Some tips I have for Imperial fighter use.

1. Even without the bomber rule, a basic Tie Fighter will hit a ship 50% of the time on blue dice. Considering how cheap they are, this makes bringing them worth it.

2. Remember that if you choose the command "Squadron" allows you to use your fighters to attack before your ship does. Rather than immediately gun your fighters to the rear end of the enemy ship, it's actually worth it in a lot of cases to attack the enemy ship at a location where your capital ship can fire on.

This means that you'll weaken the enemy ships shields for your capital ship to punch through, maybe get him to use some defence tokens early, likely keep your fighters in squadron range of that capital ship, and when it's the enemy's turn that ship has the option of either opening fire on your capital ship from that arc or the fighters... not both.

3. Certain abilities in the imperial fleet stack really well, and you should use them. A basic Tie Fighter only has 3 blue dice to attack enemy fighters with. However thanks to swarm, a supporting Tie Fighter will give it 4 blue die, and the special character "Howlrunner" will give it another blue die if she's in range, and if that Tie was activated by a ship with a "flight controler" it will get another blue die bringing the total up to 6 blue die. Incidentally, Tie Interceptors also have the "Swarm Rule"

4. Plot your Fighters around when the Squadron Command comes up. Unless you are running Rhymer, it's usually worth it to bring your fighters back into squadron range of a ship if you know that the "Squadron Command" is coming up next.

5. For that matter, getting Squadron Tokens is really useless for the Empire. Unless you are running a build of mostly capital ships and you only have a couple of squadrons, don't bother.

Of course, with my luck, they all turn up as blanks in the first place.

Can't turn up a blank when you're rolling blues.

That's why I'm a fan of VSD-IIs with Leading Shot. Best way to overcome my bad luck.

I feel we've gotten just a bit off topic, lol.

Nice set up, very ugly to face.

My response to your kill group would be a single sacrificial A-Wing activated after your Kamikaze TIE and positioned to engage only 2 of your 5 ships (including Howlrunner preferably) - with the intention being to TIE you down or break up the formation.

I'm curious as to the thinking behind this strategy. A single A-wing can work wonders against a cluster of five bombers ("Do I shoot the A-wing to peg it with 1 damage and risk taking 2, or do I just leave it alone and sit here in the middle of the board doing nothing?"), but against this particular group (Howlrunner + Mauler + Advanced + Soontir + Interceptor + Flight Controllers... up to 25 dice ), it's hard to imagine the A-wing surviving even three volleys, depending on activation order. Maybe you peg a couple of the base units for a couple of damage on counters, but with three Scatter tokens in the mix, damage on hero units isn't likely. I'm also curious about why you'd engage only Mauler and Howlrunner. With 9 dice between them as-is (4.5 average hits) this is enough to take down the A-wing between them, so doesn't improve the A-wing's chances of survival by much. The A-wing has virtually no chance to defeat even one of the elites (3 blues 1x, at least 1 must be an accuracy to cancel "Scatter," so max damage output of 2 (halved to 1 with Brace) and then 1 on a counter (1 hit + 1 accuracy, otherwise the counter is scattered). A-wings are fantastic, even alone, but even they can't take multiple barrages from an overwhelming force of anti-fighter squadrons and walk away (except Tycho, of course).

I'm also curious about the OP's imperial guide, which ignores the Rhymer ball (I agree it's costly and requires some degree of shepherding, though it requires far less than a Y-wing attack group [or B-wings] due to its vastly superior speed and firing range). Rhymer also encourages a second-look at TIE Advanceds, which are the Empire's single-best unit for tying down enemy squadrons (decent anti-squadron dice, so they're a threat; 5 HP, so they're hard to one-shot). And while I agree most imperial elites aren't worth the upgrade cost against ships, Vader and Rhymer certainly are. Rhymer makes all of your fighters (even blue dice rollers) potent against ships. Unless the enemy has a dedicated fighter screen, you don't want Vader (and his two braces) harassing your ship. If there is a dedicated fighter screen, so much the better.

