I've noticed theres a very high percentage of female pilots in this game. Pretty cool.

On topic, again I enjoy flying ties. A lot. But I often find the dial lacking what I need, which was surprising at first to me. Its probably my biggest complaint with the chassis. Then I take a look at ships like the tug and I can't help thinking wtf. So 5 pts buys access to that insane dial, tech illicit crew device slots, that ridiculous ability plus 2 extra hull and all just in exchange for evade being red, a slower near strictly inferior dial and -1 green.. I don't get it.

5 hours ago, Carnor Rex said:

I've noticed theres a very high percentage of female pilots in this game. Pretty cool.

On topic, again I enjoy flying ties. A lot. But I often find the dial lacking what I need, which was surprising at first to me. Its probably my biggest complaint with the chassis. Then I take a look at ships like the tug and I can't help thinking wtf. So 5 pts buys access to that insane dial, tech illicit crew device slots, that ridiculous ability plus 2 extra hull and all just in exchange for evade being red, a slower near strictly inferior dial and -1 green.. I don't get it.

the Tug is undercosted and for some insane reason FFG think tug boats come with military laser cannons. yeah i know (rolls eyes)

3 hours ago, Darth evil said:

the Tug is undercosted and for some insane reason FFG think tug boats come with military laser cannons. yeah i know (rolls eyes)

Its not FFG, SW light freighters routinely take out military spacecraft by the score.

1 minute ago, Pewpewpew BOOM said:

Its not FFG, SW light freighters routinely take out military spacecraft by the score.

yeah but light freighters are sometimes armed to protect against pirates and such like a gun truck in Nam, the Quadjumper is a tug boat, it works in ship yards like Kuat and pulls ships and containers around.

2 hours ago, Darth evil said:

yeah but light freighters are sometimes armed to protect against pirates and such like a gun truck in Nam, the Quadjumper is a tug boat, it works in ship yards like Kuat and pulls ships and containers around.

Perhaps they are filled with dangerous things?

14 hours ago, heychadwick said:

*stuff

You're totally entitled to your way of playing.

But assuming both players play rather well and that the opposing player isn't a goldfish that gets blocked by every attempted block, I find that without Howl you just don't have the firepower to handle a high power list like Soontir, Whisper, Redline.

11 hours ago, Carnor Rex said:

I've noticed theres a very high percentage of female pilots in this game. Pretty cool.

On topic, again I enjoy flying ties. A lot. But I often find the dial lacking what I need, which was surprising at first to me. Its probably my biggest complaint with the chassis. Then I take a look at ships like the tug and I can't help thinking wtf. So 5 pts buys access to that insane dial, tech illicit crew device slots, that ridiculous ability plus 2 extra hull and all just in exchange for evade being red, a slower near strictly inferior dial and -1 green.. I don't get it.

Yeah, the Tie dial also not being new makes it a bit more boring. I think they could've stood to have slightly more on their dial. 3 sloops or something.

Ties are predictable. I'd kill for a Sloop.

I've flown them as fillers plenty and there they shine. But I only recently I've been trying full tie swarm in formation. While it's super fun and challenging and plays to the main pilots strengths, that strategy has a pretty low ceiling. Kinda bums me out man.

Almost every time Empire ships are discussed on these forums here it is like

18 hours ago, Darth evil said:

i've always hated Howlrunner, her ability is to restrictive, they could have made it R2

Right, let's the powercreep start.

The problem is not the TIE l/n. Ok, it requires good flying, and has a tendency to bleed MOV. But in our club one of the hardcore tourney players is unbeaten with his Inferno swarm. He switched over to other stuff though. And thats the problem, Boba, Cloak&Choke Whisper, esp Redline are far too good for their points!

Btw, oldest child flies Gideon, Howl, Iden, Blocker, Generic Inq with Heightened Perception and a Gunboat. The last 2 either begin in formation to later flank or kill box depending on situatuion, or already flank rught from the beginning, depending on enemy composition. Child is 5:0 with it. Last club night flew against one of the good players, who had a Twotube list, lost not a single ship!

I had a good time at a Battle of Yavin event with this list, and went 2-1. TIEs plus Gideon survived well vs. the many 3 ship rebel torpedo lists.

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •Seyn Marana - 31
•Seyn Marana - Inferno Four (30)
Marksmanship (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •Del Meeko - 34
•Del Meeko - Inferno Three (30)
Juke (4)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I managed to go 5/1 at a 40 player 2nd ed limited tourney a little while back using:

Howl/elusive
Seyn/marksmanship
Iden, Del, Gideon / crack shot
Academy Pilot
200 exactly

Being wave limited, I fought Boba twice, triple Fang once and some mixed Reb lists including Norra. All of those are very difficult for the swarm to handle.

