Have a tournament Saturday, wanting to play a TIE swarm, but only have 6 TIE Fighters and have flown them exactly once about 2 hours ago... I don't know if it's enough to get anywhere with or if I'm better off rebel swarming BBXX... There are a lot of 3 ship builds in my local meta, sooo...
Any insight appreciated...
If you ONLY have 6 TIE fighters, and that's it, then I'd go for the 6 named ones. That leaves you with 3 points, I would suggest a hull on Howl, but you could also put VI on Howl and Mauler, or Predator on Mauler.
But if you have other ships that you could fill in, 6 academies leaves you with 28 points for a 7th ship. Honestly, I'd have to suggest a Sigma with SPA and IA. You can fly him in formation if you want as a super threat in the back row, or he can break off on his own as a flanker, forcing your opponent to either eat the 4 dice, or to turn away from the swarm. IA helps you to decloak the correct way.
I'm looking at something like:
Joust Squadron:
Howlrunner w/Determination + Shield Upgrade
Dark Curse w/Stealth Device
Black Squadron w/Draw Their Fire
Flank Squadron:
Backstabber
Obsidian Squadron x2
That's 99 points... Is having 3 to joust and 3 to flank bad strategy??? I'm doing this more foe the uniqueness and fun of it than hoping to be super competitive, but at least appearing competent would be nice... 6 ships is definitely not in my wheel house...
I've seen a lot of people use Backstabber alone as a flanker, or with one other TIE (though usually an interceptor), while keeping most of your force close to Howlrunner for the re-roll.
I'd probably go with a 4/2 or 5/1 split, and take it slow with the 4 while you power up the side with the 2. If they go after your 2, speed up Howlie and friends, while if they ignore the flankers, bring them in quick.
EDIT: You should probably put Dark Curse with Backstabber, since that makes the flankers a less-appealing target.
Edited by MortalPlagueI've been playing 6 academies and a shuttle exclusively for months now and have been doing very well with it.
6 academies
Omicron pilot
Vader
Engine upgrade
I put the list together for a tournament where I expected to face a lot of fat turrets. The swarm deals with the big, clumsy ships but I knew I needed something to deal with arc dodgers, so I put a doom shuttle in. Usually works great. It does take some skill to fly though.
I might suggest my build, 5 obsidians and Fel with AT/HU/PtL. Not quite 6 TIE fighters, but it is 6 TIEs 
6 Tie Swarm Viable At All???
Yes.
Howlrunner /w Hull Upgr. and Determination
Academy Pilot x2
Alpha Squadron Pilot x3
Have a tournament Saturday, wanting to play a TIE swarm, but only have 6 TIE Fighters and have flown them exactly once about 2 hours ago... I don't know if it's enough to get anywhere with or if I'm better off rebel swarming BBXX... There are a lot of 3 ship builds in my local meta, sooo...
Any insight appreciated...
I seem to recall a certain game I played last night against a Tie swarm where there was a Shuttle with the Emperor with X1 Vader and Merek as escourts...
If you ONLY have 6 TIE fighters, and that's it, then I'd go for the 6 named ones. That leaves you with 3 points, I would suggest a hull on Howl, but you could also put VI on Howl and Mauler, or Predator on Mauler.
But if you have other ships that you could fill in, 6 academies leaves you with 28 points for a 7th ship. Honestly, I'd have to suggest a Sigma with SPA and IA. You can fly him in formation if you want as a super threat in the back row, or he can break off on his own as a flanker, forcing your opponent to either eat the 4 dice, or to turn away from the swarm. IA helps you to decloak the correct way.
Lambda with Gunner and FCS, 6 Academies.
I've been playing 6 academies and a shuttle exclusively for months now and have been doing very well with it.
6 academies
Omicron pilot
Vader
Engine upgrade
I put the list together for a tournament where I expected to face a lot of fat turrets. The swarm deals with the big, clumsy ships but I knew I needed something to deal with arc dodgers, so I put a doom shuttle in. Usually works great. It does take some skill to fly though.
I actually thought about this list in my head on the way home from my LGS last night... I know I'm going to see at least 1 Soontir with a Slave 1, another squad has RAC with Whisper and another has a Falcon with Jake, so dealing those crits will be important...
6x
Black (obsidian?) squadron
Predator
Hull upgrade.
Someone I know runs this list and I've never seen him lose.
I've only played a few times, but I've done surprising well with my Space Cowboys list. I even defeated a double Decimator list that one guy usually comes close to winning at store tournaments.
Space Cowboys
Omnicron Group Pilot w/ Adv. Sensors, Fleet Officer, and Anti Pursuit Lasers
Backstabber
Night Beast
Dark Curse
2 x Academy Pilots
Have the shuttle dish out 2 Focus for a stress, but then do a green move. Put the stress on whomever you think is going to get shot at that round. That way, they can do an Evade with the Focus. Often times is the Academy, but not always. Night Beast tries to do green to get the free Focus and evade. Dark Curse is just a pain to kill. It makes for a surprisingly tough list to kill while you dish out the attacks. You are usually having a Focus for your ships. Yes, it's only 2 attack dice, but you get a lot of them. The Shuttle also gets to fire 3 dice, too, but usually unmodified.
