I have been trying to fly 4 TIE Bombers led by Jonus since the TIE Bomber came out. I have always been a fan of the TIE Bomber, but I think this list will be fun.

Jonus + XX-23 Tracers x2 + Chimps

(Scimitar Squadron + Plasma Torps, + Cluster Missiles + Extra Munitions + Chimps) x3

I know that I won't be able to get all the ordnance off but I should get two rounds pretty good.

First two rounds they fly in formation and Jonus gives everyone else a TL, So they will be attacking with Focus + Jonus's ability + Chimps.

There is very little chance that Jonus get's burned down the first round (3 Uboats may be able to do it) So even if your target closes to range 1 with your formation you have your cluster missiles.

I know a lot of people don't like cluster missiles, but they are so good with Jonus near by... Rolling six dice with four re-rolls. They aren't that good against him agility ships, but most people are choosing high hits over high agility.

This list can without too much luck put out 30 damage in 2 turns.

I forgot the VI on Jonus

The other day, when I was counting my TIE Bombers (and realized I'd have a new one from Veterans, soon), I made a very similar list. The Captain had Deadeye in mine (instead of VI, but I can see either being good), and I just had a ton of Cluster Missiles all over the place, along with his Tracers. I played a few games with Jonus packing some cheap bombs for the last few points, too.

I've dabbled with it in Squadron Benchmark a few times, and it definitely packs a lot of punch in that first joust-pass, that's for sure.

It's a fun "theme" list at least. Nice to try something different every now and then.

I recently had great fun with this lists in casual games:

Gamma Squadron Pilot (25) x 4
TIE Bomber (18), Extra Munitions (2), XX-23 S-thread Tracers (1), Concussion Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Thanks to the Tracers, you'll finally have the 'Tie Bomber feeling'.
One Bomber pins the target, 3 shoot their missiles.
High agility targets could mean you trouble, though. But that again: Bomber feeling.

If you don't need the extra PS, but more area denial, and of course if you own 4 alt cards:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (25) x 4
TIE Bomber (16), Extra Munitions (2), XX-23 S-thread Tracers (1), Concussion Missiles (4), Seismic Charges (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Arc dodgers managed to evade the dangerous end of your formation and closing in from behind? Give em some headache by dropping 2 bombs and pulling a 5 k-turn. So much fun.

Downgrade Concussion Missiles to Plasma Torps to upgrade Bombs to Prox Mines to plot your flight path with a mine field. Hopefully you own enough templates.

I don't see nothing wrong

with a little prox & conc

scimitar w/ EM, Concussions, Chimps, Proxy mine x4

Mostly cause I wouldn't mind putting both my punishers on the table.

Black Eight Squadron Pilot (23)

Fire-Control System (2)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Seismic Charges (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Captain Jonus (22)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

Seismic Charges (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Black Eight Squadron Pilot (23)

Fire-Control System (2)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Cluster Missiles (4)

Seismic Charges (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I've been running the following the last few games with good results so far.

Redline (34 points)

- Extra Munitions

- Plasma Torpedoes

- Fire Control System

- Guidance Chips

Gamma Squadron Pilot (22 points)

- Proton Torpedoes

- Guidance Chips

Gamma Squadron Pilot (22 points)

- Proton Torpedoes

- Guidance Chips

Gamma Squadron Pilot (22 points)

- Proton Torpedoes

- Guidance Chips

With guidance chips, I have yet to roll less than three hits with the Proton Torpedoes. Redline in theory should help against heavily shielded targets that wouldn't otherwise care about the crits from the bombers, but I haven't had a game against such a ship yet with this build.

Redline with only two torps makes me twitch.

I've flown a very similar list for a while before Extra Munitions was out. I did very well at my Store Championship last year with a list like that. I have to say that now that Extra Munitions is out, you absolutely DO NOT WANT TO TAKE JONUS. He's a trap. He's a point sink and a huge target for your list. He's the first thing that gets blown up every game and once he does, you lose a lot of effectiveness. Once EM came out, I figured out you can drop Jonus and just use Homing Missiles and it's much more effective.

