So, I looked at my collection of TIE Fighters one day and thought: "Wouldn't it be fun to field all of these at once?" So I put together the following list that is only one TIE/fo short.

7x Academy Pilots

Zeta Squadron Pilot

Now, I've never run this list, but I've always wanted to see the look on my opponent's face when he realizes he's facing eight ships in a 100 point standard battle. Of course, I have put together another swarm list based around "Omega Ace" and "Epsilon Leader" that I think would also be quite fun.

"Omega Ace" - PTL

"Epsilon Leader" - Hull Upgrade

"Howlrunner - PTL

2x Black Squadron Pilot - PTL

The idea behind this list is again numbers, but Epsilon's ability clears the stresses from the PTLs an allows Omega his dual crits while Howlrunner and the Black Squadrons stay hard to hit and have their attack boosted by his effect. The question facing your opponent is who to kill first. Without Epsilon, the entire idea kind of falls apart, but he's got the most health while Omega and the regular TIEs are landing some pretty nice hits (most likely, depending on your opponent's dodge luck). Killing Howlrunner weakens the team considerably, but a focus-evade defense is quite helpful and you still have Omega to consider. Killing Omega might be easier, but then you leave the defense-boosted TIEs to keep pouring fire boosted by Howlrunner.

So, which one should I try out first?

I'll vote for the 2nd list for two reasons:

• Even with the addition of Zeta, you're 1st list is still just another variation on the classic 8 tie swarm
• I've been trying to field a 5 TIE list combining /fo and /ln. Interested if someone else could make this work. (PS: OA is very under-utilized and I like to see him on the board.)

I kinda like the first list better simply because it has more bodies to block and more bodies to shoot. But generally I'm not a big fan of mixing TIEs. I've done it with Howlrunner supporting a group of Epsilon FOs and it worked out OK.

I'd recommend against PTL on TIEs because their dial is crappy for shedding stress. Even with Epsilon Leader in there to help with the stress it's very likely you'll end up with somebody double-stressed after the initial pass and breakup of the formation. A TIE with no actions is a dead TIE.

I like PTL on Omega Ace as it can guarantee his ability and the FO dial is much better for clearing stress. The 2-green turn is huge. I used him a lot when the new core came out, but like most I've moved on to Omega Leader instead as his ability (+juke and comm relay) works well most of the time and doesn't require as much set up. I like Zeta Leader too, but PTL gets in the way of him using his ability so he usually just gets wired.

The FO list I've been running with some success lately:

Omega Leader, Juke, Comm Relay

Zeta Leader, Wired

Zeta Ace, PTL

2x Zeta Squadron

It's tempting to drop the two Zetas and run Omega Ace in there too, but I think 4 FOs is just too few to work well. Gotta have at least 5.

replied to wrong thread somehow