That last statement about how good tie's can be from Parkdaddy is why I'm so happy to see the Vector title. Bumping Tie's to Speed 5 makes even just a minimal squad of 3 fighters and Howlrunner very long ranged, and very hard hitting for only 40 points. Your Anti squadron works out to 15 blue with 3 Rerolls. For a only 40 points its also equipped with 12 wounds and you have to deal with Howlrunners scatter and brace. With just a 77 point commitment you have a anti squadron force that can easily win squad fights to protect your ships.

Add in Flight Controllers. Laugh.

That last statement about how good tie's can be from Parkdaddy is why I'm so happy to see the Vector title. Bumping Tie's to Speed 5 makes even just a minimal squad of 3 fighters and Howlrunner very long ranged, and very hard hitting for only 40 points. Your Anti squadron works out to 15 blue with 3 Rerolls. For a only 40 points its also equipped with 12 wounds and you have to deal with Howlrunners scatter and brace. With just a 77 point commitment you have a anti squadron force that can easily win squad fights to protect your ships.

Add in Flight Controllers. Laugh.

You can't put Flight Controllers on a Gozanti, but if your basic point is "TIEs+Howlrunner+Flight Controllers = dead enemy squadrons," then I heartily agree. As a big fan of TIE Fighters, I feel like they tend to get underestimated a lot. When I meet Armada players who hate using them, I often see them just rush their squadrons straight at the enemy regardless of what the rest of their fleet is doing. This is a surefire way to fail miserably with TIEs, but that's another topic altogether, really.

Regarding anti-squadron ships, the Raider is king. My own preference is for a Raider-I with Ordnance Experts keeping some TIEs company, but a Raider-II with Ruthless Strategists is also quite workable in that regard. Add in Impetuous or Instigator titles and/or the upcoming Agent Kallus and you're ready to rock.

As covered already, the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate is probably the best bang for the buck the Rebels get. Shoot ships out the front, flak squadrons out the side.

I wish upgrades like Point Defense Reroute had been better. If Point Defense Reroute simply made crits count as damage against squadrons, I'd give them serious consideration, especially on ISDs and Raiders.

..the main anti-fighter I use for the Rebels are there fighters as they are just so much better than the useless Empire fighters.

Seriously, as reegsk already pointed out the imperial fighters require a tad bit more finesse to field as they only excel when you make use of their synergies. But once setup, they hurt. A lot.

I don't think Instigator is necessary

a pair of Ordnance Experts Raider-1s butcher entire squadron formations on their own, to the point where you can just roll fireball

blew my mind after the first time I encountered them

made a list for a store championship that I sadly couldn't attend, but someone else won with it

then again, it's probably not very original since it's fairly intuitive and probably a popular build at this point

some form of ISD-1 (boosted comms; Relentless) Ozzy with two Raider-1 ordnance experts and a Demolisher Ordnance experts GSD-1 running around with fireball (can't remember if it's 3 or 4 sprays). Scary ****, though I don't know if it'd survive the current scene. It's been a while since my last game

The only issue with no Instigator title is that you have nothing which can pin an Intel-protected squadron group. If you try to use your Fireball to hold them up, they Intel your squadrons and fly away. If you have squadrons AND Instigator, they can't.

But to your point, two RDR-Is with OE should do four damage to every squadron, and Rhymer's friends like to stay close to him with whatever escorts they have. Use Mauler to jump in and peg everyone for one damage, then the two RDRs should handle the rest.

do LOVE Mauler

though it feels weird flying less Tie Fighter squadrons than anything else in the fleet (because come on, it's Star Wars; we should be swimming through Tie Fighter squadrons!) he's just such a boss monster that he's often the only tie fighter I'll put in my fleets

I'm sorely tempted to field 16 TIE Fighters in a regular game. And never even use squadron commands. Just fly them in a giant cloud in front of my ISD. Then cry when my opponent flaks them to death.

