I'm looking at giving my TIE Bombers some love in an upcoming tourney!

I'm planning on running them with a 35 or 34 point Soontir Fel (PTL, Autothrusters, Stealth Device/Targeting Computer), which leaves me with 65 or 66 points for my TIE Bombers.

Three Scimitar Squadron Pilots adds up to 48 points, leaving my with 17 or 18 points to distribute.

How would you spend these 17 or 18 points?

I'm considering a mix of Proximity Mines, Seismic Charges, Cluster Missiles and Concussion Missiles.

Here are my thoughts...

• Proximity Mines: These are good vs high-agility arc dodgers like Phantoms and Interceptors.
• Seismic Charges: Less useful on low-PS ships, since dropping them is often guesswork but they can help to break up swarms.
• Cluster Missiles : These can really put the hurt on low-agility ships like B-Wings and Falcons.
• Concussion Missiles : These are helpful against higher-agility targets, and perform better than Proton Torpedoes if you can get a TL + Focus to fire them.

Between the 2 Bombs, I think Proximity Mines do a better job at helping against the ships I'd otherwise have a hard time hitting.

I'm considering this loadout:

• 2 Proximity Mines
• 3 Missiles (either 2 Concussions + 1 Cluster, or vice-versa)

Thoughts?

My thoughts are either another bomber, giving you 4 at 24 hull and just force people to chew through that meat or die to a hail of 2 dice

Or

Proton bombs.

It's 15 points for 3 proton bombs, and you just set up the bombers in a formation opposite Soontir and just charge the bulk of their forces. If their bbbbz list doesn't spread out in time it literally all dies instantly, as do aggressors with some luck on the crit. For fighting a fat turret with escort either you explode the escort instantly or you stick crits into the fatty and then have 3 ships to wear it down.

As for catching a fast escort with the bombers, just charge full speed and force a traffic jam. Bombers are tanky, so don't be afraid to take your own proton hits as long as you're trapping a threat.

Interesting idea on the 3 Proton Bombs. I'll give it a try on VASSAL this week, see how it fares...

Not fond of the fourth Bomber idea though, I'm going for Bombers + Soontir to get away from the various YT + Z-95s and YT + A-Wings lists I flew before and at Regionals. Those bloody 2 dice attacks can be frustrating at times. I tried a Scum Kath + 4 Pirates list on VASSAL a couple times last week... Similar thing happened both games : I'd manage to get an advantageous first encounter, and put 5 shots (2 of them at range 1) on something... and deal 0 hits.

What do you think you will face? One thing I've had a hard time against with ordnance/bombers is IG-88's. Their high agility can sometimes just avoid the damage. It's maddening when it happens.

If you want bombs, then go with 3 Seismic Charges. They are cheap and cover a big area when dropped.

If you want to ensure that you do damage with missiles, you should go Homing Missiles, but they are 15 pts for 3. Not enough room for bombs. If you want to include the bombs, then you can do a mix between Concussion and Proton Torpedo. I'd probably do 2 Concussion and 1 Proton Torpedo. Use the Concussion first to knock out shields and then the Proton to get the crit in. I have heard of people firing enough Cluster Missiles to eventually get through Soontir Fel's defenses, but it's a bit dubious.

Here's the List Juggler data from the last local tourney: http://lists.starwarsclubhouse.com/get_tourney_details?tourney_id=432

It was quite varied... the top 4 was:

• Brobots
• Dash + 2 Blues
• BBBBZ
• 3 x StarViper w/ Autothrusters + Z-95

You could try:

2 x Scimitar + Cluster Missile

Jonus + Determination + Fletchette or Seismic somewhere

While you'll only get two shots of ordnance, really its 4 shots with some re-rolling. Problem with ordnance is the inaccuracy of the **** things. Jonus fixes that. It can be pretty devastating for a Falcon or Decimator. A Deci is just going to straight up eat 12 attack dice worth of rolls. Then you have Soontir to mop up while the Bombers block and get shots in. Even an IG-2000 should be fairly crippled after the alpha strike. You could get lucky and outright kill one.