Flying Scimitars

4 x Scimitar Bomber with Extra Munitions, Homing Missile, Seismic Charge, and Guidance Chip

Jonus lets you re-roll only 2 dice when the TL from Homing Missile lets you re-roll as many as you want. Also, no Evade tokens.

Jonus only works with ships in R1-2, which makes you easier to be outflanked. HM works independant.

Jonus dies and you lose all your effectiveness with ordnance.

Jonus doesn't have a working missile on himself and doesn't' really add much to the alpha strike vs. 4 Bombers getting to fire effectively.

I see that Jonus has a higher PS and can fire the Tracer, but he's not that high a PS and he still has to hit. I am not really rating the Tracer at the moment. You have to give up an attack to make other's more effective. I'm not seeing the worth in it so much.

Long Range Scanners will do more for the Scimitar than Jonus ever will. Flying in formation is not so good for Bombers. They work better in a line and reacting differently to encounters.

Redline with only two torps makes me twitch.

I know, it does seem a little light. However, in all my games with the list so far it has been enough. Redline will generally nuke the highest priority target and then die or help the bombers with clean-up.

I have to say that now that Extra Munitions is out, you absolutely DO NOT WANT TO TAKE JONUS. He's a trap. He's a point sink and a huge target for your list. He's the first thing that gets blown up every game and once he does, you lose a lot of effectiveness.

Once Vets is out, I think he will be more attractive again as a TIE Shuttle pilot (25 points for Jonus + Fleet Officer).

I need Jonus for more than just his rerolls, Ever since I started trying to fly bombers, the low PS makes getting ordnance that requires TL really hard. If I could just give a bomber deadeye then I would be good. I'm not sure Jonus loaded out with only VI and Tracers that much of a threat. Even if they do, they probably will not kill him first turn. As long as he survives to the beginning of turn 2's shooting phase he will be able to get his second tracer off. After that I don't really care if he dies.

When Veterans comes out, Im gonna fly this list

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) x 3

TIE Bomber (19), Deadeye (1), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25)

TIE Bomber (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Calculation (1), Darth Vader (3), Tactician (2)

When Veterans comes out, Im gonna fly this list

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) x 3

TIE Bomber (19), Deadeye (1), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25)

TIE Bomber (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Calculation (1), Darth Vader (3), Tactician (2)

Vader on a bomber sounds....... awful.. you eat a third of your health with every use.

Redline with only two torps makes me twitch.

Well, you have to think - how long does Redline live? 2 turns into the actual combat? So any torps you give him are usually wasted unless by some miracle they DON'T target Redline first - which might happen if you're also running Omega Leader and they're afraid of him.

I prefer a Redline with Cluster Missiles over Plasma Torps, though; it makes him a serious nuclear threat. I kept track in a tournament saturday and out of 9 missile launches, 8 rolled 6 damage thanks to his target lock overload. Highlights were completely erasing Talonbane Cobra in one volley.

Guidance Chips have done wonders for bombers. I'm surprised so few in my area fly them.

When Veterans comes out, Im gonna fly this list

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) x 3

TIE Bomber (19), Deadeye (1), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25)

TIE Bomber (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Calculation (1), Darth Vader (3), Tactician (2)

Vader on a bomber sounds....... awful.. you eat a third of your health with every use.

Yep, pretty bad.

Compare it to a Patrol Leader+Gunner+Vader Deci at 48 points and 16 health and it's obvious the TIE/Shuttle Vader IS bad: The Deci uses 6 points per Vader use (versus 8 for the proposed TIE/Shuttle), has a 360 turret that can't be arc dodged, and can trigger it twice against anyone who dodged the first shot. Not only that, with 16 health to sacrifice it can trigger Vader's ability more often.

I honestly don't think the TIE/Shuttle is going to have a huge amount of impact; the only reasonable option I can think of is with Fleet Officer/Rebel Captive to pass out focus tokens to ordnance-using wingmates.

Redline without clusters seems rather superfluous. Almost any ship can slam out re-rollable four dice + chips, but only redline can re-roll both clusters (+1 chip mod)

My experience is that Jonus even now becomes like Howel Runner. If you are going against an aces list he'll be the first target, and if he is gone your bombers don't have the re-rolls. I'll like him better in a Tie Shuttle when that comes out with a fleet officer.