I'm sorely tempted to field 16 TIE Fighters in a regular game. And never even use squadron commands. Just fly them in a giant cloud in front of my ISD. Then cry when my opponent flaks them to death.

so long as you can convince your opponent to attend the lavish post-game funeral, it could be worth it just for the experience

EDIT:

I managed to get 16 commandable Tie Fighter Squadrons (needs wave 3, though )

VSD - 1

*Grand Moff Widow's Peak (38)

*Boosted Comms (4)

[115]

squadron compliment:

• Howlrunner
• 3 Tie Fighter Squadrons

[40]

VSD - 1

*Boosted Comms (4)

[77]

squadron compliment:

• Mauler
• 3 Tie Fighter Squadrons

[39]

Gonzati-class Cruiser (23)

*expanded hangars (5)

*Vector (2)

[30]

squadron compliment:

• 4 Tie Fighter Squadrons

[32]

Gonzati-class Cruiser (23)

*expanded hangars (5)

[28]

squadron compliment:

• 4 Tie Fighter Squadrons

[32]

[Grand Moff Total: 393]

small problem, the squadron allotment is 143 points

mah character Ties!!!!

flight controllers on the VSDs I guess

I'm sorely tempted to field 16 TIE Fighters in a regular game. And never even use squadron commands. Just fly them in a giant cloud in front of my ISD. Then cry when my opponent flaks them to death.

That's the actual problem with TIEs: you don't want them near your opponent's ships. Unless you can spread them to occupy different firing arcs (which isn't hard at speed 4, but then you start to lose swarm against your opponent's squadrons).

But 16 TIEs would at least grant you a significant deployment advantage over your opponent. A lot of lists only reach 8 deployments total, but you can cover that with squads.

ISD-I

- Motti

- Ordnance Experts

- XI-7 Turbolasers

ISD-I

- Ordnance Experts

- XI-7 Turbolasers

16 x TIE Fighters

?????

Profit.

EDIT:

Advanced Gunnery

Fleet Ambush

Superior Positions

8 point bid.

ISD-I

- Motti

- Ordnance Experts

- XI-7 Turbolasers

ISD-I

- Ordnance Experts

- XI-7 Turbolasers

16 x TIE Fighters

?????

Profit.

EDIT:

Advanced Gunnery

Fleet Ambush

Superior Positions

8 point bid.

the Zab Brannigan approach

ISD-I

- Motti

- Ordnance Experts

- XI-7 Turbolasers

ISD-I

- Ordnance Experts

- XI-7 Turbolasers

16 x TIE Fighters

?????

Profit.

EDIT:

Advanced Gunnery

Fleet Ambush

Superior Positions

8 point bid.

the Zab Brannigan approach

Oh God, theme list incoming. . .

As promised.

they are just so much better than the useless Empire fighters.

You must not be fielding/facing the right lists. Imperials can lay some serious hurt with the right squadrons. They're not quite as plug-and-play at X-Wings, but **** are they deadly.