Against BBBBZ I would actually have my Scimitars divide fire on two of the Bs. After 2 Cluster attacks he should have two B-wings without shields. You'll need initiative though to make sure Jonus is still alive for the re-rolls. It still would be a tough matchup.

The range 2 limit is a problem, but shouldn't be too hard to pull off with some practice.

Concussion Missiles that are able to get a Focus with the TL have a 94% of getting at least 3 damage. Just sayin'.

Homing Missiles are good, too.

Concussion Missiles that are able to get a Focus with the TL have a 94% of getting at least 3 damage. Just sayin'.

Homing Missiles are good, too.

Which is why I much prefer Concussion Missiles to Proton Torpedoes!

And, comparing a Concussion Missile to a Cluster Missile, both with a focus, firing at a Decimator at Range 2:

• Cluster Missiles
  • A 3 dice attack gives, on average: 1.5 hits, 0.75 focus and 0.75 blanks
  • You do this twice, with a single focus token
  • Overall average: 2.25 + 1.75 = 3.75 hits
• ​Concussion Missiles
  • ​A 4 dice attack gives, on average: 2 hits, 1 focus, 1 blank
  • Overall average: 3 hits

I think I prefer Concussion Missiles now, seems like sacrificing that 0.75 hits to get better results vs anything with agility is worth it.

My plan at the moment is:

Soontir Fel + PTL + AT + TC/SD

3 x Scimitars + Concussion Missiles + Proximity Mines

Unfortunately that's 103/104 points (depending on TC or SD).

Should I drop a Prox Mine, or a Concussion Missile?

I prefer missiles over bombs.

I tried this variation last night:

• Fel + PTL + AT + TC
• Scimitar + Concussion + Prox
• Scimitar + Concussion + Prox
• Scimitar + Concussion

Went up against IG-88C and 2 Thugs with Unhinged, ICT and BTL-A4.

The missiles were utterly useless, even when firing at AGI 1 targets, and with the bombers getting ioned repeatedly (couldn't roll evades to save my life), 1 of them never even managed to fire it's missile. And with the Unhinged astromech, the Y-Wings could close in to range 1 fast, preventing me from taking a TL one round, and a Focus the second.

The Prox Mines allowed me to put 4 damage on IG88, which is nice since 2 dice attacks have a very hard time punching through.

I feel if you want ordnance to have any chance at all of being effective, you need to be able to stack TL+F or some other modifier for the attack in a single round. I used a Cracken+Cluster combo to pass 2 actions in a tourney a few months ago, allowing 2 Bandits to get TL+F shots in a single round and that was decently effective.

I'm thinking of trying this next:

• Fel + PTL + AT + TC
• Jonus + Prox
• Scimitar + Concussion
• Scimitar + Concussion

The other option is the forget Bombers and go for 2 Defenders with Ion Cannons...

My vote is still for 3 proton and use the bombers as tanky traffic to get them off. They're action independent and if you're touching someone face to face they can't escape without some extra displacement from boost/roll.

My vote is still for 3 proton and use the bombers as tanky traffic to get them off. They're action independent and if you're touching someone face to face they can't escape without some extra displacement from boost/roll.

I may try it, just to try and drop a BBBBZ list without ever shooting at it.

The other player would have to be really dumb to let that happen though...

My vote is still for 3 proton and use the bombers as tanky traffic to get them off. They're action independent and if you're touching someone face to face they can't escape without some extra displacement from boost/roll.

I may try it, just to try and drop a BBBBZ list without ever shooting at it.

The other player would have to be really dumb to let that happen though...

Yeah though in a tournament you could likely pull games off by opponents starting off normal in a pack and being taken by surprise when the bombers charge them. Habitual play vs. unorthodox lists and tactics can be a powerful force.

Use Flechettes and Seismic charges, maybe Ion Pulse. That way you get cheap 3 dice attacks that pass out some stress/ion! Might be fun to have control.

6 x Flechette

3 x Seismic

18 pts

Wow that's a lot of copies of Flechette Torp! More than I have, haha.