My preferred fighter screen is a TIE advanced and an interceptor, paired off. The TIE advanced's goal is to shoot first, then keep the interceptor alive for a round so it can get off 8 blue dice unmolested. If the interceptor gets off 1-2 counters before it inevitably dies, that's 13-15 dice, which translates on average to 1 kill, 2 severely weakened squadrons, and 2 turns of stalling. If supported by an H-9 Warlord barrage (auto-wounding squadrons), or Glad II anti-squadron support, the casualties can be higher, but that's extra gravy (staling's the main goal). For ship-heavy lists where I only take four squadrons to screen, I'll try to add Vader and Soontir to pack in more damage (TIE Advanced + Soontir, for auto damage + Soontir's improved survivability when the TIE advanced goes down; Vader + Interceptor to murder enemy squadrons/heroes before Vader's two braces give way). I tend to play my fighter screens aggressively, though (hang close to the VSDs, then jump on isolated bomber groups (or to the extreme flanks of one large fighter wing when they come into range), so I naturally gravitated to the TIE Adv/Interceptor pairing for maximum damage output. For a purely defensive screen (you're only there to tie up enemy squadrons, and every chance you get to shoot is a pure bonus), this pairing is probably too expensive.

I appreciate the thoughts expressed here. It's nice to see attention being paid to squadrons. :-)

Unless you are activating with Chiraneau, I have kept up to 72 points of squadron from moving and attacking what I consider a more important target.

I attempt to only engage only some squadrons to break up your formation, avoid being on the receiving end of all 25 dice, and to avoid the escort effect being an issue. If I'm only engaging two of your kill group (Howl & Mauler based on your described formation) those four rounds of fire will take more than one turn. Yes Howlrunner will survive the A-Wing attack, but likely weakened (and Howlrunner doesn't have counter). And if Howlrunner and/or Mauler is left behind when the A-Wing dies and the rest of your kill group moves on - your synergy is reduced.

This is just a mitigation strategy, it isn't going to win overall space superiority - it's just trying to keep your kill group distracted and weaken your tactics a bit, and hopefully let my other squadrons be effective somewhere else. You do have a cool strategy.

Nice set up, very ugly to face.

My response to your kill group would be a single sacrificial A-Wing activated after your Kamikaze TIE and positioned to engage only 2 of your 5 ships (including Howlrunner preferably) - with the intention being to TIE you down or break up the formation.

I'm curious as to the thinking behind this strategy. A single A-wing can work wonders against a cluster of five bombers ("Do I shoot the A-wing to peg it with 1 damage and risk taking 2, or do I just leave it alone and sit here in the middle of the board doing nothing?"), but against this particular group (Howlrunner + Mauler + Advanced + Soontir + Interceptor + Flight Controllers... up to 25 dice ), it's hard to imagine the A-wing surviving even three volleys, depending on activation order. Maybe you peg a couple of the base units for a couple of damage on counters, but with three Scatter tokens in the mix, damage on hero units isn't likely. I'm also curious about why you'd engage only Mauler and Howlrunner. With 9 dice between them as-is (4.5 average hits) this is enough to take down the A-wing between them, so doesn't improve the A-wing's chances of survival by much. The A-wing has virtually no chance to defeat even one of the elites (3 blues 1x, at least 1 must be an accuracy to cancel "Scatter," so max damage output of 2 (halved to 1 with Brace) and then 1 on a counter (1 hit + 1 accuracy, otherwise the counter is scattered). A-wings are fantastic, even alone, but even they can't take multiple barrages from an overwhelming force of anti-fighter squadrons and walk away (except Tycho, of course).

I'm also curious about the OP's imperial guide, which ignores the Rhymer ball (I agree it's costly and requires some degree of shepherding, though it requires far less than a Y-wing attack group [or B-wings] due to its vastly superior speed and firing range). Rhymer also encourages a second-look at TIE Advanceds, which are the Empire's single-best unit for tying down enemy squadrons (decent anti-squadron dice, so they're a threat; 5 HP, so they're hard to one-shot). And while I agree most imperial elites aren't worth the upgrade cost against ships, Vader and Rhymer certainly are. Rhymer makes all of your fighters (even blue dice rollers) potent against ships. Unless the enemy has a dedicated fighter screen, you don't want Vader (and his two braces) harassing your ship. If there is a dedicated fighter screen, so much the better.

