Hello everyone, with the release of the Gozanti I bought one to try to focus on playing a swarm. I wanted to build a swamr with "good" ships, and not only obsidians or academies. I came up with this and I wanted some feedback about it. I will like to keep a couple of unique pilots in there and not just play plain Obsidians nor Academies. What do you think?

100 points

PILOTS

“Omega Leader” (26)
TIE/fo Fighter (21), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2)

“Howlrunner” (22)
TIE Fighter (18), Shield Upgrade (4)

“Scourge” (20)
TIE Fighter (17), Hull Upgrade (3)

“Mauler Mithel” (17)

“Winged Gundark” (15)

Well it's 5 squishy ships that want to joust.

Could be tough to against another swarm or arc dodgers

Even though you have some shields and extra hull they are still quite squishy

I'd rather have another tie instead honestly

What I find with TIEs is if you have 1 or 2 named pilots it's easier to keep them alive vs 4-5 named pilots in a squad.

If you have 4 Academy let's say and lose one, it's no big deal.

If you have 5 ties that are all named and lose one it feels as though you really lost something.

I found this out the other night flying against a 6 ship tie swarm that was all named pilots.

That is a big point there. Wo which one would you keep?

for five ships, you want more FOs for less squish

Omega L (juke + relay)

Zeta L (predator)

Omega Squaddie (crackshot)

Howlie (crackshot)

Wampa

love this little list, hits very hard

only problem is it dies very hard too The normal ties especially are made of soap bubbles.

the FOs are actually surprisingly durable with 1 shield + dat dial

That is a big point there. Wo which one would you keep?

Idk, but if you target lock sure your opponent can't modify his dice, but that's only on the ship you have locked and now possibly there could be more ships that can fire and modify, vs your unmodified green dice

Scourge is nice and works best if more ships are firing before him. So better chance a ship has a dmg card on it to get that bonus dice

If you have more than 4 Howlrunner is always a good idea

Mauler I find dies way too fast.

He's a jouster and if he goes up against another joust list he becomes a huge target, especially at range 1

And don't forget if he's at range one your opponent gets a bonus dice

I'd say take out Mauler, winged gundark, and the omega leader, but hey that's my opinion

What seems to be strong for swarm is spamming crackshot or juke

The ability to cancel out one of your opponent evade dice is very strong

Especially if you have 5 of them

Omega Leader is stupid amazing

Juke + Relay means you'll have an evade going in, and you'll be locked onto the ship that needs to die first; turning your juke into a better-than-crackshot

he's the only Tie that can go 1v1 against any ace and win

Ya but how does he fair against multiple ships?

Having 3 or more ships focus on him and his ability means nothing

For the pts it seems like an awful lot.

Juke would go well with comms relay but I feel there are better pilots for the ties

he's 26 points; fairs about as well as you can hope for typical high ps ships

if you let him get focused down while you have 5 ties, though, it's entirely your fault

5 ties with 2 attack dice is nothing to be too afraid of

I'd much rather the numbers. Especially with nothing but 2 red dice ships

Plus 26 pts is still a lot for a ship ment to joust.

Joust and squishy

Something like 5 black squadron with crackshot is just way more threatening

Plus if you have 5 named ties in a squad, losing one will have a much bigger impact vs losing an Academy

Maybe he works for some, butnot my cup of tie

Other ties I'd rather

5 ties with 2 attack dice is only nothing to be afraid of if you use sh*tty ties. Omega L, Zeta L, crackshot ties all annihilate any enemy you will come across

secondly, you do not joust with Omega. Omega is a flanker, pure and simple, and should always be on the side of your formation while being the most difficult Tie to target. Late game, he is, simply put, the best Tie able to take on far more than his points worth of solo enemies

you simply have to play him to understand how little his 2-die primary limit matters in the face of his ability + juke. Omega L is stupid powerful and will murder soontir/vader with ease

ofc, 5 crackshot is more powerful, because 5 crackshot is 75 points. By extension, 4 crackshot + wampa + OL is stronger than 5 crackshot

I've been toying with the same debate. I've come up with 2 versions.

First is less in number, but hits like a brick.

Second is in numbers with great potential.

X3 Tempest Squadron Pilot — TIE Advanced 21

Cluster Missiles 4

Fire-Control System 0

Munitions Failsafe 1

TIE/x1 0

Ship Total: 26

"Youngster" — TIE Fighter 15

Expose 4

Stealth Device 3

Ship Total: 22

OR

"Youngster" — TIE Fighter 15

Expose 4

Ship Total: 19

"Howlrunner" — TIE Fighter 18

Swarm Tactics 2

Ship Total: 20

X5 Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 12

Ship Total: 12

Youngster ability only works with tie fighters

Be nice if it worked with advanced or bombers

Youngster ability only works with tie fighters

Be nice if it worked with advanced or bombers

Well thanks for saving me an extremely frustrating night of X-Wing!!!

such a bad restriction too

no barrel-rolling shuttles

then again, no barrel-rolling Decis. Fair's fair

such a bad restriction too

no barrel-rolling shuttles

then again, no barrel-rolling Decis. Fair's fair

more importantly... no Barrel Rolling Flying Space Cows.

