I'm about to run my first 7 tie swarm practice match. My list is

3x Academy

3x Obsidian

Howlrunner

+ PTL

+ Stealth Device

[99]

I'm setting up in the following configuration:

AAA
H
OOO

where Howlrunner will actually turn into the swarm when they go forward in Round 1, resulting in

A
AOA

OHO, with H being about a half a ship back.

My opponent is running an ABXX of some sort. Wish me luck!

I've never been a big swarm fan, but here's my advice... stay away from the B-wing and drop the X-wings as quick as you can. Don't chase the A-wing, as it is almost harmless at range 2 - 3. Good luck!

I've never been a big swarm fan, but here's my advice... stay away from the B-wing and drop the X-wings as quick as you can. Don't chase the A-wing, as it is almost harmless at range 2 - 3. Good luck!

B-Wing actually died before it could hit anything. It got 1 shot off, missed entirely, and was reduced to 1 hull remaining at the end of the first round of attack.

However, it managed to move into a position that Howlrunner collided with the next turn, which ultimately resulted in her death.

The Assault Missile from the GSP with Deadeye managed to do a lot of hurt to both sides. His X-Wings kept colliding with my ships, which resulted in my lvl 3s colliding with his, and a whole lot of no-one going anywhere.

The Assaults killed 4 of my ties in one hit, and also reduced both X-Wings to 1 hull each. Despite the fact that they had R2-D2 and the other regenerative R5, I was able to clean them up with one unblemished Academy Pilot left.

The Tie and the A circled each other for a full half of our 3 hour time, each starting at 3 total HP (the A had taken a stray shot in the first round of fire from a ship that couldn't shoot at the B)

The first time we both traded shots from a Koiogran, I ended at 1 hp, and he ended at 2, and behind my Tie.

I managed to do a 1-turn and barrel-roll so his turn managed to shoot past me, and the game was afoot!

Covering every inch of the farthest corner from my seat (including one time where I barrel-rolled to the actual edge of the map), I played matador while he flew back and forth.

Whittled down to 1 HP a piece at the end, I matadored, and he Koiograned.

Unfortunately, he had target locked me from the previous turn of non-fire, and had elected to wait until a Range 1 shot to use it.

He rolled a single hit.

I whiffed.

GG.

A hugely pleasant encounter for me. My ships would have lasted longer if he had been a "Better" pilot, as he didn't actually PLAN for his ships to collide when they did in the first third of the game.

Baha, I would generally TARGET a B wing with a swarm. 2 dice vs 1 dice is just TOO consistent. It's not impossible that 4 ties can take out a B wing who rolls no evades Shooting at an X Wing just plays the odds too much for me sometimes. An X will definitely roll a few evades.

Very nice setup, Dracon.

I like to do something like:

A A A

H A A A

Put ships in corner, with howl in corner.

Usually I'll roll forward with normal ties, then roll 1 LESS forward with howl, then roll howl behind the group, making sure to stay in range 1

If you stagger the back ships a bit you can make banks a bit easier, though you'll have to 3bank, 2bank, 3 bank the front ties to prevent bumps, since they are so close.

Before the game, I actually practiced my rollout for a bit, to make sure that I could do what I wanted to do, pre-combat.
Spacing it out with the Range Ruler means that I can bank en-masse quite comfortably, even though it's a comfy fit. (until some stupid B-Wing clogs the first ship). I also practiced what I'd do if I were hard-flanked and such (which ensured that my opponent picked up Assault Missiles, as he was watching me practice).

Second test-run today.

He slightly improved his fleet (trading Deadeye and an Engine Upgrade to promote an X-Wing and give his B-WIng some Adv. Sensors).

The dice gods were not in his favor. The only time he dealt damage was with the Assault Missiles. I boardwiped him HARD.

Formation flying is improving greatly for me, and it's a hell of a lot of fun, to boot!

I concur with the amount of fun formation flying is! It just adds that extra layer into the game that you don't see as much when running 4 sporadic units. Whoever says swarms are boring is lying!

I concur with the amount of fun formation flying is! It just adds that extra layer into the game that you don't see as much when running 4 sporadic units. Whoever says swarms are boring is lying!

There's also that look in my opponent's eyes when his flanking B-WIng suddenly faces an En Masse matador turn (1 turn and barrel-roll back, so kind of a pivot in place).

I concur with the amount of fun formation flying is! It just adds that extra layer into the game that you don't see as much when running 4 sporadic units. Whoever says swarms are boring is lying!

There's also that look in my opponent's eyes when his flanking B-WIng suddenly faces an En Masse matador turn (1 turn and barrel-roll back, so kind of a pivot in place).

You can also sometimes predict his movement because B-wings only have one K-turn. Even with Advanced Sensors, they have a limited number of positions than they can K-turn to, so sometimes your best move is to put your TIEs in positions that would force them to bump if they K-turn, or alternatively leave them out-flanked. I don't know if this tactic has quite made its way into the meta game yet.