My preferred fighter screen is a TIE advanced and an interceptor, paired off. The TIE advanced's goal is to shoot first, then keep the interceptor alive for a round so it can get off 8 blue dice unmolested. If the interceptor gets off 1-2 counters before it inevitably dies, that's 13-15 dice, which translates on average to 1 kill, 2 severely weakened squadrons, and 2 turns of stalling. If supported by an H-9 Warlord barrage (auto-wounding squadrons), or Glad II anti-squadron support, the casualties can be higher, but that's extra gravy (staling's the main goal). For ship-heavy lists where I only take four squadrons to screen, I'll try to add Vader and Soontir to pack in more damage (TIE Advanced + Soontir, for auto damage + Soontir's improved survivability when the TIE advanced goes down; Vader + Interceptor to murder enemy squadrons/heroes before Vader's two braces give way). I tend to play my fighter screens aggressively, though (hang close to the VSDs, then jump on isolated bomber groups (or to the extreme flanks of one large fighter wing when they come into range), so I naturally gravitated to the TIE Adv/Interceptor pairing for maximum damage output. For a purely defensive screen (you're only there to tie up enemy squadrons, and every chance you get to shoot is a pure bonus), this pairing is probably too expensive.

I appreciate the thoughts expressed here. It's nice to see attention being paid to squadrons. :-)

Unless you are activating with Chiraneau, I have kept up to 72 points of squadron from moving and attacking what I consider a more important target.

I attempt to only engage only some squadrons to break up your formation, avoid being on the receiving end of all 25 dice, and to avoid the escort effect being an issue. If I'm only engaging two of your kill group (Howl & Mauler based on your described formation) those four rounds of fire will take more than one turn. Yes Howlrunner will survive the A-Wing attack, but likely weakened (and Howlrunner doesn't have counter). And if Howlrunner and/or Mauler is left behind when the A-Wing dies and the rest of your kill group moves on - your synergy is reduced.

This is just a mitigation strategy, it isn't going to win overall space superiority - it's just trying to keep your kill group distracted and weaken your tactics a bit, and hopefully let my other squadrons be effective somewhere else. You do have a cool strategy.

Hiya! I believe that comment was meant for me lol Yeah, I understand where your line of thinking is coming from. My only retort is, how do you plan to move your a-wing into my Kill Group when the kamikazes have tied your squadrons down? Also, I'm always careful to measure movement and engagement ranges of enemy squadrons before moving my own.

I'm not saying my kill group is unbeatable. On the contrary, I've suffered 100% casualties with them in a game before, but not before they did their job and still allowed me to win at 8-2. However, stalling/breaking up the Kill Group isn't necessarily so simple as using a sacrificial A-wing, because I don't usually put the Kill Group in a position to be jumped on.

Additionally, with my squadron command, you would still be eating all 25 dice that turn, because I can move and shoot with the ones you haven't engaged.

Let's not keep using the quote feature, and just say who we're referring to xD we're going to get solid pages of just one post quoting half a dozen people.

It's interesting that you guys talk about spreading out Rebel fighter to minimize the effects of Imperial activation balls due with VSD + Expanded Hangars. I should force myself to do this more often !

One thing I've noticed with Rebel fighters and ships is that having a pure carrier ship is sometimes overkill and clusters your fighter wing into one spot. While this is good to ensure superiority, it really reduces the overall range of the fighters that you might want somewhere else on the board and they'll have trouble catching up.

___

To add to the Rebels (I don't know If the OP had mentioned it), I've had good results with Adar Tallon on a Corvette. It's tempting to throw him on an AFMK2 or a Neb Escort, but considering he only deactivates one Squadron, you get the same mileage out of him on any other ship. And when you're playing with an Ace, it significantly increases the damage output of that Corvette (+2 Black dice per turn when playing with Luke for example).

