I never got good at flying in formation. Truth be told, I am usually flying 3-4 ships in 2 ship teams. So i figure it is time to try out the ol TIE swarm. Best i got so far is Howlrunner with Swarm Tactics, Youngster with Expert Handling to shake target locks and Scourge and some black squadron with a bunch of Crack Shots. Or would it be better to to go with Youngster, Howlrunner and a bunch of Academy pilots to get an extra body on the field? Also, for using a swarm, is Expose better for Youngster?

I don't think youngster with expert handling is worth it. How often do you get locked in a game? You're much more likely to be using focus more often in my mind. I would maybe use wampa instead as he is another good target to draw fire away from howl.

TIE swarms can look however you like now adays. There's so many options available, there's no 'one true build'. Having said that, I feel that youngster is a bit lacklustre as of yet. I think an EPT that really allows him and his team to get good value has yet to come out. Of the options available, expert handling and marksmanship seem the only worth exploring (although you could possibly build a wacky list around squad leader, but it would need cascading pilot skill and would have to stick together all the time....not ideal).

Expert handling is not something you will use often, but its nice when you can drop a TL to help keep a TIE hanging in there. Marksmanship is best used when you have a couple ships that you know your opponent isn't going shoot (either out of arc or there's a closer, more juicy target available). Using with Wampa might seem like a good idea, but he'll often die before he gets to shoot. So as you can see, even marksmanship is a bit meh.

Expose is even worse. Even if you have a good condition to usee it, you would've been just as well off taking a focus action. If you are ever considering using Expose, I suggest knocking your head against the wall to put sense back in it

You can load up a bunch of TIEs with Crack Shot. You can still run Howlrunner and a bunch of Academies, thrown in a couple Blacks for things like Draw their Fire. And I'm still convinced that 8 TIEs with no upgrades is one of the best lists you can possibly run, against everything, it's just more taxing on the brain to fly for long periods of time.

Came up with this list little bit ago have a store championship tomorrow and still debating on what I want to run. If anyone has any input on my list let me know. Figure with marksmanship on Youngster all the ties would be able to use it and the stealth device just to make sure he can survive little longer. Also Howlrunner just for his ability.

Also instead of Crackshot was thinking veteran instincts to get the black squad pilots up to PS 6 so they hopefully shoot sooner than my opposition

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/399556/tie-swarm

So I was looking and did change a few things on this list no upgrades for Howlrunner changed Marksmanship to Expose for the extra dice and changed everyone to Veteran Instincts so they shoot sooner.

Crackshot is basically the way to go

If you don't like formation flying (ie no howlie) the two most stable forms are

3 Black squad crack shot

3 omega squad crackshot

Or

Omega leader (juke + relay)

4 black squad crackshot

1 wampa

With 13 TIE pilots and 9 TIE FO pilots now available the options are nearly endless.

My two favorite swarms had been:

Howlrunner Swarm:

Howlrunner, Swarm Tactics or Determination (because of old damage deck)

Backstabber

Darkcurse

4x Academies

and TIE All Stars

Howlrunner, Hull Upgrade

Mauler

Backstabber

Dark Curse

Night Beast

Gundark

I like this list because there's a lot of flavor/entertainment in the various pilot abilities.

But now with so many options I'm flying something different each time. Wampa is fun. He scares people. As does Omega Ace. Scourge is cool too. Omega Leader with Juke and Comms Relay is solid.

I am finding that it works better for me to keep lists either pure TIE or TIE FO. I've been less successful mixing the two for the most part and as cool as the FOs are I prefer the old TIEs. So last week I ran:

Howlrunner, Hull

Mauler, VI

Scourge, VI

Backstabber

Gundark

Academy Pilot

The most successful FO list I have run is:

Howlrunner, Calculation, Hull Upgrade

3x Zeta Squadron

2x Epsilon Squadron

Expert Handling is in fact a good EPT for youngster...makes TIE advanced with ATC have to spend a target lock every round thus making them even more susceptible to return fire (no evade token). also with the resurgence of brobots and FCS EH nullifies it as well. Ive used it to moderate success....the thing abotu TIE lists: even the new named TIEs are jsut TIEs at the end of the day. I try to get as many F/Os in there as I can...ya ya I hear that BSP with crack is a thing. All ive seen them do is go squish....many times before being able to use crack