Rhymer is the much maligned TIE Bomber ace from the original TIE Bomber pack. He's got PS7, an EPT, and an ability that lets him expand the range limit of all his missiles and torpedoes by one. All for a monstrous 26 points (compared to a 18 points for the PS4 Gamma Squadron Pilot). He was paying around 4 points for that pilot ability. For a while, he was notable in that he was the highest PS Bomber pilot, and one of the two that carried an EPT. With the advent of ordnance improvements, I wanted to look at him again, as futile an activity as that seems.
First problem: Imperial Veterans is bringing us Tomax Bren. If you're just after a high PS bomber with an EPT, Bren has a higher PS, is 2 points cheaper, and has an absurdly good pilot ability (once per turn, when you would discard a discardable EPT, you don't). For the those that think in straightforward terms, that's infinite Crackshot. For those that like funny maneuvers, you can have Adrenaline Rush, Lightning Reflexes, etc. Because of Bren's obvious general superiority, to even consider Rhymer, you really need to use and abuse that pilot ability.
Most ordnance has range a Range 2-3 limitation. That's not too bad, but does leave a Range 1 hole. Rhymer's ability fills that hole, but so does Bren's Crackshoting primary weapon, so the more conventional ordnance is out.
Ordnance with unconventional ranges:
Cluster Missiles, 4 points: Range 1-2 (1-3 on Rhymer)
-This is sort of interesting, because you can get that double-tap all the way out to Range 3. Kind of nice, but Rhymer pays a heavy premium, so we really need to make it work.
Advanced Homing Missiles, 3 points: Range 2 (1-3 on Rhymer)
-I had hopes that this would be the "Rhymer special" when it was partially spoiled, but it's really another one of those cards that didn't quite do enough for its requirements. A face up damage card is cool, but you're paying serious points for Rhymer, you don't need cool, you need backbreaking.
Advanced Proton Torpedo, 6 points: Range 1 (1-2 on Rhymer)
-Now we're getting somewhere. The bump from Range 1 to 1-2 is a pretty large chunk of board, and the APT packs a wallop. Downside is massive cost, of course, and the necessity of dual tokens to make it really work. Additionally, the new tech that might be useful here (Guidance Chips), doesn't really make the APT more accurate. If you had a Focus, APT was almost always doing 5 hits anyway. GC does make the possibility of launching your APT with just a Target Lock kind of interesting. You still get 5 dice, and one of your misses will be turned to a hit, so you maybe gain a little functionality, but it's borderline. Long Range Scanners might make for an interesting upgrade supporting APTs, because it lets you get that TL out early, and then you can Focus to set up the full strength Range 2 APT shot.
Proton Rockets, 3 points: Range 1 (1-2 on Rhymer)
-Like APTs, these guys really gain a lot from Rhymer's extra range, but unlike APTs, their cheap and easy to use. They throw 4 dice instead of 5, but only need you to have a Focus (that you can spend to boost the attack), so with Guidance Chips, you're having a pretty high chance to hit. I always wanted to run Rhymer with Prockets and Stealth Device for the hilarity of 5 dice at range 1-2 from a Focus, but in all reality, Guidance Chips is better. With that many dice, one of them is probably missing, and getting a miss turned into a hit is probably better than an extra die overall. Throw in that GC is free and Stealth is 3 points, and can easily break, and Procket Rhymer is something that might have legs.
Proposed Builds: I'm not saying these are good, but I do think they let Rhymer be Rhymer. He's doing something that nobody else can do with these builds. Whether they fulfill a need that is really useful in the game I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.
Build 1: Procket Rhymer
Rhymer (26), Guidance Chips (0), Procket (3), Procket (3), Extra Munitions (2) = 34 points + EPT of your choice. I do think a lot of EPTs could be good here, from VI to make him a PS 9, Adrenaline Rush or Cool Hand to let him fire after a red maneuver, to Predator or Lone Wolf for some re-rolls. He's Fel levels of cost, but he does way more damage than Fel for the turns that he's alive. He's the cost of a generic Defender with a cannon, though, and is less tough, and has worse range, although he will do more damage with his shots while he's alive.
Build 2: APT Rhymer
Rhymer (26), Guidance Chips or Long Range Sensors (0), APT (6), Extra Munitions (2), Ion Pulse Missile (3), Deadeye or Veteran Instincts (1) = 38
This Rhymer is all about being as scary as hell. He tries to go for a Target Lock when possible, but Deadeye is there for when he can't. Ideally, he Target Locks and hits someone important with an Ion Pulse Missile on the initial engagement (made easier by Guidance Chips). With that ship's maneuver's locked in, he can much more easily setup a Target Lock/Focus APT shot. In non-optimal situations, he can sling the 5 naked dice with Guidance Chip support and still have reasonable expectations of doing something good. For a standard range band missile, Ion Pulse Missile actually does benefit some from Rhymer's ability. Being able to double-ionize something at Range 1 is not a trivial ability. This build provides 2 turns of very scary damage and 2 turns of very powerful control. You take Long Range Sensors if you want to make sure to get your targets get locked early, making the TL/Focus APT shot more likely. You take Guidance Chips if you're pretty confident about getting a Target Lock just as an action. I think I like LRS/Deadeye the best for this build. You set up a lock of an important ship early, then hit it with an IPM (doesn't spend the TL), and follow up with the APT (or open with the APT if they suicidally jump into range 1-2). If the Target Locked ship won't engage, you can attack targets of opportunity with Deadeye.
Other ships:
Both of these builds benefit a lot from Fleet Officer support, both offensively and defensively, but reasonable people can say that's throwing good points after bad. I think if you have another ship that also likes Fleet Officer, you can task it to support Rhymer for a couple turns and not feel like you're wasting an action.
Alternatives:
Obviously Fel, Jax, Vader, and cheap Whispers are in this point range, as well as generic TIE/D Defenders and named x7 Defenders, so Rhymer's got some serious competition. You might take Rhymer over those others if you need a few turns of very reliable damage. The second build provides much more potent control than the generic TIE/D as well. Essentially, you take one of these Rhymer builds if you're trying to clear the way for your closers. He does so many nasty things early on that ignoring him in favor of another target lets you use him to cripple an enemy early on.
Sample List:
Major Rhymer (26), Guidance Chips (0), APT (6), IPM (3), Extra Munitions (2), Deadeye (1) = 38
Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16), Fleet Officer (3) = 19
Maarek Steele (36), Ion Cannon (3), Crack Shot (1), TIE/D title (0), Proton Rockets (3) Guidance Chips (0) = 43
100 points
Thanks for reading this far, and anyone with some experience with Rhymer or any TIE Bombers. Heck, if you've just got any old random idea, I'd love to hear it.
