I keep seeing people desperately waiting for Imp Vets to get here so they can play bombers. I just don't get it. Bombers are good now. I have been playing them almost exclusively since wave 8 hit and I couldn't be happier. With 2 agil, and 6 hull they are surprisingly survivable. Even at PS2 your going to survive long enough to dish out the pain. Run them with Chips and a couple of tracers in the group and you don't even need Deadeye. Give them bombs and your opponent will change how they fly just to avoid the drop behind you. and range 1 is so deceptively large that a squad of 4 dropping bombs is very hard to avoid. ( and nothing is sweeter than dropping a full spread of bombs and watching your opponent realize that Tycho is dead this turn and there is nothing he can do about it.)

Yes vets will change how individual bombers work in varied squad. But vets is not needed to have a ton of fun and win a bunch of games with a 4 bomber list. If you have 4 bombers, give it a try. You might find yourself joining my 1 man campaign to make bombers a thing now.

The problem is that, in my experience, Bomber lists really struggle against high-PS arc dodgers. That is, given players of equal skill, arc-dodging at high PS trumps any kind of damage spike that's only available in your firing arc.

There are a lot of tricks Rebels can use to deal with that, but the Empire has a single turret, and it's expensive and relatively fragile for its cost. It's also hard to diversify a Bomber list: it's fairly expensive to buy a trick to acquire TLs and make sure your ordnance has enough dice modification to hit (Jonus + Thread Tracers, for instance). So you spend a lot to acquire the conditions to execute an alpha strike, which means you're more or less committed to using the rest of your list to execute that alpha strike (otherwise you wasted all those points building the right conditions).

I'm not saying it's bad: I once beat a fat Falcon and three Zs in two rounds. But it's finicky and hard to pull off.

Too true. I've been running a 4 Bomber list since Imdaar Alpha and while it's not always hyper competitive, I win more than I lose. Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips, and Tracers have made it even better.

19 point TIE Shuttles with IA and Tactician are exciting.

Until Gamma Vet comes out you are better off playing other ships to carry ordnance unfortunately.

Yeah! I get my hipster status for taking a 4 Tie Bomber list to the 2015 Store Championship at my local store! I came in 3rd place and was the only undefeated into the Final Four. Pre-nerf Phantoms got me.

Now, I'd really be hipster if I won with Maarek Stele before X1 title...

I've had success with bombers and a shuttle handing out target locks. Going to a TIE Shuttle handing out locks and focus is going to feel like easy mode. People always discount the bombers that are out of ordnance too, which has got me a number of kills from ships that my opponent really should have finished off but left alive because there were bigger threats on the table.

I think you're mistaken. People want the Imperial Veterans pack for TIE Defender cards.

I played a 2x scimitar, Jonus, and jendon build at my first tournament back in wave 2 and got destroyed handily. I had a bomber escort my RAC and howlrunner in Wave5 and 6 tourneys. I really wanted bombers to work prior to vets and they can but Vets is going to make they really good.

One man campaign? Dude Gamma Vets are gonna be everywhere.

I think you're mistaken. People want the Imperial Veterans pack for TIE Defender cards.

Well, I want BOTH! They are my favorite TIEs!

I think you're mistaken. People want the Imperial Veterans pack for TIE Defender cards.

Not everyone...

One man campaign? Dude Gamma Vets are gonna be everywhere.

going to be everywhere, yes. But not there now and that is the point of this post. They are good now.

Whenever I fly against bomber lists, I feel like they run out of gas near the end.

On opening engagements, the threat of multiple Seismics or Conner Nets is real.

But as you wind down into the late-game where there's more room to maneuver, they're just too predictable.

It's a shame Deathrain is so expensive because he is absolutely deadly in the right hands.

TIE bombers are a lot of fun - I have four of them and take them out for a spin every so often. However there are also undeniably issues with the way the work at the moment.

Modifying your attack dice used to be a major headache- Jonus was one solution, but Guidance chips has really helped here.