Anti-Pursuit Lasers aren't really needed, but I had 2 spare points. I figure the shuttle gets stuck into things and tries to bump while the Ties can swarm around the targets.
If playing against large turret ships, you just have to keep the majority of your ships pointed in the right direction. Always good to send out an Academy first to try to block.
I have to say that it's not sexy or OP, but it's a lot of fun. It's also pretty effective, as long as you don't bump yourself all day long. I really should try this list out more often.
I'm looking at something like:
Joust Squadron:
Howlrunner w/Determination + Shield Upgrade
Dark Curse w/Stealth Device
Black Squadron w/Draw Their Fire
Flank Squadron:
Backstabber
Obsidian Squadron x2
That's 99 points... Is having 3 to joust and 3 to flank bad strategy??? I'm doing this more foe the uniqueness and fun of it than hoping to be super competitive, but at least appearing competent would be nice... 6 ships is definitely not in my wheel house...
Better to have 5 to joust and 1 (Backstabber) to flank. The power of the swarm is pure efficiency, and, especially with Howl, the more jousting you can do, the better you'll be. Plus, this way your opponent is easier to predict--it's not like he'll turn his whole squad to face Backstabber.
6x
Black (obsidian?) squadron
Predator
Hull upgrade.
Someone I know runs this list and I've never seen him lose.
must only be 5x if he's got both upgrades on each since that's 20pts.
Personally I like 6xObisidians + Doomshuttle, the obsidians strip shields and the Doomshuttle lays down crits.
I like this thread. These lists are exactly what I like to run as Empire.
If you have played the shuttle a bit, then I would go with that and Vader, but if you haven't, I would go with the other suggestions
In my opinion, the best squads are always a combination of two elements. Such as (mini-)swarm and arc-dodger ("sniper").
Or another combination of the "three elements"
You should have at least (and maximal) two out of three of the elements. E.g Turret and mini-swarm, scissor and mini-swarm, turret and scissor.
Only then you are theoretically not facing any "anti-your-list"-squads
It's also all in how you play it, as opposed to list building. If you are going tournaments, then you know you will see Fat Turrets. Just expect that they will try to bait you. They will look like they are going to come at you, but will do a hard turn and then a boost to get out of your way. So, throw an Academy out there to where you think they are going to turn. Block his escape route and fire with the rest of your stuff.
Actually, if you want to be really effective, to go with a Black Squadron Pilot and Intimidation for your blocker. You know he's going with high PS ships and a PS4 should be no problem. I would think that an effective blocker like this would be better than Howlrunner (who usually dies so fast anyways).
For brobots, just know he's going to bait with one while the other comes up behind you. When you commit at one, he's going to do an S-loop and then try to have both behind you. Either that or he's going to do a long bank/turn and boost out of the way so you have no shot and the other is behind you. Just try to block his escapes and then fire at him. He usually panics at this point and you can let the hurt one flee to turn on the other brobot and kick it's teeth in while it's alone.
Your real trouble will be arc dodgers. You know Soontir will show.
Yup Arc Dodgers are going to give you fits. Turrets can be beaten, you just have to block them. And block them again. It will be an ugly game, far from perfect MoV, but it can be done. Soontir and Whisper are a whole other thing. If you get them in arc, they are all but immune to your 2 dice, meaning you must get them in arc of multiple or even most of your ships at the same time.
I think it's possible, but when Soontir came back to the meta, the life of TIE Swarm players got much harder.
6x
Black (obsidian?) squadron
Predator
Hull upgrade.
Someone I know runs this list and I've never seen him lose.
I'm not surprised
That's 120 points
This might be fun once the cards are released:
5 x Black Squadron Pilot with Crackshot and MkII TIE
Howlrunner, Determination , MKII TIE
It's amazing how many badass combinations you can come up with using just TIE Fighters. The pilot abilities and the ship itself are great.
I ran a 5-TIE + Vader list and found it pretty effective. Used the same flanking tactics you mentioned. Got a video of the game thanks to FCB Games:
Here's the list:
I ran a 5-TIE + Vader list and found it pretty effective. Used the same flanking tactics you mentioned. Got a video of the game thanks to FCB Games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385ACGKfTXM
Here's the list:
Darth Vader (29)
Determination (1)
"Mauler Mithel" (17)
Determination (1)
"Backstabber" (16)
Academy Pilot (12)
Academy Pilot (12)
Academy Pilot (12)
Total: 100
View in Yet Another Squad Builder
I'd like to add TIE x1 and ATC to Vader, I'd have to run Mauler with no EPT if so. Or maybe switch him to a Black Squadron with DTF.
I watched that game last night when I got home... I had actually watched it the Wednesday you played it, but wasn't looking for anything specific at the time... How effective do you find splitting your squad into jousting/flanking is...
All great ideas in this thread guys, I appreciate it...
I've found if you split with a jousting and a flanking group, I try to take Dark Curse and make him the forward leader of the jousting group. Try to arrange your R3 round with just him in front. He's hard to kill and you then get to get in close for bumping and swarming and such.