Tie fighters are some of the most Iconic fighters in the Star Wars universe. Tie fighters are the cheapest squadrons the Empire has access to, but are very rarely seen outside of a Sloane list. This is due to their inconsistent attacks against ships, and well they are a bit fragile. However ties do have some upsides that make them a tool that I think should be seen more on the table.
First tie fighters are the cheapest way for the empire to get a deployment 16 points. This should not be underestimated, as deployment advantage is a real thing, now I am not saying you should take copious amounts of ties just to improve your odds at deployment advantage, but if you want a small group of fighters to cover your ships 6 ties are only 48 points that is 3 deployments for under 50 points.
• 6 x TIE Fighter Squadron (48) = 48 Points
Ties will also buy you at least a turn in the squadron game, and when used correctly sometimes 2, as squadrons wont be able to bomb your ships the 1st turn in most cases that means 3 out of the 6 rounds your ships are safe from bombing, and/or the players bombing runs will become less and less powerful as your ties start to pick off fighters.
Ties are not as fragile as they seam. Its true ties do die much quicker but they rarely get one shot, true this does happen but it is more the exception than the rule. most squadrons in the game do an average of 2 damage. squadrons with 4 blue dice do an average of 2 damage, 3 blue dice Average damage is 1.5, 3 black dice do 2.25 damage, 2 blue and 2 black do an average of 2.5 damage, re-rolls do up this damage average but the only ships that bring this average to 3 are the 3 black with a single re-roll or the 2 black and 2 blue with a single re-roll, the only effect that I am aware of that gives a squadron more than a one die re-roll is Dash with 4 blues and he is likely to get 3 damage. So again Ties will generally take 2 shots to go down, and with clever use of obstruction this can go up to 3 turns, in some cases.
Don't let the other player get the drop on your ties even if you have to hold them back and let them get an early bombing run on ships then have your ties engage. It is so important to not let this happen, and with the ties speed of 4 it should be very doable, and ties should be kept close to your ships anyway, so that they can be supported by your ships anti squadron armament. Ties should never be in a position that they will take both an anti squadron attack from a ship and a squadron, at times that may be unavoidable, but as a rule of thumb never be in that position.
As for the issue of taking ties and them not having really any squadrons to target a group of 6 ties can do an average of 3 damage around to ships and that is not terrible, you will want to keep them away from ships with heavy anti-squadron tech and then disengage when you think death from anti-squadron attacks is inevitable, but if you pick your target ships carefully they can still be somewhat useful. Another trick is to have them already set up to attack before that ship can use its anti-squadron attack and have them jump out of range or into obstruction. I have had success with this strategy before when I played against a no squadron list I had 2 gozantis and a group of ties intercept an arquitens and it was eventually brought down by that group, giving me the table and a 10-1, but remember I only did this as I had no squadrons to kill with my ties, ties should always be used to kill squadorns over ships in nearly all cases.
This also brings up a point about the Tie Interceptor. I love the Tie Intereptor it is one of my favorite ships in the Star Wars universe I even built and painted a model of one that is on my book shelf.
They are the king of anti-squadron, but are just as bad against ship as the regular tie, and for this reason I can't recommend taking them as when you are faced with a no squadron list you are less points effective than if you just took a normal tie fighter.
If you want to learn more about ties how to use them and why I think they are underutilized you can look at this article from the Cannot get your ship out blog. There they go into more depth about a few of the things I spoke about here. Anyways how have you made use of ties, and if you haven't I would encourage you to give it a try you might be supersized. until next time, have a great week everyone!
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