The bigger issue though is getting your target locks in the first place, especially against aces. You need to be in range 3 to acquire a lock - the problem is that aces can often deny you range 3 to start with, then move into shooting range. Alternatively if you do get the lock, they can then arc-dodge easily because they're so close to you after their move.

Imperial Veterans provides help with some of these issues, but they're not without their downsides.

- The Gamma Squadron Veteran will help by allowing access to Deadeye, but at 20 - 22 with extra munitions - there's not a lot of room left if you want to fit in four of them.

- Long range sensors will all but guarantee you a decent alpha strike, but if it fails to finish your opponent then you could be in real trouble thereafter. It also denies you the use of your guidance chips.

- Finally, how do you handle the k-turn? It's difficult to fire ordnance after the first pass.

There are possible solutions to all of these problems, including Jonus, a Fleet Officer TIE shuttle, Thread Tracers and even homing missiles - but fitting it all in without going overboard on your points per bomber is tricky. Ideally you want four, limiting you to 25 points apiece on average.

I'm sure bombers will get better, but exactly what the shape of bomber squads will be is still very much in the air. Exciting times are ahead

I have five. And I think I'm going to get two Imp Vets. That makes 7. 7 too many. ^^^

I've seen them do well, and o love bombers but it's their PS, and cost.

Rhymer is too expensive.

Obviously when they designed him at the time they were taking advance Proton Torpedoes into the equation, but still it was expensive and not enough action economy.

Going with low PS meant you could miss that opportunity to get your target lock before the enemy gets into range 1, meaning you still didn't get to fire them off

I had a ton of success running Scimitar with Prox mines, which are fun as hell

The new pack will definitely help. Unfortunately rhymer will be left at the docking Bay

I love bombers too and sadly I have had to play them as tougher Tie fighters up to now. For only 16 points you get double the hits of an academy. Yes the dial is worse but it's not horrible. When I first got into the game I was able to get bombers at Gen-con really early and I didn't have many other ships so I used the bomber a ton. I had lots of fun with Howrunner/Bomber lists. I have yet to try the new ordnance toys yet so I am looking forward to a bomber doing what it should do and nuke things with missiles. Cheap and very durable will make bombers quite a threat with what we have and what's coming soon.

Bombers are currently tough to use. I had a game where my opponent had 3 scimitar squadron pilots and Valen Rudor, with thread tracers. I had Vader, the Inquisitor, Dark Curse, and Wampa. It was a slaughter. I managed to arc dodge well, and blew up a bomber per turn. By turn 3 it was Valen Rudor vs Vader, the inquisitor, and Wampa. Not a fun game for my opponent. But I have two bombers, and I'm awaiting Imperial Vets to try some bomber builds with the new pilots and upgrade cards to try some effective builds.

The Y wing has a turret, and the B wing gets a free crit (assuming proton torpedoes), but the poor TIE bomber has neither. Bombs/ mines are good, but again, the Y wing can get bombs with the upgrade card. Still going to try and find an effective build for them, like Gamma Vets, mixed with some TIE fighters.

What about the Defenders and TIE Advanced?

I have five. And I think I'm going to get two Imp Vets. That makes 7. 7 too many. ^^^

I'm in the same situation. I've run 4 and 5 bomber lists, but not recently. When Vets lands, and the count hits 7, I'm really going to have to push myself to play some Epic games with them. 7 bombers and 4 defenders is kind of the centrepoint of an anti-capital ship fleet.

I've had my 4 Tie Bomber list end up being 2 Tie Bombers vs. a mid-high level Ace. I only had one Homing Missile left. We spent 20 minutes dancing around, but I finally killed the A-wing.

Getting good at Tie Bombers doesn't necessarily mean you are predictable and that you will lose.

I'm waiting on my other 2 Bombers to show up from CSI, but I've really been itching to play:

4x Gamma Squadron Pilot with Extra Munitions, Homing Missiles, and Guidance Chips.

I think that it'll be a blast for casual and may surprise some tourneys.