I suffer from a little bit of low attack per ship. But, in every game I've played well with it I've made up for it by just getting all of the ships pointed at the same enemy at the same time. And yes, each ship is paper, but when one gets taken out, I don't loose too much. And, they can tend to only shoot at so many of me per turn.

That being said, in the past I've flown a lot of 2-3 ship builds. Mostly things that don't need to be formation flown or benefit from not being formation flown. (Lone Wolf Dash/Han, Lone Wolf Corran/Dash, Bro-bots)

Particularly with these aces all really wanting to be within range 1 of each other and pointed at the same targets at close range, I'm going to want to formation fly them.

I assume those of you who have flown Tie Swarms in the past might have some good ideas. So, any good ideas, tips, tricks I should be aware of for formation flying 6 ships together?

Oh, I should also mention. The plan is to have Palob crash into something, stripping it of it's (or another near by enemy's) focus or evade. This will reduce their green dice. He'll then pass the focus/evade token back to Kaa'to and everyone will unload on the ship Palob is crashed into.

There is a sticky on the main board with recommended reading. There are two articles in there about formation flying. Start with those and practice...a lot. You will spend a lot of time bumping into each other as you learn to fly formations, and if you have ships dependent upon actions, you will get in trouble fast.

Practice.

An interesting use of Palob.

However, given the HWK's mobility issues, it may be wiser to run him more traditionally.

I would recommend if you really want to use Palob as the blocker, to give him Outlaw Tech so he can do the faster red maneuvers and still get a focus token.

Otherwise, perhaps get a Tansarii vet with Intimidation instead to use as the blocker, and let Palob and crew hang out behind and open fire.

The other way of building it that I was looking at was: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/270350/professional-pirates-v2no blocker, just keep everything in a formation and shooting at the same thing.

Edit: Another thought would be to have Kaa'to do the blocking, and then get her Focus or Evade by siphoning off whatever Palob grabs from the enemy. http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/270350/professional-pirates-v3 But, then Palob only really has that 1 Attack die. Not sure if that'll be problematic or not.

Avactus: HWK's are not worth running without turrets. That 1 attack is not going to damage anything.

Yeah, that's what I thought. So, version 2 then? I'd want to run the blaster turret but don't have the points for it. So auto-turret it is.

Blaster turret is really only for Palob, and no other HWK. With the Title and RecSpec he generates enough focus to be an effective battery to have enough to use the turret, focus the attack, and have some left for defense. I'm honestly considering trying a stealth device on Palob since he almost always has a focus for defense...

If you want to watch what is happening with different formations, try this one:

He shows several options and helps you understand what is happening with close formation flying.

If you want to watch what is happening with different formations, try this one:

He shows several options and helps you understand what is happening with close formation flying.

Formation flight has come quite a ways since his videos, though. Still, good to learn the basics.