Has anyone flown a Z swarm .... how was it

100 Points

I have run the Zed swarm at just about every tier level of competition save for Worlds. By far they are my favorite to fly but are just as demanding as the TIE swarm to fly.

What I found was once I dropped Airen and went with 4x Tala 4x Bandido that extra gun made a significant difference. Not that Cracken and the Blountman are bad but they become priority targets and after Blount's ordinance goes off then you have an expensive PS6 target.

I do believe that Airen with VI/cluster missiles is a better avenue, while Blount is the handyman for stripping that pesky SD off of Fel etc...

Howver like anything else, it's season to taste.

Munitions failsafe is pointless on Blount, as he always hits.

I have flown mini Z-95 swarms with Scum and find them effective. Though I was using the Scum version with Hot Shot Blasters.

Munitions failsafe is pointless on Blount, as he always hits.

I have flown mini Z-95 swarms with Scum and find them effective. Though I was using the Scum version with Hot Shot Blasters.

Valid point

You saw it here first:

Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing 22
Fire-Control System 2
C-3PO 3
B-Wing/E2 1
Ship Total: 28

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

Bandit Squadron Pilot — Z-95 Headhunter 12
Ship Total: 12

I like the b-wing idea .....

I really like this tread, as I'm about to swarm myself, with Scum Z's, but I wonder why the bug-zapper is effective? (if it is) Giving them all Feedback Arrays might bag you a ship over the course of the game, and while I havn't swarmed with my Z's, I have flown four of 'em with FA, a couple of times, and I just find the zappers to be to situational, and the damage you give yourself often seems worse, due to the Ion-effect.

I read in another tread about Z's with 'Hot-Shot' Blasters instead of zappers, also situational but the potential rewards seems to me to be higher than the FA, and the drawback much more mild, as you only pay for the card, and nothing more.

I've also read about missile Z's, care to explain for a n00b like me?

6x Bandit Squadron, 1x Outer Rim Smuggler + a 1 point upgrade.

6x Bandit Squadron, 1x Outer Rim Smuggler + a 1 point upgrade.

That is so insane it might just work

I really like this tread, as I'm about to swarm myself, with Scum Z's, but I wonder why the bug-zapper is effective? (if it is) Giving them all Feedback Arrays might bag you a ship over the course of the game, and while I havn't swarmed with my Z's, I have flown four of 'em with FA, a couple of times, and I just find the zappers to be to situational, and the damage you give yourself often seems worse, due to the Ion-effect.

I read in another tread about Z's with 'Hot-Shot' Blasters instead of zappers, also situational but the potential rewards seems to me to be higher than the FA, and the drawback much more mild, as you only pay for the card, and nothing more.

I've also read about missile Z's, care to explain for a n00b like me?

I run 6x Scum Zs with Feedback Array. 4 of them run Ion Pulse Missiles with Munitions Failsafe. It's a 100-point list, and so far the only issue list I run into is the 4 y-wing double-tap lists.

What Darph Nader said about swarm flying is so true. Flew a Z swarm 1 March in a store tourney. I had the game for about a month. It wasn't pretty. Bumping my own ships, losing actions and getting tabled 2 of 3 rounds was only half of the embarrassment. Missed opportunities, reversed dials (when the ship is facing you) and abandoned by both the red and green dice gods rounded out the pain.

Since then I've learned to fly a little better and slowly building back up to swarm levels. Now, if I can only stay away from asteroids I'd be much happier.

One of the problems I have with Z's is the presence of only 2 EPT qualified pilots. Unlike the Ties and the A-wings that have non-unique EPT qualified the Z's have only the unique ones. Coupled with the 2 evade and 2 attack they lack some spice and synergy.

6x Bandit Squadron, 1x Outer Rim Smuggler + a 1 point upgrade.

That is so insane it might just work

The idea is to try to run it as a blocker, I'd also argue that you get a longer lasting, in general better list than just 8 Z's or 7 and an A Wing. A single ORs is better than 2 Z-95's IMO. Obviously you don't want to fly 3 ORS's in place of 6 Z-95's and pretend you've got a decent list but you get what I mean.

This is a Swarm+ build, so is the one with the B Wing and C-3PO. Not only are you flying a whole swarm in addition to a good 28 point ship, you're flying a swarm that's better than straight up 8 ships.

There is a build called Tarnation that's a Swarm+. Tarn Mison + R7 Astromech + Hull Upgrade, 6x Bandit Squadron.

A good imperial Swarm+ would be 6 TIEs and a Lambda with Gunner and FCS.

Really anything that costs 28 points is a good fit for this. Starviper and Autothrusters, Naked Carnor, a named Scum HWL with a bunch of upgrades, etc.

I have been running Z swarms since the beginning of the year and have generally done wrll with them. Things I have learned:

1) I like Rebels better than Scum. Feedback arrays are interesting, but Scum suffer from not having a swarm anchor (think Howlrunner)and it is enough of a difference to make scum swarms not usually viable. Serisu is close, but all of the M3 pilot abilities are defensive in nature making up for 3 hit points without and decent individual offence. Imperial swarm actions are offnsive, and tie fighters have decent agility. Rebels are kind of in the middle, but cheap enough you can mske them work. The Rebels have Airen Cracken. With Squad Leader, he turns into Santa Claus tossing two actions to the rest of the swarm which can be as effective as Howlrunner's extra dice.

2) Use missiles. After the initial joust, your opponent's money ship better be dead, or near dead. You wind up with only 5 or 6 ships instead of 7 or 8, but punching out a fat turret by pecking two dice at a time will often leave you too weak to finish off the escort.

3). Focus fire. Regroup as best you can after the initial engagement.

4). Block. Block. Block. It is your only weapon against high PS arc dodgers.

The problem list for me has been B wings. They are slow, but evasive and built like tanks.

I will say that I love flying A wings, Interceptors, and M3's, but the Z swarm is my go to list.*

* I refuse to fly pancakes, and generally do not care for large base ships, so don't assume that I am saying that a Z swarm is the end-all list to win everything always. It just works best for me.