Gozanti prices are falling.

TIE Fighters are dirt cheap.

Original Core Set? Still can't find one.

It's gotten much easier to get together good TIE Swarms. If you play in a meta like mine, where people try the unexpected and only bad/new players use bombs, swarms are deadly.

But how effective are Interceptor, Aggressor, and Bomber swarms lately, and is it worth it to get into one or the other?

I have tried to make TIE Bombers in mass good since they came out. You can field 4 dead eye bombers pretty well loaded up. But they just aren't that great.

TIE Interceptors are just about the worst ship to fly as generics. Their repositioning ability is almost waste and they just die.

Try out the famed Rush Hour list - you'll almost certainly need to borrow/proxy some careds as the MSRP for this list is something like $400+

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Operations Specialist
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Operations Specialist
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Hot Shot Co Pilot
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Tie Shuttle

5 minutes ago, Rinzler in a Tie said:

Try out the famed Rush Hour list - you'll almost certainly need to borrow/proxy some careds as the MSRP for this list is something like $400+

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Operations Specialist
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Operations Specialist
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Hot Shot Co Pilot
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician

How about five of these guys:

Scimitar Sq. Pilot

-Flatchet Torps

-Unguided Rockets

-LRS

Everyone TLs someone and lets loose with Flatchets on the first pass, then UR at range 3. Would this stand up to Nym?

I've liked the look of mixed TIE swarms. I've been playing with 3x TIE/fo 2x TIE/sf swarm, it does really well against acey stuff (including scum aces). Haven't played against Nym yet, hope not to for quite some time. I've been trying quite a bit of things to get 5 ships on the table, and its doable with pilots I'm confident with. One of my go-to's with swarmy stuff is to throw in 2 Royal Guard Pilots with Autothrusters and PTL for some extra teeth. They do get a bit underestimated.

I imagine if you can avoid being PS-killed a swarm of Strikers would be devastating. Unfortunately, FFG priced the Black Squadron Scout out of being able to fit 5 into a list with Crack Shot. Really $%^*ing annoying that they control things like that and give the Scurrg 18 upgrades slots at PS 10.

%^&* you FFG.

Tactician is limited.

So? A limited card means it can only go on a ship once.

Obligatory TIE Aggressor with TLT with Lightweight Frame. Tougher than Y-wing spam?

what happened to AC/DC? Poor TIE Advanced, still the ugly stepchild.

1 minute ago, Fuzzywookie said:

Tactician is limited.

Yeah, one per ship. You can have as many as you can fit in a squad tho.

21 minutes ago, GrimmyV said:

How about five of these guys:

Scimitar Sq. Pilot

-Flatchet Torps

-Unguided Rockets

-LRS

Everyone TLs someone and lets loose with Flatchets on the first pass, then UR at range 3. Would this stand up to Nym?

While I think forcing a target to listen to 21 pilots is a novel idea, I don't think it'll hurt nym to much. I think unguided rocketing nym if you can catch him on the first pass will potentially get him off the table very fast would be a good approach though. And it's nice to have options with either ion or stress control.

Also, whatever happened to Dark Curse? Or Night Beast? These guys were good as a cheap little fighter if you had 15 or 16 points left over.

Nothing happened to them. They are still there at 15 and 16 points

This should be fun to try:

"Omega Ace" — TIE/fo Fighter + Swarm Leader + Comm Relay

Gamma Squadron Veteran + Veteran Instincts + Kylo Ren + Systems Officer + Twin Ion Engine Mk. II + TIE Shuttle

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

9 minutes ago, piznit said:

Nothing happened to them. They are still there at 15 and 16 points

Right.
And Wampa is timeless for his cost.

47 minutes ago, GrimmyV said:

How about five of these guys:

Scimitar Sq. Pilot

-Flatchet Torps

-Unguided Rockets

-LRS

Everyone TLs someone and lets loose with Flatchets on the first pass, then UR at range 3. Would this stand up to Nym?

Could work. Unfortunately Flechette Torps' 4-hull limit for their stress effect really cuts into their effectiveness when Norra Wexley, Nym, Miranda Doni, and pretty much all large ships are immune to it. LRS swarms take a bit of planning, though, because you telegraph massively your attack plans.

