After playing only with my closed group 95% of the time, I am starting to enjoy playing against other people in a LGS. Very basic fleets, either 4 Novice T 70 or 8 Tie Swarm ( 4 Academy plus 4 Obsidian ).
Perhaps, as basic swarms are old stuff in my area, people are most experienced playing.vs 2-3 ship lists. And simply blocking movement lanes I can fire 3 dice R1 volleys that are quite devastating. This classic wave 1 list is still viable, IMHO.
It has always been viable imo. Just requires alot of practice to fly
I have some experiencia as a dedicated player, but few in a LGS environment. People usually play Brobots, Imperial Aces or high HP Rebels, the usual. A bunch of people plays a variety of formations, of course. But 80%+ you will fly against 2-3 ships.
While deploying some players are surprised. 8.Tie, 4 T 70 Rookies...mmmm. And 8 Ties against Brobots is an interesting game.
I have been flying 6 Fighters and 1 Royal Guard and it has been quite fun. They can really push out a lot of damage when flown aggressively.
It has always been viable imo. Just requires alot of practice to fly
This. 8 TIEs will always be one of the strongest lists. It's just difficult to maintain focus on what you should be doing with that many ships round after round.
Indeed. The main flaw is just the sheer brain drain of trying to track flying 8 ships in a furball....
It is not difficult to manage 8 agile and simple ships if you have played wargames or other minis games. You can fly a group a 4 Obsidian and another one of 4 Academy, throw the Academy Ties asblockers closing lanes and firing Focus Obsidians, or simply fly wildly and create havok, Mad Max style. You have 24 hull points Agi 3, and you can make some mistakes. That A or E wing can not...
I have flown this and I consider myself a pretty good player when it comes to managing a bunch of dials. There is no denying that this IS a brain drain. ESPECIALLY in a tournament of 4 - 8 games in a row. Saying its not difficult to manage is poppycock.
Having said that, its always been competitive as others have mentioned. The only reason you don't see it much is because not many players have 8 TIEs and even for those that do, most like to try other things too.
If you do fly it, I strongly recommend AGAINST 4 obsidians and 4 academies. All 8 Academies is easier to fly and the benefit of bumping 4 up to PS 3 is dubious at best (in this particular case).
Edited by blade_mercurialI have flown this and I consider myself a pretty good player when it comes to managing a bunch of dials. There is no denying that this IS a brain drain. ESPECIALLY in a tournament of 4 - 8 games in a row. Saying its not difficult to manage is poppycock.
Having said that, its always been competitive as others have mentioned. The only reason you don't see it much is because not many players have 8 TIEs and even for those that do, most like to try other things too.
If you do fly it, I strongly recommend AGAINST 4 obsidians and 4 academies. All 8 Academies is easier to fly and the benefit of bumping 4 up to PS 3 is dubious at best (in this particular case).
When the Z-95 headhunter came out we did a test match of 4 academies & 4 obsidians vs 4 bandit squad & 4 tala squad. The benefit of boosting to PS3 is eliminating PS2 ships before your PS1 ships get slaughtered. Due to the PS difference between the TIEs and the Zeds the rebels won the match because the talas were able to gun down an obsidian before it could shoot, this maintained a higher rebel pilot skill advantage in the match overall.
If you want to be really annoying field 7 Academy Pilots (12pnts each, total of 84pnts) and then throw Dark Curse (at 16 pnts) in there. You get one ship that can prove to be frustrating to kill and an 8 TIE swarm 
Well, the bunch of players of my game group are experienced wargamers. Not the best x wing players of the area, but after mastering the Fighting Wings sistem, to control 8 naked Tie Fighters is not something very difficult. Try to manage four F6 Hellcats with elite 1945 USN pilots, and 8 dials is... not simple, but not too difficult. No deflection shooting, no tracking gunsight, no height rules, no "out of the sun", etc.
X wing is another world but if you are a grognard 8 dials is reasonable.
Well, the bunch of players of my game group are experienced wargamers. Not the best x wing players of the area, but after mastering the Fighting Wings sistem, to control 8 naked Tie Fighters is not something very difficult. Try to manage four F6 Hellcats with elite 1945 USN pilots, and 8 dials is... not simple, but not too difficult. No deflection shooting, no tracking gunsight, no height rules, no "out of the sun", etc.
X wing is another world but if you are a grognard 8 dials is reasonable.
Ah. You're just talking about ONE game. Yeah, its not like its hard to manage in one game. I was talking about in a tournament when you are playing 4-8 games in a row (5 - 10 hours of x-wing). That's when it becomes brain drain...
10 hours gaming... A long time ago in another galaxy, when we were young... I have never played in a Tournament. Once I visited one in the UK, I felt like a grandpa... 4-5 hours maximun, and with the help of some cans of beer...