Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer 110
Grand Admiral Thrawn 32
Strategic Adviser 4
Gunnery Team 7
Expanded Hangar Bay 5
Boosted Comms 4
Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier 54
Squall 3
Expanded Hangar Bay 5
Boosted Comms 4
Gozanti-class Cruisers 23
Expanded Hangar Bay 5
Bomber Command Center 8
Total cost of ships and upgrades, commander included = 264

SQUADRONS
TIE Bomber Squadron x9
Dengar x1
Tempest Squadron x1
Major Rhymer x1
Total squadron cost = 130

I've had fun with a similar idea. Not super competitive but works well enough in a casual game.

Thrawn Bombers
Author: Mala

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 393/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Fighter Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Strategic Adviser ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
= 160 total ship cost

Quasar Fire II-class Cruiser-Carrier (61 points)
- Squall ( 3 points)
- Ruthless Strategists ( 4 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 72 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 31 total ship cost

8 TIE Bomber Squadrons ( 72 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Tempest Squadron ( 13 points)
1 Gamma Squadron ( 10 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
= 130 total squadron cost

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Fleet created with Armada Warlords

Some rationale on differences:

Cymoon + Bombers gives you great potential to pop small ships from long range and even up the activation count.

Ruthless Strategist Quasar II + Mauler Mithel gives you 2 autodamage on each squad you target every turn. Gives this list a huge advantage against ace-heavy squad builds. Those become your best matchup.

Fighter Ambush sacrifices deployment advantage but can score a ton of points.

Still a couple points to play with for turbolaser on the cymoon, a fleet command, or something else.

I took the ISD 1 because it seemed to be the cheapest way of getting the bruiser into the game while also giving the double offensive slots. Losing two squadron activations and the boosted comms is worthwhile?

If you take the isd1 dont take gunnery. If you want to put offensive upgrades on it, put ordnance experts to fish for doubles when it shoots rather than gunnery. You will rarely get a close range gunnery shot so its just not worth it. You can shoot and flak, but you really want to try and double arc.

On 4/29/2018 at 6:50 AM, Touston said:

I took the ISD 1 because it seemed to be the cheapest way of getting the bruiser into the game while also giving the double offensive slots. Losing two squadron activations and the boosted comms is worthwhile?

ISD 1 is definitely viable in this build. I prefer longer ranged ISD's with tie bomber fleets to abuse your huge threat range and pop small ships but there is nothing wrong using ISD1 for more close range punch.

I agree with Broba - don't run ISD1 with gunnery team. If you want gunnery team you should be using Cymoon or ISD2.

I wouldn't be worried about losing a few squadron activations - I think your list overinvests in squad activations.

ISD (4+1) + Quasar (4+1) + Goz (2+1) = 13 squad activations for only 12 squads. I think you could get away with 10 squad activations easily and could save 15 points by dropping all the hangar bays. Simply bank 2 squad tokens early on for 1 turn of all 12 being commanded. You shouldn't need to command all the bombers except on the initial strike turn anyways. You have Thrawn to ensure every ship can squad command when needed so you don't need to worry about the Goz needing to nav instead of squad command or anything like that. Finally, don't forget bombers can often set up a shot simply by sitting in front of their target or being nudged into range by squall.

Talking about it I'm excited to get this back on the table. I'll post back here when I do.

I do have experience with B-Wing-ing at regionals. And you're right, perhaps there is a bit of squadron overkill here. I will be rewriting the list again tonight, with a few more considerations.

A new list reshuffle. I was tempted to drop boosted comms on the flotilla, QBTs and Gunnery on the Cymoon, for another Flotilla. Not sure if it's worth it ultimately though. Not else what sure to spend 10 points on, since most of my experience is with rebels, although I'm not massively fussed over the bid.

TIE Bombers Forever
Author: Touston

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 390/400

Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Capture the VIP
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] Imperial Star Destroyer Cymoon 1 Refit (112 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Strategic Adviser ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
= 164 total ship cost

Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier (54 points)
- Squall ( 3 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 61 total ship cost

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 35 total ship cost

1 Tempest Squadron ( 13 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
9 TIE Bomber Squadrons ( 81 points)
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
= 130 total squadron cost

Card view link

Fleet created with Armada Warlords