes, but alas I have only 5 Z's.

I tried to modify this to suit my collection and came up with this;

Blount w/ Ion Pulse Missile

Tarn w/ R7 and Shield Upgrade

4x Bandit Squadron

This clocks in at 97 points. I added the Ion Missile and Blount to add a sprinkling of board control, and I'm left with 3 points and a lot of options;

Add Prockets or Ion Missile to another Bandit

Drop the Ion Missile/Shield Upgrade and convert a Bandit to Cracken

Add Flechette Missiles to Tarn

Add an Elite Talent to Blount (but which one?)

Drop Blount's Headhunter and Missile and replace with a Rookie Pilot and R2/Stress Bot

Personally, I'm leaning towards adding another missile or swapping in the X-Wing for a little extra firepower/survivability.

If anyone has some solid advice on how to load this out, I'd love to hear some thoughts so I can close this list out and take it to the playmat. I'll only be able to get one or two games in this weekend and I want to get all the theory crafting out of the way early.

I don't know, but do you have anyone you know that would let you borrow a Z-95?

I don't know, but do you have anyone you know that would let you borrow a Z-95?

Absolutely, but I'm looking to do without, as a squad building exercise, in determining what a good optimal alternative would be.

I'd go Deadeye on Blount and Fletchettes on Tarn. Or you can upgrade to Talas.

Maybe trade Blount for Cracker with swarm tactics. This leaves you with 2 points.

Better yet. Drop Blount and shield upgrade for Hobbie with stressbot.

You could also use the following:

Tarn Mison [R7 Astromech] (25)

Gold Squadron Pilot [R3-A2, Ion Cannon Turret] (25)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12) x 2

Tala Squadron Pilot (13) x 2

Why is it doing well?

If you don't have the six Z-95's the only way to keep the number up may be to cut the Hull Upgrade and go with a Refit A-Wing Prototype in place of the missing Z.

If you must go down to five ships from six then you can make some very fundamental changes to the squadron as now you've got 12-15 points (assuming the HU is negotiable) to upgrade with which can give you a 24-27 point ship. Losing a Z tells me you should be adding an X-Wing if you want to keep things flying somewhat similarly.

I'd do 1 of 2 things:

Option 1) Put Predator or Outmaneuver on Blount and call it a day.

Option 2) Give Tarn Flechettes (as mentioned previously) and try and hit the same target as Blount for a guaranteed Stress/Ion combo (on most small ships, anyway). Considering your adversaries are likely very maneuverable, they will likely avoid Blount's and Tarn's arc. However, you can still use that to your advantage and make sure your other 4 Bandit's can hit the decloaking/boosting lanes Tarn/Blount cannot.

Why is it doing well?

If you don't have the six Z-95's the only way to keep the number up may be to cut the Hull Upgrade and go with a Refit A-Wing Prototype in place of the missing Z.

If you must go down to five ships from six then you can make some very fundamental changes to the squadron as now you've got 12-15 points (assuming the HU is negotiable) to upgrade with which can give you a 24-27 point ship. Losing a Z tells me you should be adding an X-Wing if you want to keep things flying somewhat similarly.

This is what I was thinking; upgrading a Z with Blount and a missile is interesting, but if I'm only able to go with 6 ships total instead of 7, the X-Wing feels like home, since they have a similar dial so keeping the group in a formation will be easier without accounting for the reds that the B and Y can bring. The A-Wing doesn't want anything to do with these guys going that slow.

The Shield/Hull on Tarn is there for survivability, but it could go off in favour of another good wingman, like Hobbie and Stressbot as mentioned above.

I'd do 1 of 2 things:

Option 1) Put Predator or Outmaneuver on Blount and call it a day.

Option 2) Give Tarn Flechettes (as mentioned previously) and try and hit the same target as Blount for a guaranteed Stress/Ion combo (on most small ships, anyway). Considering your adversaries are likely very maneuverable, they will likely avoid Blount's and Tarn's arc. However, you can still use that to your advantage and make sure your other 4 Bandit's can hit the decloaking/boosting lanes Tarn/Blount cannot.

