TIE Swarm

"Perhaps the greatest advantage the Empire holds over the Rebellion is superior numbers."

How good is the TIE Swarm

In XW 2.0, pilots and upgrades that grant action economy are greatly increased in cost or highly conditional in use. This tips the balance away from named pilots and stacked upgrades back to generic pilots.

Howlrunner has a slight upward adjustment in cost (from 36pts* to 40pts), but Academy Pilots have their cost adjusted downwards (from 24pts* to 23pts). FFG wants the iconic TIE swarm to rule the tables again, and this list represents the simplest and most brutal implementation of the Imperial ideology.

Presenting to you - TIE swarm 2.0.

The List

Howlrunner offers the whole squad rerolls on offense. Elusive grants him defensive resilence that can be reused when he does a red maneuver - you are elusive when you do an unexpected maneuver - get it. Very thematic!

Iden Versio is my pick for the most powerful TIE fighter squadron 'leader' since Howlrunner. Academy greenhorns are always singled out by Aces to blow out of the sky before they get a chance to shoot - aka PS-kill.

Iden Versio gives those panic-stricken Academy greenhorns a chance to catch a breath and fire their laser before going up in flames - far too often the fate of TIE fighter pilots. With Iden Versio in your squad, you can casually shrug off Proton Rockets, Advanced Proton Torpedoes or Heavy laser Cannons - for a while.

Tell me the odds

When focused and aided by Howlrunner, an attack against the 2-die defence of focusing X-wings yields an average of 0.65 dmg at range 2. If you manage to close in to range 1, the damage doubles (1.1 dmg).

Your Academy Pilots will be keen to show off their skills with fancy barrel-rolls or evading maneuvers. Here is a word of advice to you as the new commander of the squadron:

Maintain Discipline!

Unfocused Academy pilots are horrible shooters, dealing a pittance 0.26dmg against a focused x-wing at r2 (0.55 at r1), even with Howlrunner's influence.

There is no room in the empire for pilots of such ill-discipline. The Emperor is not known for his patience with sloppy commanders either.

Flight Training

Fly the ships in formation as tightly as possible. When possible, use a ship as a blocker to pin an enemy ship inside your field of fire. Use barrel roll during pre-combat positioning to find an unobstructed approach to the enemy. Rush in when the enemy is trying to re-position, slow down if you suspect you are being baited to commit into asteroids.

Please download and attend the following e-learning modules for on formation flying:

Movement 101: Banks and Turns

Movement 201: Range 1

Movement 301: Rebel Formations

Movement 302: Imperial Formations

Movement 351: Asteroids

Remember commander, the pilots are expendable, but mission success is critical.

Dash-Kyle

"Confidence. The Outrider is twice the ship the Falcon is." - Dash Rendar

Piloting the Outrider, Dash and Eaden broke Han Solo's record for the Kessel Run while being fired upon by an Imperial Interdictor-class cruiser.

How good is the Outrider in XW 2.0

The ultra-maneuverability and asteroid evading abilities of the Outrider makes it the greatest nemesis of any squadron that wants to fly in tight, disciplined formations. Dash 1.0 costs 104-116* pts, while the Dash 2.0 costs upwards of 130 pts. Moreover, its turret has lost half of its 360 arc turret.

In the abstract, the Outrider looks badly nerfed - and it probably is.

Here are 3 reasons why Dash may still be good:

1. Free evades from Autothruster 1.0 is a thing of the past. That is 1 more damage every shot. IF you get the shot.

2. Only a select few Initiative 6 pilots beats Dash's Initiative 5. In XW 1.0, every other named pilot has higher pilot skill than Dash, especially with Veteran Instinct.

3. 4-7 ship builds are a thing in 2.0, and the Outrider is traditionally strong against these. I would cross my fingers though - these lists have a lot more tricks than in the past - Iden Versio & Admiral Sloane.

The List

There are many ways to build the Outrider. All of them costs an arm and a leg. After considering a few options, here's a baseline build.

Wait, where's the Outrider

The Outrider title overlaps somewhat with Dash's ability. I opted to spend the points elsewhere instead.

Kanan Jarrus

The one thing I dislike about Xwing 2.0 is the vanilla nature of Force-crews. All Force-crews basically function as an over-priced "Rey" - providing a partial focus token every turn. Kanan is chosen as he has a very relevant secondary usage of Force to clear stress especially after taking a red barrel roll action.

