Something I've been meaning to try, looking for tips on how to play it.

When to pop Rage?

How to setup initially?

How to joust Jumpmasters?

And most importantly, how to deal with Palp Aces.

Squad seems pretty decent in the current meta right now but seems overshadowed by everything else. It should have good matchups again Ghosts, Super Dashes, Brobots, and Jumpmasters with it potentially doing well against Crackswarm and Palp Aces. Crackswarm probably beats it actually, nevermind.

I'm a bit rusty on my 8 ship swarm flying abilities, so looking for some out of the box thinking on how to play them.

It's a normal swarm, who, when a pilot lands up expecting to get a sweet shot off or anticipates exploding entirely, pops Rage and accepts he's gonna suck next turn if he lives.

The range 1-3 bubble is enough it doesn't demand tight formation flying, just try to keep Youngster reasonably positioned.

Brobots

Glitterstim is a problem for the list. They can force a range 3 engage if you try to slow roll, where you probably lose a TIE and they probably don't get hit. Then they dangle an aggressor in front of you, you pop rage on tons of TIEs, they pop glitterstim. You lose a TIE or two (and either Youngster dies or he's chased off), they probably don't take all that much damage. They clear stress next turn, you don't. You joust again, the other aggressor can use glitterstim but you're down ships and maybe down youngster. Bad times.

You could try only using rage on a few TIEs at a time, I suppose, but the brobots are probably going to burn Youngster down sooner rather than later so you really need to take one down ASAP. Which is hard.

Brobots

Glitterstim is a problem for the list. They can force a range 3 engage if you try to slow roll, where you probably lose a TIE and they probably don't get hit. Then they dangle an aggressor in front of you, you pop rage on tons of TIEs, they pop glitterstim. You lose a TIE or two (and either Youngster dies or he's chased off), they probably don't take all that much damage. They clear stress next turn, you don't. You joust again, the other aggressor can use glitterstim but you're down ships and maybe down youngster. Bad times.

You could try only using rage on a few TIEs at a time, I suppose, but the brobots are probably going to burn Youngster down sooner rather than later so you really need to take one down ASAP. Which is hard.

To be fair, that's pretty much how any game between massed TIE lists and BroBots will play out, so it's not really a huge mark against this particular list.

I am just not overwhelmed by the list. Rage is just too iffy without a reliable way to shed stress. Then again, I am prejudiced against TIE Fighters, so take that for what you will.

I am working towards this list and I would have played it in last weeks SC had I enough TIEs, but alas I have only 5 so... I had to run Phantoms.

Anyways I think when you look at Rage on Youngster you should pretend that either card reads "once per game" and treat it like that. I'm not so sure it's a combo that can or needs to be used repeatedly. Perhaps the real power in it is the range allowance? Range 1-3 casts a long shadow and now there isn't much reason to stay in a tight formation, not like with Howlrunner + 6 TIEs. Rage also can be kinda defensive too if you can roll and reroll red dice well, and I think that is going to help the swarm immensely.

Yes, the 2 stress is hard to come to grips with, but who said you were locked in to doing 2 greens right after the other? I wouldn't be surprised to see games won with ships carrying stress for multiple turns.

My opinion: The list is bad. Youngster and Rage isn't worth the double stress and the pain of flying 8 ships. Howl 6 or 7 is better imo.

Howl Crackswarm.

Never tried it, just theory crafting here but...

Youngster, Rage

Epsilon Leader

5X Academy

95 points.

Several options for those extra 5 points. Upgrade to Obsidians to try to PS beat or match TLT's and scouts. Put TIE Mark II on all the Academies to go from 4 greens to 6. Or put hull, shield or stealth on Epsilon Leader to try to keep him in the game longer. Charge in with the swarm and keep Epsilon just in range 1 of them but behind, hopefully in range 3 of the enemies and bring Youngster just in range 3 of the swarm and hopefully not even in range of any incoming fire for as long as possible.

I think ultimately, the trick is to only rage 2 maybe 3 ships at most per round to keep the pressure on with the rest of the swarm the next round.

How about Youngster and Marksmanship?

How about Youngster and Marksmanship?

Focus action is better than Marksmanship. Unmodified green dice lead to dead TIEs.

basically the problem is trying to do it with 8 TIEs

Youngster+Rage

Epsilon Leader

Dark Curse

4x Academy

99pts, aces are all PS6, the /fo clears a bunch of extra stress out so you can destress in 1 turn instead of 2

Oh yeah. I tried it.

I do really recommend any youngster rage list have the stress removing epsilon leader. Sorry. That was my one big tip about that fleet.

Though IMO I think howlrunner does a better job

I've used 7 Academy Pilots, Youngster & Rage quite a few times, and won quite a few games with it. I've no great legacy to claim beyond a game night kit, but the only time I've won a Game Night Kit, I won it with them.

