My first attempt to make Swarm Leader work was with Oicunn. It looks good on paper but I never got it to work well on the table and have since settled on QuickDraw and Vessery as my imperial swarm leaders.

Anyways here's the list, it's fairly simple how it should work:

(58) VT-49 Decimator: •Captain Oicunn (42)
•Experimental Interface (3)
•Swarm Leader (3)
•Ysanne Isard (4)
•General Hux (5)
Inspiring Recruit (1)

(42) 2x(21) TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Juke (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

Total: 100/100

In practice I found that the issues of focus fire on the leader, lack of endgame, and not enough feeders as mentioned by previous posters (along with the Deci always doing large base 2 Banks) crippled the list all to often.

My most successful Swarm Leaders tend to have at least three feeders which helps to mitigate the not enough problem just by having extras so I can lose one before firing. More feeders also gives a decent endgame if my opponent focuses entirely on the leader, this part works better the cheaper the leader is because if I trade a 36 point QD for half of the opponent's list in the opening pass then I'm probably still in a decent place. In this respect a major problem with using a Deci is cost.

13 hours ago, nitrobenz said:

My first attempt to make Swarm Leader work was with Oicunn. It looks good on paper but I never got it to work well on the table and have since settled on QuickDraw and Vessery as my imperial swarm leaders.

Anyways here's the list, it's fairly simple how it should work:

(58) VT-49 Decimator: •Captain Oicunn (42)
•Experimental Interface (3)
•Swarm Leader (3)
•Ysanne Isard (4)
•General Hux (5)
Inspiring Recruit (1)

(42) 2x(21) TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Pilot (17)
Juke (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

Total: 100/100

In practice I found that the issues of focus fire on the leader, lack of endgame, and not enough feeders as mentioned by previous posters (along with the Deci always doing large base 2 Banks) crippled the list all to often.

My most successful Swarm Leaders tend to have at least three feeders which helps to mitigate the not enough problem just by having extras so I can lose one before firing. More feeders also gives a decent endgame if my opponent focuses entirely on the leader, this part works better the cheaper the leader is because if I trade a 36 point QD for half of the opponent's list in the opening pass then I'm probably still in a decent place. In this respect a major problem with using a Deci is cost.

Wow, look at that fat Decimator. Seriously. This isn't 2015 where fat Decis rule the land and their only competition is a fat Han; it's 2017. Experimental Interface? Hux? Isard? Just way too much. Those three cards by themselves are the cost of another Academy to feed Evades! The expectation that a fat railgun Deci is going to carry the game for you is... well, no wonder you had a bad time.

That's why I like a slim Deci, a couple of cheap feeders, and THEN an endgame ship. The Deci will die. Anything short of an arc-dodging EU/VI RAC is not survivable. But it WILL kill things on the way down, and that's what you need in order to have the game end favorably for you.

Not to mention that Issard can't trigger if you've used Hux/Experimental Interface...

50 minutes ago, Goseki1 said:

Not to mention that Issard can't trigger if you've used Hux/Experimental Interface...

If you pay attention to your Shields you can EI off of Isard at the start of combat for Hux which also gives you full knowledge of who won't be getting shot at and can take Fanatical Devotion. As @iamfanboysaid, there's no place for fat Deci in the current meta so I can't defend the build as a general recommendation, but I can defend that single point.

Oh gosh you're right, I used to fly a similar build so can't believe I forgot you could EI off if Issard...