So, will a swarm of Foo Fighters be 'a thing'?

No Howlrunner or others whatsoever.

Foo Fighters only.

6 Zeta squadron pilots for 96 point initiative bid. It won't do too great as it has no abilities or synergy, but it'll outnumber a lot of lists at the moment and so might stand a chance if flown very well.

I fear 8 Academies would perform better in any given case ...

Should be doable, Epsilon Leader plus some Epsilons screams for a try out

On a sidenote, not meant to troll here, but am I the only one who thinks TIE/fo is a somewhat unlucky (or hilarious) choice?

The TIE/f*** off?

That's my name for it!

Foo fighter is a safer version I might need to use in the future.

Sir, incoming TIE's!

What Variant Lieutenant?

**** off sir!

Nice!

Sorry Starkiller, didn´t mean to divert from you question

To get back to your question, yes a full TIE/fo squad must be nice.

I do love they have a speed two segnor´s loop.

Having a squad doing this at the same time and then their leader clearing their stress, should be fun!

I called them Disney-Ties,

but I like Foo Fighter way better.

TIE/**** Off is just too obvious ;-)

Nice!

Sorry Starkiller, didn´t mean to divert from you question

To get back to your question, yes a full TIE/fo squad must be nice.

I do love they have a speed two segnor´s loop.

Having a squad doing this at the same time and then their leader clearing their stress, should be fun!

You are welcome. I like this idea.

So, will a swarm of Foo Fighters be 'a thing'?

No Howlrunner or others whatsoever.

Foo Fighters only.

Like the name.

And I think you'll see Howl included in a Foo Swarm. We came up with this last night:

Howlrunner with Hull Upgrade (21)

Epsilon Leader (19)

4 x Epsilon Pilots (4 x 15 = 60)

100 points with the health of 8 TIE/LN's in 6 ships, 6 of which are Shields.

Well then, Tie Fighters and Foo Fighters mixed together

Then your TIe Foo is strong.

Egg Foo Fun?

Hmm...

Well, they are the Empire's latest toys, so we ought to think about how to use them right.

First thoughts:

• You get a good deal on them at first glance. An Epsilon squadron pilot has essentially received a Tech Upgrade Slot, a Shield Upgrade, a Targeting Computer and something more or less equivalent to the Twin Ion Engines MkII to make his speed 2 turns green and offer up the Segnor's loop. Even allowing for the Tech Upgrade to be free without something to put in it, that's about 7 points of modifications slapped on for a 3 point cost increase, which has to be a good deal, right?
• Maybe. Target Lock is less valuable on a 2-Dice attack ship, and a slight cost increase has a big impact on a ship we're used to fielding in swarms. There is now a 'hard limit' of 6 ships in a standard squad, rather than 7 or 8, which means a drop in head-on firepower, the classic strong point of a TIE swarm. The fact that you don't have Howlrunner in a pure Foo Yung Force makes this worse, if anything.
• It's not a swarm ship. It's not quite an interceptor, but it's more a ship to fly in loose 'packs' than in a tight 'box' - with no Howlrunner, there's no reason to stay in a tight formation where you colide with one another and risk splash damage from bombs, assault missiles and so on. Spreading out lets you actually get your money's worth out of your (much) superior dial and use barrel roll and segnor's loops as needed - and with your shield you can often survive one turn without tokens if you need to.
• The one reason to stay boxed up is Epsilon Leader, but - as with Wingman - he strikes me as merely okay. Removing stress from an entire squad sounds awesome.....but it happens at the start of the combat phase, which means you still lose your action, and given the amount of green on a TIE/fo's dial, shedding that stress in time for your next perform action step wouldn't have been hard anyway. If we get some 1-point tech upgrades, Epsilon Leader plus 5 Epsilon Squadron Pilots will be a pleasing squad, especially if said upgrades generate stress.
• Zeta Squadron definitely want to fly dispersed because Zeta Ace's ability really wants a pilot not stuck inside a box of other fighters at close quarters. Five of them with weapons guidance makes for reliable firepower without needing howlrunner.
• The real jewel in my brain are omega squadron. An Omega Squadron Pilot has an elite pilot talent, a huge action bar and a dial loaded with green, and is cheap enough to take five with Push The Limit rather than the four Saber squadron interceptors you could have managed - not to mention that they're tougher per ship to boot. Granted, they only have 2-die attacks, but they're **** agile so getting range 1 isn't hard, and the total firepower of the squad is pretty close - plus you have the advantage of target lock if you want it, meaning you have firepower just as good (arguably better) than a similar force of TIE fighters formed around Howlrunner.
• I suspect that taking only four TIE/fo fighters is probably too few - you start to lose out on the massed firepower to drop agile targets, or to cover the possible moves of evasive ones (like the T-70, for that matter), but throwing in Omega Ace (a pilot who demands push the limit) and/or weapons guidance tech is impressive.