In the meantime, I'm running the following to some good affect:

4x Gamma Squadrom + Extra Munitions + Plasma Torpedoes + Seismic Charges + Chimps.

It gives you a PS advantage against Wolfpack, and for those pesky arc dodgers you get to drop Seismic to really make them think. My experience have the time people totally forget about the seismic or the fact you have Extra Munitions.

Eventually I want to run a similar build but with Flechette Torpedoes and Thermal Detonators. You take a stress...you take a stress... stress for everybody and some damage.

I've found with bombers that they need the Seismic or Thermal Detonators so they can get some free damage without having to shoot. Many a time I've caught somebody within range of 3 or 4 Seismic charges and take off a ship without having to fire a shot.

When Veterans comes out, Im gonna fly this list

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) x 3

TIE Bomber (19), Deadeye (1), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25)

TIE Bomber (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Calculation (1), Darth Vader (3), Tactician (2)

Vader on a bomber sounds....... awful.. you eat a third of your health with every use.

How many times do you plan on using him? Even on the lambda you can't really expect to get more than three uses out of him unless the shuttle takes no hits at all for some reason

Guidance Chips have done wonders for bombers. I'm surprised so few in my area fly them.

Just wait my friend....

When Veterans comes out, Im gonna fly this list

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) x 3

TIE Bomber (19), Deadeye (1), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25)

TIE Bomber (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Calculation (1), Darth Vader (3), Tactician (2)

Vader on a bomber sounds....... awful.. you eat a third of your health with every use.

Until you hit Soontir Fel for a 1/3 of his or even worse.

Now throwing Vader on a Gamma Vet isn't that good. I'd throw him on a Scimitar and call it a day. That way you are only self-destructing 19 points of your list. With the savings throw some bombs on the Vets.

When Veterans comes out, Im gonna fly this list

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) x 3

TIE Bomber (19), Deadeye (1), Extra Munitions (2), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25)

TIE Bomber (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Calculation (1), Darth Vader (3), Tactician (2)

Vader on a bomber sounds....... awful.. you eat a third of your health with every use.

Until you hit Soontir Fel for a 1/3 of his or even worse.

Now throwing Vader on a Gamma Vet isn't that good. I'd throw him on a Scimitar and call it a day. That way you are only self-destructing 19 points of your list. With the savings throw some bombs on the Vets.

Well, peak efficiency of Vader is on an OGP with nothing else - it only uses 4.8 points per Vader activation.

However, I stand by Patrol Group Leader with Vader/Gunner as the best possible platform - he may use 6 points per activation, but with that tasty turret and the chance for two uses a turn... plus, the much better dial. 12 points to put two crits into Soontir is a reasonable trade, and the reason my local PalpAce fanboi STOPPED playing Soontir entirely.

I need Jonus for more than just his rerolls, Ever since I started trying to fly bombers, the low PS makes getting ordnance that requires TL really hard. If I could just give a bomber deadeye then I would be good. I'm not sure Jonus loaded out with only VI and Tracers that much of a threat. Even if they do, they probably will not kill him first turn. As long as he survives to the beginning of turn 2's shooting phase he will be able to get his second tracer off. After that I don't really care if he dies.

I still don't see Jonus helping too much. For one, you can get TL if you try. It can be hard, but there are ways to get the TL and not die. I've been flying them for a year and know it. It's not always easy, but it can be done.

Next, LRS will do more to fix this than Jonus. Only a little bit more...

Jonus still has to waste an attack to use Tracers. He still has to hit. If you are counting on him than you are in trouble.

I'm really excited for Tomax and his endless crackshot.

I'm really excited for Tomax and his endless crackshot.

But what to go with it? Do you give him Homing Missiles, GC, and EM for a 32-point PS8 ship that will ruin what it points at, or do you go TIE Shuttle with Agent Kallus and either Rebel Captive or Navigator, making him a dogfighter? Or is it Flechette Torps with EM for the win as pure anti-ace tech?

So many builds, so little test time...