One of the local game stores (Game Kastle in Fremont Ca.) is planning a X-Wing tourney on May 4th. I was thinking of running 4 x Grey Squad Y-Wings, all with Ion Turrets...going to name it "May the Fours Be With You" in honor of the day.

I think it could be good against a 4 ship rebel build, just will take a LONG time to kill anything.

You could spend the 8 points you spend on PS on something else though, taking Dutch for 5 maybe., or r2d2 You will not be killing stuff fast, so not sure what the PS gets you, apart from increased chance of you colliding.

4 Ion turrets is probably overkill, but I played against something like that on thursday and it was annoying vs b wings etc, as I got a lot of ships ionized and facing the wrong way unable to fire. I think vs a tie swarm you would be struggling against 4 ship rebels you will do ok, but not kill fast at all. Against a falcion, it might be fun as you could probably fly it off the map relatively easily.

If your opponent can keep you at r3 then you have a big problem, but that is not so easy.

if he has 8 points spent on ps he could instead spend it on 2 proton torps so anything he can get in front of him he has a better chance of damaging

I would lose two of the y-wings. You are going to have a really hard time killing anything with that list. Alternately drop two of the turrets and make the ion cannon ships golds. Then add some astromechs and ordinance. A coupla advanced protons will blow big holes in your opponent's list and the golds can set the rest up for range 1 hits from the remaining y's.

Drop 2 Ys for Bs with Ion Cannons.

Drop 2 Ys for Bs with Ion Cannons.

Or if you have 2 YTs, play Rebel Convoy.

I've flown four golds with ions and R2s. That leaves enough room for a proton torpedo on one of them for a little extra punch. I've found that even if you rarely take advantage of the R2, your opponent at least had to respect the extra mobility options you have.

I flew a shuttle off the board without letting it take a shot in my first round. In the second round, I frustrated my buddy by ioning Wedge into oblivion over 5 consecutive turns without allowing him a shot either.

I highly recommend it. It may not take 1st place, but you'll have a lot of fun flying it.

I don't remember what it was, but I think one of the big tournaments was won by a guy with 5 Y-wings. The secret was they didn't all have Ion Turrets (I am not sure if any of them did).

The Ion Turret is really useful, but its weakness is amplified when everything is shooting Ion shots. Ion shots help you kill things, but they don't do it very well all alone.

I don't remember what it was, but I think one of the big tournaments was won by a guy with 5 Y-wings. The secret was they didn't all have Ion Turrets (I am not sure if any of them did).

The Ion Turret is really useful, but its weakness is amplified when everything is shooting Ion shots. Ion shots help you kill things, but they don't do it very well all alone.

5 Ys could fit 2 turrets in a 100 point fleet.

A "nice" thing about using the Ion Turret on a Y-Wing, as opposed to the HWK, is that you still have a 2d Primary that lets you close and shoot 3 dice when someone else has slowed a ship down. Ion what you like but if there's a ship you want to kill you can then maneuver your primaries to finish it off. Trading a Y-Wing and Turret for a B-Wing and Ion may give your opponent a bigger "threat" with the B-Wing and that B-Wing may take some maneuvering to get off shots but it can Ionize at R3 and when it gets close it can punch a bit harder.

I flew the 4 Y-wing build several times and tell you that you will get slaughtered by the Tie-Swarm. Be it 5 or 6 Ties.

An Obsidian Squad or a list of named Ties will allways hold you in their Line of fire and take every round one Y-wing out. While shooting with 2 red against 3 green will do not much damage.

And staying with 2 Ys at R1 vs 3 Ties favours them and not you, as their extra Damage will get through your armour in no time.

Flying a 4 Y-Wing full Ion Squad will be no better as you just start with one less fighter.

Sure you will ionize 2 to three Ties every Turn, but most of the time they will be still looking your way and with the 3 Turn Red maneuvers the Y-Wing is not fast enough the fly past them on max. speed and shoot backwards.

I don't want to be negative or bash the Y-wing, quite the opposite is true, I love them in fact. But you will get eaten by Tie Swarms.

You will do good maybe against a 3 or 4 Tie Interceptor squad, but against most other Lists, especially Hit point strong ones like YTs and B-Wings you are on the short end of the rope because they kill you faster with their 3 red dice as you can say "loosen up!"

Ah and forget the Blast Turret.

