This 6 Tie Swarm Squad has Pilots Skills 8, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6. (or 8, 8, 6, 6, 6, 6 with Swarm tactics in effect)

Veteran Swarm

Howlrunner + Stealth Device + Swarm Tactics (23)

Dark Curse (16)

Backstabber (16)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Do you think it is a viable choice to compete versus other popular 100pt squads?

Any thoughts?

Looks good for the current meta. Swarm tactics only gets you +2PS for 2 points though. I think it would be better to drop swarm tactics, and upgrade a VI Black into Mauler. 8/7/6/6/6/6, no strings attached. And Maulers ability is really good if you can keep him alive into range 1

Looks good for the current meta. Swarm tactics only gets you +2PS for 2 points though. I think it would be better to drop swarm tactics, and upgrade a VI Black into Mauler. 8/7/6/6/6/6, no strings attached. And Maulers ability is really good if you can keep him alive into range 1

yeah i was looking at mauler - its +1 PS. at 7PS thats letting him move behind the other guys in my squad which gives more options (if u know what ur doing, lol). I like the flexibility to move in any order with all ships other than Howlrunner at PS6.

I agree the Swarm Tactics isnt really needed with such high overall PS - it was the last thing i added to the list. It could even be another Veteran Instincts - which goes with the theme of this squad giving Howlrunner PS10 and dropping the total pts to 99 - perhaps a good thing to help gain initiative?

Howl Shoots First (99pts)

Howlrunner + Stealth Device + Veteran Instincts (22)

Dark Curse (16)

Backstabber (16)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Agree with the above + really like the inventiveness of it, awesome squad!

Hm 10/7/6/6/6/6 if you upgrade a named TIE into mauler. Pilot ability is probably better than pilot skill in this case though

Another idea you can downgrade 1 VI black into an academy to use as a blocker, which frees up 3 more points to put PtL on Howlrunner, she would be super safe.

Or, going with swarm tactics and downgrade one TIE to an academy anyway because it'll get auto bumped to ps8, AND it can still be a blocker. Hero academy pilot ha ha ha.

99 points

Howlrunner + Stealth + Swarm

Mauler Mithel

Dark Curse

Backstabber

Black + VI

Academy

8/7/6/6/6/1.

8/8/7/6/6/6 with swarm.

You could always give Howlrunner elusiveness to go with the stealth, or determination to keep her ability going, even adrenaline rush for the k turn to help survivability

Juggler beat me to posting, I was refering to the original squad

You know, Expert Handling might not be a bad idea either. Put it on Howlrunner, since she's going to be the primary target. That way she can break target locks. With her high PS, you could probably keep her alive longer against a torpedo or missile list.

It is likely a viable choice. The question is, is it better than the 7 tie swarm with Howl, 5 academies, and another high PS tie?

You could always give Howlrunner elusiveness to go with the stealth, or determination to keep her ability going, even adrenaline rush for the k turn to help survivability

That's OK your suggestions looked unique to me, the more the merrier!

Another idea you can downgrade 1 VI black into an academy to use as a blocker, which frees up 3 more points to put PtL on Howlrunner, she would be super safe.

Or, going with swarm tactics and downgrade one TIE to an academy anyway because it'll get auto bumped to ps8, AND it can still be a blocker. Hero academy pilot ha ha ha.

99 points

Howlrunner + Stealth + Swarm

Mauler Mithel

Dark Curse

Backstabber

Black + VI

Academy

8/7/6/6/6/1.

8/8/7/6/6/6 with swarm.

Interesting. I am also thinking medium - long game. What are they going to target first? Howlrunner. If she is take down early that academy is just a 1PS blocker - still useful but a lil weaker. I like the concept of having a squad that doesnt rely too much on one ship.

Howl Shoots First (99pts)

Howlrunner + Stealth Device + Veteran Instincts (22)

Dark Curse (16)

Backstabber (16)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

Black Squadron Pilot + Veteran Instincts (15)

• With this squad variation, even without Howl all my guys are still PS 6 - admittedly weaker without her but still solid on their own.
• I can see the wisdom in finding room for Push the Limit, has anyone out there had success with PTL on Howlrunner?
• In theory is should help - the tradeoff is u have a stress to get rid of the turn after she uses it limiting her movement options a little.

It is likely a viable choice. The question is, is it better than the 7 tie swarm with Howl, 5 academies, and another high PS tie?

thats dependent on the matchups. id say both are good. Head to Head versus ur traditional swarm id say the higher PS version could have the edge - would need to test that. Ur version has more potential to block tho whereas mine shoots first, two different tactics.

Howl Shoots First is relying on taking out one (or two) of ur ships in the first exchange before they can return fire. Id expect it to do that rather well in a swarm vs swarm matchup, although it would be a brutal macthup. i am just looking at a different type of swarm that can foot it with popular squads out there.

Original squad: Dropping Swarm Tactics seems like an easy place to get a couple more points. There may not be a lot of options on what to use those points for but I think most will be better than just letting one other ship MAYBE shoot ahead of someone else. A "crazy" idea would be to give one of the other named TIEs a Targeting Computer (assuming it is available at the 2 points I see) as it pulls a little more threat off of Howlie; give it to Backstabber and you opponent now has an Interceptor level threat coming in from the side to worry about.

