So at least in my area fighter builds are coming in full force in my past two tournaments heavy to medium fighter builds were dominating. With the addition of bomber command and Intel gone are the days of ship only builds, and I think this is a good thing it adds a new dynamic to the game making fighters a thing that must be incorporated in every fleet. What if you don't want to join in on the heavy fighter builds? well you need a fighter screen.

Now a bit of a disclaimer I am much more of an imperial player than a rebel player so this will focus more on the Empire than rebels, but i still feel that many of the same principals apply on both sides. What I would like to do is dive into is three types of Fighter screens there pros and cons were going to call these fighter screens: Token screens, Ant-ship screens, and Executioner screens respectively.

Token Screens

First starting with Token Screens what are they well they are fighter screens that are simply there to keep your opponent's fighters off your ships they are there to die and buy you as much time as they can and are cheep, a simple example of a token screen would be something like this

6x Tie Fighters= 48 points

now this seams cheep and easy, but it dose have a rather huge weakness and that is Intel. if your opponent plops a fighter with Intel in the mix of your screen then you are in trouble your fighters lose the ability to keep the bombers off your ship's they are engaged and can't relocate to where they could be useful because they are engaged and if your opponent plops in an escort with the Intel fighter, and lets face it they are going to now you have to get though at least two squadrons before your screen can start to do its job again.

there is at least one way to help mintage this a little and that is to run an Intel squadron of your own, so that you can re-position your squadrons away from the other Intel squadrons and pin down some of your opponent's fighters this kind of screen would look something like this:

5x Tie Fighters

1x Jumpmaster

Total points= 52

This screen will help with the pesky Intel ships disrupting your screen, but if an opponent runs double Intel witch I have seen your still in for some trouble, fortunately for the Imperial players there is another option with dealing with the pesky escort Intel combo IG-88.

IG-88 can ignore escort and counter making him able to take out the pesky Intel ships though dealing with named Intel ships can still be rather troubling if you don't get the accuracy you need a screen like this would look something like this:

4x Tie Fighters

1x Jumpmaster

1x IG-88

Total points= 65

Once you start going over 65 points of fighters you are starting to lose some much needed fire power and need to make up for it in your squadron battery in my experience this is where the transition to the anti-ship screen and executioner screen comes in so lets look at thoughts

Anti-Ship screens

An Anti-Ship screen would be when you go over 65 points you need to have some way for your squadrons to do some damage to opponents ships and to take out enemy squadrons an example list for this would be something like this:

1x "Mauler" Mithel

1x Dengar

1x IG-88

3x Tie Advanced

Total Points=92

This Screen steals a little from the Token screen, but is much more built on taking out your fighters, but then moving on to there ships with your black dice. there are several other variations of a Anti-Ship screen you could come up with here is another example of one:

1x Bossk

1x "Mauler" Mithel

1x IG-88

2x Tie Advanced

1x Jump Master

Total Points=95

Once you are approaching the 100 point mark in fighters they need to be doing more than just screening that is why the battery armament is so important to dish out damage to ships that is one of the challenges of an Anti-Ship Screen you need to balance anti-fighter with anti ship, once you go over 100 your ether running a Bomber list, or have a crazy Fighter screen I call these the Executioner Screens.

Executioner Screens

The most common Executioner screen or at least the most popular would be the 8 YT-2400 that is meant to tear fighters apart and start pinging ships that is really what an executioner screen is all about forget Intel just kill everything all the fighters all the ships so I call it an executioner screen Ill give an example of an Executioner Screen that dose not involve 8 YT-2400 to keep things a little more interesting.

1x Boba Fett

1x Bossk

1x IG-88

4x Aggressor Assault Fighter

Total Points= 134

The downside to Executioner Screens is that you need to be able to punch though the enemy fighters fast enough to dish out the damage your screen needs to these kinds of screens are a bit more related to bomber builds.

Conclusion

What kind of screen should you run well whatever you find the most fun I personally feel that any of these screens are viable as if you are running a token screen your ships should be able to dish out a huge amount of damage, and if your running an Anti-ship you have a strong balance and with Executioner you have strong support for your ships and a strong screen, but your ships will have less upgrades and put out less damage.

This is just what I have learned form my experience what have you learned about Fighter screen is this new Fighter eat Fighter world and let me know some of your favorite fighter screens and anything you would add or even things you don't agree with thanks for reading!

