I'm hopping to remove some dust from my old Tie Fighters and put a good'old swarm on the table. Now, from this 3 "classics" tie swarms which one would do you think could perform better ?

List 1: 7 Tie - Crackshot

Howlrunner - Crackshot

3x Black Squadron Pilot - Crackshot

3x Academy Pilot

List 2: ZetaSwarm

Zeta Leader - Crackshot

Howlrunner - Crackshot

4x Black Squadron Pilot - Crackshot

List 3: Omega Swarm

Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay

4x Black Squadron Pilot - Crackshot

Wampa

Now, my thought are that list 1 offers more ships and more blocking potential (PS 1), that we the recent nerf as returned to be an good strategy. But afer Howlrunner is gone, it loses offensive power very fast.

List 2 I belive is the most common sight this days, as it offers the most firepower with 6 crackshots and two a second priority target.

I found list 3 some time ago in a blog, and trades howlrunners rerolls, for a late game ace that can help close games. Also this list doesn't need to fly in formation, so can dodge mitigate harpoons/bombs better.

What I also like a lot about list 2 and 3 is that the all fire before contracted, Lok Revenants and Wookies.

So, what are your thoughts? Which take of swarms do you prefer?

The only direct buff tie swarms have gotten in recent memory is Swarm Leader, the ability to add 2 reds to Mauler mithil or other hard hitter (intercepter, Vader) is invaluble

7 hours ago, mad mandolorian said:

The only direct buff tie swarms have gotten in recent memory is Swarm Leader, the ability to add 2 reds to Mauler mithil or other hard hitter (intercepter, Vader) is invaluble

Don't knock Snap Shot. Mauler Mithel with Snap Shot is a surprisingly brutal ship for not many points at all; theoretically dropping 7 attack dice in a single turn on someone caught at range 1.

The Howlrunner swarm works. But as you note, it's easy to see howlrunner blown away at PS9+ with cruise missiles and so forth - and with Harpoons being a nice affordable option, that could translate into splash damage on the rest of the squad.

I've never been a massive fan of mixing eras, but if you're going to, the Omega Leader/Wampa/Crack Shot Black Squadron Pilots sounds like a decent mix.

The Black Squadron Pilots are not as lethal as they would be without howlrunner, and you'll still want to fly them as a mob, but they're still nasty enough to demand respect - as long as you can trade them for a decent slice of your opponent's squad, Omega Leader can (hopefully) handle the mopping-up.

Wampa is nice but is far more a psychological threat than a real one (unless someone is using phantoms or e-wings, where a single damage card is still really scary)

Personally, I'm tempted to try a TIE/fo All-Stars list - with a few 0-cost cards I've managed to lay my hands on, I can finally use a 5-ship version which probably has more legs than the 4-ship-upgraded-to-heck-but-still-ultimately-just-4-TIE-fighters version:

• Omega Leader
  • A Score To Settle
• Omega Ace
  • Adaptability
• Zeta Leader
  • Adaptability
• Epsilon Leader
• Epsilon Ace
  • Targeting Synchroniser