Is it better than a seven TIE squadron? That will all depend on how fast and how many of those Academy pilots you can drop before they get to start shooting at you. At least part of me thinks that this six ship flight will be easier to fly than a seven ship squad where you want even more ships grouped around Howlrunner.

Howl Shoots First looks good to, but on paper I think I am still leaning towards :

100 points

Howlrunner + Stealth

Mauler Mithel

Dark Curse

Backstabber

Black + VI x2

Howl Shoots First looks good to, but on paper I think I am still leaning towards :

100 points

Howlrunner + Stealth

Mauler Mithel

Dark Curse

Backstabber

Black + VI x2

I like ur build too. It gives them another primary target = mauler to potentially take some heat off her.

I agree with Stevo that Howl Shoots First would be a little easier to fly as everything except Howlrunner has the same PS of 6 letting you choose what order you want to move ur ships in any turn.

id like to test both versions. Will try and get in a practice game this weekend.

FWIW, my current squad in the Vassal Tournament (and what I almost flew at Worlds due to lots of success locally in Phoenix last year) is:

• Howlrunner + Stealth
• Mauler
• Dark Curse
• Backstabber
• BSP w/VI
• BSP w/VI

My experience is it matches up fairly equally well vs. both Rebels and Imperials, but it is pretty reliant on dealing some solid damage in the first round of combat since it is only six ships, 18 hull, and is built to shoot first in order to kill things before they can shoot back. It's a little brittle, but if the first round of combat goes relatively well I find the game tends to go very well for this squad from there.

Got 13 TIE Fighters? :-D

FWIW, my current squad in the Vassal Tournament (and what I almost flew at Worlds due to lots of success locally in Phoenix last year) is:

• Howlrunner + Stealth
• Mauler
• Dark Curse
• Backstabber
• BSP w/VI
• BSP w/VI

My experience is it matches up fairly equally well vs. both Rebels and Imperials, but it is pretty reliant on dealing some solid damage in the first round of combat since it is only six ships, 18 hull, and is built to shoot first in order to kill things before they can shoot back. It's a little brittle, but if the first round of combat goes relatively well I find the game tends to go very well for this squad from there.

wow, gr8 minds think alike!

so what squad did u end up taking?

why did u NOT take this one? Too fragile/inconsistent?

I also tend to break Backstabber, and sometimes Mauler, out of the pack pretty quickly as they often operate better as rogue agents taking advantage of Howlrunner when it is convenient to do so. Backstabber especially so.

I was the one who came in 16th with 8 Academy TIE Fighters. But to be honest with you, I lucked out by fighting mostly Rebel squads which is where 8 Academies excel - I am undefeated vs. Rebels with that squad, and I have only won once against a solid player who threw Imperials back at me. I think having Howlrunner seems to be important to have equal ground or an edge vs. other Imperial squads - at least with how I fly them.

I kind of like the idea of the following:

Howlrunner/Stealth device/PTL ( D-dice 4, plus the option for a defensive focus, and evasion token. A lot of survivability)

Dark Cruse (I'm a huge fan of not letting those Rebels change those focus results)

backed up by five academy Tie's

total: 100 pts.

7 ships

Ps skill for Imps, well it's really not going to make much difference. Most folks, I say most not all are going to run some high PS skilled Rebs, Wedge, Ten Numb, Han.. ect, ect. There will be some that run blue thunder builds of Rookie X-wings, and Blue Squad B-wings. Most Rebs will field high PS pilots nine times out of ten. So, Imps will in most cases with a swarmy Tie list be shooting last.

Take this with a grain of salt I suppose, but I think you are pushing too hard to get higher PS pilots. I don't think you can buy a swarm to the point where they can shoot ahead of the folks like Han and Wedge, and against lower PS three ship lists, you don't need to shoot first, just more.

I am also a big fan of interceptors so the list I've been playing with is

Saber (21)

Avenger x2 (20) [40]

Obsidian x3 (13) [39]

PS of 4/3/3/3/3/3 Which should let you out maneuver and out shoot another swarm and out swarm higher PS lists.

This is theory crafting though since I haven't had a chance to fly it yet.

I like shooting at PS 6. I think we're going to see a lot more PS2-4 squads in this "new" meta so this has some bonuses there. Against elite squads though you just wasted a ton of points on shooting first and against swarms... well you just spent a ton of points on shooting first and hope you have a plan for those PS1 blockers.

I've ran and won with that list too so it's definitely viable and fun.

What level you shoot for with a mob's PS is all determined by the metagame. In some ways it is rock-paper-scissors with the simple idea that a higher PS win until it no longer does and you go pack to as many low PS ships as you can get.

If you face a lot of PS 1/2 ships then you may want to go with PS 4 ships so you can shoot first to and hope to thin the ranks. Of course if PS 4 is common then you may see PS 6 to do the same to the PS 4 who hopefully have discouraged the PS 1/2s from showing up. Of course those PS 6 ships then run into more of those Aces where their normal "advantage" is completely worthless leaving them wishing they had more ships because a 12 point Academy TIE is just as good against Wedge as that 15 point BSP except you paid 20% less for it. This is the dilemma you face when trying to use higher PS ships.