I ran a 7-ship TIE swarm, led by Soontir Fel:
Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor = 27
6 x Academy Pilots — 6 TIE Fighters (6x12) = 72
Total = 99 points
From my practice games, my general plan was to set up 6 TIE Fighters in formation in whichever corner granted me the most maneuvering room, and to deploy Soontir Fel in the opposite corner, facing in diagonally.
Game 1
My TIE swarm is seen below deployed across the table from Jer's elite Darth Vader flight.
After a lot of maneuvering and dancing around, the swarm got Darth Vader in their sights and shot him down, garnering me a modified match win.
Game 2
I faced off against Ian's TIE swarm led by Darth Vader in a shuttle. As the game opened, I pushed Fel too far ahead of his squadron. Below, Ian's ships blast Soontir Fel out of the sky.
The rest of my TIE swarm was a turn too late to help, but were in a good position to attack Vader's ship next turn.
Below, furious action as Darth Vader's shuttle finally goes down. That guy force-choked my pilots from his bridge!
The destruction of Darth Vader and some opposing TIE fighters was enough to grant me a modified match win.
Game 3
Matt's elite team of Soontir Fel and Darth Vader (armed with Assault Missiles!) forced me to spread out the TIE formation.
Matt's Soontir Fel (talk about Clone Wars!) was nailed by a lucky close range shot from one of my TIE Fighters.
Darth Vader never got off a shot. I shot down Matt's Fel; since my force lost only a TIE Fighter in return, I managed to eek out another modified match win
Game 4
Ty's fielded a cool Rebel flight: Blue Sqdn. B-Wing w/ Ion Cannon, Blue Sqdn. B-Wing, Gold Y-Wing w/ Ion Turret, and Jan Ors in a Hwk-290 with yet ANOTHER Ion Turret.
I made a fundamental error and moved towards the centre. I should have stayed on the left flank of the asteroid field and forced the Rebels to come to me.
I made another error by moving a couple of TIEs too fast and running into an asteroid! Below, Soontir Fel goes down to a 5-dice (!) volley from a B-Wing. Jan Ors granted the B-Wing an extra attack dice; it's a very good backfield ship and pilot.
I managed to nail the heavy-armed B-Wing, but it was too little, too late. Ian ion-cannoned more of my TIE fighters into asteroids, granting him the match win!
Overall Result: 3-0-1 Win/Tie/Loss record (for 9 Tournament points)
Many thanks to Perry and Imagine Games and Hobbies for organizing and hosting the event. Congrats to Conscript Byron (fielding 2 B-Wings and 2 X-Wings) and to Chris (ETA: Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon w/ a Gunner, and 2 x Blue Sqdn. B-Wings ea. w/ Fire Control Systems) for winning 1st and 2nd place!
Note: Chris posted his own report for the tournament, located here.
***
TIE Swarms and Firepower
I found running 7 ships mentally exhausting. However, the firepower of all those ships can be very effective. One objective seemed to be to keep them together as best as I could. Making the other guy move through the asteroid field is also key; in my last game the asteroids did as much damage to my ships as Ty's guns!
TheMetalBikini.com posted some very informative articles about moving in formation. It's a three-part series: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
BoLS recently published a great article on ship placement, located here.
A few days after the tournament, FFG changed the tournament rules. Version 1.5.2 of these rules are posted here: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/faq/X-Wing-Tournament-Rules.pdf
Interestingly, the differential required for a full match win has been reduced from 33 points to only 12 points, the cost of a single Academy Pilot TIE Fighter. This could be both good and bad for the TIE swarm as a concept. Conscript Kevin has stated that firepower is important; he has been recently play-testing a swarm consisting of 6 named TIE Fighter pilots (Howlrunner, Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse, Backstabber, Winged Gundark, and Night Beast). At the tournament, IIRC I fielded the largest force, with 7 ships. The majority of the Galactic Empire players seemed to be running elite 4-ships lists.
I am jonesing to try out one of the following lists, since I am a big fan of both the Millennium Falcon (my all-time favourite sci-fi ship) and Chewbacca:
Chewbacca — YT-1300 (Determination, Gunner, Millennium Falcon) 49 pts.
Rookie Pilot — X-Wing (R2 Astromech) 22 pts.
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing (Heavy Laser Cannon) 29 pts.
Total = 100 pts.
Chewbacca — YT-1300 (Determination, Cluster Missiles, Nien Nunb) 48 pts
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing - 22 pts.
Jan Ors — HWK-290 (Ion Cannon Turret) 30 pts.
Total = 100 pts.
It was a fun time for sure. My first couple of games (the tournament) really got me excited about the game.
ReplyDeleteMy let the wookie win list was a lot of fun and now that I've seen the game play out I can make some adjustments to it. It had two b wings with fire control systems, which I liked but I'd alter what Chewie had for sure next time.
We'll have to get in a game some time Dave, so you can show me how to fly a formation.
Chris, I edited my post to add some links on formations, movement, and placement.
ReplyDeleteA ganme would be great! Aside from my own Chewie lists, the force I originally tested for the tournament (but couldn't use since the Imperial Aces rules were not legal yet) is as follows:
Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor (27)
6 x Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter (72)
I put together an imperial list after the event. A lot of players there told me only tie fighter swarms were viable. So I made a tie bomber list. It up on the blog but I think it's what I'll run for he next little bit
ReplyDeleteThe bomber list sounds cool.
ReplyDeleteMy error, my original list is as follows:
Carnor Jax, — TIE Interceptor, with Expert Handling (28)
6 x Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter (72)
I like the all-red Interceptor model.