confusion on counter attack, swarm, and escort abilities

By wolf442, in Star Wars: Armada Rules Questions

not really understanding the swarm ability. does it mean basically if 2 ties squadrons are engaged with an x wing squadron then they can reroll a dice?

What is meant by the escort ability? if all x wings have it don't you have to shoot it anyway? is it something that will come into effect with other releases?

howlrunners counter attack. what is that?

Swarm does what you think it does, when you have 2 or more ties engaged(at distance 1) with an opponent squads they may reroll one die

Escort will come into play later when we have ships without the escort keywords, as of now it is useless

And howlrunner does not have counter, later the tie tie interceptor will have counter which will let it shot back at a squad that shots at it but currently there are no squads with counter

Edited by clontroper5

To your first question, yes. Once you have multiple fighters engaged, the Swarm ability kicks in.

Escort is currently useless until the fighter expansion comes out. At which point you can escort other fighters (typically those with the Bomber ability) to help ensure they get to their target.

And yes, currently no fighters have Counter, but in the Wave 1 expansion Interceptors and A-Wings will have it :)

Edited by Ghost Dancer

Swarm you have right.

Eacort means that you have to attack the squadron with escort. For example, if a TIE is engaged with an X-wing and a Y-wing, it must attack the X-wing as long as the X-wing is alive.

Counter lets you "attack back" against a ship that attacks you. On TIE Interceptors, for example, if an X-wing attacks a TIE/Int, the TIE/Int gets to attack back with two blue dice, even if the TIE/Int was destroyed by the X-wing.

So both/all TIE squadrons get the reroll?

Not just each squadron AFTER the first?

Do they all have to be attacking the same target to get the reroll?

If 3 TIE squadrons are engaged with 3 X-Wing squadrons, do all 3 TIE squadrons get rerolls against the X-Wings even if the TIES separately attack each of the X-Wing squadrons and not focus on one?

When a TIE picks a target, if that target is engaged by any other squadron friendly to the TIE, it can re-roll a dice.

Remember that it does not matter what is engaged with the enemy squadron. A Firespray and a TIE Fighter can be engaged with the X-Wing and the TIE Fighter would get a reroll.

They have to have the Swarm keyword on the card

So to be absolutely clear - two TIEs both attacking one X-Wing BOTH get a re-roll?

Correct?

So to be absolutely clear - two TIEs both attacking one X-Wing BOTH get a re-roll?

Correct?

If a squadron with swarm attacks and a friendly squadron is engaged with the same squadron you. Get a reroll

...but only if both were engaged with the X-Wing before the first one attacks.

If you activate two TIEs with a squadron order, and they are at distance 3 from the X-Wing so they both need to move into position, then only the second one will get a reroll (when the first TIE attacks, the X-Wing is not yet engaged with the second one).

The simplest way to visualize it is as follows:

Immediately after you roll the attack dice, check if the target squadron is engaged with (i.e. at distance 1 of, and with an unobstructed line of sight to) another of your squadrons:

YES -> you may reroll a die

NO -> you may not reroll a die

It really doesn't matter whether or not the target has been, or will be, attacked by other squadrons. Only if, while you're rolling your attack, there's another squadron engaged with the target.

Edited by DiabloAzul

So to be absolutely clear - two TIEs both attacking one X-Wing BOTH get a re-roll?

Correct?

No.

When you activate a squadron with a Squadron Command they may move and shoot or shoot and move and are activated one stand at a time. So if you move your first Tie, it will be the only ship of the two in range 1 of it's target and not get swarm, when you move the second Tie, the first tie will be at range 1 to the target and you will get swarm. Conversely if you move away the first Tie will get swarm and unless it moves to remain within range 1 of the target the second Tie will not get swarm.

If you activate the Ties during the Squadron Phase then much depends on the placement of the models as they can not move and shoot, but rather can move or shoot. So moving one into range of your target and having the other then shoot will give it the Swarm Bonus, but shooting first then shooting with the second in will not.

Edited by Amanal

So to be absolutely clear - two TIEs both attacking one X-Wing BOTH get a re-roll?

Correct?

No.

When you activate a squadron with a Squadron Command they may move and shoot or shoot and move and are activated one stand at a time. So if you move your first Tie, it will be the only ship of the two in range 1 of it's target and not get swarm, when you move the second Tie, the first tie will be at range 1 to the target and you will get swarm. Conversely if you move away the first Tie will get swarm and unless it moves to remain within range 1 of the target the second Tie will not get swarm.

If you activate the Ties during the Squadron Phase then much depends on the placement of the models as they can not move and shoot, but rather can move or shoot. So moving one into range of your target and having the other then shoot will give it the Swarm Bonus, but shooting first then shooting with the second in will not.

Sadly Max Battle question is not a simple yes / no question.

If one or more of the TIE's are already engaged with the X-Wing when activated, then YES they both get a re-roll, as long as you activate the TIE that is not engaged first.

If neither TIE is engaged with the X-Wing so they have to move and then shot when activated (by a squadron command) then NO, only one of them will get a re-roll as one of the TIEs will have to move to engage the X-Wing while the other waits to be activated and moved.

So, can an X wing escort an A wing? I think the answer is yes, it just never occurred to me that I could make an A wing effectively have 9 shields. The purpose being a cheap, but longer lasting screen that could tie up a squadron for a couple of rounds.

Edited by nicholscs73

So, can an X wing escort an A wing? I think the answer is yes, it just never occurred to me that I could make an A wing effectively have 9 shields. The purpose being a cheap, but longer lasting screen that could tie up a squadron for a couple of rounds.

Not to be rude, but your question can be answered by simply reading the Escort rule on the X-Wing.

Escort . (Squadrons you are engaged with cannot attack squadrons without Escort unless performing a Counter attack.)

If an enemy is engaging both an X-Wing and an A-Wing then it cannot attack the A-Wing until the X-Wing has been destroyed or moved away somehow.

Not rude, and I said I thought I knew the answer. Just confirming.

Not everyone can understand an instruction by reading it. There's lots of different ways that people process information. Telling them just to "read the card" is rude. You don't know the way that they learn.

I hate it when my opponent has me engaged by TIe/Adv and Soontir Fel.

Can't attack Fel due to Escort on TIE/Adv so attack TIE/Adv. - then, due to his special rule, Fel gets to inflict a point of damage on me because I haven't attacked him.

Nightmare !

Cheers

Andy

I hate it when my opponent has me engaged by TIe/Adv and Soontir Fel.

Can't attack Fel due to Escort on TIE/Adv so attack TIE/Adv. - then, due to his special rule, Fel gets to inflict a point of damage on me because I haven't attacked him.

Nightmare !

Cheers

Andy

Try to position your squadrons so they are engaged with only Fel or the Escort and not the other. The squadrons engaged with Fel can attack him without being affected by the Escort on the TIE/Adv, and the squadrons engaged with the TIE/Adv don't take damage from Fel. Not always easy to manage, but avoid all the extra damage can make all the difference. This is one (of many) cases where Intel would be beneficial, allowing you to rearrange what squadrons you are engaged with.

Thanks for the tip!

Cheers

Andy

I hate it when my opponent has me engaged by TIe/Adv and Soontir Fel.

Can't attack Fel due to Escort on TIE/Adv so attack TIE/Adv. - then, due to his special rule, Fel gets to inflict a point of damage on me because I haven't attacked him.

Nightmare !

Cheers

Andy

This is one of my favorite strategies with Fel lately. It's so nasty :)