I've been playing around with squadrons a lot recently and thought it'd be fun to do something very typical of Imperials (in lore) that doesn't seem to have translated much into any Armada fleet lists i've seen: Swarm.

The idea was simple; how many TIE's could I fit in one fleet? Answer is 16. That's 16 potential blue dice of bombing a turn if the opponent had no squadrons, not too bad. Added in a Howlrunner and Dengar to make them essentially dog-fight the same as Interceptors, as well as have that possibility of going straight for ships with Dengars intel. Just to round it off I added Rhymer because it just makes the logistics of hitting ships a lot easier.

Two non-ECM imperials with Motti to act as the carriers. Decked them out so that my squadrons can be as flexible as possible.

It's just a bit of a fun fleet, haven't tested it yet, but it looks surprisingly viable.

Any thoughts?

Swarrm!
Author: Seriaph

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 400/400

Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Minefields

Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (110 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Expanded Hanger Bay (5 points)

[ flagship ] Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (110 points)
- Admiral Motti ( 24 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Expanded Hanger Bay (5 points)
- XI7 Turbolasers ( 6 points)

10 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 80 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
1 "Howlrunner" ( 16 points)

I really like this idea! Lots of small bits of damage can be better that one big chunk (especially where defense tokens are concerned). The range of the ISD I's front arc just hurts my soul a little bit... But at least they're more maneuverable than a victory.

I would be concerned about a rebel list also maxed out with squadrons, since X-Wings can bring down ties pretty fast, but maybe having 'howl' with help out with that as long as she doesn't get hit. That first Alpha strike will be really important if you face a fighter heavy matchup so as to take out as many fighters with those ties as possible before they get an attack in.

I think it's a cool list!

More tie fighters! (Imperial Cowbell)

I did this at 300 points and it worked amazingly well. People laugh at tie fighters used as bombers until they realize it's almost like shooting 10-12 blue dice at them. What also sucks is:

Brace is useless against them

Redirect is horribly inefficient against them

Evade doesn't work as well unless they have MonMotha, and they'd rather use it on the double hits and crits from your ships. Or you can get to close range and now all they can do is redirect a couple of the hits. It's pretty amazing. And with boosted comms, your tie fighters can be there softening them up before your ships even activate. Pairing this with some ship with XI-7 or Heavy turbolasers is deadly!

I really like this idea! Lots of small bits of damage can be better that one big chunk (especially where defense tokens are concerned). The range of the ISD I's front arc just hurts my soul a little bit... But at least they're more maneuverable than a victory.

I would be concerned about a rebel list also maxed out with squadrons, since X-Wings can bring down ties pretty fast, but maybe having 'howl' with help out with that as long as she doesn't get hit. That first Alpha strike will be really important if you face a fighter heavy matchup so as to take out as many fighters with those ties as possible before they get an attack in.

I think it's a cool list!

Yeah I think you're right, it's definitely about keeping those named squadrons in for as long as possible. surround them with enough TIE's to make positioning hard for the opponent. Good thing with SO many TIE's is that Jan's braces only go so far (4 braces at most). With 13 squadrons, could easily clean up 2/3 escort X-Wings and Jan herself in a single turn.

I did this at 300 points and it worked amazingly well. People laugh at tie fighters used as bombers until they realize it's almost like shooting 10-12 blue dice at them. What also sucks is:

Brace is useless against them

Redirect is horribly inefficient against them

Evade doesn't work as well unless they have MonMotha, and they'd rather use it on the double hits and crits from your ships. Or you can get to close range and now all they can do is redirect a couple of the hits. It's pretty amazing. And with boosted comms, your tie fighters can be there softening them up before your ships even activate. Pairing this with some ship with XI-7 or Heavy turbolasers is deadly!

Love it - very imperial.

Pretend you're Zap Brannigan and send in wave after wave of your own men

THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY X-WING.

I like this theoretically, but I would take two less TIE fighters. I don't like having more fighters than you can activate with squadron commands, and since Dengar can handle himself that would let you move everyone else with your squad commands. Also frees up 16 pts.

I like this theoretically, but I would take two less TIE fighters. I don't like having more fighters than you can activate with squadron commands, and since Dengar can handle himself that would let you move everyone else with your squad commands. Also frees up 16 pts.

I definitely understand where you're coming from. However there is a reason for the overload of fighters:

• With this list I expect I'll lose a few TIE's against lists with squadrons.
• Once squads are engaged they wont need to move/shoot.
• An overload of fighters is serious mojo against less squadrons ( 6 - 8 ) which seems to be the current trend. 11 - 13 fighters with howlrunner, you're looking at throwing between 44 - 52 blue anti-squadron dice a turn. With a probability of 50% hitting damage on a blue dice, you're looking at dealing between 22 - 26 damage consistently. That's the same as killing 4-5 X-wings, or 2 - 3 X-wings + Jan, or 5 - 6 A-wings.. in a single turn. I've thrown in Mithil since as well, so expect that he'll do a damage point to every enemy squadron and you're looking at a good 28 - 30 damage a turn.

The reason I find doing so much damage important in squadrons, is the faster you can clean up your opponents, the faster you can focus on the ships. So many games I've spent plenty of points on squadrons only to have them tied up until turn 4 - 5 with the opponents squadrons, not being able to help out in the ship game.

Also just imagine 13 squadrons in Superior Positions

I don't mind a few extra. After a few turns there won't be extra... ha.

Did you count rerolls with swarm? Ties do damage reliably with that reroll. I'm to lazy to do the math.

I like the concept, definitely !

Out of curiosity, how would you go about Ruthless Strategists ? I know that it's when you attack the opponent, but throwing loads of expendable TIEs followed up by an AA barrage with the ISD means that you can finish off enemy fighters that are afar even if you don't hit. And throwing inexpensive TIEs and TIE Interceptors in the fray, that will probably die anyways, might as well make them count