I flew a TIE Bomber list at a local tournament today, with ten players and managed to bag first after three games, with a 27 MOV. I was fortunate in my opponent draw, but still not bad. Follows is three quick battle reports, and the lessons I learned, for anyone considering taking a similar list in the future. And boy is there a lot I learned, some of which is not intuitive
My list:
TIE Bombers Strike Back!
Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 395/400
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn
Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
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)
- Dual Turbolaser 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 Assault Carriers (28 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 40 total ship cost
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 Tempest Squadron ( 13 points)
9 TIE Bomber Squadrons ( 81 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
= 130 total squadron cost
Game 1 - Gary
Gary was new to rebels, or so he told me. Flying an MC80 Star Cruiser, with Admiral Leia, three ExRack Torpedo Hammerheads (all Task Force Ant), and a STM Assault Pelta. Squadrons were minimal, the usual cheap rebel take. (Tycho, Share, generic A, generic VCX)
It was a good matchup here. I got first player and selected targeting beacons. I place two in one corner, away from the battlefield, while he placed his two central to the battlefield. The early game was in my favour, as the VCX moved up I was sure I was gonna have the beacons following my ISD all game. Turns out, he had not read the latest FAQ fully. He went wide with the Hammerheads, the MC80 and Pelta heading central with the fighters. He was hoping to command the fighters through the VCX, but was way out of range thanks to the relay nerf. I was poised to strike at the top of round 1, and went full throttle in with Dengar and four bombers (commanded by the Quasar) at the start of turn 2. The MC80 was in for a slow death from then. I held the ISD as long as I could, sending in more and more bombers. Ultimately, the squadrons spent a long time shooting bombers (while getting slowly killed by the Dengar granted Counter 1). The Hammerheads arrived to the fight, just as the MC80 went down, too late to help, with my ships minimally damaged. They also trickled in one by one, allowing me to refresh defences and take them piecemeal. They were easily picked off one by one then, even chasing down one with bombers as it tried to escape.
The ships approach the ball of death.
Result: 10-1, all enemy ships destroyed, in exchange for Tempest Squadron and the flotilla (I think.)
Lesson: I was fortunate that Gary focussed on killing the bombers. The ISD itself contributed well and was ignored until the Hammerheads arrived. This was fortunate because my next opponent seemed to take the opposite approach...
Game 2 - Neil
Neil was flying the fabled duel ISDs. One Cymoon, one Kuat, each with eight various upgrades! Two comms net Gozantis rounded it all out. Cymoon had STM!, and Avenger, and oddly held no means to truly exploit is (no BTs, no Overload Pulse), with H9 and Quad Turbolaser Cannons. Perfect combo for flotilla swatting, and accuracy-ing all your defences. So I was unsure why Avenger? Anyway. Kuat had a strat advisor, Chimera, and started with Intensify Firepower! and APTs. Both had RBD (Cymoon with Tua.) All this lead by Thrawn (well, I'm Thrawn too, so more his evil twin brother, Nwarht)
I was not massively confident going into this. If he killed my ISD and Quasar, I was dead. He knew it, I knew it. My bid secured me first player, and after a tough objective choice I choose dangerous territory, and we were off. He placed one of the asteroids first, which was the mistake of the game. I placed the station, near to one of my corners, knowing I had to use it to give me the edge. He seemed more concerned with winning the 15 points for the objective. I did something I have never, ever, done in Armada on turn 2. I slowed my ISD to speed 0. I knew I had to use the station to give me the edge. He was forced to turn hard to my corner (since I have a massive deployment advantage thanks to bombers), and the Cymoon came in ahead of the Kuat. They came at me speed 3, kept popping their fleet orders. The speed jumped them into my range, and one turn 3 I immediately sped up again, and started the fight in earnest. Bombers stripped the Cymoons shields, despite the STM and a lot of engineering to keep them up. Turn 4, he popped RBD to zero his damage once more. It was not enough. My ISD commanded some bombers to weaken his Cymoon and shot it itself leaving it on one hull. He was planted right infront of my station, so I rammed him, landing on the station. One hull for him, one hull for me. He died, while I repaired the hull immediately. The Kuat rolled up into APT range at the end of his turn. Turn 6, I rammed again, while commanding all my bombers. While it survived my ISD and it's squadrons, it didn't survive the squadron phase. With only flotillas left, I had tabled him too. (I may have misremembered a bit here when I try to piece it together, but the key beats are there.)
Lurking behind the station, and waiting to jump them
Result: 9-2, all enemy ships "destroyed", in exchange for my flotilla and my Quasar. He scored most of the tokens however, so pulled a 9-2.
Lesson: I had to engineer every turn from 3 to keep my Cymoon alive, knowing if it died no number of Bombers would save me. Between that and sitting on the station, I managed to endure long enough for the bombers to do their job. Without Thrawn commanding my squadrons, I don't know if I would have won. This list is VERY vulnrable to getting it's two ships ganked, and then losing. You NEED to keep them alive.
