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So this is the 60pt squadron I've been running:



First off, I've only been playing with my brother, since no one at my LGS wants to start X- wing yet. Second, these are all the minis I have at the moment.

Do I have the right idea? Coming from 40k where I made decisions based mostly on which unit is less prohibitively- costed in actual money before I make tactical decisions, being able to run a horde army is fun and I want to ontinue doing that.

When I expand my squadron into the 100 point range, what are my options?

TIE swarms can be very effective. The only thing I'd suggest is drop the royal guard interceptor to a sabre squadron to free up a point and upgrade swarm tactics to push the limit. PTL is mandatory on interceptors, they suck without it but can be really good with it.

 Peregrine wrote:
TIE swarms can be very effective. The only thing I'd suggest is drop the royal guard interceptor to a sabre squadron to free up a point and upgrade swarm tactics to push the limit. PTL is mandatory on interceptors, they suck without it but can be really good with it.

Why is PTL so necessary? I have only played one or two games with this list, but the inter- unit synergy with swarm tactics seems fun.

 Powerfisting wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
TIE swarms can be very effective. The only thing I'd suggest is drop the royal guard interceptor to a sabre squadron to free up a point and upgrade swarm tactics to push the limit. PTL is mandatory on interceptors, they suck without it but can be really good with it.

Why is PTL so necessary? I have only played one or two games with this list, but the inter- unit synergy with swarm tactics seems fun.

It lets you get two actions a turn instead of one.

For example, instead of only barrel rolling, you can barrel roll+boost to dodge an opponent's arc.

If you know you'll be shot no matter what, instead of only evading, you can evade+focus.

If you're trying to get a good attack off, instead of just focusing, you can focus and boost/barrel roll to get closer and fire an extra die at range one.

The stress you take from PTL isn't a big deal either as the Interceptor has a ton of green, meaning you can PTL quite a bit.

 Powerfisting wrote:
Why is PTL so necessary?

Because the TIE interceptor has a weak stat line (for its point cost) but an amazing action bar and tons of green maneuvers to minimize the impact of stress. With only one action per turn it's an expensive glass cannon that can't protect itself effectively and doesn't really have the firepower to offset its poor durability. With two actions per turn it suddenly has much better defense with focus + evade stacks and much better maneuverability with boost and barrel roll in the same turn. Now instead of a TIE fighter with +1 red die for 50% more points you have a ship that is way more elusive and can fly circles around its enemies.

the inter- unit synergy with swarm tactics seems fun.

Swarm tactics adds very little here. PS 6 doesn't boost you above any of the high-end pilots (which are PS 8+), and doesn't help at all with maneuvering to avoid shots entirely. And you're only doing it for one ship at a time, which will always be a basic TIE fighter. It's better than having a blank card but not by much. On the other hand PTL turns your interceptor into a much bigger threat and lets you flank with it while tying things up in the middle of the table with your three meatshields.

It depends what you're after.

Swarm Tactics is a short ranged ability designed to hand off pilot skill to another fighter flying on your wing.

For an Interceptor to use it, it's got to hold formation with the TIE fighters - which isn't ideal as it can be more agile than they are (primarily due to Boost). TIE interceptors tend not to like holding tight formations around friendly ships for precisely this reason.

Secondly, a Pilot Skill of 6 isn't that high - not when you're spending points to pass it around, anyway. For substantially less points, you could hand Swarm Tactics to Mauler Mithel or Howlrunner, both of whom have a higher Pilot Skill than the Royal Guard.

It is possible to fly TIE interceptors without Push The Limit*, but it's an ability that's ridiculously well suited to them for the reasons Peregrine has suggested.

* Turr Phenir manages well without it, but if you've got Imperial Aces rather than the basic Interceptor you don't have him available.

Probably the best way to push to 100 points is get with your brother and buy another Core Set. He gets the X-Wing and you get the 2 TIEs. This also gives you extra components should you loses something (dmage deck, range ruler, tokens, etc)
This gives you 5 TIEs and 1 Int.
A quick and dirty list that gives you a swarm that really punches hard...but requires no other special purchases (ie; auto-thrusters):
Soontir Fel, PTL, Shield or Hull upgrade.
Howlrunner
4x Academy Pilots
That's either 99 or 100 points depending on if you take Hull or Shield.

Next, start playing at the FLGS with your bro and start trying to get others interested.
Or search the web and find another FLGS that has an X-Wing contingent. In my area we have 2 big games stores..one has the 40K players and the other the X-wing/Armada/Imperial Assault players.