I think the word screen being defensive doesn't fit an anti ship roll. To be honest you use screens to stop enemy maneuver and squadrons cannot stop ships.

If you invest in that much anti ship firepower for your squadrons you are clearly an assault roll in which most of your damage comes from squadrons and you would not be screening. You would be attacking and breaking screens.

Use less odd terms. Just describe squads in the sense of a shield or a spear.

Rebel Shield examples:

4xYT2400 (64)

Jan, 3x Xwing/YT1300 (58) (Jan's Escorts)

4-6 Awing (44-66)

Each has a strength different than the others. The common theme is a way to protect ships. Jan's Escorts stay and wait for the opponent to come to them. They rely on Jan to make the Escorts last longer than should be possible. The Awings are intended to jump on enemy squads the moment they are out of ship support range. 2400s are used to make the squad battle as spread out and freewheeling as possible to take advantage of Rogue and minimize squad synergies. Their point is to buy a crucial 1-2 turns of your ships not getting hit by enemy squadrons,

Rebel Spear examples:

4x Xwing, 3x Bwing, 2x Ywing, Jan (The meat spear)

Han, Dash, Wedge, Dutch, other aces (Rieekan's Flying Circus)

8xYT2400

These all serve a more offensive purpose. All are designed to hit squadrons and ships heavily, though some excel at one over others. The Meat Spear is designed to give 5 placements and have a comical amount of HP (especially with Jan). It moves slow and just gets out in front of the enemy. Enough guns and hull to win most squad screen fights while 9/10 are bombers.

The Flying circus is paired with Rieekan so that the Aces live long enough to always do damage. Also typically with Yavaris to maximize this. This typically wipes out squads extraordinarily well.

The 8x2400 sacrifices efficiency for flexible performance and can hit ships or squads with relative ease. It excels when the squad battles are piecemeal and spread out.

I agree that you need some fighters to lock up or slow down enemy squadrons. But how many depends on the rest of your fleet build and your strategy.

Without capital ships to activate squadrons they will not be effective since they always have to run after the capital ships in the end and you need to anticipate where the capital ships end up if they are going to do any damage.

There are also good smaller ships that are great for locking down or destroy squadrons and still participate in battle with the capital ships. Like the raider.

Some of the capital ships also have a decent anti squadron barrage that may weaken a swarm comming towards your ship enough that a few fighters may finnish them of.

In the end it is a game about how many points you destroy of the enemy. And also mission objectives.

So you need to build a fleet that are deadly effective in your planned strategy.

Depends on what you mean by fighter screen as well. I'm a rebel player and if I'm screening B-wings is YT-1300's. Not only are they a tank, but they have escort and counter 1 as well. If I'm screening my ships it's X's ans A's. I normally don't bother to much with the aces but use the points to throw more fighters in. I don't worry much about intel because either set up combined with flight controllers chews it's way through anything that engages with it pretty quickly.

We seem to have skipped the CAP type, or Combat Air Patrol, where the entire purpose of the wing of fighters is to seek and destroy enemy fighter squadrons, en masse if possible. If your meta is loaded up with medium to heavy squadron builds, particularly focusing on bombers, an efficient CAP wing that can kill more points than it loses can tip the tide of a match. Imperial players have a somewhat easier time with this in my opinion, as the generally superior speed of TIE units, both Fighters and Interceptors allows an Imperial commander with some planning to choose when and where to engage his Rebel adversary, and, critically, to strike first, a critical factor for the weaker TIEs to dish out punishment before taking return fire. Intel mitigates the ability of a CAP wing to lock down its victims, but bombers that use Intel to move through the attackers aren't shooting back (obvious exceptions squad command and Rogue), allowing squad commanded CAP wings to give deadly chase. If you're not worried about counter-attack, either from escort or bombers just fighting through the screen, I would recommend a combination of Interceptors, Howlrunner, Fighters if you want cheap, a Jumpmaster, and Flight Controllers on the carrier(s). If counter-attack is a concern, mix of Advanced, Interceptors, Dengar, Sontir, and Vader work well. CAP wings can easily run all 134 pts, but with practice and careful use, often only need to be in 90-100pt range to do devastating damage to the enemy wings.

