I'm wanting to see if I can make a swarm or Elite- Mini swarm work. I've played a lot of Fel and Whisper recently so the next ace I want to field is Vader. I only have one Advanced and no raider pilots but I do have the title and act upgrades for it. Looking to run the ace-mini first and maybe build up to the full swarm when I am more comfortable with the Basic TIE's.

Came into the game turn of the year so never really had a chance to run this sort of squad without overly handicapping myself. Figured the recent changes give me all the reason I need to get into higher ship counts.

Vader. 29. Total 40

Predator 3

Prockets 3

Engine. 4

Title 0

ATC 1

Dark Curse 16

Backstabber 16

Obsidian 13

Obsidian 13

Total. 98.

Of course Vader flanks while DC leads in the Obsidians who hang back a little so the opponents 'best shot' is against DC. Kind of Biggs in reverse. Obsidian to out PS Typical TLT carriers and Rebel swarms. Backstabber would flank opposite Vader so that the typical approach is a trident. Trying to strongly discourage them from going after Vader early. If they do he disengages and BS comes looks to get them from the opposite flank.

Thoughts?

Only restriction I'm setting is 1 ace and at least 4 TIE's. Rest is up for amendment. Eg the Prockets were just a way to spend the points while giving Vader a bit of punch to soften up high value targets.

What does a Vader mini-swarm look like? Like this:

All kidding aside, I think you are off to a good start. Your average Vader has somewhere between 35 and 40 points, which leaves enough space for either five AP or dropping one of those to upgrade the rest, much like in your example. I for example prefer VI and Homing missile to Pred and Prockets, but I think it is all a matter of taste and your local meta.

As to what the swarm could look like, that is a matter of personal taste. For example, if you don't mind going to 99 or 100 points, then a sample swarm could look like:

Howlrunner 18 pts. (possibly with Determination)
Black Squadron Pilot w/Draw Their Fire (protection for Howl) 15 pts.
Obsidian x 2 (13 pts. each)

This would fly rather differently to your swarm, as you sacrifice the second flanker for a more consistent damage output in general from the TIEs. That might increase pressure on Vader, as the highest profile target on the board. In any case you should test, mix and match everything you think looks good. And even if you lose, don't get discouraged, sometimes you need a few games before it all "clicks".

With a 40 point Vader, you could do:

Black Squad, crack shot x4

As a terrible pilot, I definitely advocate running a mini-swarm with all the same pilot skill. Plus with ps4, you will get to shoot first against people that switched their swarms to ps3

Personally don't see much use in dark curse, your opponent will pick off the lower ties first then just gang up on dark curse kinda rendering his pilot ability useless =\

I'm decent at the game but not top class so always happy to take advice that will improve my play but to explain my thinking..

Personally don't see much use in dark curse, your opponent will pick off the lower ties first then just gang up on dark curse kinda rendering his pilot ability useless =\

I get what your saying. Idea is that with his ability he can risk positioning a little more than the generics so that he has a good shot that the enemy doesn't want to return, so if I position well, the Obsidians are at range 3, possibly taking evade rather than focus. This frontal element is all about forcing bad shots and tough decisions.

Go after Vader and he uses his speed and ability to disengage, letting the four TIE's get in to good positions.

Go after the frontal element and DC encourages bad shots (against him close unmodified or the further back and possibly evading Obsidians)

Either of these means leaving Backstabber to come in behind and getting the extra die into play. BS is basically a massive nuisance if not dealt with but at 16 points I'm probably happy if they turn to engage him even with just one or two ships?

Ive never flown more than 4 ships so I'm deliberately avoiding builds that force formation flying so I can be flexible in my flying while I get used to more ships. If DC isn't worth taking how do I improve the frontal element (be a while till I own any crack shot cards).

Also am I over estimating BS nuisance value?

Darth Vader (29)
Predator (3)
Proton Rockets (3)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
TIE/x1 (0)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)
Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)
Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)
Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)
Crack Shot (1)

Total: 100

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