Plus, you're not wasting Squadron commands if you really only want to activate one Ace and keep a reserve force of fighters for after the enemy Carrier has activated.

It also allows to activate stray squadrons that get to move + shoot + shoot.

I'm not saying this is the most optimal use of Tallon, but it shouldn't be thrown off the window

Asteroid fields have been mentionned already and they are indeed great to cover an approach of Squadrons. Considering that you have no penalty of being in an asteroid other than losing a dice, they're excellent to mitigate an enemy fighter screen !

All this is strategy going to be invalid in a couple of weeks when Scum drops

Outside of Sept 4th oddities we have more than a month to wait. Stuff still listed at the printers. Besides, even if it changes tactics, which it should, knowing the old ways can still be quite helpful at times as the meta shifts. Sometimes the old becomes new again.

Adar Tallon + Yavaris combo was what inspired me to make my Kill Group. My opponent just unleashed bomber attack after bomber attack. It was brutal.

@ ThatAsianKid1

Sure your sacrificial TIE could engage one of my A-Wings and maybe a bomber or two, but I'd hope to have two seperated.

I didn't talk about your squadron command allowing your unengaged squadrons to close on my A-Wing, but if that's how you are using the movement of a whole squadron command activation then it's a win (in this case the A-Wing dies quicker, but your group is tied down or has to move piecemeal)

I have 3 sacrificial TIEs, not just one. That allows me to engage 3 separate Rebel fighter/bomber groups.

As for movement, the order of activation would be Soontir, Tie Int, and Tie Adv, moving behind the A-wing on the very edge of distance one to attack. Then Howly and Mauler could move (assuming the A-wing is dead from 16 blue dice by now) to the front of the formation. The formation was slowed slightly, but still manages to move up about distance 3 as a whole. All the while, you fed me one of those tasty A-wings.

All this is strategy going to be invalid in a couple of weeks when Scum drops

Not all of the strategy will be. It'll simply adjust. More than likely, the strategies will remain the same, but we'll have more of them available to us.

Hi Guys,

I found this cool article by one of the developers that talks about squadrons.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/7/24/bomber-wings-and-fighter-screens/

It basically has said everything we have talked about so far.... but there was something in there that I was screwing up in the rules. Squadrons deploy at the start of the game at a distance of 2 from a ship. This means that you can deploy them PAST the standard 3 distance of the deployment zone. Meaning your fighters can deploy up-to a distance of 5 at the start of a game. I was deploying fighters all wrong, and watching a bunch of the videos on you-Tube I did not see a single person deploy this way so I wonder how many other people miss understood this rule.

I've been doing deploying my squadrons at max range for all my games. Just make sure you position carefully, because if you forget to take the speed and turn radius of your ship or something similar like that into account, you'll end up displacing your squadrons turn one, and feel like an idiot while your opponent does his best to fu** up your carefully planned formations. lol

I took the time to re-read Viratin's OP (much better read on a PC than on my mobile phone ) and I really like it

There is just one thing that I kind of disagree with and I'd love to open up a debate about this This is more concerning strategy (list building) than tactics (in-game maneuver). In the Rebel part, you suggest to have a Nebulon-B Escort Frigate with 3 X-Wings and 3 Y-Wings.

One thing I have noticed and that you touch on Viratin is that you say that Squadrons commands are paramount to take advantage of the squadrons, and as soon as you don't use them, your squadrons have to choose between move and shoot (and are so much less useful than they were). This could not be more true.

I've tried several lists at 300 and 400 points maximizing the points spent in squadrons and trying to throw as many squadrons (rather than going all Aces) as possible, mainly as Rebels.

What became abundantly clear is that as long as the number of squadrons is higher than the maximum amount of squadrons you can activate with your entire fleet in a single round, those squadrons that can't be activated are wasted points if you want to use your squadrons offensively.

The only exception to that is when you want your squadrons to be speedbumps and/or when they have the Counter rule (A-Wing and TIE Interceptors). These can afford to be used without squadron Commands because their goal is to prevent enemy squadrons from damaging your ships by engaging them. Squadrons with the Counter rule are also able to move and shoot due to Counter, so the points aren't as wasted.

