Jonus Brothers strike again

By earlyfang, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Opinions please

JONUS BROTHERS GAMMA ORDNANCE

100 points

PILOTS

Gamma Squadron Pilot (25) x 2
TIE Bomber (18), Extra Munitions (2), Flechette Torpedoes (2), Advanced Homing Missiles (3)

Captain Jonus (24)
TIE Bomber (22), Elusiveness (2)

Gamma Squadron Pilot (26)
TIE Bomber (18), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Ion Pulse Missiles (3)

Edited by earlyfang

Are Gamma pilots really worth it over Scimitar? You could spend the extra points on TIE MkII or Seismic charges.

Still a good list as it is, Tie Bombers are always good.

Bombers don't like stress, I suggest Determination on Jonus instead.

Without Cluster Missiles your list is also vulnerable to range-rushing.

Are Gamma pilots really worth it over Scimitar? You could spend the extra points on TIE MkII or Seismic charges.

Still a good list as it is, Tie Bombers are always good.

I think Scimitars are too vulnerable to Predator pilots so i chose Gammas. The maneuver dial is not as bad to need TIE Mk2, and im not very friend of bombs because i think they are too easy to avoid imho.

Bombers don't like stress, I suggest Determination on Jonus instead.

Without Cluster Missiles your list is also vulnerable to range-rushing.

I dont see the point for Determination. Its use is a condition inside a condition.

I tried Cluster missiles against a Fast Falcon and hardly ever reached the distance to fire.

Thank you for your tips anyway.

I dont see the point for Determination. Its use is a condition inside a condition.

You take Jonus for his ability, Determination used to let you keep it on until he died, now it is a decent filler due to his 6 Hull. You could also just use any of the other decent 1pt upgrades. :)

I don't like a 3 Tie Bomber list. I also find Jonus isn't needed in the Extra Munitions game. You can always take a Homing Missile and it works out better than Jonus. I flew Jonus Brothers and Jonus was the weak point. He's dead and you lose all the synergy.

I replaced my original list with:

4 x Scimitar w/ EM, Homing Missile, and Seismic Charges

You don't want Scimitars and I respect that. So, I had thought of this list:

4 x Gamma w/ EM and Homing Missiles

You don't have to fly in formation. Predator doesn't get you. You go before TLT's. In fact, you should kill a TLT Y-wing before they fire for the first 2 rounds and only lose one Bomber.

Homing Missile gives you the TL, which is great. They don't get the Evade which didn't used to be that big a deal. Now, though, you have Boosting IG-88's getting free Evades. C-3PO is there. Soontir Fel can't use his Evade. There are a lot more Evade actions going on.

I have flown my Tie Bombers a couple of times and have a hard time NOT flying them in formation anymore. I do really need to work on that. They did OK, but not in formation can really do well vs. K-wings and such. The Bombs in formation, though, are really devastating. I have destroyed so many opponents back in Store Champ days with my bombs. It's hard to give up on them.

If you try this list out and get some experience with it, I'd love to hear more. Very much so. I loved my Tie Bomber and got one of our local aces to fear them. He HATES Tie Bombers just from me. Heh. Please either post here or even PM me if you get some good info. I'd love to learn more through others. Deployment strategies and other stuff is great.

If you want to look at a good strategy for Bombs, look up DarkHorse's Tie Bomber article. He had a fantastic strategy when dealing with jousting with low PS Tie Bombers.

I don't like a 3 Tie Bomber list. I also find Jonus isn't needed in the Extra Munitions game. You can always take a Homing Missile and it works out better than Jonus. I flew Jonus Brothers and Jonus was the weak point. He's dead and you lose all the synergy.

I replaced my original list with:

4 x Scimitar w/ EM, Homing Missile, and Seismic Charges

You don't want Scimitars and I respect that. So, I had thought of this list:

4 x Gamma w/ EM and Homing Missiles

You don't have to fly in formation. Predator doesn't get you. You go before TLT's. In fact, you should kill a TLT Y-wing before they fire for the first 2 rounds and only lose one Bomber.

Homing Missile gives you the TL, which is great. They don't get the Evade which didn't used to be that big a deal. Now, though, you have Boosting IG-88's getting free Evades. C-3PO is there. Soontir Fel can't use his Evade. There are a lot more Evade actions going on.

I have flown my Tie Bombers a couple of times and have a hard time NOT flying them in formation anymore. I do really need to work on that. They did OK, but not in formation can really do well vs. K-wings and such. The Bombs in formation, though, are really devastating. I have destroyed so many opponents back in Store Champ days with my bombs. It's hard to give up on them.