You may be right. It might also have something to do with the local meta for the Rebels. In my local area it is almost a must include to have Gallent Haven in there fleet (only time it is not is if there is no Guppy). It might also have some to do with dice rolls, on a good day I am lucky if I get a 50% hit ratio, normally it is less. So on a good day my TiE Fighter I get two hits (counting the re-roll), on a normal day I get one hit. If you add in Howlrunner (who I have never been able to use its scatter, and she has never lasted longer than one round of combat), it makes it more likely that I will get the two hits on a good day, and on a very good day I may get three hits (but this is very rare). So under normal times we are looking at one or two hits, with one of them ignored by the special from the ship, making it zero to one hit. Going with the TiE Interceptor, we are looking at about two hits, with Howlrunner maybe three, and maybe one on the counter attack. So again we are looking at maybe three to one hit, with one maybe on a good day two on a counter attack, this again is dropped by one to from zero to two, likely one during the attack, and zero to one during the counter attack, likely zero. Now I can also add a little bit to this by having the right cards on the ship that does the squadron command, but that is only going to be adding normally one hit. So summing up with the TiE Fighter/Interceptor we are looking at one to three hits when we take into account everything from my side, this is then normally reduced in my area by the ability of the Rebels making this zero to two hits, and the Rebel fighters have at least four hits, so if everything goes good it will take me two turns to kill his weak fighters, three or four for the rest if going one on one. On the other side my fighters have only three hits, so if he shoots me with his ship, we are looking at a 1/3 to 2/3 reduction of my health, making it almost 100% that it will one shot by any Rebel fighter even if he does not shoot it with his ship, it is still very likely that it will still be one shot. So that is why I am saying that the Empire fighters are useless, to 100% correct useless is to strong of a word, it would be more accurate that I do not think that they are worth there points as they are so fragile, so if you do not get the first shot it is likely that you will not get a shot at all. The rest of the Empire small craft are not bad, the TiE bomber is fine as a bomber, the TiE Advanced is a fine fighter (but the fluff is that it is super rare), and the scum are all good at what they do. So I am not saying that the Empire has no good small craft, but there main line fighters are what are what are not worth the points, now maybe if they cost half the points but then again that may just be me.

Admonition is an anti squadron ship to some extent. It can quite happily weather a fair amount of sniping shots before zooming off. Its a delaying tactic to be sure, but it may buy the time needed to kill the carriers.

MC80's and ISD's deserve a mention.

What would your build for the MC-80 look like?

Park - I think your last sentence, especially, has a lot of merit. You can alpha strike with Howlrunner and an Interceptor swarm with Flight Controllers and absolutely annihilate something. Add in Mauler and it gets even worse. Without something like Jan Braces, that can easily wipe away one 5 Hull squadron from Howl/Mauler, and then one more 5 Hull squadron per Interceptor. Use an ISD with Expanded Hangars and a banked Squadron command, and you're talking five X-Wings/TIE Bombers/pretty much anything wiped away in a single activation. Survivability isn't really an issue at that point, because whatever's left has a tough choice. Do you go after the Interceptors and suffer Counter 3 but pop several, or do you go after Howl to get rid of that extra Blue die, but take longer to do it with her two tokens? Even a Jan/X-Wing group would be in trouble, because you're talking three dead X-Wings, and that's if Jan discards both of her Braces.

But, if your opponent has some of their own Speed 5 squadrons, they can get the jump on you. A pair of A-Wings or TIE Interceptors would be just enough to break up such an alpha strike glass cannon. They're going to die, yes, but now your opponent is coming in limping and it gives you an opportunity to maneuver some beefier squadrons, like X-Wings, into position for a follow up kill shot.

I am trying to figure out how you kill one hull five squadron with one TiE Interceptor? It starts with four blue dice, if you add one because of Howlrunner, and then one more from Flight Controller, this gives you six blue dice with a reroll or we will say seven blue dice. With that I would be lucky to get three hits, how are you getting five 100% of the time, as that is what it sounds like you are saying that it is a given you will do it? Also at least in my local meta there is that they will take one less damage due to Gallen Haven, meaning I would need to to six damage or get a hit on every single dice every single time. Maybe, I am just having a hard time with this as in every game that I have played I would say I am lucky to get at 50% hit rate, normally it is less. So I do not under stand how you can be getting almost 100% hit rate every time.

Mauler Mithel flies in and does one damage to everything first. And yes, it's not a guarantee, but you have a 50/50 shot of causing four damage. You should get three from your first roll of six Blue dice, and your Swarm re-roll has a 50/50 shot of getting a Hit.

In all the games I have played the only time ships have wasted an attack on fighters is when there were no ships in range or arc of attack. but Have I ever slammed some fighters with my whole fleet and fighters when they speed out to attack leaving their ships out of range.