____

I've found that as long as your limit your number of squadrons according to the number of maximum consisten squadrons activations you can have, then offensive squadrons (especially Bombers) won't be wasted.

To go even further, having 1 or 2 extra squadron activations than you have squadrons works even better, because you're bound to lose ships and as such lose squadron activations, further diminishing the effectiveness of your squadrons.

If you have points to spare and want to spend them on squadrons, rather than going for more squadrons that will take them over the squadron activation, upgrading squadrons to Aces is much cheaper (usually half the cost of a regular squadron, except for Imperials where it's closer to twice but they usually buff up everybody else ) and you get cool abilities and defense tokens.

____

Concentration of force vs Diffusion of Force :

That's something I want to experiment on. Right now the most successful squadron builds I've played and faced were with a dedicated carrier and maximizing the amount of squadron per activation and their burst damage through Expanded Hangars, Flight Controllers and any Ace that can buff other squadrons or any title ship that boosts survivability.

For Rebels I've had a good track record with an AFMK2 B with Expanded Hangar Bays and Gallant Haven + Adar Tallon that was activating 4 "Rge Squadron" X-Wings (2 of which were Luke and Wedge). Undisputed Air Superiority, excellent anti-ship damage.

I'd love to try diffusion of force lists (I have a feeling they work better with Rebels), with multiple small "carriers" (Nebs and Vettes) activating individual Squadrons that are spread out to force him to diffuse his own force (losing Swarms, etc). I'll report once I've clocked a few games in

Some tips I have for Imperial fighter use.

1. Even without the bomber rule, a basic Tie Fighter will hit a ship 50% of the time on blue dice. Considering how cheap they are, this makes bringing them worth it.

2. Remember that if you choose the command "Squadron" allows you to use your fighters to attack before your ship does. Rather than immediately gun your fighters to the rear end of the enemy ship, it's actually worth it in a lot of cases to attack the enemy ship at a location where your capital ship can fire on.

This means that you'll weaken the enemy ships shields for your capital ship to punch through, maybe get him to use some defence tokens early, likely keep your fighters in squadron range of that capital ship, and when it's the enemy's turn that ship has the option of either opening fire on your capital ship from that arc or the fighters... not both.

3. Certain abilities in the imperial fleet stack really well, and you should use them. A basic Tie Fighter only has 3 blue dice to attack enemy fighters with. However thanks to swarm, a supporting Tie Fighter will give it 4 blue die, and the special character "Howlrunner" will give it another blue die if she's in range, and if that Tie was activated by a ship with a "flight controler" it will get another blue die bringing the total up to 6 blue die. Incidentally, Tie Interceptors also have the "Swarm Rule"

4. Plot your Fighters around when the Squadron Command comes up. Unless you are running Rhymer, it's usually worth it to bring your fighters back into squadron range of a ship if you know that the "Squadron Command" is coming up next.

5. For that matter, getting Squadron Tokens is really useless for the Empire. Unless you are running a build of mostly capital ships and you only have a couple of squadrons, don't bother.

I think you're wrong in a few ways.

2. You can use squadrons to attack arcs that your ships cannot see to force the player to carefully decide when to use his redirect tokens

3. You misunderstood the swarm keyword. It allows a reroll of one die when within range of another squadron with swarm . Howlrunner does indeed add one blue die to distance 1 friendly squadrons, but only when attacking other squadrons

4. Engagement usually prevents repositioning squadrons. The best use of squadrons is to hug a carrier ship and ride it into combat so squadron commands may land when engagement starts

5. I disagree totally. As stated in 4, I let my squadrons hug the command carrier ship into combat, which can save a token for engagements and then unleash its full squadron command + token + expanded hangar bay for total carnage

I need some clarification because I am a newer player. When it comes to Squadrons post activation, maneuvers and attacks, if another ship in your fleet makes a 2nd squadron command before all tokens are exhausted, are you able to use a squadron that has already been activated (save the Rouge ability) or can you only activate squadrons that haven't been given command yet by a Star-ship? I have been combing through the rule-books for the last hour and there is no clear rule written. help please!

