Every ship has its merits.
TIE Bombers are ordnance delivery platforms. Nothing more, nothing less. They must be treated as such. They are not dogfighters, they are kaboom causers.
I disagree. They are ordnance delivery platforms who dogfight better than most rebel and many imperial ships.
I have not tried howl + 5 but:
Howlrunner
Scimitar x3
Academy x2
Leaves points for missiles to go with your swarm.
In the current Team Covenant VASSAL tournament, one player is running
Howlrunner + Swarm Tactics
Scimitar x 5
He is currently in the top 16 out of 73 players, and uses the squad quite effectively. I just cant imagine beating it with a Tie Fighter swarm is very easy.
I love the way the bomber plays out, the sheer mind games you can play with this ship is staggering.
As mentioned in another thread, we not only have more missiles to look forward to, but possibly the 'munitions failsafe' mod to look forward to as well which may be a boon for secondary weapons/missles etc.
Time will tell...
lotEvery ship has its merits.
TIE Bombers are ordnance delivery platforms. Nothing more, nothing less. They must be treated as such. They are not dogfighters, they are kaboom causers.
I disagree. They are ordnance delivery platforms who dogfight better than most rebel and many imperial ships.
I have not tried howl + 5 but:
Howlrunner
Scimitar x3
Academy x2
Leaves points for missiles to go with your swarm.
I tried out Howlrunner and a few Scimitars, but the differences in the maneuver dials made formations a bit more difficult and really limited options for both ship.
My main squad is Bounty Hunter & 4 Scimitars (never lost a match)
I've had some success with Jonus and Gammas with concussion & cluster missiles (wins about 50-60% of the time)
Rhymer +PTL and 2-3 torps/missiles with 4 Tie fighters (worked ok, 50% wins maybe)
But I've only faced Rebels with these lists, so keep that in mind.
I flew a TIE Bomber squad for a Store Championship (10 people at the tournament) on March 1st and came in third with two wins, a modified win, and one loss.
TIE Bomber - Captain Jonus with two Homing Missiles
TIE Bomber - Gamma Squadron Pilot with Assault Missiles and Cluster Missiles
TIE Bomber - Gamma Squadron Pilot with Assault Missiles and Cluster Missiles
TIE Fighter - Black Squadron Pilot
On March 8th I won a Store Championship (11 people at tournament) with a similar squad. I had three wins and one loss. I won on strength of schedule.
TIE Bomber - Captain Jonus with PTL and Homing Missiles
TIE Bomber - Gamma Squadron with Assault Missiles and Cluster Missiles
TIE Bomber - Gamma Squadron with Assault Missiles and Cluster Missiles
Dark Curse
I was too aggressive in the final round and I got outmaneuvered.
In the last 2 tourneys I. The final 4 there was one a bomber swarm. So they can work if they are gettin to the end.
Jonus with Cluster Missiles are painful. Very painful.
There will be love for the bomber when the big ships come out . As the game progresses there will be more viable cost effective ordance options available.
Bombers and small squads are awesome, and I proved it live and thusly:
http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100762-can-a-small-imperial-fleet-win/
Bombers are fun. I like my 3Gs+ build and have had success with the bomber swarm too.
Rebel squadrons with Biggs and all high PS lists will give your Bombers a very hard time.
Especially the Wedge + Biggs combo is pain in the ass.
i used 2 bombers each with a CM and Seismic charge this past weekend at our Store Championship, they were good in my MVP's in my 2 mirror matches simply because of the amout of hull and that charges hurt tie fighters pretty good, however they really sucked against Rebels, in fact in my 1st game i lost 1 before he even got to shoot anything.
i used 2 bombers each with a CM and
Is that CM Cluster or Concussion Missiles?
Rebel squadrons with Biggs and all high PS lists will give your Bombers a very hard time.
Especially the Wedge + Biggs combo is pain in the ass.
I could definitely see that with certain builds, especially in the first round. You'd have to hope to tear Biggs up the first couple of shots so in future turns you can go after other ships. That, or go heavily with assault missiles or bombs.
I really like the bomber and played a bit with the following list which I like but haven't gotten to "sing" yet but I'm getting better with it and taking note of mistakes.
Vader with Assault Missiles and Squad Leader
Jonus
Gamma with Cluster or Concussion
Scimitar with Cluster or Concussion
A downside of both Jonus and Vader with Squad is that this essentially is a jousting list that relies on staying in formation (Vader for Squad and Jonus for rerolls).
Rebel squadrons with Biggs and all high PS lists will give your Bombers a very hard time.
Especially the Wedge + Biggs combo is pain in the ass.
I could definitely see that with certain builds, especially in the first round. You'd have to hope to tear Biggs up the first couple of shots so in future turns you can go after other ships. That, or go heavily with assault missiles or bombs.
I really like the bomber and played a bit with the following list which I like but haven't gotten to "sing" yet but I'm getting better with it and taking note of mistakes.
Vader with Assault Missiles and Squad Leader
Jonus
Gamma with Cluster or Concussion
Scimitar with Cluster or Concussion
A downside of both Jonus and Vader with Squad is that this essentially is a jousting list that relies on staying in formation (Vader for Squad and Jonus for rerolls).
Why not switch Squad Leader to Jonus? Then Vader can break off after using his Assault Missiles and fly as a flanker, while the bombers keep formation.
Rebel squadrons with Biggs and all high PS lists will give your Bombers a very hard time.
Especially the Wedge + Biggs combo is pain in the ass.
I could definitely see that with certain builds, especially in the first round. You'd have to hope to tear Biggs up the first couple of shots so in future turns you can go after other ships. That, or go heavily with assault missiles or bombs.
I really like the bomber and played a bit with the following list which I like but haven't gotten to "sing" yet but I'm getting better with it and taking note of mistakes.
Vader with Assault Missiles and Squad Leader
Jonus
Gamma with Cluster or Concussion
Scimitar with Cluster or Concussion
A downside of both Jonus and Vader with Squad is that this essentially is a jousting list that relies on staying in formation (Vader for Squad and Jonus for rerolls).
It's really funny you mention this because as I was typing the list I realized that I don't really use Jonus's early action. The only disadvantage (and it's a small one) is that Vader going later guarantees a TL for the Scimitar, though Jonus probably would as well.