Need some input, as my playing experience is limited.

I have available:

2x Adv Tie

6x Tie

So, what I was thinking:

List 1

Vader + Concussion Missiles

Marek Steele + Concussion Missiles

3x Academy Pilots

Thoughts:

- Two Adv Ties hopefully will do two things. 1) Be more durable when fighting other Imperial forces. 2) Bring concussion missiles for, hopefully, an early strike to take out an enemy ship.

- Plan is for Vader strikes with his missiles, with a Focus, and taking down any enemy shields. Then, Marek strikes with his missiles on the same enemy, hopefully killing or at least scoring a critical where I can choose something juicy.

- Academy pilots harass and interfere with the enemy.

- Only 5 ships, which is a little worrisome

- I realize that Marek isn't highly regarded. I am not comitted to him specifically, but dropping him to a Storm or Tempest does not gain me another ship, only improving TIEs to Obsidian or Black. Potentially, also a Swarm Tactics for Vader, I suppose.

List 2

Tempest Sqd Pilot + Concussion Missiles

Tempest Sqd Pilot + Concussion Missiles

2x Academy Pilots

2x Obsidian Sqd Pilots

Thoughts:

Similar to the list above. It loses some punch, not having the power of Vader and Marek, but it gains an additional ship, for a total of 6 ships. Obsidian pilots have a slight edge over Academy Pilots and Rookie Pilots, and Tempest over Academy.

It looks like you really want to use a second tie advance, In my honest opinion I love the tie advance, but considering this is a tournament i would as an impire player try to get as much ships i could on the table , but here is the thing and im not sold on the idea of doing a tie fighter spam. I dont belive its a good idea to go cheap and cheat yourself out of some tactical advantage that can be given from howlrunner or some others, I would advise to try a list that can use a little tactical advantage. I wouldnt fret over a five ship list, If you know the weakness of Rebel ships and know hey dont be that guy who gets in range 1 of there firing arc, and be the guy who stays on there flanks, and close in for a range 1 shot if possible. The rebles cant move like the impire does, use it to your advantage, we may not hit hard but we have agility and if we get in close we can hurt. Vader is a solid choice in any list, I would definitly build a list around him and drop the second Tie advance..thats just me . im not here to tell you how to make your list, it's your list make it how you like it. If it is something that gives you a warm and fuzzy inside run it on the table. I myself is trying to figure out a list and on top of that make a choice on what faction I want to play. Its tournament time, Its time to make a solid list and above all practice practice practice, learn the movements of your ships there ships, find out what works best for you , or what doesnt work. Good luck to you and your list. and please stay away from astroids.

Read some of the Named TIE Pilots. There are so many great pilots in TIEs. Howlrunner, Back Stabber, Maruel Mithel, and Dark Curse are some of my favorites.

Howelrunner is only 18 points with a skill of 8. He is my answer to having a whole squadron with only 2 attack dice.

Dark Curse is only 16 points (2 more than Black squadron)

I am very conservative with buying upgrades especially on unnamed pilots. I can usually get a better pilot for the same price.

Of all the Imperial Ships the one I like the least is the Black Squadron at skill 4 it isn't any better than red-squadron or gey-squadron. Obsidian Squadron is a point less and is better than just about everything that black squadron is better than. Either way you are betting that your opponant will take rookie pilots (wich is probably a good bet). But I prefer to buy all academy pilots and give Vader or Howelrunner swarm tactics. I really enjoy having my 12 point fighter shoot before Wedge becasue vader has swarm tactics.

I like your first list better. Concussion missiles are DEADLY with a focus token, so if you could find a way to sneak Squad Leader onto Vader it would be golden. Then your second TIE Advanced (unfortunately it couldn't be Maarek Stele) could take a focus action and then when Vader moves he grants him a target lock so that hopefully the ship you want to target has already moved and won't leave your firing arc. You wouldn't be able to fire both missiles on the same turn, but the Focus token may be worth it!

Still, I like it the way it is, too. I think it could be competitive. Grave13 said tournament time = practice time. While I admit that this is very important (you really can't tell if you like a squad until you try it), I think the most important thing is to HAVE FUN! Choose ships you're enthusiastic about playing and enjoy it!

dvang said:

List 1 has a lot more potential, but you might try this. I can't take credit, because it came up in another thread, but you could actually swap Howlrunner + Squad Leader in for Vader. That frees up 13 points, which is enough for an Obsidian TIE. You lose Vader's punch and survivability, which is a big deal, but you make Maarek substantially more effective and you also strengthen your low-skill TIEs by offering them Howlrunner's reroll. Worth a thought, anyway.

Thanks for the input all.

So, it seems like most don't think taking two Tie-Advanced in a list will work. As mentioned, my intent was that the first turn we're in range, both would launch concussion missiles at a single target with the desired outcome of a quick kill of an enemy ship. That would hopefully shift things in my favor., or that is my intent. Is that not feasible, or not worth taking a second Tie Advanced to attempt?

No, I don't think taking two TIE Advanced in the same list is probably going to be successful. I've tried early torpedo strikes in Rebel squads, and it hasn't ever made a difference in the final result.

But I've never tried it on the Imperial side, and it's very possible that I'm wrong. (I often am.) Try it, then come back and tell us how it did.

Yeah, I've never seen protons work very well. However, I have seen concussion missiles work very well with Vader (granted it has generally been some really good rolling too)

Ah well. Alright, then. What do people think about this list then:

List 3

Vader

Backstabber

Dark Curse

3x Obsidian TIE pilots

Here's a good additional question. So, with 39 points in generic TIE pilots…

I chose here 3x Obsidian (at 13pts each)

I could instead take:

(12) Academy pilot + (13) Obsidian Pilot + (14) Black Sqd Pilot

OR:

(24) 2x Academy Pilot + (15) Night Beast

The advantage the Obsidian pilots bring is having higher skill than both Academy Pilots and Rookie X-Wing pilots.

The second option has more of a spread, but I am unsure that a skill 4 Black Squad makes enough of a difference for the point and the drop of one to an academy pilot.

The third option drops two down to academy pilots, but bumps the thrid up to a named pilot with a decent ability and a skill 5, which is higher than Red Sqd and Gold Sq pilots rebel pilots.

in generic tie fighters i always pick academy pilots, you can always use the points to something else that can always benifit you in the long run. this is how i create my impire lists, academy pilots are my fillers for points.

Right, and I am sure a lot of people agree with that philosophy. In general, I do too. However, keep in mind that in a tournament, there are likely to be mirror matches. As such, say I was facing a TIE swarm where the other player took a bunch of Academy TIEs as filler. In that instance, the slight skill increase up to Obsidian on all my "filler" TIEs could be very useful, as they get to shoot before his fillers, rather than simultaneously.

Food for thought, anyway.

dvang said:

Oh no doubt my friend there will be mirror matches. at the venue im playing at there are seven people playing in the tounament so far and only one is running a rebel list. so yes you will more than likely have to have a mirror match, it seems there is more love for the impire for this tournament.. go figure. I do understand the pilot skilll aspect at the part in where you fill in points, it makes sense. but in my list i wanted to make my darth vader a reaper on the table so i put marksmanship on him. but yes that is a good idea to have and obsidian for a filler. i might even consider editing my list some more so I can get 6 ships in my list instead of 5. but who knows, ill have something set in stone eventually before next saturday.