Hello! I have decided to try out this youngster swarm list and was hoping to get feedback on it. Here is the list:

3x obsidian squadron pilots 39pts

3x black squadron pilots 42pts

Youngster with expose 19pts

The plan I had in mind for the list is to get as many shots as possible in one round of shooting to destroy other ships. Much like tie swarm it's quantity over quality. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

The trouble with building around Expose is that Expose is terrible. If you had some way to make your shot accurate that you could stack with Expose, that would be one thing. But even for a two-dice TIE Fighter, simply focusing gives the same average output and more consistency. At range one, focus is strictly superior. Yes, expose gives you a higher ceiling, but with no mods you'll rarely hit that ceiling and you're nerfing your defense for the.privilege.

I see what your saying. Any tips of a card to run with youngster? Maybe crack shot?

Crackshot isn't an action so no good.

Personally I like marksmanship with Youngster.

Rage is also popular I'm told.

I think Rage is the best option, currently (disclaimer, I haven't played Youngster yet). It gives you full mods for your attacks. The challenge will be mitigating stress for two turns.

Okay. How about this.

Youngster with rage 16pts

Epsilon squad leader 19pts

5x obsidian squad pilot 65pts

Or

Youngster with marksmanship 18pts

3x black squadron 42pts

3x obsidian squadron pilots 39pts

I've tried a few expose swarms/mini swarms and it is indeed terrible in most circumstances.

There is the occasional scenario where it is beast but you can't do a build around a perfect play.

I had a Captain Yorr with Fleet Officer Youngster w/ expose, some TIE F/Os

I don't remember the TIE F/O but it was the one where you spend a target lock and focus for all crits. Focus comes from Yorr/officer. At range 1 5 crits is devastating but you have to be setup perfectly and it's just too dicey.

Expose is just a bad card for almost everyone.

The thing about Expose is that it really only sees value on ships that can mitigate its negatives, which is essentially ships with 0-1 Agility rolls, where the loss is so unnoticeable that the gain is immense. You'll often see it on Decimator lists for that very reason, and I imagine if someone makes Ghosts flyable that Expose may work its way in there too.

There's two generally accepted ways of building a Rage Youngster: Epsilon Leader, or 2 Omega Squads with Wingman. With Epsilon Leader, you recover from stress much quicker, but your swarm is bound by range 1 limits. With the Omega Squads, you have more board freedom, but Rage will require more thought on timing. I prefer Epsilon over the Omegas simply due to faster stress recovery, and it's always amusing to me to just throw a wall of Ties at something and see what dies first.

expose only really works on the decimator. Go with Rage or Marksmenship, and put Crack Shot on Black Squad.

Youngster with Rage and SD 19

4 Blacks with Crack Shot 60

Howlrunner with Swarm 20

99 points and a very scary squad.

Need to pair up Howlrunner with Youngster and Marksmanship in the swarm. Get the reroll for the blanks you happen to roll.

Alright, thank you all for the feedback on this list! I am very new to the world of x wing and have the core set and loved the game. So I think I am going with marksmanship on youngster. Here is what I am thinking...

Youngster with marksmanship 18pts

4x black squadron pilots with crack shot 60pts

Howlrunner with swarm tactics 20pts

I might remove a crack shot on one of the ties for a stealth drive on youngster. Any advice is still welcome of course.

What if you were to pair an Exposed Youngster Mini-swarm with S-Thread Tracers?

Alright, thank you all for the feedback on this list! I am very new to the world of x wing and have the core set and loved the game. So I think I am going with marksmanship on youngster. Here is what I am thinking...

Youngster with marksmanship 18pts

4x black squadron pilots with crack shot 60pts

Howlrunner with swarm tactics 20pts

I might remove a crack shot on one of the ties for a stealth drive on youngster. Any advice is still welcome of course.

I played against a very similar list at an SC a few weeks back. It was scary. If I weren't playing 3 very dodgy Imp aces and conservatively playing them at that it would have been bad for me. Give it a play or two, I think you'll like where it goes and can decide if you want to change things up further.

Although I would suggest adding Crack to Howl. I don't think you'll see much benefit to increasing another single tie to PS8. Then you'd have the points to put Hull or SD on Howl or Youngster.

Yes I agree. Swarm tactics seems cool but keeping youngster alive should be main concern. Also, any tips on formation and flying a six tie swarm? I was thinking a row in the front of one then a row of three behind it and then howlrunner and then behind howlrunner would be youngster. Making a sort of "t" formation.

expose is bad m'kay, you shouldn't expose yourself because it's bad m'kay.

First time poster, here! Looking forward to joining the conversation.

The best luck I've ever had with Youngster was this five-ship Swarm (95 pts total)

Howlrunner w/ Swarm Tactics (20)

Epsilon Leader w/ Weapons Guidance (21)

Wampa (14)

Youngster w/ Expert Handling (17)

Omega Ace w/ Cool Hand, Weapons Guidance (23)

I built this one in a hurry shortly after getting my Assault Carrier and couldn't think of a use for those 4-5 remaining squad points, so I just went with it. I flew this against a friend's Han Solo and Nera Dantels, who never got to use her torpedoes because my squad kept rolling off her target locks.

My formation didn't last long thanks to all the barrel rolling, but I managed to take out both my friend's ships, losing only Wampa in the process. Wampa never got to cancel a crit for an automatic damage card; I think he drew a lot of fire because that perk is pretty scary.

As a new player I've got a pretty limited collection and haven't really found a use for Expose yet. Sometime soon I'm gonna put it on Ello Asty with Experimental Interface: Tallon Roll behind an enemy, Focus, Expose for five attack dice at range one.