Key skills for the list are being able to fly formation, knowing when not to / when to break off, and being able to roll green dice like a champion.

A nice easy alternative is to drop all the skills and swap the Academy for Wampa. I'd recommend that if you are starting out with the swarm, Wampa helps with forcing them to split fire.

I am likely to resurrect the list for Hyperspace format next year if I don' t play Resistance, and depending on what the points do in January.

Looking forward to flying inferno squadron, still need to tweak my list some more, I keep coming up with different versions. Pretty sure I need to drop howlrunner she's just too expensive to run with all these other named pilots.

On 12/9/2018 at 12:07 AM, Blail Blerg said:

But assuming both players play rather well and that the opposing player isn't a goldfish that gets blocked by every attempted block, I find that without Howl you just don't have the firepower to handle a high power list like Soontir, Whisper, Redline.

I've gotten some good blocks on good players. The speed of a Tie Fighter makes is not that difficult for an Academy to rush 5 forward and screw someone's plans up.

On 12/9/2018 at 12:34 AM, Carnor Rex said:

Ties are predictable. I'd kill for a Sloop.

They are only predictable if you fly predictable. If something has a sloop, it can be predictable, too.

Well, I've always wanted to fly a swarm, but I started to play a little to late for them to be competitive. With X-wing 1.0 to 2.0 shift, a huge models discount and the lack of really game-changers among the upgrade cards in comparison with pilot abilities I think now it's the swarm time.

So...
- Howlrunner with Elusive,
- Seyn Marana with Marksmanship,

- Iden, Gideon and Del naked,

- filler: Night Beast, naked.

For now 7:2 in casual and tournament extended games. First 2-3 rounds in a brick formation, Seyn shooting different targets to trigger Del's ability as quickly as possible. Then the fun begins - fly each ship into different direction, probably with lot of bumping and planned or not-so-planned self bumbing chaos and lot k-turns. Imagine death orchid. Howl and Del usually trigger on. The most brain-washing list I know.

3 hours ago, AllEwoksAreDead said:

Well, I've always wanted to fly a swarm, but I started to play a little to late for them to be competitive. With X-wing 1.0 to 2.0 shift, a huge models discount and the lack of really game-changers among the upgrade cards in comparison with pilot abilities I think now it's the swarm time.

So...
- Howlrunner with Elusive,
- Seyn Marana with Marksmanship,

- Iden, Gideon and Del naked,

- filler: Night Beast, naked.

For now 7:2 in casual and tournament extended games. First 2-3 rounds in a brick formation, Seyn shooting different targets to trigger Del's ability as quickly as possible. Then the fun begins - fly each ship into different direction, probably with lot of bumping and planned or not-so-planned self bumbing chaos and lot k-turns. Imagine death orchid. Howl and Del usually trigger on. The most brain-w  ashing list I know.

That sounds so fun, and not like a normal swarm!

I'm playing at a Xwing night tonight, and I want to fly an "inferno swarm". I have three versions

Inferno squad +3 academies

Iden, Gideon, and Del naked, Seyn with marksmanship and 3 acadmies. 200 pts

Inferno squad + Howl and an academy

Iden, Gideon, and Del with crackshot, Seyn with marksmanship, Howl with Elusive, and one academy. 200 pts.

Inferno squad + Scourge and Mauler Mithel

Same build for Inferno pilots, Mauler Mithel and Scourge also both have crackshot.

I like all of these ideas. The first build is inferno squad plus 3 blockers. The second build adds Howlrunners offensive boost, and the third option gives me two PS 5 pilots with great abilities and more crackshot.

Since it's not a tournament, I can probably fly all of these variants, but which one stands out to you guys the most?

3 minutes ago, Sir Orrin said:

I'm playing at a Xwing night tonight, and I want to fly an "inferno swarm". I have three versions

I'm excited to try:

TIE/ln Fighter - •Seyn Marana - 31
•Seyn Marana - Inferno Four (30)
Marksmanship (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •Iden Versio - 41
•Iden Versio - Inferno Leader (40)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •“Howlrunner” - 41
•“Howlrunner” - Obsidian Leader (40)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/in Interceptor - •Soontir Fel - 56
•Soontir Fel - Ace of Legend (52)
Juke (4)

TIE/ln Fighter - •Del Meeko - 31
•Del Meeko - Inferno Three (30)
Crack Shot (1)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

Not a full inferno, but close enough and get the split attention of the squad and Soontir. I know it needs some tweaking, but want to try it on the table to see how it feels before changing.

