I recently tried to fight an empire list consisting of 8 TIE fighters or 7 if played with Howlrunner and it's quite unbeatable ! It seems that a no-brain weenie swarm is better than 3 or 4 elite pilots with more firepower.

Is this a flaw in the game? I'm going to suggest to my partners to make all pilots unique (even unnamed). This could limit the lists to 6 ships. But there's no such houserule in tournaments. So do TIE swarm win most tournaments?

Do you have a volley of assault missiles available (perhaps on some A-Wings to allow at least 4 ships)?

Swarms are tough but not unbeatable. Their strength is concentrated fire to pick-off the opposition. If they can get half of their ships to shoot at a single target, that's a lot of potential damage. The key to combatting the swarm is to fight on your terms. Don't let yourself get in the middle of the scrum, but try to stay to the edge to limit how many of those TIEs can actually shoot at you. Then return the favor and concentrate fire on them to eliminate the stragglers. The swarm is only dangerous when you fight them all at once, so don't. Look to Sun Tzu for inspiration on when and where to fight the enemy.

Assault missiles do help a bit now as well, but if you don't hit the initial target, it's a wasted 5 points. Make sure you have a good range 2 shot against a TIE without focus or evade tokens, that also has a few friends nearby. It's not easy, so you need to be patient.

If you are using asteroids as part of the game, then place them in a way to force the swarm to dispurse a bit to get to you. Again, stay on the edge and try to pick-off the TIEs that make it through to engage you. With the 8 TIE swarm your opponent has to place all his ships first (since they are all Pilot 1) before you place yours, so this gives you a huge advantage to dictate the location of the fight. Don't line up directly across from him in the middle, but again stay to a side. This forces the TIEs to maneuver more and possibly hit a few asteroids on the way to fight you (or get split up to avoid them).

I hope this helps a bit.

Not unbeatable. I use the Kessal Run Tournaments as an example. The first event I was in had maybe 2 swarms in top 3, but as more game were played people started to see more fire power is the key. I played 4x squad in the 2 events I played, the first I went 1-2, my 2 loses were coincidentally vs swarms, but one doesn't count, he killed all my ships in like 3 turns. The next tourney, had mmore games with the 4x and fine tuned my flying. I went 3-0 plus win in the champ battle. No issues with any build. Now after the KRT, I have kept the 4x build and recently entered a wave 2 tourney. Right now most people are still clumsy with the large ships, vs a 4x, a falcon dies fast and a firespray soon after. The tie swarms don't have enough firepower to consistently hit. They have focus and evade, defense mostly. X has target lock, full offense. X can consistently one shot a tie. Focus on one ship at a time, if you can kill a ship a turn, you will do fine

Smoething I do is shoot Ties that haven't shot first. If you bring that TIE down it is one less tie shooting at you. My cuz usees a four X-wing squad where every pilot shoots at a 8 or 9. He can drop two ties in the first round of shooting. So that is two less ties shooting at you off the bat. It is a solid list and it works.

@ Ismar : thanks a lot for these detailed advices. I'll try to split his forces a bit more next time.

@ pitsch : so the key to beat swarm would be 4 x-wings ? It's a shame the game is only about TIEs vs Xs :

Ellyrik said:

Hope it helps.

As for the key to beating a swarm = x4 X-Wing, I don't believe that is the only answer. I think the Falcon (especially Han w/ Luke) is a great swarm killer, the main reasons being it can absorb a lot of damage, and it can fire 360 degrees. This is a huge advantage. TIEs typically shoot while they pass you, then Koiogran, and attack on the pass again. This means they are attacking every other round at times, and the round they Koiogran means no actions. With the Falcon, you can attack every round, keeping the pressure on.

I've faced several swarm lists with the Falcon, and I usually open with an Assault missile, followed by range 2-3 shots at the stragglers until I drop the list down to 3-4 TIEs. At that time I can engage in a more conventional attack if needed. Otherwise I try to stay at range and pick them off.

In this game, attacking is more effective than defending, since there are more "hits" on the red dice than "evades" on the green dice. So 3 attack dice on 3 defense dice usually ends with 1-2 hits (not counting if the defender has an evade or focus action, so try and attack those TIEs that are actionless).

No don't get me wrong, the Swarm is an effective list, and if played by a savy opponent, you'll consistently have a tough time beating it. But that can be said of any list in an effective player's hands. That's what I like about this game, it's more about the man than the machine.

Thanks,

This guy keeps missing the point, keep on running your tie swarms lol. good luck!!

Ellyrik said:

Why is it with only a few games under your belt in this regard you immediate reaction is that there is a flaw in the game and that a houserule is needed?

This may be your biggest overall problem. As it seems rather then looking at why you are losing you want to deflect to a fairly quick assumption of a flaw in the game and suggest a houserule. You will not get better with that approach. Overall I wonder what you experience is in regards to minature games in general.

Seconded on Ishmar's points.

X-Wings have the highest natural attack in the game while being the cheapest fielding them, so adding as many of these into your list as you can is fighting on the TIE swarm's terms but beating them at their own game. TIEs must double-up to succeed on your X-Wings to kill you, but you're shooting first and have target locks to enhance your rolling. The more fighters you kill first the less he can respond to your initial volley with. With good shooting and at range one you have a good chance of blowing or mauling up most of his TIEs before he has the chance to do serious harm to your fighters.