Boba is effective, as are Aggressors, but both require initiative to deal first blood, whereas TIE Fighters, IG-88, and Dengar all have speed 4 (or greater) and can be a party to the opening attack. On a tactical level, concentrating fire to destroy squadrons before they have a chance to retaliate, particularly X-wings, but all targets will help increase the number of TIEs that live long enough to shoot again. The differences between this and Executioner are A. Investment required (a couple squadron packs versus a bunch of R&V packs), and B. the cheaper options allowing you to lose some units if you get a reasonable K-D ratio. While blue battery dice against ships is nothing to write home about, a large number of these dice can dish out pain if the enemy only brought a few squadrons easily dispatched early. In any case, the point is not to attack ships, but to negate the enemy's large investment in squadrons. Most bomber builds actually rely on the squadrons for a significant amount of damage, and their destruction, piecemeal or complete, can be a massive crimp in the plans of the opponent.

I also strongly second the notion that anti-fighter screens can include ships, Raiders with OE and other upgrades to taste can shred bombers with multiple salvos, and provide nice cheap activations and Ordnance carriers. Opportunity fire from Star Destroyers is also an option and should not be discounted. Even Raiders as pocket carriers I've had some success with, with EHB, Flight Controllers, and pairs of TIE Advanced or Interceptors to lock down targets for the Raider's fire, or to harass ships already under threat from other starships. In short, there are a plethora of options for dealing with a squadron-heavy build,

If you're talking about using a screen, watch Clon's replays where he used 2 tie fighters and Instigator to pretty effectively delay bomber lists for some pretty crucial turns.

If we're actually talking about how to do a fighter screen, I agree, it's kind of a delicate art. It's knowing when to attack, when to not, using obstacles, knowing when to go en masse, knowing when to send speed bumps- it's very much case by case and much more dependent on ship deployment than a particular build, IMO.

I think Q showed us that even spamming 8 YT-2400's is not a mindless affair- deployment and movement still matter A LOT- I see lots of players blob their fighters into the middle of the board without really thinking about how to use their forces effectively! Moreover, I think players get so giddy at the thought of delaying their ship deployments with fighter deployments they sometimes make foolish moves with their non-infinitely-fast fighter positioning.

Having only come recently to squadron use after largely ignoring them in Wave 1 (used 4xA-Wings in combination with a AFMKII + 3xCR90 build sometimes) and largely sitting out wave 2, it's a real adjustment. Deploying squadrons such that they're in a decent position relative to my opponent and I won't be overlapping them immediately is much more challenging than I'd expected.

More, the Imperial synergy ball is much more dangerous than anticipated. Taking something like eight damage from bombers on the first turn after executing a speed two maneuver was pretty wtf. On top of that, Mauler is a much greater problem for X-Wing survivability than anticipated and flight controllers + Toryn doesn't make X-Wings as murderous as I'd expected. I mean, okay, the dice were against me but when it takes three activations (fifteen dice, two rerolls) to do three damage to a normal Firespray it's, uh. Unsettling. Locking things down with Dengar dancing around and freeing up Mauler and the bombers both, also a pain. Speed three is a much greater handicap than I'd expected.

I was running Luke, Jan, Tycho, 4xY and 3xX and think I need to drop Tycho to upgrade the Ys to Bs, as the two dice just aren't enough if (when) the X-Wings get popped and there are still enemy squadrons that need to be dealt with. Well, and also the four black dice feel underwhelming in comparison to the Firespray's ludicrous medium-range firepower.

Tycho was clutch at a couple key moments, but I think he wouldn't have needed to be clutch quite as often if the Ys had been Bs and therefore brought an extra AS die and no heavy to the squadron game.

But that means I probably need Independence and/or Yavaris and will probably require significantly more practice to not totally screw up.

Gallant Haven with Flight Controllers and extended hangers is great, but does require some practice. With B's you need to slow walk them to medium range under the protection of Haven then send them to attack. The hardest part is keeping Haven alive. I normally make sure there is another dangerous target for the enemy to shoot at the same time to draw fire.

I am becoming a big fan of the Imperial CAP as a counter to YT-2400 spam / Bomber Heavy lists.

TIE Fighter x4

Howlrunner

Mauler Mithel

TIE Advanced x3

Jumpmaster

5 deployments

111 points

TIE fighters can still do relatively decent anti-ship efficiency (.5 damage / attack, but about the same / point as an A-Wing) and the TIE Advanced escort helps keep them and the elites flying except in the face of massed AA. Jumpmaster is there to keep Mithel being Mithel, and to free up the TIEs to intercept bombers as needed.

