TIE Bombers are amazing now. I'm just getting that out of the way. Seriously, I did not expect them to perform this well today.

I've had Imperial Veterans for quite a while now, practically since it was released. But due to a busy work schedule and hectic home life, I have yet to really fly much aside from a few TIE Defender lists. Today was my first chance to fly the Bombers, and boy was I impressed!

The list was pretty simple and straight-forward. Four TIE Bombers.

Scimitar Squadron Pilot - 16 points

- TIE Shuttle - 0 points

- Fleet Officer - 3 points

- Systems Officer - 2 points

Gamma Squadron Veteran - 19 points x2

- Deadeye - 1 point

- Proton Torpedoes - 4 points

- Extra Munitions - 2 points

- Guidance Chips - 0 points

Gamma Squadron Veteran - 19 points

- Deadeye - 1 point

- Proton Torpedoes - 4 points

- Ion Pulse Missiles - 3 points

- Guidance Chips - 0 points

I was originally going to put Extra Munitions on the last Gamma Vet as well, but couldn't find my third EM card, and figured my opponent would probably have a large ship, since he typically includes one in his list. So I figured it wouldn't hurt to have the Ion Pulse Missiles as a nice counter. Unfortunately, I gambled wrong there, and never once fired the Ion Pulse Missiles. However, it was mostly because I didn't even need to.

My opponents list this time around was Talonbane Cobra and Guri, backed by two Z-95's. The first match, I didn't lose a single Bomber. Deploying in a loose formation in the corner, I was able to lure his ships to mine and engage him on my own terms. At one point in the match, with strategic use of 5ks from the three Gamma Veterans and a green maneuver from the Scimitar, I was able to successfully outmaneuver all four of his ships while still having shots with Guidance Chipped ordinance. It was pretty simple to bulldoze his squad.

The second game, my opponent swapped the Z-95's for Laetin A'shera with a Mangler Cannon to try and crit my Bombers apart. At one point in the game, he actually managed to one-shot my support Bomber when it had full health with a lucky shot from Talonbane Cobra. However, at that point, I'd already done a great deal of damage to each of his ships, and immediately destroyed Talonbane in the same round.

All in all, I really love this squad. There's definitely room for improvement, but I can't get over how useful the support Bomber is with both the Fleet and Systems Officers. Handing out a Target Lock and two Focus tokens to three Bombers with Deadeye opens up the rest the Bombers' dials and actions while still letting them fire off ordinance turn after turn. I'll have to experiment with this list some more.

So, how has everyone else been doing with the new Bombers?

I need to fly them more. Railgun bombers are my favorite. (Gamma vets with crackshot, homing missiles, and long range scanners)

I love bombers too, but I'm still disappointed they are still not really competitive

I love bombers too, but I'm still disappointed they are still not really competitive

They can potentially be competitive. With the influx of x7 Defenders becoming a major factor in competitive play, there's not much they hate more than Homing Missiles with Crackshot. I've been consistently practicing with them and have faired quite well. I don't run 4 of them though, I run 2 Gamma Vets, Tomax Bren, and Wampa.

the thing with bombers in competitive is they work

but

if your opponent gets lucky green dice v your missiles, you might just get ****** out of a win

and there's nothing you can do about it, sadly. With limited ordnance, the moment you're out and havn't done enough dice-work with your missiles is the moment you lose the game

meanwhile, x7s continue generating evades regardless

the thing with bombers in competitive is they work

but

if your opponent gets lucky green dice v your missiles, you might just get ****** out of a win

and there's nothing you can do about it, sadly. With limited ordnance, the moment you're out and havn't done enough dice-work with your missiles is the moment you lose the game

meanwhile, x7s continue generating evades regardless

That's definitely the difficult part because it's completely predicated on how well the first 2-3 rounds of the engagements go. It may seem like overkill, but to increase your odds of taking our your target, it's normally best to focus at least two if not more of your first salvo of missiles on your first target. It's almost a must to take out your first target if not the first round of engagement, by the second minimum. If you can't take your target out with that many missiles fast enough, you're most likely not winning.

I absolutely love 21pt Scimitars with Chips, ion missiles, EM. Cheap but can't be ignored.

Bombers require skill, that's for sure, but there is some luck needed there and that luck needs to continue for 3-6 games in a tournament.