Just now, irdonny said:

I'm excited to try:

TIE/ln Fighter - •Seyn Marana - 31
•Seyn Marana - Inferno Four (30)
Marksmanship (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •Iden Versio - 41
•Iden Versio - Inferno Leader (40)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •“Howlrunner” - 41
•“Howlrunner” - Obsidian Leader (40)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/in Interceptor - •Soontir Fel - 56
•Soontir Fel - Ace of Legend (52)
Juke (4)

TIE/ln Fighter - •Del Meeko - 31
•Del Meeko - Inferno Three (30)
Crack Shot (1)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

Not a full inferno, but close enough and get the split attention of the squad and Soontir. I know it needs some tweaking, but want to try it on the table to see how it feels before changing.

I would probably switch Seyn for Gideon for fluff reasons, but I really like that! Soontir has been my favorite ship since the beginning.

15 hours ago, AllEwoksAreDead said:

Well, I've always wanted to fly a swarm, but I started to play a little to late for them to be competitive. With X-wing 1.0 to 2.0 shift, a huge models discount and the lack of really game-changers among the upgrade cards in comparison with pilot abilities I think now it's the swarm time.

So...
- Howlrunner with Elusive,
- Seyn Marana with Marksmanship,

- Iden, Gideon and Del naked,

- filler: Night Beast, naked.

For now 7:2 in casual and tournament extended games. First 2-3 rounds in a brick formation, Seyn shooting different targets to trigger Del's ability as quickly as possible. Then the fun begins - fly each ship into different direction, probably with lot of bumping and planned or not-so-planned self bumbing chaos and lot k-turns. Imagine death orchid. Howl and Del usually trigger on. The most brain-washing list I know.

I've run this list but swapped out Elusive for Swarm Tactics on Howlrunner. I also want to try replacing Howlrunner and Night Beast with Scourge and Mauler Mithel for variety.

3 hours ago, T70 Driver said:

I've run this list but swapped out Elusive for Swarm Tactics on Howlrunner. I also want to try replacing Howlrunner and Night Beast with Scourge and Mauler Mithel for variety.

Hmm... as far as I'm concerned, Howl is must-be. 2 dices without reroll, even if multiplied by 6-7, are a joke. But this Swarm Tactics on Howl... Seyn shoots at I5 with this, so Del's ability can maybe trigger faster before the I4 and lower I opponents. Due to fact Your enemy will choose rather giving You the initiative to fly You out... maybe Del will do magic even before I5 opponent...

Well, fruit for thought.

I haven't tried the full Inferno squad yet, but I did play Gideon in the following:

- Rexler Brath (Juke, Fire-Control System, Homing Missiles)
- Countdown (Elusive)
- Gideon Hask (Trick Shot)
- Night Beast

198 points

His ability triggered often enough and made him a real threat. Like others have mentioned, I think the full squad would be solid in the Second Edition, Variants (Battle of Yavin) or Hyperspace formats.

21 minutes ago, admat said:

Night Beast

Do you feel like you get your money's worth from Night Beast? I always wonder if the extra points for focus/evade is worth it on a TIE that's not exactly a high priority target to begin with...

5 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Do you feel like you get your money's worth from Night Beast? I always wonder if the extra points for focus/evade is worth it on a TIE that's not exactly a high priority target to begin with...

He's one of my favorite. I think he's worth the points. It's not a crazy powerful ability, but it does really add into things. I use that extra ability to do a Barrel Roll or an Evade. It's has come in handy enough times. Also helps with removing crits as he will still get his Focus.

I have also found Wampa to be a great mix. The Init 1 is very useful for him as a blocker, but also the extra shots really matter on a Tie Fighter pilot. If people focus on him early on and kill him, it's not like he cost a lot. He's a really effective cheap fighter. If you have someone like Howlrunner or other big hitters, people will often not focus fire on him. Or....they do focus on him with at least one fighter, which is usually enough to take some heat off your big hitters. Last game I played with her, Wampa managed to fire at R3 on a B-wing. I got 3 hits through on the B-wing, which seriously depleted it's shields in the first round of engagement....all from a Tie Fighter that is barely more expensive than an Academy.

I am surprised that there aren't more Academy Pilots in people's lists. They are cheap and fantastic blockers. I have a hard time with a list with no blockers.

3 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Do you feel like you get your money's worth from Night Beast? I always wonder if the extra points for focus/evade is worth it on a TIE that's not exactly a high priority target to begin with...

So far it's been worth it. Mostly ignored, yes but that can be very good. Solid blocker as well.

Ok, I ran a swarm on local hyperspace tournament. Went 2-2, 6th in the end. Won vs. "Proton-Triple x-wing-Circus" and "Funny-Magva and double X-wings" lists. Lost to "Weirdo-Teroch, Frost, Han with coordination-Band" and mirror. Mirror was a head-eraser really, so much fun with 12 TIEs. Pro tip based on looser experience: do not always bank to a center od board, it's better sometimes to fly straight and koio before other edge.

List: Howlrunner with Swarm Tactics + Night Beast + Seyn Marana with Marksmanship + other Inferno Squad members.