I have flown many iterations of imperial lists now, most of them with at least two aces in them. Soontir and Echo seem to always worm their way into my squadrons, although Vader, Carnor and others have seen table time as well. Recently I have had Palpatine back them up, with great success, but now I am looking for something slightly different, as a way of trying something new and (hopefully) evolve as a player. So I thought I would take a stab at the mini swarm concept, with an ace to compliment them.

I have spent a fair amount of time on listjuggler, mainly because I am quite the statistics nut and the whole meta game thing interests me. What I see is that swarms (both full on and mini versions) have resurfaced into the meta, but in slightly different shapes.

For the mini swarm part, I am thinking 3 Black squadrons and Howlrunner, all with Crack shot. But it is not set in stone. If you guys have a different philosophy, feel free to share it.

How do you rate the alpha strike potential of Crack shot against greater numbers (and thereby survivability) of naked TIEs?

Is Howlrunner necessary?

Are TIE/FOs worth taking?

For the ace component the choices are clearer, but also very different from each other. Vader and Soontir, for example, both cost 35 points (in the configurations I am most comfortable with) but are played in vastly different ways and each have their strengths and weaknesses.

Which would be your preferred ace to go with a mini swarm, and why?

How does your ace interact with your mini swarm? How close should he/she be kept?

And, just to be clear, I am looking for something reasonably competitive. So please keep it to a serious discussion and avoid posting crappy builds here.

Your mini-swarm choice should be made based on what you know of your own local meta. Some examples:

4 epsilon pilots = 60 (or zetas for 64 if you have the points). The extra shields and PS 1 means they last longer than a TIE/ln and are great for blocking, but damage is not stellar. The TL helps. A good choice beside Vessery or Vader because they are capable of killing pretty much anything by themselves, so the low damage of the swarm is not as big a deal. The extra shield really makes a difference against alpha-strike lists, most often forcing the opponent to spend more shots killing one ship than they would otherwise have to.

4 black squads with crack = 60 (or add howlie for 64). PS 4 and crack shot means they kill PS 2 very well. They are poor against IG88s and high PS alpha strike lists though, since they die like flies to 4 attack dice secondaries.

5 academies = 60. PS 1 means they are poor against twin laser turrets. Dash eats them for breakfast unless you can block him. While they technically have the same weakness as Black squads, you get one extra body which is actually helpful, but firepower is definitely lacking against high agility targets.

TL;DR----epsilons are good against alpha strikers, blacks vs PS 2 and academies are best in a swarm heavy environment or against low agility stuff.

Thanks for a thorough reply.

I don't really have a local meta. We are just a couple of guys who play casually or semi-competitively and everyone is flying something different every time. The list is intended for a couple of tournaments I plan on attending this spring, but since I have only ever been to one out-of-town tournament I have no real idea of what to expect.

Vessery is a definite possibility (after Veterans comes out), but he only goes with TIE/FOs, since he needs someone to "feed" him TLs. And he is quite a bit more expensive than Vader or Soontir. I guess I will have to experiment.

I like Whisper with a mini swarm. Of course you are spending more on him so less in the ways for the mini swarm.

I flew Whisper with 3 academy ties and howlrunner with swarm tactics. Came in 4th but could have gotten to the final. Just made a wrong move in the quarter final game. I was second seed.

I have seen Howl with 3 Black squads all with swarm tactics. Now you have 4 ships attacking at PS8 with a reroll from Howl. It was very effective.

Thanks for a thorough reply.

I don't really have a local meta. We are just a couple of guys who play casually or semi-competitively and everyone is flying something different every time. The list is intended for a couple of tournaments I plan on attending this spring, but since I have only ever been to one out-of-town tournament I have no real idea of what to expect.

Vessery is a definite possibility (after Veterans comes out), but he only goes with TIE/FOs, since he needs someone to "feed" him TLs. And he is quite a bit more expensive than Vader or Soontir. I guess I will have to experiment.

In that case, just fly whatever you are most interested in