When to pop Rage?

When:

1. The TIE isn't stressed, has taken 2 points of damage, and can't realistically get out of arc/range. If it's going to be space dust next turn, you might as well take the stress.
2. When you have a range 1 shot (usually because you've blocked someone with another TIE. A 3-dice reroll plus focus is impressive dakka - and equally, it means that you can spend your focus on defence (you often need to) and still essentially have a target locked range 1 shot.
3. If it's the last turn - time's been called.
4. If you know you're about to receive a million stress tokens. If a TIE finds itself boresighted by a stresshog, it's never getting actions again anyway - take the initiative and stress yourself out first
5. When you know you're not going to have to K-turn - if you find yourself stuck in a stern chase
6. Don't pop Rage with everyone simultaneously. The super-duper-alpha-strike looks good in theory but screws you over in practice (except in epic games*). Remember that you only bought youngster/rage as an alternative to upgrading four academies to obsidians; it's not an everyone-all-the-time ability.

How to setup initially?

I'd say two blocks of four. A two-by-four made of TIE fighters is no more wieldy than one made of scots pine, and your opponent is just as unlikely to blithely let you hit them in the face head-on with one.

Deploy facing along your board edge, with Youngster in the back group - you can turn in, or sprint for the other flank, as best suits.

Of course for some opponents, you can face them head on, but it's a rare match up. Except for.....

How to joust Jumpmasters?

You'll generally find Jumpmasters will happily set up in a battle-line abreast opposite you and help you make a big central channel clear of obstacles. They want a head-on joust just as much as you.

Deploy your seven academies in a central block. Put youngster out on the safest flank. He's not going to joust and with range 1-3 on his ability, there's no need to put him with the academies. He'll just get shot early. Run him up the flank and use barrel roll, evade and obstacles to make him an unappealing target.

This is a classic 'counting to eleven' game. You need to slow-roll in on turn 1, then shove the throttle through the gate on turn 2, aiming to get as many ships into range 1 as possible. You'll fail with some, and those ships will eat torpedoes and die - so might consider using Rage. Don't do this with too many ships as you want one or two able to barrel roll.

The front rank will strafe and then K-turn. The second rank will use speed 1 hard turns, and barrel roll as required. The downside of that speed 2 segnor is that it's quite slow and it's pretty easy to block.

In an ideal world, 4-5 range 1 or raged shots will have blown a jumpmaster apart, or at least left it in a state that turn 2 can finish them off.

Have your fighters 'switch' between the jumpmasters as needed. If a fighter has an unused target lock from one ship on it, send it after the other one. If it's got one hit left, disengage and come back in in a turn. In an ideal game, most of your squad will end the game damaged.

And most importantly, how to deal with Palp Aces.

Block and shoot is the obvious answer, and not a massively useful one. The big thing is Palpatine. The usual guide I'd give is to towards Palpatine early, but form yourself into an echelon against the board edge. People playing Palpatine Aces see you line up on the shuttle, boost up the other flank, and get ready to turn in and tear you apart from the flanks. The trick is that heading towards the shuttle doesn't mean you have to keep going for it if the shooting hasn't started yet.

The turn the shooting starts, Scheer turn your entire squad with a hard speed 1. For some reason, aces players always forget that the hard 1 turn has been the TIE fighter's party piece since wave 1, and that you can pull a same-speed hard turn even in the tightest block formations. If they think you're going for the shuttle just because you were heading that way, you'll often find one of the aces plowing into the swarm at range 1.

Try and dogpile the most action-dependent ace (I'd normally say Vader), then mug the shuttle, then take on the last ace once he doesn't have Darth Psoriasis applying his evil dice ju-ju, but ultimately it's a matter of catch-as-catch-can; you're not the one pushing the engagement.

A massed swarm is a hell of a web for an ace to fly into, and feel free to use Rage if you get a chance - one a TIE is stressed, use it just as a blocker until/if it burns through the stress. Once a TIE advanced or interceptor gets blocked by a mass of fighters, it's not hard to block it again, and again, unless he goes "screw it" and uses a straight 5 or similar to get clear - but if he does that, he's not getting a shot, and you have a turn or two to get your noses around to pursue.

Squad seems pretty decent in the current meta right now but seems overshadowed by everything else. It should have good matchups again Ghosts, Super Dashes, Brobots, and Jumpmasters with it potentially doing well against Crackswarm and Palp Aces. Crackswarm probably beats it actually, nevermind.

I'm a bit rusty on my 8 ship swarm flying abilities, so looking for some out of the box thinking on how to play them.

A crack shot swarm..... Hmm.... That's a pretty messy match-up. As noted, it's also a TIE swarm, but it shoots first, hits harder and doesn't stress itself.

