It's not any amazing new idea, but with the new points we can now fit up to seven Barons in a list, and it seems like a strong swarm competitor:

Baron of the Empire + Intimidation (31)
Baron of the Empire (28)
Baron of the Empire (28)
Baron of the Empire (28)
Baron of the Empire (28)
Baron of the Empire (28)
Baron of the Empire (28)
Total: 199

Compared to other similar swarms, TIE/FO pack more bodies with the same basic statline and Scyks have some better attack and control options. Instead the Barons get I3 and an amazing dial and action bar. In a joust vs. other swarms the I3 is enough to make up the difference, and against other lists I think the maneuverability and linked actions should mean more time-on-target (with mods) than other swarms. Plus the inquisitor dial is just a lot of fun to fly.

The big issue is, of course, lots of small single-modded attacks that have trouble landing on aces. I can't think of any tech the empire can really bring in to help with that, so I guess the answer is just to get good at blocking?

I don't think Aces are an issue, because lists with few ships will also have trouble cleaning up this much beef behind 3 agility. Getting good at blocking is one of the most important things when playing with low init pilots but with this many ships and this action bar i think it becomes quite trivial to set it up.

Compared to scyks and FOs, i agree with you, this looks great. Sure, you lose 1 ship, but you gain a much better action bar for blocking and keeping up modifiers and i think the initiative bump might give you the edge in Swarm mirrors. Also, most times Swarms have a hard time making sure that all of their ships have a shot, so i don't think the downgrade to 7 ships is that bad.

Remember that the baron also has a missile slot, so you could just bump down to 6 of them and get some missiles in the list for more firepower

Definetely a cool idea!

Maybe it's a six-ship list... 6 Barons with Fire Control System (or Passive Sensors) and Intimidation on all of them...

If flying seven... I might just bring the 4 point bid. I think I'd want to have the choice if facing other Init 3s, whether that's moving first for great blocking, or moving second for reactive roll/boost. I don't know that a single copy of Intimidation is really worthwhile.

My vote:

New Squadron

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(3) Ion Missiles
(2) Passive Sensors
Points: 33

X6

Total points: 198

Altho, everyone having intimidation would be hilarious

The main use I see for the single Intimidation is in the initial engagement. With speed 5 + boost it's pretty easy to put that ship in front and block or ram something, and then the other six ships can focus down that reduced-agility target. After that, I agree it's unlikely that one ship will be the right one in position to block. Even if it just works once, though, removing six green dice from the game seems like a good deal for 3 points.

There are definitely some interesting six-ship versions. I thought about Ion Missiles + Passive Sensors and if you can line it up it would be brutal. The main issue I had with it is that later on the Barons would all want to be doing reposition + focus instead of spending their actions on Passive Sensors.

In Extended prockets are a big punch, but you can only fit six Barons with five prockets. It's also possible to run Howl + Iden + 4x Baron and fly in formation, though the dials don't match up perfectly.

I won’t lie... all of them with intimidation might be nice.

Change Missiles to taste

BaronMissileSwarm2

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(3) Ion Missiles
(2) Fire-Control System
(3) Intimidation
Points: 36

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(4) Cluster Missiles
(2) Fire-Control System
(3) Intimidation
Points: 37

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(6) Concussion Missiles
(2) Fire-Control System
(3) Intimidation
Points: 39

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(6) Proton Rockets
(2) Fire-Control System
(3) Intimidation
Points: 39

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(6) Proton Rockets
(2) Fire-Control System
(3) Intimidation
Points: 39

Total points: 190

Actually played x6 Barons, all with Intimidation and FCS, in a small local tourney. It was a lot of fun as I really enjoy the aesthetics and the feel of the list. As a bonus, I also managed to finish second with 3-1

Some takeaways from those four games:

– FCS without missiles is a waste of points. During my four games I only actually locked once, because usually it's repositioning (setting some bumps) + focus which helps on both defence (since a lot of enemy ships shoot before I3) and offence (if left unattended).

– It feels like the list needs some sort of spike damage generators, since I had three cases in those four games where I manage to bump an enemy ace, but then the damage output from my ships was barely enough to halve that ace — some 3 dice, but mostly 2 dice (because of Range 2) randomly modded attacks just don't cut it...

I'm thinking about adding some Proton Rockets in the mix...

Baron of the Empire + Intimidation + Proton Rockets
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation + Proton Rockets
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Total: 198

... or maybe something like this

Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation
Baron of the Empire + Intimidation + Proton Rockets
Baron of the Empire + Proton Rockets
Baron of the Empire + Proton Rockets
Total: 198

The second list feels more powerful, but the non-uniformity of this list really triggers my OCD

Maybe?

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(6) Proton Rockets
(1) Ruthless
Points: 35

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(6) Proton Rockets
(1) Ruthless
Points: 35

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(6) Proton Rockets
(1) Ruthless
Points: 35

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(3) Intimidation
Points: 31

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(3) Intimidation
Points: 31

(28) Baron of the Empire [TIE Advanced v1]
(3) Intimidation
Points: 31

Total points: 198

Probably gets eaten alive by spamtex since the nantes can reposition after they bump your ships.

1 hour ago, pakirby said:

Probably gets eaten alive by spamtex since the nantes can reposition after they bump your ships.

Oh, I definitely would not consider it for a super competitive event, that's for sure.

Imean... I think I would rather fly this instead.

• Baron of the Empire: Crack Shot
• Baron of the Empire: Crack Shot
• Baron of the Empire: Crack Shot
• Baron of the Empire: Crack Shot
• Baron of the Empire: Crack Shot
• "Duchess": Lone Wol/Oumaneuver

Or alternatively...

• Captain Oicunn: Intimidation, Dauntless
• Baron of the Empire: Ion Missiles
• Baron of the Empire: Ion Missiles
• Baron of the Empire
• Baron of the Empire

Yeah, but it's not 6 TIE Advanced v1s... Although Duchess can be swapped for Fifth Brother + Homing Missiles + Passive Sensors, I guess.