How about this:

“Omega Leader” (26) TIE/fo Fighter (21), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2)

“Howlrunner” (20) TIE Fighter (18), Squad Leader (2)

“Zeta Leader” (25) TIE/fo Fighter (20), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2)

Black Squadron Pilot (14) x 2

squad leader could be two crackshots

and then one more point for crackshot on howlie

I flew that variant before and it's a decent list, but it's a bit squish. I was actually incredibly surprised by the jump in suvivability when I swapped a crackshot black for a crackshot Omega (taking points from Juke + Relay Zeta by turning them into Predator, and then knocking down the other crackshot black into Wampa)

3 FOs and 2 Ties just endures leaps and bounds beyond 2 FOs and 3 Ties. It's a combination of the shield + incredible dial.

basically, in every game I played with 3 FOs + 2 Ties, most of them devolved into 3 FOs versus a crippled enemy. The others were the two Omegas + Wampa versus a crippled enemy.

Ties are squishy , and so is Zeta L to a lesser extent (stress = less incredible dial; +1 red is super worth it though)

Youngster works Stupidly well with Wampa assuming you roll an eyeball.

Omega leader Juke Comms

Wampa

youngster Marksmanship

Black + crack x 2

Academy pilot.

if you want you can drop OL (i wouldn't) for Black +Crack and Obsidian.

Interesting, and what about this:

TIE/fo Fighter: · "Omega Leader" (21)
Juke (2)
Comm Relay (3)
TIE/fo Fighter: Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Crack Shot (1)
TIE/fo Fighter: · "Zeta Leader" (20)
Juke (2)
Comm Relay (3)
TIE Fighter: · "Howlrunner" (18)
TIE Fighter: Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

1.) 5 ships is not a swarm.

2.) 3x Black Squadron, 3x Omega Squadron, 6x Crackshot. You know what would happen when our two lists jousted? You'd kill 1.5 of my TIE Fighters, and I'd kill 2 of yours. Now it's 5 of my ships vs 3 of your soap bubbles.

3.) This is why it's a problem that 5 or even 4 ship lists are considered swarms. New players (or even just players that don't normally fly swarms) throw together some junk list and think it's good because it's a swarm. Swarms are good because they have numbers. 5 ships doesn't count as quantity and since you're flying soap bubbles you don't have quality either.

1.) 5 ships is not a swarm.

2.) 3x Black Squadron, 3x Omega Squadron, 6x Crackshot. You know what would happen when our two lists jousted? You'd kill 1.5 of my TIE Fighters, and I'd kill 2 of yours. Now it's 5 of my ships vs 3 of your soap bubbles.

3.) This is why it's a problem that 5 or even 4 ship lists are considered swarms. New players (or even just players that don't normally fly swarms) throw together some junk list and think it's good because it's a swarm. Swarms are good because they have numbers. 5 ships doesn't count as quantity and since you're flying soap bubbles you don't have quality either.

Ok, now that you have completely destroyed my list. Would you be able to help me out to figure something?

Thanks mate

Either 8 TIEs, or what I suggested in point #2.

That's something I've been considering

Good old fashioned 8 ship tie swarm.

It's a lot if ships and guns

Losing one or two no big deal, and no one pilot you have to be concerned with

Then again even 7 ships and one named pilot is still a good option

Another I've considered would be youngster with expose and then 5-6 black squadron with crackshot

Only expose when you get that sweet shot

Thank you very much for everyones input, I was able to understand a little bit more what a swarm is (a real swarm). Last night I tested the following list with deent results, I smashed 2 times in-a-row a list with Hounds Tooth and a Firespray, and then a rough match, ended up with a modified win to my opponent, against a Hounds Tooth and 2 M3A. I think the list is pretty solid even though it may not be the perfect swarm, which is not my intention, I wanted to fly a "swarm" with a couple of named pilots. I will prepare and try the 3x Black and 3x Omega with 6x Crackshot, even though it will bee "expensive" buying 6 Kihrax to get the crackshot. And for sure I will try 1 named and fill in with academies.

This is last night's list:

“Scourge” (20)
TIE Fighter (17), Predator (3)

“Omega Leader” (29)
TIE/fo Fighter (21), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2), Hull Upgrade (3)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13) x 2

Academy Pilot (12) x 2

Tip to save money

Borrow upgrades from friends if they are not using them

Check eBay for cards

Team covenant use to sell upgrade cards separately

Also there are other good swarm builds without having to go 3 black and omega

Howlrunner

3x black squadron

Crackshot

3 Academy

For example

Gives you 7 ships

3 have crackshot, 3 Academy for fodder, and blocking, and howl

A list I came up with but have not yet tested

Youngster

Expose

4x black squadron

Crackshot

Howlrunner

Juke

I know some will say expose is terrible and it is, but when you have a bunch of ships at range 1 and all get 4 attack duce and can cancel an evade, is pretty scary.

The key to using expose is only use it sparingly

I did see it work well one game flying against a 6 ship elite tie swarm

I believe it was

Youngster

Expose

Scourge

Howl

Wampa

Chaser

Obsidian

I believe that's what it was

Tore my 3 scimitar and Deathrain to pieces