The versions of the pack I can see at the moment are:

Epsilon Squadron:

• Epsilon Leader, Epsilon Squadron Pilot x 5 - with 6 points spare in case a 1-point tech upgrade comes out
• Epsilon Squadron Pilot with Weapons Guidance and Hull Upgrade x 5 (essentially they're pre-upgrade TIE advanced - not a great ship, but you have both a better dial and a fifth ship, so maybe tankyness wins this time)

Zeta Squadron:

• Zeta Ace, Zeta Squadron Pilot x 5 - with 2 points spare to buy an Elite Pilot Talent (Veteran Instincts or Lone Wolf?)

Omega Squadron:

• Omega Squadron Pilot with Push The Limit x 5
• Omega Squadron Pilot with Push The Limit, Weapons Guidance and Hull Upgrade x 4

The one mixed squad I could see was:

• Epsilon Leader, Omega Squadron Pilot with Push The Limit x 4

Epsilon Leader isn't as crucial to the squad as Howlrunner would be, but he's also therefore less of a priority target and in a tougher ship, meaning you might get 2+ turns of mileage out of his ability. With Push The Limit it becomes useful in a way it isn't for the generics.

Other notes: Weapons Guidance. Nice card, but (at the moment) coming one per (expensive) box and bought at a rate of half that that you get TIE/fo models. Sadly.

Only thing better/worse would be Tie/FA.

Don't worry, the TIE/fe, TIE/fi and TIE/fum are in the next wave.

The one mixed squad I could see was:

• Epsilon Leader, Omega Squadron Pilot with Push The Limit x 4

Epsilon Leader isn't as crucial to the squad as Howlrunner would be, but he's also therefore less of a priority target and in a tougher ship, meaning you might get 2+ turns of mileage out of his ability. With Push The Limit it becomes useful in a way it isn't for the generics.

That squadron comes in at 99 points, I noticed this when my buddy UncannyPenguin went to put It on the table and recommended a swam, one omega for Howlrunner. That squadron is terrifying. Each TIE except Epsilon is focused and evading for nearly every attack, each TIE except Howl gets a reroll to go with their focus for their attack, the squad can K-turn two turns in a row, and if they kill Howlrunner first, all the better, as it frees up stress-free S-loops for the remainder. It's not hard to keep Howl in r1 of the other 4 while staying out of formation, if you want to start with the s-loops unlocked

List wise I feel like these guys want to be sprinkled in, not made a swarm of. Save for maybe that omega swarm. I could easily envision using a pair of epsilon pilots to round out a squadron for blocking and harrasment. Ditto for the omegas. Not sure how much play we'll see on the others, but I'm a bad prognosticator of such things

So, will a swarm of Foo Fighters be 'a thing'?

No Howlrunner or others whatsoever.

Foo Fighters only.

Like the name.

And I think you'll see Howl included in a Foo Swarm. We came up with this last night:

Howlrunner with Hull Upgrade (21)

Epsilon Leader (19)

4 x Epsilon Pilots (4 x 15 = 60)

100 points with the health of 8 TIE/LN's in 6 ships, 6 of which are Shields.

PTL would be awfully tempting on Howl here. Focus/Evade every turn.

List wise I feel like these guys want to be sprinkled in, not made a swarm of. Save for maybe that omega swarm. I could easily envision using a pair of epsilon pilots to round out a squadron for blocking and harassment. Ditto for the omegas. Not sure how much play we'll see on the others, but I'm a bad prognosticator of such things

On Friday I'll be trying out five Academies and two Omegas with PTL as flankers. Ran one game on Vassal but not enough to really know if I like it yet.

I don't know that they'll be that great. But for new players, when they make their way back home, they can learn to fly high.

Lest we forget, a 6 A Wing squad is a good list, and probably doesn't see much play for reasons besides gameplay, such as needing 6 A Wings, or just a dislike of that type of list.

4 x Epsilon

2 x Omega + Predator/PTL

Basically you have to decide if you prefer Boost or Barrel roll.

I've tried the mix and there's a real problem with mixing the dials. You will be limiting the groups movement. The swap of 3K for 2Sloop means they sometimes either become predictable or suboptimal.

4 x Omega Squadron Pilot [PTL]

Epsilon Leader

Might be interesting if you can keep that oddball formation. You lose a body of course, but you gain a bunch of potential in arc-dodging, turtling, and dmg consistency!