I was building the teams for my massive game and came across an idea that I'm sure someone else has had before, but was new to me: a largeish semi-swam of skilled Ties with stealth. The team I came up with is:

Backstabber

-Stealth Device

Dark Curse

-Stealth Device

Howlrunner

-Stealth Device

-Swarm Tactics

Mauler Mithel

-Stealth Device

-Veteran Instincts

Night Beast

-Stealth Device

All 5 pilots shoot before academies/rookies, and all have 4 dice to evade with. Mauler shoots at the same time as Wedge/Han, and Howlrunner and someone else shoot right after he does. Any thoughts?

This is actually quite a nice build, but you will need to focus fire quickly on your opponents most dangerous ship. A rebel list with Biggs will give you a hard time.

The other nasty is the Autoblaster, you will want to get in close and when you do, that thing is going to cook a ship per attack if the player knows what they are doing.

That does however assume either B-Wings or Firesprays on the board. I am considering putting an Autoblaster on either of those when I run them as standard just for wasting ties.

Beyond that, this is going to be a finesse list, but can work very well.

Another option is something I know I've seen before, which is dropping the 5 stealth devices for Winged Gundark, making it a 6 Tie aces list

I am in favor of having a low PS tie or 2 for disruptive purposes. Lose a stealth device or 2 and you can get 6 with a few High and a few low.

Mauler + stealth + swarm
Howlrunner + stealth + swarm
Night Beast
Dark Curse
Academy Tie
Academy Tie

Not as defensive and a little slower but you get a 6 tie swarm and Night Beast and Dark Curse are already extra defensive. Swarm tactics lets your team shoot first more often. Named tie swarm is pretty fun but Howlrunner and Mauler will probably get targeted hard 1st.

A friend of mine came up with a similar list, except he had marksmanship on mauler instead of vet instincts and swarm tactics. I absolutely annihilated this list with 2x Blue Squadron w/ HLC & 2 Rookie. I flew a slow 2x2 box formation into the asteroids to break up his formation. He delayed the engagement until round 4, doing some "fancy" flying with Howl, DC and NB while Mauler and Backstabber swung wide to flank. Everything did not go as he had foreseen.

Seeing my opportunity, I flew the Rookies 4 forward and the Blue 3 forward right at howlrunner, rookies focused while blues target locked. He was obviously caught off guard since Mauler and Backstabber were still a round away from engaging post activation. His other three ties ended their moves at range 1 of the rookies and range 2 from the blues. DC focused, NB & howl evaded, with NB getting his green focus as well.

I was put on tilt early when his three range 1 shots, 2 w/ reroll vaped a rookie before he could fire. I regained my composure a bit when my 3 shots tore through Howls' evade and stealth, and dropped her to one hull remaining. Then I lost it again when I realised she was still alive.... AARGH!! Had that poor red shirt just gotten one shot off before biting the dust I'd have alot less trouble on my hands. Oh well, on to the next planning phase.

I set up a lucky/clever little trap, I had my rightside blue K-turn to return fire in case he k-turned, prepping to go head to head w/ MM & BS the turn after. My left blue did a 1 bank left then B-roll sliding back to port, covering the escape route should he hard turn away from the furball. It also was positioned so that should one of his ties overlap, my other blue would have a range 1 shot up their action blocked tailpipe. The fresh rookie did 2 bank right, away from Howl and co., keeping the big asteroid between him and Mauler in prep for a joint k turn the next round with my left side blue to create a wide shooting gallery where my squad started the current round.

Howl and co went to their right/my left, but unfortunately Howl collided with my left side blue... and suddenly died. Mauler and Stabber finally got some damage in at range 3, stripping a shield from my k-turned blue, and a lucky shot from my left blue stripped the stealth and did a damage to DC. The next two rounds were decisive. NB & DC were stuck along the edge of the map trying to get back into the fight. Mauler and Stabber had nowhere to go but into the killbox. Mauler fell to a range 1 stealth stripping followed by range 3 HLC, but taking the blue's remaining shields to the grave with him. Stabber got turkey shot next round when shieldless blue k-turned behind him, triple teamed and shot to death. He resigned at end of round, with 2 of my three remaining ships at close to full health.

Even though 2Rookie2BlueHLC is a bit of a hard counter to stealth happy lists, my greater experience with the game was the deciding factor. I actually like lists like this, but they do need to be flown carefully. Resist the urge to send ships off on the flank. Tighten up formation, and fly right into your opponents face with everything you got. This is a swarm. It's a jousting list, trading the consistency and redundency of a 7-ship list in a PS bid for fast kills early game and better PS and defense position late game. Unless they have assault missiles or bombs fly together and focus fire ASAP. Backstabber's ability will come into play in the midgame, since Howl and Mauler are your opponents prime targets he'll most likely suvive the early passes and shine in the midst of the furball.

I would drop the swarm tactics on Howler for squad leader or elusiveness. Then also drop VI on Mauler for expose.

A friend of mine came up with a similar list, except he had marksmanship on mauler instead of vet instincts and swarm tactics. I absolutely annihilated this list with 2x Blue Squadron w/ HLC & 2 Rookie. I flew a slow 2x2 box formation into the asteroids to break up his formation. He delayed the engagement until round 4, doing some "fancy" flying with Howl, DC and NB while Mauler and Backstabber swung wide to flank. Everything did not go as he had foreseen.

Not sure how (since you had HCL's and wanted it) or why he would do that. Flanking is nice sometimes but the entire point of howlrunner and swarm tactics is everyone stays together and everyone acts at the same time. Flanking is a valid tactic but, especially by"fancy flying" he just negated 6pts of his list and his biggest offensive threat. Swarm did it's thing by taking out a rookie before he could fire... with Mauler and Backstabber probably could have taken out another entire ship too, or at least got it down to killable next round before it got to act.

I like the 6 tie aces list a lot (especially when you're not playing dead serious). It reward good maneuvering and tactics and can just be a BEAST some games.

Your opponent deserved to lose. Delay the confrontation? That only benefits you with the HLC's. Close in on your enemy and overwhelm them. TIE's only have teeth at range 1. Breaking up the swarm again only diminishes his strength.

Had he rushed in, those Bwings would have been dead in 1-2 turns with their pathetic 1 evade die.