Hi all,

In my collection I have now have around 9 normal tie fighters for use in a swarm. However as I have so many it is going to be a bit of a pain with identifying who is who when it gets messy.

So I was thinking of putting a little bit of paint onto a few of the tie fighters. Either something on every tie, or perhaps just something on the unique named tie fighters.

The downside to this of course is that the opponent will be able to easily identify howlrunner and friends.

What do you do?

Are you not using the base ID tokens?

I find that those are sufficient. even when flying a swarm v swarm.

Yeah, this is what the ID tokens are for, though I do sometimes find them awkward myself.

Nothing wrong with putting some paint on your ships.

Hi all,

In my collection I have now have around 9 normal tie fighters for use in a swarm. However as I have so many it is going to be a bit of a pain with identifying who is who when it gets messy.

So I was thinking of putting a little bit of paint onto a few of the tie fighters. Either something on every tie, or perhaps just something on the unique named tie fighters.

The downside to this of course is that the opponent will be able to easily identify howlrunner and friends.

What do you do?

Almost everything has been said already, except for this: Your opponent SHOULD be able to identify Howlrunner without any guesswork. It's how the game is designed.

Buy Rement miniature hats and put on individual TIE fighters.

Yeah I could use the little tokens, but I am not a great fan of them. Tiny hats on the tie fighters sounds hilarious!! haha

I suppose I was looking for examples of where people have painted up some tie fighters with simple markers.

Perhaps I will paint the classic white line on a tie fighter or two for the elite named pilots.

Almost everything has been said already, except for this: Your opponent SHOULD be able to identify Howlrunner without any guesswork. It's how the game is designed.

How to identify your tie fighters?

They're the ones that are in my case.

Little numeral painted on the side could work.

Yeah I could use the little tokens, but I am not a great fan of them.

Strictly speaking they're required by the rules, but as long as you've got a way of making it clear who's who, most opponents will let that slide.

Just be aware there are bellends out there who demand strict adherence to such things.

I like the colored bases and then using colored card sleeves. Only works for 6 ships at the moment though.

I realize the base markers are for the very thing discussed here, to identify which ship is which (especially useful for faction vs. same faction games.

However, I was thinking, in combat, if different pilots were flying the same ship, how would enemy ships recognize specific pilots of opposing ships? I wonder if there is a way to directly tie ships to pilot cards in case of actions/attack/destruction/etc, but would not give away what ship was which, at least until it was called out in an attack?...just thinking crazy thoughts.

It might be more realistic, but in a game with faction restrictions and upgrade requirements and point values, you've got to be able to see who's flying what.

Now a "blind" casual game could be fun. All cards stay face down until their abilities are used. So you don't know if that's Howlrunner until everyone starts re-rolling. Or if a ship has ordnance until it's fired at you.

I realize the base markers are for the very thing discussed here, to identify which ship is which (especially useful for faction vs. same faction games.

However, I was thinking, in combat, if different pilots were flying the same ship, how would enemy ships recognize specific pilots of opposing ships? I wonder if there is a way to directly tie ships to pilot cards in case of actions/attack/destruction/etc, but would not give away what ship was which, at least until it was called out in an attack?...just thinking crazy thoughts.

Realism and game balance do not always intersect. For game balance it's important that both players know all the relevant information about each opponent's fleet.

Yeah I could use the little tokens, but I am not a great fan of them. Tiny hats on the tie fighters sounds hilarious!! haha

I suppose I was looking for examples of where people have painted up some tie fighters with simple markers.

Perhaps I will paint the classic white line on a tie fighter or two for the elite named pilots.

Ok, so just a thought here... but even if you paint numbers on the side of your TIEs, you'll still need matching identifiers on the cards so we can equate that 2 = Acadmeny pilot no. 2. I'm assuming you're still using the number markers provided for this case?

I painted IDs right onto the wings: https://instagram.com/p/BHbIRKxBqCS/

Not shown but I used red on the FOs. I would suggest using fine point water based acrylic markers.

I use the number tokens and/or target locks on the bases whenever I have multiple ships of the same type. Plus, they help hold down the ship token.

Forget painting ID numbers, give them all My Little Pony cutie marks in the corner of their wings.

Maybe I should had a better title such as "How to differentiate your tie fighters".

As I have so many, I am leaning towards grouping them in 2's or 4's. So we will have "red wing" and "blue wing" etc.

You should be using ID tokens, by the book. If I were playing against you, I would probably ask you to for my own sanity, and yeah, I fly TIE swarms, and I use the ID's all the time.

I would, however, probably accept tiny hats and/or cutie marks in lieu of the ID tokens.

I believe ID tokens is the answer, but if i have the time or the skills, some markings or numbers on the ships is a good idea.

Military planes of almost all ages have numbers/markings to identify planes/squadrons... Why the Empire will be different?? And aces should have some kind of personalization on their ships (without breaking discipline, alla Fel's 181st red stripe)

ID tokens are the best. Unless you mark your cards too, anything you do to give the tie fighters an identifier can be lost or mixed up, and im not a fan of marking cards.

Also if someone has an issue identifying howlrunner among 6-7 other TIEs, they need their eyes checked. The base not only has her NAME on it but theres a large, bright 8 on there. I put an ID token on named characters purely to hold the template down but named characters dont need any IDs.

I believe ID tokens is the answer, but if i have the time or the skills, some markings or numbers on the ships is a good idea.

Military planes of almost all ages have numbers/markings to identify planes/squadrons... Why the Empire will be different??

Conclusion: use the ID tokens, 1 in the ship, and 1 in the card.

It might be more realistic, but in a game with faction restrictions and upgrade requirements and point values, you've got to be able to see who's flying what.

Now a "blind" casual game could be fun. All cards stay face down until their abilities are used. So you don't know if that's Howlrunner until everyone starts re-rolling. Or if a ship has ordnance until it's fired at you.

Paint them gold.

I was thinking of something like this.