With 2 agility and low to mid PS there are some games where they will not get to shoot first. Hence the luck. I've seen games with bombers where it was a hit hit crit and the crit gets through and it's a blinded pilot. Bad luck, no shot for that bomber. It's literally luck of the draw some games. Get a crit reduce your ps0 great, that not so bad, but a blinded pilot has saved me from eating a missle on quite a few occasions

With 2 agility and no shields I've found them to be to susceptible to crits, even when your green dice are good a crit can still slip by, and no shields, or evade option means your taking that crit, and your back to luck of the draw

Don't get me wrong, I do love bombers, but I am disappointed they didn't become part of the meta.

However with that said I've beaten dengeraoo multiple times with whisper, pal shuttle, and a gamma vet, but have lost to it when flying omega leader, whisper, and yorr multiple times.

I kind of like the gamma vet better than omega leader. That's probably personal preference because when I attack with omega leader every game he rolls blanks. My friend and I can't help but laugh every time I roll with him, never fails, sad really

I ran bombers at our local club tournament with 12 players. Lots of fun but had trouble once the toys ran out.

5x Scimitars with 3 seismic charges, 1 thermal detonators, 1 ion bombs; EM flechette torps, ion pulse, GC and LRS to taste,

Flown as a block and jousted....the control and bombs really affected their approach but 2 dice primaries aren't enough in the end game.

Went 3-1 and took second on MoV.

I have before and after shots of Dutch eating ALL the bombs....just can't figure out how to post them here

bombs are under rated in this game

Personally i prefer LRS + Crackshot + Homers, but to each their own.

Most people are still in this livid dream that bombers suck so they completely underestimate them every time. Theyre kinda difficult to fly because they cant really turn around easily (5k into a 1fwd usually puts you too close if someone is chasing you) so its all in the alpha strike, and i like having some bombs to deter chasing me.

I imagine they'll appear in the meta once people get rid of this stupid mentality that they suck and LRS sucks. Homers + TL + Focus x2 is enough to reliably shred any ship, and anyone that lives is in a seriously sorry state where my defender can finish them with ease.

The funny thing about bombers is once the ordnance is up you'd THINK they become useless because its only a 2die primary. Not true, gammas w/o ordnance are only slightly more expensive than black squad tie fighters and are almost as nimble surprisingly. Ive done some pretty fancy flying with them after the ordnance was up and outgunned people to the point where even i was surprised i hit that hard consistently lol. People nark on the 5k, i love the 5k. It puts me so far away im RARELY in range2, sometimes i even get out of range3, so my defense isnt horrid. Furthermore that allows me to approach in a vast number of ways.

Hey! Tie Bombers! I love Tie Bombers! Personally, I think they can be competitive, but people just don't bother trying. People say that U-boats have better modification and therefore are better and just don't even try Bombers.

I think the dial on the Tie Bomber is pretty good, even when people disparage it. I love the speed 1 moves and the 5 K-turn. Those are the 2 most useful moves for the Tie Bomber.

There are tricks you can do to get the TL when their PS is higher. It takes practice and more practice to get good at the approach, but it pays off if you really get the practice games in. I still recommend that article by....Deadhorse was it?

If you fly them vs. U-boats, you can win as long as you have the higher PS than them. The real trick is going against Imp Aces. I've developed this list, but I haven't had as much of a chance to fly it.

I really feel that Tie Bombers are competitive ships and that people just haven't really used them as much. I'm a bit disappointed in that, to be honest. The real threat is the high PS Arc Dodgers. Perhaps if people steer away from them and more towards Defenders, then more people will try Tie Bombers? I was going to fly them this past tournament season, but decided to drop out of tournaments. I still wonder how well I would've done.

i ran two bombers + ryad in a local tourny of about 25 people. My only loss i blame on poor positioning, as i kinda shafted myself. I baffled so many people that i was bringing bombers to a tourny, even a local one. For the record, there was a dengaroo there and i pummeled him. His only lost was against me lol. Zuckuss cant help you when you suffer 8 hits right off the bat because you thought i wasnt "quite" in range3 yet so you didnt pop counters and then ryad finishes you lol. The beauty of LRS, no range3 checks!

Another list I've been running at the club with some success (though not tournament yet) is building on the imp vets named pilots and coming up with the some efficient standard builds for each.

Deathfire is my go to control ship with LRS, Conners, Flechette Torps and EM for 25pts;

Tomax Brenn is my heavy hitter with Crackshot, Homing Missiles, EM and Guidance Chips for 32pts;

Add a standard Omega Leader and Darkcurse for end game finishers/ annoyance gives you 99pts.