If the group deploys in a 2x3 formation, the lanes can get a little crowded on the two flanks or even in the asteroids in the middle, so the lanes should be covered at least for the initial approach. It only gets tricky after the first pass, but I imagine there are some similarities to flying this kind of list as there are to a TIE Swarm, albeit without the barrel rolls to spread out when it's time to disperse.

The stress missiles certainly intrigue me, as, for example, a stressed Phantom will have to go green next turn if it plans on decloaking for an attack, the other side being an ionized Phantom is only going Forward 1, so it could stay cloaked, but you know basically where it's going to end up.

Like I said, I've never tried to grapple with a Rebel swarm before, so the extra options with astromechs and missiles that TIE's don't enjoy are jamming me up.

I'm mostly just talking in theory here, since, as I mentioned, I have yet to fly this in practice so if I'm saying anything crazy here, I'd appreciate the correction from someone that knows better.

Dropping to a total of six ships you could always try the XZXZXZ setup. It loses Tarn but replaces him with three Rookies who pair up with three Bandits which you can then use as three mis-matched pairs.

Dropping to a total of six ships you could always try the XZXZXZ setup. It loses Tarn but replaces him with three Rookies who pair up with three Bandits which you can then use as three mis-matched pairs.

Interesting; send the Bandits up front, Rookies in the back, I could see this doing some decent damage on the first pass at a target, or group of targets.

Could be interesting to let the Bandits go ahead that extra movement point to set up some decent blocks for the X-Wings in the rear to get shots on.

Are you confident in your ability to fight a Phantom with a swarm? It can be done, but it's not easy, and it's a lot harder with Bandits then it is with the more maneuverable TIE Fighters. It's also a lot harder with 6 ships than it is with 7.

I think you are sacrificing too much by cutting a ship. Z-95s pop easily under an alpha strike, so by the time you get to shoot you will be down to 5 ships. I don't think you can make a Tarn + 5 Z list as strong as a Tarn + 6 Zs list by just adding 12 points of upgrades.

Sticking with the original idea of 1 X wing and 5 Z95's

Tarn with R7

3 x Tala with cluster missiles

2x Bandit

If your willing to change that. My son and I recently flew at a tournament in Sydney (40 players)

My son

Keyan, HLC. AS, VI

5 x Bandit

Me

Keyan, HLC, AS,VI

Jake, Chadran, Lone Wolf

3 x Bandit.

We both went 4-2 and came equal 10th, didn't make the final 8 because, lets face it, your going to lose ships.

Sticking with the original idea of 1 X wing and 5 Z95's

Tarn with R7

3 x Tala with cluster missiles

2x Bandit

If your willing to change that. My son and I recently flew at a tournament in Sydney (40 players)

My son

Keyan, HLC. AS, VI

5 x Bandit

Me

Keyan, HLC, AS,VI

Jake, Chadran, Lone Wolf

3 x Bandit.

We both went 4-2 and came equal 10th, didn't make the final 8 because, lets face it, your going to lose ships.

For Keyan, is the idea to just get a solid gunship rolling at PS9, less-so about his pilot ability? As an added bonus, I guess he pays off nicely against Rebel Captives, or when someone tries to dog you down with a Tactician/Stressbot.

I suppose the combo you're looking to setup with Keyan is to use the Sensors to pull a Target Lock, reveal a K-Turn, then clear the stress when he shoots to get the equivalent of a Focus token on the attack.

In your list, I'm assuming the Z's fly with Keyan and Jake comes in from the flank?

Yeah, basically Keyan flies as a cover behind protecting the z's from Whispers and what not. He's your heavy hitter. The perfect move is TL with a red maneuver, And yes, Keyan on the ass of a Deci or head to head with a phantom with a rebel captive is a thing of beauty.

In my list, Jake was my plan b. If it came down to just Jake left and, hopefully, just a couple of Ties or whatever then I felt confident enough with him to take that out. Worked great in one game. Not so great in another. I had a laugh when I told one guy he had fallen into my trap. I had only Jake left, he had Chewie and a B wing left. Jeez, he absolutely annihilated me lol.

The lists are great fun to fly, but you will lose ships. That effects your MOV for tournaments. If we had gone 5-1 we would of both made the final 8. Oh well.

On a side note, my other sons came 6th with Fett and Whisper and the other one came 12th with Chira and Fel. A good day and we reckon we did alright.