My friend wants to run his new Imperial semi-swarm/swarm. I have no idea what he will bring, but I have been dying to try this list for a while.

I think it could really mess with a swarm.

Use the mass Ion Power to break apart movement of the swarm, then pick them off one at a time.

This idea is LUDICROUSLY tanky, I ran a version of this the other day that just refused to die. I didn't trust so many ion cannons, so I swapped out the B-wing armaments for Autoblaster turrets, and it was insane. Regardless of the 1 agility across the board, 16 hull and 16 shields across the team makes this stupidly hard to kill, especially since you can pull off a wounded fighter ant not lose much in the way of attack power. The twin turrets of the Y's really set up range 1 shots for the B's, which can use their 4-dice shot against low agility opponents, or their autoblasters against high agility targets, and it virtually garauntees a kill.

Hmmm, if I use Autoblasters, I'd have to give up my Fire Control Systems. I'm not sure that equates to a better trade off.

Dammit man, now I have to try it :-)

While the Ion Cannons on the B-Wings have an advantage at range 3 I'd be asking myself if getting those three dice through for a point of damage and some movement restrictions is better than the potential of getting more damage through and potentially a crippling crit.

That Autoblaster is a tie killer. I use it all the time for just that reason. Your opponent starts taking evade tokens and the shots coming back at you aren't as good. Also shooting down a 30 point named pilot with two auto blasters in one round is so amazing.

OK, autoblasters it is :-)

How efficient are they without a TL and focus though?

The Fire-Control System isn't going to do you that much good with the Ion Cannons; the opportunity to reroll with a target lock is usually better for piling on multiple hits, whereas with the Ion Cannon you really only need one hit.

I would probably ditch the Ion Cannons on the B-Wings but keep the Fire-Control Systems, This way the Y-Wings can control opponent maneuvers and the B-Wings can close on those ionized enemy ships and make them pay.

Meanwhile, you could use the 6 squad points you save from losing the Ion Cannons to throw some Advanced Torps on a Y-Wing.

My friend wants to run his new Imperial semi-swarm/swarm. I have no idea what he will bring, but I have been dying to try this list for a while.I think it could really mess with a swarm.Use the mass Ion Power to break apart movement of the swarm, then pick them off one at a time. 27 pointsBlue Squadron Pilot #1Fire-Control System, Ion Cannon27 pointsBlue Squadron Pilot #2Fire-Control System, Ion Cannon23 pointsGold Squadron Pilot #1Ion Cannon Turret23 pointsGold Squadron Pilot #2Ion Cannon Turret

I have flown against that squad five times now and its has given me more trouble than expected or wanted every time.

Particularly if I'm carrying bombs cos i cant drop them.

I say five times, a couple of times it was daggers with no fcs.

It also screws with big ships. I tend to play imps so no turret to return fire.

Have to say trying the autoblasters sounds awesome but scary to face, I will begrudgingly suggest it to my mate.

I'd lose the Fire Control System (They strike me as upgrades for missile ships)

Then trade the Ion Cannons for Heavy Laser Cannons and the Ion Turrets for Blaster Turrets.

But I don't love ion that much. (not nearly as much as you apparently)

This might be a point or two high, you might not be able to get 2 HLC

Dropping both Ion turrets to Blasters only gives you the points for 1 heavy laser cannon and 1 autoblaster or ion/FCS combo, since each cannon is 2 points more than the last one (3, 5, and 7). Blaster Turrets are terrible for unaided Y's, because they require your focus action to use, so you'll never get to target lock, and if you bump anything, you're stuck with your 2-die primary shot.

My view...

First turn of shooting at range 3 your action is target lock, you shoot with ions, FCS keeps hte target lock there for next turn.
Ion cannon denies extra agility dice and still does 1 damage (which is statistically all you are likely to cause anyway at that range). Then next turn you know where your opponent will be so can shuffle in, focus and then focus/TL them to death.

That was the plan Mr. Cerealthief :-)

Well to me... this seems like it would work.
At worst it makes your opponent think you will put your ships some where for turn two... and you dont have to go there.

I flew the list and the Y-Wings were the money as always with Ion Turret shenanigans. The B-Wings do not need the Ion Cannon at all and they were wasted points. I will be changing to 2 R5 units on the Y's and a proton torp on a B-Wing.

Other than that, it is one tough squad to kill and can really get it done for you.

Man, my swarm wouldn't want to go up against this.

More hilariously, I bet you could ionize a large-ship fleet off the board, or keep them on asteroids. THAT would be hilarious enough for me to attempt the fleet!