So I've had some Ties sitting around, but pretty much no way to get some Interceptors for the local gaming stores. All they seem to have are starter sets or more Tie Advanced models which I have no need or want to get. Is this list viable? I'm not quite sure if its still viable with all of the Falcon's running around now.

Darth Vader + Stealth Device + Cluster Missiles + Swarm Tactics

5 Academy Pilots

That puts me at 98 points thoughts?

I've had the same problem, I did manage to get one interceptor but having to work mainly with ties and advanced. I think your build should work fine. Biggest problem I've seed is the turrets. Y-wings and Falcon. Falcon/Wedge combo wiped me out, but I did manage to swarm kill a named y-wing second combat round. we were playing a 140pt game though. If you stick to 100pts, rebels have to make some harder decisions. Know that vader will have a big target painted on his head right away with this build. Personally I perfer to run vader with engine upgrade and push the limit or daredevil, but that's just my style. Good luck.

Red Comet said:

you could go old school swarm and run…

vader

howlrunner

4x academy pilot

+ 5 pts for upgrades/pilot skills… perhaps swarm tactics on vader? …

I could give Vader a stealth device and Swarm Tactics. It will bring me to 100 points exactly.

Red Comet said:

sounds good. hothies original swarm list was 99pts and he ran swarm on both vader and howlrunner i like ur take of stealth on vader. (im testing push the limit on howrunner to go evade and focus in the same turn for extra defense)

Red Comet said:

So you do have a stealth device? okay thought you had no wave 2 stuff…

And if you have one i would give it to Howlrunner in any case.

What you could do is give Vader and Howlrunner Swarm tactics, for an oldschool 6 ship swarm list. 2 ships at 9 and 2 at 8 or 3 at 9 is nothing to scoff at and with Howl's rerolls it is still a very good team.

If i had no wave 2 i would probably play the 7 or 8 Tie swarm if you have that many. 8 Academy Ties or 7 plus a named pilot. Or even a 7 Tie swarm with Mithel, Howlrunner and 5 academy plus 2 swarm tactics is also a great list.

Also with all due respect to Hothie, he makes great lists and such but the 99 point list there was kind of the first one i made when i got the game and a few expansions (I named it Darth's Flight school), and i had never even heard of Hothie nor been to the Forums back then XD Cheers.

ForceM said:

I don't have any Wave 2 stuff, but I mostly play with friends. We tend to be okay about proxying upgrade cards when we don't have access to them.

Now that you mention it. It makes sense to give the device to Howlrunner since Howlrunner buffs the squad multiple times throughout the turn. Vader doesn't do that though.

The swarm tactics idea is awesome. Why hadn't I thought of that before. Going to have to try this out soon.

I think the Cluster Missiles on Vader is a great tactic against YT-1300s. I've also been the recipient of 6 damage from a Cluster Missiles attack landing on my Firespray (yeah, I rolled horribly). But definitely against a YT-1300 they have great potential. This will also grab your opponent's attention, and they may divert fire to try to take out Vader before he gets in missile range, but if you focus + evade you ought to make it into firing range.

And yes, "Howlrunner" is an excellent support ship, and if you include her she should probably get the Stealth Device.

Swarm Tactics is OK, I prefer Squad Leader myself. Still, Engine Upgrade on Vader is priceless, and Stealth on Howlrunner is a good idea. If you use Squad Leader then Howlrunner can have both evade and focus going, which is important since she has trouble getting out of firing arcs (because she is compelled to stay in the middle of the formation). On the other hand, if you have the points to replace Stealth with a Homing Missile on Vader you can really do a lot of damage on that first pass, even at range 3. I prefer Homing Missiles to Cluster mostly because it is so good at scrubbing a Stealth Device off of an obnoxious 2-Focus+Evade Soontir Fel or other crazy agile evading ships that the 2 firepower TIEs have such a hard time hitting.

Vader is always a good choice, but I like him much more when that second action of his can go to whichever TIE needs it most. Swarm Tactics is not as valuable in my opinion, because TIEs don't generally have the firepower to make that first shot kill something, and with that many Academy TIEs your opponent will still have the chance to kill a non-swarm tactics TIE before it shoots. Either way you lose the same number attack dice, so the advantage of Swarm Tactics only really counts if that Academy TIE affected by it kills something with his shot.