Moldy Crow

The HWK-290 is the front-runner candidate for the most improved ship award in Rebels. It is important for a 2-ship list to be balanced, or else one ship will be quickly taken off the board leaving the other without support. The fragile HWK-290 is equipped with four defensive upgrades.

62pts is a good price for a ship that can play the support role while defending with 3-dice, focus, evade and a reroll. I suspect it would do well in a variety of Rebel lists.

"Focus, Dash. Focus." - Kyle Katarn

Rewind 3 years to wave 6 - Kyle PTL Engine Dash were everywhere. Now, Kyle supports Dash by transferring focus tokens from his own ship when in arc. His ability provides action economy for Dash, while allowing Bistan's second shot** to trigger even when Dash needs to barrel roll or rotate-arc.

I suspect this will be a trend in Rebel list-building in XW 2.0 - upgrades are steeply priced and it is often more economical to use a support ship than to stack an upgrade. For eg, Luke Gunner costs a whopping 30pts. Yet, you could just use the Initiative 6 Fenn Rau to Coordinate the turret rotation for 52 points and you get a ship and token-locking ability thrown in, while freeing up your crew slot.

Stealth Device on Dash?

While I like SD on Kyle, I'm not certain about SD on Dash. It comes cheaply at 4pts and it's worth a try. See: "An Iterative Process".

Tell me the odds.

A rule of thumb in X-wing: the more dice you roll, the more worthwhile it is to double-modify your roll. Having paid so much in points to access the Outrider's 4-dice attack, we want to consistently double-modify it. Here is where XW 2.0 makes us pay through our nose to do so.

Having a Lone Wolf re-roll and focus token gives an average of 3.5 hit results, while a Lone Wolf with Force only 3.1 hits. A TL with focus yields 3.75 hits, while a TL with Force yields 3.45 hits.

It takes experience to balance the offensive and defensive usage of the 4 dice-mods available:

1. Lone Wolf,

2. Force,

3. Action

4. Focus/Evade (transfer)

Pro Tip: It is generally better to use TL and focus on offence while keeping Lone Wolf and Force on defense where you are not likely to re-roll or focus more than 1 die anyway.

Flight Training

The Outrider's ultra-maneuverability allows you to 1-turn & barrel roll to virtually stay on the spot or accelerate away with a 4-forward maneuver. Alternate between fast and slow maneuvers to keep your opponent guessing. Even though Kyle is designated as the support ship, you can sometimes catch an opponent off-guard by using the Outrider as a blocker and pincer with the Moldy Crow at range 1.

Use asteroids to protect your sensor blind spot at r1 - this is where your attack is weakest and your enemy's the strongest.

An asteroid (partially obscured) prevents Fenn Rau from boosting into r1 after an initial barrel roll into this position.

Dash flies into an asteroid field to strafe the Scum ships at range 3. If they turn in, they are going to have some challenging movements ahead.

In this match, it would probably be better to position Dash on the right, which forces an opponent to turn his formation. It is very challenging to turn swarms. Even if your opponent is proficient, make him do it, and try to capitalize when mistakes are made.

It is not about placing it far away. It is about being able to catch the enemy on the turn and on the edge. The asteroids highly favor the swarm since they do not dissect the board in any way to be used as an effective shield.

Images taken from Gold Squadron Podcast, my favorite YouTube channel - You guys are great!

Comments on the situation meant to inform beginner players. It does not take into the layers of complex decision-making required at the high level of play these images may represent.

An Iterative Process

List building is ultimately an iterative process.

Build the list based on good principles. Fly the list. Evaluate the list. Try a variant. Repeat.

Pro tip: Keep a written or mental record of how the game went - starting from deployment to engagement. This will help you build better lists and fly better.

Variations

Juke talent on Kyle would be an interesting variation on a more offensive style of a support role.

Jake with Proton Rockets is an alternative wing-man for the more traditional Dash + Ace

Leebo with C-3PO offers great action economy.

Trick shot with Outrider title paired with Jar Ors offers a 6 dice attack.

*Standard format is now a 200pt format to allow for greater granularity in costing.

**During setup, a shipwith a primary or special [turret arc] or [double turret arc] weapon adds the corresponding turret arc indicator to its base. ... A ship with a [double turret arc] is treated as having two [turret arc] in opposite directions (Rules p18)

*** "When a ship is instructed to transfer a token to another ship, that token is removed from the ship and the other ship gains it. - Jyn Erso can trigger and change the token to an evade.