Lots of fun and quite competitive, though VI Wes and Coran eat Tomax...

I ran 4 Tie bombers at the San Diego regional back in may and went 3 and 3. Had a lot of fun, and cost myself at least one win with poor play. They have a lot of upside and are surprisingly durable. But you have to find a way to get some bombs in there. you would be surprised how many players just will not K-turn behind you at the prospect of 1 damage. Especially if you play it up a lot that you have bombs.

I did play 4 Tie Bombers back in early 2015 or late 2014. I can't recall. There was no Extra Munitions or GC or LRS. Each of my ships had Seismic Charge. I played at my small-ish Store Champ and was the only undefeated going into Final Four. I lost to 3 generic Tie Phantoms, but did great vs. everything else. The Bombs were crazy good. I dropped 4 and had a Leebo land on all 4 of them. I had grabbed TL the round before and K-turned to have 2 Bombers finish him off with 2 missiles after that. Outrider dead in one turn!

I also played 5 Alpha Interceptors and it was a bloody mess. I dropped bombs and threw out ordnance and managed to knock him down to 1 ship after 3 rounds of shooting? The Seismic Charges were fantastic there.

I like Bombs, but have to sacrifice them for the PS bid vs. U-boats these days. I also like all 4 Bombers to have ordnance, as well.

Yeah bombers are finally worth taking now I ran a four bomber list a while back when vets came out it was pretty brutal and short as I got really good rolls the first two turns.

But cold dice or your enemy rolling lots of evades is a big potential problem like fickle says.

Pre-vets, I was running (IIRC) 3 Gamma Squadron Pilots with Extra Munitions, Homing Missiles and Seismic Charges (on 2) & Colonel Jendon with Weapons Engineer and Title. I really like it. I haven't had a chance to run it post-vets, but I am guessing the new Crew Options could help the shuttle. I will look at Gamma Vets, but I am not sure if they are needed.

But cold dice or your enemy rolling lots of evades is a big potential problem like fickle says.

it's also why my forum handle is what it is

I had a chance to fly 3 bombers with the Inquisitor. I shot all my ordinance off and I won...and NOW I want to buy more Imperial expansions. Being a Scum focused player, I only have one bomber right now.

(97 point Initiative bid helped me a lot.)

Inquisitor : Title, AT, PTL

Scimitar : Proton Torps, EM, Chips x2

Scimitar : Title, Fleet Off., Systems Off., Twin Ion Mk.2

I just cant get behind bombers, everytime i try to i just end up thinking why am i not running a tie advanced prototype.

This is what i took to second place at my regionals. Loosing the final match to someone i tabled in my first match of the tournament.

Baron of the empire

-Crack shot

-Guidance Chips

-Tie/v1

-concussion missiles

x4

I just cant find a bomber list that will out preform this list, unlike the bombers these things are very strong even after there missiles are gone because of the title.

I can also confirm that bombers are competitive. But I would avoid to have a pure bomber list, because there are a lot of tactics to counter them. It is good to have a mixture of ships. Some ships which can counter the counter. Because bombers are very hard hitters, but they definetively need protection.

I just cant get behind bombers, everytime i try to i just end up thinking why am i not running a tie advanced prototype.

This is what i took to second place at my regionals. Loosing the final match to someone i tabled in my first match of the tournament.

That list does look really cool. I bet that is a fun list to fly, as well. If I had 2 more V1's, I'd probably try that at some point.

I can also confirm that bombers are competitive. But I would avoid to have a pure bomber list, because there are a lot of tactics to counter them. It is good to have a mixture of ships. Some ships which can counter the counter. Because bombers are very hard hitters, but they definetively need protection.

I'm not sure if I agree with this statement. I tend to like to fly 4 Tie Bombers with half LRS and half GC. I don't fly them in formation, either. I showed the list with the one guy with Crackshot. I don't know the "lot of tactics" to counter them. I'm not sure I agree there are a lot, as long as you fly well enough.

I like gamma vets with predator, EM some long range hammer like PT, concussion, etc. Seismic, and LRS with prockets.

This makes them hit hard on the alpha, then when they are in close, they are still rolling 4 dice with prockets with a predator mod. People don't think of bombers as a close range threat, but with prockets and seismics they do alright in a furball, and if they break out, they can pick up another lock and fire the other missle. chips in place of LRS is also good, but with predator I find i prefer LRS most of the time. Even without any ordnance at all, they are better than you think, and still getting rerolls from predator never hurts.