If you want a TIE Bomber Swarm, I'd recommend either:

• Scimitar Squadron Pilot - Unguided Rockets, Lightweight Frame
  • Essentially a horrifically tough heavy swarm. On pure 'dice rolled' stats, this thing is as tough and shooty as a title-less TIE defender worth half again the price. It's not that good in practice, of course - you can get around Lightweight frame with 2-dice attacks, accuracy corrector or range bonuses, and anything denying focus tokens carves massively into its firepower. But for sheer theoretical efficiency it's hard to beat.
• Scimitar Squadron Pilot - Cruise Missiles, XX-23 S-Thread Tracers, Guidance Chips
  • I only noticed recently that thread tracers are range 1-3, meaning if you end up at range 1 you can still fire them. This makes for a rather nice combination line of thread tracers and 'attack' missiles, especially since a speed 5 K-turn can deliver a nasty punch with cruise missiles!

A nice mixed swarm I stumbled on recently:

• Delta Squadron Pilot, TIE/x7
• Academy Pilot x 6

Throwing a TIE defender into a big TIE swarm is the kind of curve ball people don't really expect; a TIE defender is hardly invulnerable, but it's a big target to try and take down and it's good at dealing with the sort of threats massed 2-dice attacks can't.

@Celestial Lizards I think what happened to swarms is bombs.
If you can lose Wampa in the activation phase to a cluster mine then why not just spend those 14 points on a bigger ship that won't die before it can fire?

And Dengar killed the swarm for a while. Especially when Dengaroo was a thing. Two fully modded shots a turn wohoo!

45 minutes ago, Rinzler in a Tie said:

I imagine if you can avoid being PS-killed a swarm of Strikers would be devastating.

Strikers are probably the most viable non Tie Fighter 'swarm' other than Agressors. Simply because of the free re-positioning.

1 minute ago, AngryAlbatross said:

Strikers are probably the most viable non Tie Fighter 'swarm' other than Agressors. Simply because of the free re-positioning.

It's definitely the 3-dice attack..
If Tie Fighters had 3-dice attacks they would still be viable.

I have recently ran a modified Tie Swarm that was pretty fun, if you can get an opponent to joust/let you control the engagement/plain out fly them.(easier said than done) It is Howlrunner with Swarm Leader, 2 academy pilots, and 2 Sigma Phantoms, one with Hux. The Academy Pilots fly out front and evade. Howlrunner and the Sigmas fly behind and do Hux things. Then if you time it right, your Academy Pilots block and the now "action-less"(yeah right, but in theory) blocked ship takes 3-4 shot attacks one with Hux. Rinse and repeat. It's pretty cool if it works out.

I know a Canadian player that pulled out three tempest squadron pilots with accuracy corrector +Fel and pulled off a national win. So don't completely count the advanced out

1 minute ago, GILLIES291 said:

I know a Canadian player that pulled out three tempest squadron pilots with accuracy corrector +Fel and pulled off a national win. So don't completely count the advanced out

I agree. I honestly think the chassis and cost are solid, though many may complain about the lack of 1 hards or 1 straight. Love this ship. LONG LIVE THE DARK LORD!

This is true it's a solid ship and the free systems slot definitely helps.

If I had the ships I would also like to try out three Siener Agressors with TLT and Jonus to help them get rerolls every shot.

1 hour ago, Rinzler in a Tie said:

Try out the famed Rush Hour list - you'll almost certainly need to borrow/proxy some careds as the MSRP for this list is something like $400+

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Operations Specialist
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Operations Specialist
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Hot Shot Co Pilot
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Tie Shuttle

Scimitar Sq. Pilot
- Tactician
- Tie Shuttle

Is that the original Rush Hour? The version I saw on stream from a Toronto store champs had Vader and Intel agent instead of hot shot copilot.

I tried putting my own spin on it running LWF instead of the extra crew. I wasn't as successful as I'd hoped in the 2 store champs I went to, going 3-2 and 2-2.

If you really like hit points you could try 4 Lambda's and a TIE bomber. You will at least get some interesting looks hahaha

3 minutes ago, Arschbombe said:

Is that the original Rush Hour? The version I saw on stream from a Toronto store champs had Vader and Intel agent instead of hot shot copilot.

I tried putting my own spin on it running LWF instead of the extra crew. I wasn't as successful as I'd hoped in the 2 store champs I went to, going 3-2 and 2-2.

It may not be the original - I think you're right because I don't recall the Hotshot Copilot being in the original.
Good call.