On 3/22/2019 at 10:13 PM, Blachieboy said:

I need some clarification because I am a newer player. When it comes to Squadrons post activation, maneuvers and attacks, if another ship in your fleet makes a 2nd squadron command before all tokens are exhausted, are you able to use a squadron that has already been activated (save the Rouge ability) or can you only activate squadrons that haven't been given command yet by a Star-ship? I have been combing through the rule-books for the last hour and there is no clear rule written. help please!

Thanks for your question. If a squadron has been activated in this round, it cannot be activated again this round. Two ships can't activate the same squadron in the same round. The only exception to this that I can think of is an upgrade card called "Adar Tallon" which comes with the Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion pack.

Hopefully this is also helpful: https://starwars-armada.fandom.com/wiki/Squadron_Activation

Squadrons are activated during the Squadron Phase . Squadrons can also be activated during the Ship Phase when a ship resolves a [squadron] command .

• When a squadron is activated during the Squadron Phase, it can move or attack , but not both.
• When a squadron is activated by a [squadron] command, it can move and attack in any order.
• After a squadron activates, toggle its activation slider to track that it has activated.
• A squadron cannot activate if the color and icon of its activation slider do not match the initiative token.

On 3/23/2019 at 3:13 AM, Blachieboy said:

I need some clarification because I am a newer player. When it comes to Squadrons post activation, maneuvers and attacks, if another ship in your fleet makes a 2nd squadron command before all tokens are exhausted, are you able to use a squadron that has already been activated (save the Rouge ability) or can you only activate squadrons that haven't been given command yet by a Star-ship? I have been combing through the rule-books for the last hour and there is no clear rule written. help please!

Hi Bleachieboy,
there maybe seems to be a severe misunderstanding of the timing of squadron play? Have you read and understood the section about " Game Round "?

• In step 2 of the Round ( Ship Phase ) you activate alternating one ship after another. If a ship spends (not exhausts!) a squadron command (dial or token) it can activate a squadron , but only if the squadron is in range. The activated squadron/s attack/s and move/s during the activation of the ship. After its activation you toggle the slider to remember it has already been activated.
• In step 2 of the Round ( Squadron Phase ) you activate alternating two squadrons. Now they can only move or attack. (Except those with "Rogue" keyword.) Then you toggle the slider.
• No squadron can be activated (neither by ship nor during squadron phase) if the activation slider doesn't show the same color than the initiative token. (For that is the initiative token blue during the first round and squadron start with activation slider at the blue side and end red. For the next round you turn the initiative token and all squadrons are readied. They start red and end blue. Then your turn the initiative token.)

I would recommend to search for a "How to play" video and then click your way through the Star Wars Armada wiki . (Also " Links " there if you don't know where to start searching.)

And you can post all rules questions in the " Rules " section. There are many friendly experts eager to help with any issue unclear!

Have a good time with this awesome game!

On 3/22/2019 at 9:13 PM, Blachieboy said:

I need some clarification because I am a newer player. When it comes to Squadrons post activation, maneuvers and attacks, if another ship in your fleet makes a 2nd squadron command before all tokens are exhausted, are you able to use a squadron that has already been activated (save the Rouge ability) or can you only activate squadrons that haven't been given command yet by a Star-ship? I have been combing through the rule-books for the last hour and there is no clear rule written. help please!

Hey mate, be sure to check the last post on a threat before you respond. It's totally fine to make your own thread to ask a question as well.

32 minutes ago, Alzer said:

Hey mate, be sure to check the last post on a threat before you respond. It's totally fine to make your own thread to ask a question as well.

That said, I think this thread might be worth reopening. The squadron game has changed radically (even a fair number of blogs are outdated in this) and gotten a lot more complicated. There must be players out there looking for up-to-date advice.

37 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

That said, I think this thread might be worth reopening. The squadron game has changed radically (even a fair number of blogs are outdated in this) and gotten a lot more complicated. There must be players out there looking for up-to-date advice.

Im making a new thread now. See attached link.