Firing 3 red dice without focus is as much good as firing 2 red with focus.

Im currently trying to build something like a 4 Y-Wing list with two or three Ys with Flechette Torpedo and Ammunition Failsafe. Plus an Ion Canon Y-wing with the new Stress make Astromech.

I tested at least this one Y-Wing and he negated Darth Vader for 4 Turns.

Having Stress and getting Ionized is bad for a high point ship.

As when he has to make his Ionized movement he isnt allowed to remove stress.

A shame the other 3 Y-Wings took 3 Turns to just finish one stressed Darth Vader without Fokus or anything.

Soo my Advice would be to put in that R3-A2 Y-Wing and team him up with some B-Wings to kill that poor sod of once he is cold in space.

One of the local game stores (Game Kastle in Fremont Ca.) is planning a X-Wing tourney on May 4th. I was thinking of running 4 x Grey Squad Y-Wings, all with Ion Turrets...going to name it "May the Fours Be With You" in honor of the day.

I think 4 Bs would be better for the pun

Ok,

So unlike some (most?) of the other posters here I will answer your actual question rather than try to convince you to run something else.

A 4 Y-Wing list is a solid mid-tier list. It isn't likely to win all the way through a tournament, but it will win games and it could (could mind you) pull out an overall win. Success through a whole tournament will require excellent flying, and a little help avoiding matchups against TIE swarms.

The best current 4 Y-Wing list is 3 Golds with Ion Turrets, Dutch with Ion Turret and R5-K6. This will change once R7-T1 comes out, when R5-K6 will be replaced by him. You need Dutch in the game as long as possible and handing out Target Locks. R7-T1 provides you with the means to both hand out a Target Lock and move out of arcs, so he is definitely the #1 choice for this list.

When playing, you will need to use Ions first and foremost to minimize incoming damage. You can't get aggressive, because your Y-Wings are like a ticking clock. They are tough, but they pretty much never "avoid" damage, so any incoming fire wears away at them. The only way to extend your lifespan long enough to win a game is to avoid getting shot at entirely.

After using Ions to avoid damage, you should identify a single ship to attempt to remove from the game. If you can point Dutch and 2 Golds at someone (ideally at R1), WITHOUT LETTING DUTCH BUMP, then you need to do so. This isn't super hard because you can predict an ionized ship, but DON'T get caught losing Dutch's action. WIth luck, you can fire 3 dice with TL from Dutch (be sure to spend the TL and use R5-K6 no matter what you roll), and 2 x 3 dice attacks with TL and Focus at that one ship in order to eliminate it. Assuming you still have a fourth ship, that last ship can Ionize the next target so you can predict where it will end up and repeat the attack without delay. If you can't do that then prep for a big hit by Ionizing defensively until you can put a big smack down.

If you play a full on swarm, you are going to struggle to remove them from the table fast enough to keep your Y-Wings from wearing away. Never, ever, ever fly straight into them and allow a block against you. Against Falcons/Firesprays you do the opposite, fly into them and use primaries at close range to blast them faster than they can blast you. Don't bump, because you cannot afford to have a Y-Wing unable to fire at the Falcon/Firespray. Having the Falcon/Firespray lose an action is no where near as useful as having an extra shot. You can also put a single Ion token on a Falcon/Firespray, allowing you to switch to a quick ionizing hit if your opponent mistakenly winds up facing a rock or the end of the table. Most of the time, however, Ions are wasted against big ships.

I like the list, and it IS fun, but its dependence on Dutch for damage output and limited firepower will make it a challenge to succeed against agile lists. I hope you enjoy it.

I agree with KineticOperator 100%. The Y-wing is my favorite ship, and I have run many 4 and 5 Y-wing lists. The best combos are either 5 gold squadrons (2 w/ ions) or 3 Golds and Dutch. I have done pretty well with them, winning several local tournaments, and coming in the top 8 at the store championship at Fantasy Flight. In my experience, the list actually does damage fairly quickly, because when you have most of your opponents ionized, it is easy to line up range 1 shots with your primary weapons. All Y-wings with lots of ions can do very well against almost any Rebel list, but they do struggle against the TIE swarm. Best of luck!

Kinetik Operator and Rmb are of course right in their tactical advices. Maybe i'm just have been smashed One Time to often by the swarm. I think i Need to Try the 5 y-wing squad.