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hi all
4 of use get together once a month for a 4 way 100pt each game (2 imp & 2 rebels)

this month im trying something different as an imp player

im picking 7 academy pilots Tie fights & 'the dark curse' tie fighter

8 tie fighters in total no upgrades

my tactic's are to concentrate on 1 or 2 ships at a time & over power with dice


were playing tonight so lets see how it goes

That's a standard swarm, but take Howlrunner instead of Dark Curse. The re-roll on all of your fighters is a massive firepower increase for very few points. Dark Curse, on the other hand, doesn't really add much to the swarm besides being just another TIE fighter.

I didnt know there was something called a swarm list

But wow does it work

I killed 3 X wings & 2 A wings for the loose of 2 tie fighters

I set up in 2 groups of 4

2 side by side then 2 behind side by side to make a big square of tie fighters. Then flew in formation at all times
Target a ship then just concentrate all the fire on that ship till it’s destroyed

It’s unstoppable

rockgod2304 wrote:
It’s unstoppable

Not really. It's a good list, but it's not an auto-win.

how would you stop this list

we played it twice tonight & both times i only lost 2 ties in the 1st & only 1 in the second game

my friends were scratching there heads on how to stop it.(they would like some tips)

even the x wings breaking up my formation didnt do much to stop them

rockgod2304 wrote:
how would you stop this list

Use the asteroids to break up the blob and/or force it to suffer collisions between ships that cost it actions and put ships out of position, focus fire on a single TIE at a time to kill ships ASAP and reduce incoming damage instead of spreading damage across multiple ships without killing any of them, bring a 4-ship rebel list with the redundancy to lose a ship in the initial pass (after killing a TIE) and still have a viable force, and attempt to flank the blob so that only part of it can engage my ships.

yep they thought asteroids would disruped the formations
they just could seem to get enought fire power in the right place at the right time

flanking the ties is difficult with the 1 hard turn move (which i use alot)

i added a pic of tonight

rockgod2304 wrote:
they just could seem to get enought fire power in the right place at the right time

Sounds like a player skill problem.

flanking the ties is difficult with the 1 hard turn move (which i use alot)

That's not what I mean by flanking. The goal isn't (just) to stay out of arc entirely, it's to come at the TIE blob from an angle. Instead of going straight at the blob, where everyone will be in range and arc, you hit it from the side where your initial range 3 shots will leave some of the TIEs out of range entirely. And ideally you do it in a way that forces the blob to fly straight through the asteroid field to get to your ships, which breaks up their formation even more. A 1-turn doesn't help much with that because it changes arcs but doesn't change position, so TIEs that are out of range before the turn will probably still be out of range after the turn.

Also, the more times you have to make those turns the more likely it is that you collide with your own ships, lose actions, and leave ships out of position. Even if you successfully use the 1-turn to keep everything working properly the fact that your opponent forced you to use it and create that opportunity for failure means that their strategy was working.

I find your lack of asteroids troubling...

In all seriousness as a swarm player myself, its an entirely different game when your playing with asteroids.

 ironicsilence wrote:
I find your lack of asteroids troubling...

This. Now that you've added a picture your problem is clear: you've changed the rules in a way that makes swarms a lot more powerful. The problem isn't the swarm, it's the fact that you removed the asteroids.

Also, I see a serious lack of player skill from the rebel player. The A-wings have been rushed ahead, but the X-wings are hanging back out of range. This lets the TIE swarm focus on one threat at a time and finish it off before moving on to the next wave. Against a swarm (or most lists, really) you want to hit them simultaneously with everything so that they're facing your full list at once.

One of the best aspects to X-Wing is that as balanced as it is and with the game balanced best at ~100pts, player skill and tactics matters a TON. My most common opponent had been playing awhile before we started hanging out and met with success using 'strong' ships and maybe a combo or two, until he faced me and I ripped apart all his squadrons by simply being in formation with only three X-Wings that were well synergized, as he put one ship after another in front of me. Now that he's picked up on the strategy his longer experience is turning the table back on to me haha,...dangit. :(

Another player here agreeing with the above, use asteroids (practically a requirement for any really good game of X-Wing as far as I'm concerned), teach your friends to use formation tactics. Many named pilots grant major rewards to players who can maintain a solid formation, like the aforementioned Howlrunner. Or Dutch or Garven for the Rebels. Good hunting!

yep no asteriods this week. but it was agreed on by all before i wrote this list

weve played loads of games all with asteroids

i think there should be an added dimention in to X wing game

roll a D6

1 clear space
2 D3 asteroids
3 D6 asteroids
4 2D6 asteroids
5 3D6 asteroids
6 Holy god (millenium falcon chase from 'the empire strikes back)
cover the board with every thing youve got

problem with littering the field with asteroids is it will be a pretty boring game of no one being able to shoot. or exploding before the can actually land in a clear spot. Swarms are good but if you dont know how to fly one your opponent can take a big advantage from that.

Now that I'm not in a regional tournament (thought my store tourney was a regional-they misspoke), i can post my Double-Falcon list: can eat the TIE swarm, unless I get horribly unlucky. Very skilled pilot BARELY squeaked out a victory against it, because he got two crits in a row that prevented Lando from shooting. He had one hit point left on one TIE, btw. The Double-Falcon of doom is as follows, and can massacre TIEs with ease:
Lando
-Nien Nubn copilot
-Push the Limit
-Anti-pursuit lasers

Chewbacca
-Millenium Falcon
-Anti-Pursuit lasers
-Gunner

Comes out to 100 on the money and has only lost a single game.

I'd go with a different double Falcon list. APLs are a questionable choice on a high-PS ship because they only work if the enemy ship moves first and rams you, if you move second and ram them the APLs do nothing. And against TIE swarms you're always moving last, so your APLs will only ever do anything if your opponent makes stupid maneuver choices and rams you even though they knew exactly where you were going to be when they set their maneuver dials. Meanwhile without gunner on one of your ships your firepower is going to be kind of limited, so the swarm has plenty of time to overwhelm you with lots of attack dice. IMO the better list:

Lando
- Expert handling
- Gunner

Chewbacca
- Expert handling
- Gunner

Expert handling is amazing on a big ship because the large base gives you so many potential movement options, and against a swarm you're always going to go second and have the ability to barrel roll out of arc once you see exactly where all of the enemy ships have ended their moves. Meanwhile the gunners keep your firepower up even when you have to spend your action on a barrel roll, and there's no clear target to kill that can reduce your firepower as much as possible ASAP.

Ill give that a try sometime, but two actions per falcon is hard to deny. Also, before APLs I used to run with another PTL on Chewie for 3 actions. People in my meta love to use high PS, so the APL are for an all-around list tournament build. Lando's doesnt always come into effect, but Chewie's does a few times.