I have been supporting the blob with 2 expanded hanger Goz's (Vector!) (6 squadron activations) and season to taste with the remaining points for big ships.

What do you think would be the most effective squadron group that you could activate with a single ship (of any kind)?

Either dedicated to an anti-squadron or anti-ship roll.

What do you think would be the most effective squadron group that you could activate with a single ship (of any kind)?

Either dedicated to an anti-squadron or anti-ship roll.

Effective at What:

Killing Bomber Squadrons?

Killing Light/Fast Ships?

Killing Heavy Battleships?

Delaying other squadron attacks with minimal point expenditure?

Hunting down single enemy INTEL squadrons so you can pin the others?

The thing is, just like ships, the BEST is dependent upon your planned use for them.

And that's exactly why I didn't buy Rogues&Villains. It basically eliminates every squadron form the game and replaces them by bounty hunters. Like the Empire would constantly use them instead of endless stream of TIEs.....

What do you think would be the most effective squadron group that you could activate with a single ship (of any kind)?

Either dedicated to an anti-squadron or anti-ship roll.

Only going with non-upgraded ships for this.

ISD activation (4) - Anti-Squadron:

Howlrunner

TIE Interceptor x3

Average damage: 1.5 (x1), 3 (x3) Enough to drop any single Elite out of the sky, and more than sufficient to get rid of any non-elite squadron. 3 damage is the magic number where brace is least efficient. All for 49 points, making it cheaper than a less damaging rebel alternative of Jan Ors, X-Wing x3 (but without the staying power). Plus it can hit out to distance 4, or distance 5 just losing the 1.5 attack (Howl can still get close enough to give the Howl buff) and .5 average damage off the first 3 attack (no swarm for the first guy).

MC-80 Command Cruiser - Bombers

B-Wing x3

Keyan

1.75 damage per B-Wing, and then 2.00 damage for Keyan (or 2.50 if the first 3 strip the shields). Cost of 62 points for total of 7.75 average damage (assuming rerolls). Note: Short range and lack of Intel requires care be taken for maximum damage. Possible maximum damage of 13 if rolls are really, really good.

And that's exactly why I didn't buy Rogues&Villains. It basically eliminates every squadron form the game and replaces them by bounty hunters. Like the Empire would constantly use them instead of endless stream of TIEs.....

So, your response to an Extreme Point of view, is to take the equally extreme opposite view?

Because its not like the Empire ever used bounty hunters, at all, right ?

What do you think would be the most effective squadron group that you could activate with a single ship (of any kind)?

Either dedicated to an anti-squadron or anti-ship roll.

Bombers would be same ISD set up with rhymer and 5 firesprays, for 11 anti ship bomber dice at medium range

GSD2

Flight Commander

Flight Controller

Fighter coordination team

Mauler, Dengar, Bossk

Move ship

Move Mauler into ball of enemies (1×#Enemies damage)

Activate squad dial + toke

Move and attack with Dengar and Bossk ( 2.5+3.5, 6 damage)

Move and attack with Mauler (2.5 + #Enemies)

8.5 + 2x#Enemies engaged total damage. Reliant on some luck, but can end up being crazy levels of damage

If you engage 5 enemies with Mauler, this nets similar damage to a Howlrunner/5xInterceptor activated by EHB/Flight Controller ISD1

Does a screen print of fighters count as an answer to this topic?

Pt for Pt my favorite fighter load out:

Rhymer

howlrunner
5xTIE Ints

TIE Fighter

Dengar

flight controllers on carriers

TIE Ints slam in at 6 (6!!!!!!!) attack dice, when done correctly. Ints have counter 4....4!!!!!!! ive alpha'd firesprays and then killed them with counter.

you have more than enough 7 dice for the 50/50 odds of damage vs ships to offset the cost of not taking bombers.... this load out dominates the majority of heavy fighter comps as I can alpha and get ahead quickly, and has more than enough firepower to finish off loan ships trying to run away late game. seriously take 4-5 blue dice never feels good when your ship has 2HP left

Use less odd terms. Just describe squads in the sense of a shield or a spear.

