Wolf Pack: TIE swarms

The Traditional TIE swarm is the wolf-pack incarnate. First you need an Alpha Wolf, Howlrunner, and then as many wolves as you can fit into the list. This usually runs Howlrunner and 6 or 7 noobs.

The Strength of the Wolf is the Pack

Now the strength of the Swarm is on numbers. The number of attack dice you can throw, the number of hits you can take and the number of re-rolls you make increasing your chances to do damage. The TIE swarm is a proven effective build in tournament settings. It has won championships and special events. It is undeniably difficult to beat if flown by an experienced player.

Like a wolf-pack the lynch-pin in the Alpha Wolf, Howlrunner. Kill Howlie and the swarm falls apart fast. It is still dangerous without Howlie but not nearly so deadly.

But is there another way to do an effective swarm than with just as many TIEs as you can fit?

The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf.

On our Facebook group, the Asheville Flight Club, we have been discussing the idea of a more elite 5 ship mini swarm. The idea is to use more name Pilots with special abilities or four TIEs and a Large Ships like Shuttle or Firespray to support.

Wolves
Howlrunner - Still effective with 7 buddies or 4.

Mauler Mithel - Throws extra attack dice at range one. Once the furball happens he can probably stay at range one for a while and if he is close to Howlie he can re-roll his 4 attack dice.

Backstabber - Good flanker and once the furball starts he might get some re-rolls from Howlie as they pass through.

Dark Curse - Right up there with Backstabber but a more defensive oriented ship where as Backstabber is offense oriented.

Black Squadron Pilot - His cheap cost an ability to take an ELlite Pilot Skill makes him useful in swarm chains and to pull crits with Draw Their Fire shenanigans.

Capt. Kagi - Kagi sucks in target locks around him and mount Rebel Captive and Sensor jammers and he can tank an disrupt for the more nimble TIEs. You can mount Engine Upgrade too in order to make him more offense oriented at the cost of trading the BSP for an Obsidian Squad dude.

Bounty Hunter with Gunner - This guy is the hammer of a five ship swarm. He has a ton of Hit Points and can fire fore or aft. He is not quite as usefule as a rebel ship with a turret but he is the closest the IMPs have to one.

Bombers - in lieu of taking a large ship like the BH or Shuttle you could field a couple of bombers with .... bombs. They have good HP and the bombs could disrupt your opponent's movement plans. They could escort Howlie and benefit from his re-roll.

Lt. Lorrir - Interceptor pilot with an awesome barrel roll option. Increased maneuverability an firepower and not too expensive.

Turr Fennir - Turd Ferguson is always a good option and very maneuverable.

Alpha and Avenger Squad - Cheap firepower and maneuverability

Saber and Royal Guards - Better PS than AA squads but more expensive. They do have access to EPS if you need them.

Lists
Five Finger Death Punch 100 points

4 Black Squad with Draw Their Fire
Bounty Hunter with Gunner and Seismic Charge

Black squad escorts the BH and once his shields are gone they pull crits off of each other so more ships can stay in the fight. The BH is the heavy hitter and also the tank. The Bomb is there to crew with your opponents plans as its presence will interfere with where he wants to move.

Mini Swarm with a Kagi Blocker 100 points

Mauler Mithel
Backstabber
Dark Curse
Obsidian Squad
Captain Kagi with Sensor Jammer, Rebel Captive and Engine Upgrade

Kagi runs interference and pulls TLs from the rest of the squad. The opponent either chooses another action or fires on the shuttle. If he fires on the shuttle he takes stress and the jammer reduces his effective fire. The other TIEs run around in formation or separately and can take care of themselves.