Since I started x wing I have fought the meta at most turning points, when I started the tie swarm was king of the hill. What I have discovered though is I play rather aggressive and have come to realise the tie swarm maybe my cup of tea. I have played against the swarm but never run it myself so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

With the current meta the old tie swarm does seem to have a struggle with brobots, while they can win and put up a good fight in the end if the green dice don't fail the bro bots the constant heavy damage just keeps popping a tie round after round.

While howlerunner is is a great boon, I think she is now a bit to risky as playing pop goes the tie her points could be a bit of a waste. So I have been thinking how about

2 x BSP with intimidation 32pts

5xObsidian 65 pts

97 pt

Or 7x AP

1 x BSP with intimidation

Obviously the idea is to try and block the bots up with the BSP, in doing so it give them a red shirt.

Would the good 8 tie swarm be the way to go?

Intimidation is nice, but I'll be honest here: you don't really need it.

If you can block an Aggressor, you've done most of the work.

Aggressors with Autothrusters and Push The Limit (or IG-88C) are essentially immune to 2-Dice Primary Weapons at range 3. 4 evade dice, one auto-success and one or more defensive tokens means they can soak up as much as you can throw at them and more.

If you can block them, you're looking at Range 1 shots - and 3 attack versus 3 defence with no tokens (as they get no actions when blocked) makes for a vulnerable target. Knocking off a green die is nice but not that big a deal.

That said, with their (relatively limited) green dial, it's actually quite easy to block an Aggressor's movement (if it's not stressed, of course, all bets are off), and if you're planning to block anyway, then an Intimidation TIE fighter is a nasty little dude.

The problem with the 7 academy pilots and 1 black squadron with Intimidation is that you're still suffering 'howlrunner syndrome' - you've got 1 pilot who matters in a swarm of 8 but who can't do anything useful in turn one of the engagement. Two aggressors with multishot cannons will look at your squad and go "well I'll kill him then".

2 Black Squadrons and 5 Obsidans might work better because you have redundancy. At the same time, when you've got 3 points spare with a swarm, always spend them. You have so many options to spend 1-3 points that it's not even funny.....

Even if you can't think of anything specific, then swapping an Obsidian Squadron pilot up to Night Beast, Backstabber or Dark Curse is a good idea. You could change a Black Squadron Pilot to Mauler Mithel, but that leaves you moving last against PS6, which you don't want for Intimidation.

For that matter, why not take 3? 3 Black Squadron Pilots with Intimidation and 4 Obsidians? It's not like you're bothered about an initiative bid, because you out-skill most generic pilots and are deliberately trying to go before anyone else...

Thanks for the reply hey.

Yeah 3 BSP is my first thought but I only have 2 intimidation cards but can borrow 1.

Does intimidation stack? I can see why It don't and didn't see it in the FAQ.

2/3 negs to green would be a daydream for the other ties, if I cou pull it off

When you are touching an enemy ship, reduce that ship's agility value by 1.

No reason that wording couldn't stack. You can't take a ship below 0 agility, but otherwise, ram away!

Of course, bear in mind that blocking with multiple ships is hard - if your maneuver's final position overlaps A and B, you move back along the template until you're clear of both A and B (in which case you're probably only touching 1). Getting a second intimidation 'impact' probably needs you to ram him after he moves - which would need a higher PS Intimidator (Mauler Mithel is your cheapest option and works well - because if he doesn't contact, his Pilot ability makes range 1 shots scary as) and mean that said pilot doesn't get to shoot and gets no action.

The classic eight TIE swarm (the one that won the UK and French nationals last year before the Phantom De-menacing) is four Obsidians and four Academies. Obsidians get the drop on other generics, Academies are one of the game's best blockers for cost, second only to Prototype Pilot. The advantage of the eight TIE swarm is you no longer need Howlrunner: you're free to break formation completely (the French National Strategy flew a block of 4 Obsidians and a block of 4 Academies at opposite ends of the starfield, then split up as and when it needed to), which lets you use the TIE's barrel roll and excellent dial to the fullest you can without a pilot skill advantage. The disadvantage? You've got to be good. Two ship lists, despite the complexity of their heavily ships, are relatively untaxing compared to planning ahead with eight ships at once.

The trick to it? Block. You've got no shortage of blockers. Predict that PWT's move (it's easier with Dash who's stuck on greens), and dump a TIE there. Two likely moves? Dump a TIE on each. Fly the rest in to close the trap.

There's a reason the TIE fighter is the benchmark for all ships to come after it. Those things are great. The Empire knew what they were doing.

The classic eight TIE swarm (the one that won the UK and French nationals last year before the Phantom De-menacing) is four Obsidians and four Academies. Obsidians get the drop on other generics, Academies are one of the game's best blockers for cost, second only to Prototype Pilot. The advantage of the eight TIE swarm is you no longer need Howlrunner: you're free to break formation completely (the French National Strategy flew a block of 4 Obsidians and a block of 4 Academies at opposite ends of the starfield, then split up as and when it needed to), which lets you use the TIE's barrel roll and excellent dial to the fullest you can without a pilot skill advantage. The disadvantage? You've got to be good. Two ship lists, despite the complexity of their heavily ships, are relatively untaxing compared to planning ahead with eight ships at once.

The trick to it? Block. You've got no shortage of blockers. Predict that PWT's move (it's easier with Dash who's stuck on greens), and dump a TIE there. Two likely moves? Dump a TIE on each. Fly the rest in to close the trap.

There's a reason the TIE fighter is the benchmark for all ships to come after it. Those things are great. The Empire knew what they were doing.

If you're dropping to 7 TIEs you might as well grab Howlrunner.

Now sure what area you guys hail from but in mine, our bots have:

IG88-B

Push the Limit

Adv.Sensors

Autothrusters

Mangler

IG88-C

Push the Limit

Adv.Sensors

Autothrusters

HLC

99 points

This means that even if you cause them to bump, they still have their two actions and will not be stressed unless they S-Loop, which if they do, they still either boost/evade prior or just focus.

Flying a swarm against this is very difficult. You will lose a TIE a turn effectively because even something with three agility won't survive the seven attack dice thrown at it, both with gunner, just in case your evade dice are running hot.

Only chance you have is to split them up and focus one down and then pray you still have enough TIES left to take down the second one.

I am not saying its impossible to win against duel Aggressors with a TIE swarm but I haven't seen someone manage it yet.