If you try this list out and get some experience with it, I'd love to hear more. Very much so. I loved my Tie Bomber and got one of our local aces to fear them. He HATES Tie Bombers just from me. Heh. Please either post here or even PM me if you get some good info. I'd love to learn more through others. Deployment strategies and other stuff is great.

If you want to look at a good strategy for Bombs, look up DarkHorse's Tie Bomber article. He had a fantastic strategy when dealing with jousting with low PS Tie Bombers.

Hmmm... I saw your PM. I like your ideas. Looks like Jonus is the wrong term in the TIE bomber equation, after all.

I will work on that four gammas or scimitars and will post in next days after trials.

At the moment i am trying a few setups. I will try any of them tomorrow in a friendly match. Maybe i will use the scimitars again, due to the Nationals results (Spain, Victory for 4x Y-Wing with TLT). Looks like players are turning back to mid size swarms and some variety.

Here are the first ideas (named by Charlie Code):

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (25) x 4 (ALPHA SETUP)

TIE Bomber (16), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Concussion Missiles (4)

* This setup really saves a lot of points and has four attacks of four red dices. Im going to try this one tomorrow.

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (25) x 4 (BRAVO SETUP)

TIE Bomber (16), Extra Munitions (2), Flechette Torpedoes (2), Homing Missiles (5)

* A variation of yours. May be my new second choice.

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (25) x 4 (CHARLIE SETUP)

TIE Bomber (16), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Ion Pulse Missiles (3), Munitions Failsafe (1)

* Failsafe setup for Scimitars, anti-shield and ion control. A lot of new equipment from K-wing and TIE Punisher.

Gamma Squadron Pilot (25) x 4 (GAMMA DELTA SETUP)

TIE Bomber (18), Extra Munitions (2), Proton Torpedoes (4), Munitions Failsafe (1)

* Failsafe setup for Gammas. A variation of your proposal.

Gamma Squadron Pilot (25) x 4 (GAMMA ECHO SETUP)

TIE Bomber (18), Extra Munitions (2), Homing Missiles (5)

* Your proposal.

I will report results.

Stay tuned.

Edited by earlyfang

I will say that people are going to start using Sensor Jammers in lists. It will affect ordnance like nothing else. I played vs. 2 Sensor Jammer Brobots and it was a nightmare.

I've been messing around with bombers, and I'm no expert (I'm hard-pressed to call myself competent right now), but I think Proximity Mines might be their best short-range weapon in a high-defense world. The problem is you can't get both EM, bombs, and damaging warheads on 4 Gammas.

...but you can on a Scimitar!

Darkhorse's article really opened my eyes up to formation Seismic Charge drops. It covers a large area.

In short, it is this:

1) Learn Rule of 11 and hover just outside range

2) zip up as fast as you can and grab TL's. You will hopefully bump them or at least get so close that they can't focus fire to destroy one Bomber.

3) Drop Bombs and do a 5 K-turn.

4) Fire your Missiles even while stressed as they try to avoid a huge minefield!

I managed to kill Leebo in one turn like this. He landed on all my bombs and a couple of missiles finished him off. I've taken out 4 of 5 Alpha Interceptors in a single round that way, too.

Bad news;

List:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (25) x 4 (TIE Bomber (16), Extra Munitions (2), Homing Missiles (5), Seismic Charges (2))

Adversary:

1 Y-Wing, 3 Z-95 and 1 YT-2400. (I cant publish his full list until next sunday)

Scimitars are definitely discarded. Two games and they were razed in both.The matter is many lists can fire against the Scimitars before they can fire back. Gammas probably would not have done a better job. They take their chances in the Initiative roll. Too risky.

Furthermore:
1) Good players doesn't joust, so you can forget the Rule of Eleven. And
2) Good players try to avoid the firing arc ships that are locking them as target in the next turn after they locked on, making the task of firing ordnance very hard.

On the other hand:

Bombing in packs of four is very funny. The very hard thing is to reach the bombing point with all the bombers alive.

So i concluded standard tie bombers are not enough good for dogfight, unless they were skilled aces. Maybe i will use a four squad of scimitars in an epic. But not for standard games. I am considering to bring back Jonus and Rhymer with deadeye and a pair of other ship type, like interceptors or advanced.

Thank you for your attention.

Try adding a OCP with Fleet Officer to the mix, that way you can use the missiles on turn one.