Rebel Shield examples:

4xYT2400 (64)

Jan, 3x Xwing/YT1300 (58) (Jan's Escorts)

4-6 Awing (44-66)

Each has a strength different than the others. The common theme is a way to protect ships. Jan's Escorts stay and wait for the opponent to come to them. They rely on Jan to make the Escorts last longer than should be possible. The Awings are intended to jump on enemy squads the moment they are out of ship support range. 2400s are used to make the squad battle as spread out and freewheeling as possible to take advantage of Rogue and minimize squad synergies. Their point is to buy a crucial 1-2 turns of your ships not getting hit by enemy squadrons,

Rebel Spear examples:

4x Xwing, 3x Bwing, 2x Ywing, Jan (The meat spear)

Han, Dash, Wedge, Dutch, other aces (Rieekan's Flying Circus)

8xYT2400

These all serve a more offensive purpose. All are designed to hit squadrons and ships heavily, though some excel at one over others. The Meat Spear is designed to give 5 placements and have a comical amount of HP (especially with Jan). It moves slow and just gets out in front of the enemy. Enough guns and hull to win most squad screen fights while 9/10 are bombers.

The Flying circus is paired with Rieekan so that the Aces live long enough to always do damage. Also typically with Yavaris to maximize this. This typically wipes out squads extraordinarily well.

The 8x2400 sacrifices efficiency for flexible performance and can hit ships or squads with relative ease. It excels when the squad battles are piecemeal and spread out.

There is also a dagger, those list with only 1-3 squadrons and use anti-fighter heavy ships as their screen. The Dagger I can see being a YT-1300 and Nym with YT-1300 covering the Havock so Nym could harass other ships.

My description was from a point of view of atrategies based on squads only. Opening up things like using Raiders as a frag grenade on squads dramatically increases options.

Honestly though, we have found Raiders wanting as anti-squad ships without squad support.

One raider flying into a pile of unactivated Bwings will die before it geta to fire next turn. Sending 2 Advanced or really anything with some HP to buy you time during that end phase lets that Raider go off on the next turn.

My problem with squadron contingent plans right now is I keep wanting black squadrons and Mona Kree's.

Don't forget that a valid use of squadrons is to pin down the enemy fighters where a couple of your ships can get to them with anti-squad. This is especially true when pinning down tie fighters. The ship anti squadron is also good for making use defense tokens that leaves them open to later squad attacks that turn. A key thing I try to do is keep my squads in range to receive support from my ships. Who cares if my squad get damage through? If they can be activated by my Mc-80 and bring down the shield facing my ship so it gets a clean shot that's fine. Keep in mind the opponent usually wants to hold defense tokens for the big attack from your ship so fighter damage trickles in.

And that's exactly why I didn't buy Rogues&Villains. It basically eliminates every squadron form the game and replaces them by bounty hunters. Like the Empire would constantly use them instead of endless stream of TIEs.....

And this tells me that something was/is broken with the original squadrons that the empire had.

My description was from a point of view of atrategies based on squads only. Opening up things like using Raiders as a frag grenade on squads dramatically increases options.

Honestly though, we have found Raiders wanting as anti-squad ships without squad support.

One raider flying into a pile of unactivated Bwings will die before it geta to fire next turn. Sending 2 Advanced or really anything with some HP to buy you time during that end phase lets that Raider go off on the next turn.

Why are you flying the raider into range of them? It out ranges them, so just get close and let them come to you.

And that's exactly why I didn't buy Rogues&Villains. It basically eliminates every squadron form the game and replaces them by bounty hunters. Like the Empire would constantly use them instead of endless stream of TIEs.....

And this tells me that something was/is broken with the original squadrons that the empire had.

My description was from a point of view of atrategies based on squads only. Opening up things like using Raiders as a frag grenade on squads dramatically increases options.

Honestly though, we have found Raiders wanting as anti-squad ships without squad support.

One raider flying into a pile of unactivated Bwings will die before it geta to fire next turn. Sending 2 Advanced or really anything with some HP to buy you time during that end phase lets that Raider go off on the next turn.

Why are you flying the raider into range of them? It out ranges them, so just get close and let them come to you.

Not sure how that helps. When they come to you, they kill you. Before you can activate afterward to shoot them.

Unless the opponent is foolish enough to move squadrons next to a Raider in the Squadron phase. Silly Rebel!