At the same time, it'll struggle to punch out more than 1-2 TIEs in its initial barrage. Best suggestion I can offer is:

• Try not to lose too many TIEs in the initial barrage. Stupid to say but important.
• I'm not sure that being at range 3 will help - the extra evasion at range 3 still won't really help versus crack shot - but you need to think about your second turn move. You move first, so being at range 2 may leave your K-turns blocked. Range 3, Range 1, K-turn may be safer. Alternatively, make your formation 'deep' by moving out of your deployment zone at a mix of different speeds to create a vertically deep swarm that's hard to k-turn across, instead of two clean lines.
• Remember again that Youngster doesn't need to be in the swarm. Howlrunner is front and centre and (obviously) your prime target, but if you nail her on the first pass, whilst Youngster can come in and joint up later after the crack shots have been spent, you set yourself up for a better chance in the dogfight.
• You want the fight to degenerate into a speed 1 turning, repeated blocking, action denying brawl as fast as possible. You have superior numbers, and move first. That means you move with a known board state, and should be able to mess with their actions easily - and if they're not getting actions, you can use Rage occasionally without messing your action economy up compared to theirs.

If I have to warn you about a Boogyman, it's actually Scum Boba Fett. This Mandalorian Bugger is hard to kill at long range (because he's got agility 2 and the durability of a shuttle), and hard to pin down at medium range (because he often has engine upgrade to arc dodge the swarm).

The usual response with a swarm is to mob the bugger at close range, denying actions and getting range 1 shots. Do Not Do This. Trying to kill Boba Fett at range 1 with a swarm is an exercise in futility. 'Blocking' him is essentially handing him unlimited rerolls of red and green dice, and if he's got glitterstim to boot even an entire swarm will struggle to scratch the firespray's paintwork.

Go for the other ship (s) and then turn on Fett once you've spread out and you've got room to work with.

* A full TIE fighter squadron of Black Squadron Pilots with Crack Shot, with Youngster with Rage leading the pack, fits into an Epic squad with over 100 points to spare. That first turn of fire is truly glorious and can leave even ordnance squads asking what the hell just hit them.

Youngster + Rage

Epsilon Leader

4x Black Squadron + Wingman

Forces you to fly a little tighter due to the Range 1 restrictions on Epsilon and Wingman, but you'll have a good chance of clearing two stress off multiple ships each turn.

Excellent ideas Magnus. I normally try to make a vertically deep blob of TIE Fighters, that's why I think it has a good matchup against Brobots. A large base simply cannot make it past 8 spread out TIE Fighters, and with intentional bumping you can prolong the situation for multiple turns.

At range 3 against the Brobots you can take 8 evades in order to game cannon gunner and take only 1 damage. You're likely not pushing any damage through anyways so might as well turtle up as best as you can. 4 agility and Autothrusters punishes 2 attack dice hard. With 8 focuses you might push 1-2 damage through, but not worth the loss of a TIE Fighter.

How about Youngster and Marksmanship?

Focus action is better than Marksmanship. Unmodified green dice lead to dead TIEs.

Boy howdy how it does...

Youngster + Rage

Epsilon Leader

4x Black Squadron + Wingman

Forces you to fly a little tighter due to the Range 1 restrictions on Epsilon and Wingman, but you'll have a good chance of clearing two stress off multiple ships each turn.

Are you the cute fat-kid from Team Covenant?

This is actually great because it's the most discussion I've ever seen in one place about how to fly TIE swarms. Sometimes asking for advice on swarms is futile. It's like asking fishermen for good spots, they'll send you to the water treatment lagoon. At least Youngster got us dusting off the other 3 TIEs again eh?

At range 3 against the Brobots you can take 8 evades in order to game cannon gunner and take only 1 damage. You're likely not pushing any damage through anyways so might as well turtle up as best as you can. 4 agility and Autothrusters punishes 2 attack dice hard. With 8 focuses you might push 1-2 damage through, but not worth the loss of a TIE Fighter.

Absolutely agree. One of the most important thing to learn - especially with non crack shot swarms - is that there are times where shooting is essentially just killing time. You should still take the shot - for the same reason you wouldn't throw a free lottery ticket in the bin - but there's no point investing time and effort into improving it. Range 3 shots against focused autothruster equipped targets is a perfect example. Against someone like Fel, you're asking him to fail to roll any evades on 5 dice - and with focus token, evade token and palpatine, you're asking him to do it four times in a row.

At this point, your goal is not to hit him. It's to preserve your combat power as much as possible so you still have the numbers to screw him over at close range. And yes, theoretically a focus token is as good as an evade token with 4 green dice, but evade is better, as Paragoomba says.

• You can always choose to spend it (niche cases like homing missiles aside), even if you don't roll a focus result
• It gives you more 'fine control' - you always know it'll prevent exactly 1 damage, which is better when trying to let exactly 1 damage through so IG-88B doesn't get a second, probably now target locked, heavy laser cannon shot and waste your token-less ass in one hit.