Game 3 - Nick
Nick had Riekeen, the rebel favourite. His flagship was an MC75 Ordnance, with a helping hand from Salvation, a CR90B with HIE and Jaina's Light, and a flotilla. Squadrons were reasonably strong. Corran Horn, YT-2400, E-wing, 2 generic A wings. Enough to potentially lock me down. I was unsure going into this game. I had figured out another weakness in my list, once more just before my opponent did: Dengar. Kill the bounty hunter, and the rest of the bombers can be pinned down by minimal squadron presence.
This was a quick game. We flipped for first, and Nick won it. I chose Contested Outpost, and once more sat the station as close as I could to me. The battle was met quickly, as the MC75 was been bombed at the top of turn 2, and dead at the end of turn 3. The trouble this game was, the whole time I was close to losing my bombers with E-qings and Corran sniping Dengar. Fortunately, the dice gods forgave my poor list, and gave few accuracies, allowing Dengar to scatter, and more than once having four blues come up with just accuracy and critical. Dengar survived two turns on 1 hull, been shot by two E-wings and the YT-2400 thanks to this, which was long enough for me to jump my Bombers away from the fight (which had built nearby the MC75's shipwreck) and onto other targets. He focussed on downing the Quasar with his one close range MC75 hit, but bad dice saw it survive. When Dengar eventually died, bombers were picked off one by one, but it was fine. The job was done. I set constant engineering dials on my ISD after turn 3, which was a mistake. Once the Thrawn squadron commands dried up, I couldn't use the bombers to chase down the fleeing CR90b, which meant the game ended with it still alive. Thanks to gaining contested outpost every turn bar one, I still had a huge lead.
Result: 8-3, enemy CR90b, Corran Horn and YT-2400 survived, my flotilla, Quasar, Rhymer, Dengar, Tempest, multiple bombers dead.
Lesson: Here a minimal squadron force was flown highly effectively, and showed me a stronger force would shut down the bombers.
What I learned, and a new list
So, what did I learn? In bulletpoints:
- Don't use the Cymoon. When you only have two ships in your fleet, enemy ships WILL beeline towards you maximum speed. I'd recommend the ISD-1 for this job. The higher squadrons and black dice, and cheaper price, make it perfect for this job. I was at knife fight range with multiple enemy ships with my ISD, every game, for 3 or more rounds. This CANNOT be avoided, especially against a canny opponent. Cut the head off the fleet, with the ISD, and you stop the Thrawn commands, you stop the shooting damage, you're way more than halfway to victory as the Quasar is a pushover, even for smaller ships. The higher squadrons are good too, as you should be commanding your bombers even into the late game (more on that later), and with a dead Quasar the ISD will have to fill in.
- With this in mind, don't be afraid to repair your ISD supercarrier. If it goes down, I guarantee this fleet is basically spent. Destroying an ISD is not too hard a task for an experienced player, so be prepared to keep it alive. Thrawn will push squadrons, the ship will keep itself alive.
- Thrawn is great for this. I can't think of another Imperial Admiral I would have preferred here. I think if I didn't have him in the second game, I would have lost. Set all his dials to Squadrons though, because...
- Don't count on enemy ships landing on you, to stay stuck with them bombing them. As someone who loved the B-wings, I did this every game with them. You CAN'T with this list. You have literally TOO MANY squadrons to be able to get them all in one arc, in base contact, when they land on you.
- Rhymer is great in this list. I was hesitant to take him, but you NEED him for the same reason mentioned above. If you pack all your bombs into one arc (and you should, trust me), you WILL run out of space for ships in all but the largest arcs of the largest ships (ISD fronts), which you may not always want to go to anyway. You need the extra bombing range granted by Rhymer to allow all 11 bombers to get their black dice in.
- Keep your BCC closeby. Single black dice are fickle. DON'T reroll single blacks. Every damage is worthwhile. Every time my opponent spent defences to protect them from the Bombers, they made themselves more vulnerable to the ISD. In fact, you're almost a mini Sloane here, and honestly, I think perhaps better.
- Take more Intel. Dengar is too vulnerable. I need another Jumpmaster to make this list less vulnerable, and taking Dengar out (something two X-wings can do with good rolling in ONE TURN) can basically take out all your bombers.
- Prioritise, and focus fire. Keep the pressure on one ship at a time, more than usual.
- First player is very nice with this fleet, but not entirely necessary. Keep some sort of bid.
- If you can, take it slow and play defensive. Waiting for them, unless you literally cannot because of objectives or similiar.
So, knowing all that, what's my new version of this list?
TIE Bombers v2
Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 395/400
Commander: Grand Admiral Thrawn
Assault Objective: Opening Salvo
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions
[ flagship ] Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer (110 points)
- Grand Admiral Thrawn ( 32 points)
- Strategic Adviser ( 4 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Quad Battery Turrets ( 5 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 164 total ship cost
Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier (54 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
= 58 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Assault Carriers (28 points)
- Boosted Comms ( 4 points)
- Bomber Command Center ( 8 points)
= 40 total ship cost
1 Dengar ( 20 points)
1 JumpMaster 5000 ( 12 points)
1 Tempest Squadron ( 13 points)
8 TIE Bomber Squadrons ( 72 points)
1 Major Rhymer ( 16 points)
= 133 total squadron cost
Yeah. Looks good. Time to try it out...
Thanks for reading.