I wonder if anyone would get good use out of this. Each gunboat has 7 health (4 hull, 3 shields) and 2-dice primary attack. Not quite a TIE Swarm in damage, but that's a lot of health. 4 can equip nasty autoblasters which are at least as good as their primary weapons at ranges 1-2 (force occasional back-attack crit through, extra die on bullseye), leaving the remaining 2 to equip free jamming beams that will rarely see use. Here's the list on YASB for convenience

That's 42 health among all those 2-agility ships, generally decent attacks overall (but not great), and SLAM for when it's needed.

Has anyone tried anything like this? How did it work out?

edit: Perhaps 5 gunboats is better, granting points to add FCS + Marksmanship and init 3, and everyone can afford autoblasters. That's shaping up to be a fun quirky list, but probably not competitive despite the tons of health.

I like the idea of 5 more. Its not a super significant statistical loss, but allows for some major efficiency improvement. That being said, I still think that 5 with Ions and AdSLAM has great potential