Hey guys,

So I bought a Y today, if you remember my other threads it's the first ship I've bought which isn't an X.

My question is what's the best way to use him? Does he skulk round just shooting everything with his ion cannon? In my squad of 1 Y and 2 X's in a game earlier (Dutch/Wedge/Luke) the Y was the first go to having not done much apart from Ion my friend's TIE Advanced.

I'm not sure about skulking, but yes: the Y-wing's most effective asset is currently the ion cannon. Nothing else in the game can really match that kind of control. Dutch adds excellent support to the Y-wing's role, too.

But the Y-wing does give up some damage to get that control, and taking advantage of it takes practice. Don't despair if your first few games don't go well; just keep practicing, and you'll eventually get the hang of it.

Where "Dutch" truly shines is alongside Garven Dreis. Both would be able to fire Target Locked and Focused every round.

Ionization is a potent trick, but it's not the catch-all and be-all of your offensive options.

For instance, if the enemy ship is in Range 1 and in your firing arc, you should probably use your main weapon instead. Same number of attack dice, and can cause multiple points of damage.

Now, If your Y-Wing was just skulking 'round shooting everything with his ion cannon, I'd think that you weren't actually concentrating your fire. All of your ships ought to shoot at one of your opponents' ships until it is dead, to shrink his available damage as quickly as possible.

Not actually having to aim is great for this, and knowing where they'll be next turn helps your Xs focus the poor bastard down as well.

They tend to get beat up because of the low agility. I'd say use an ion cannon with him as much as possible to help set up Luke and Wedge. Salm with torps can be nasty too, getting that re-roll on blanks at range 2-3.

Thanks for the quick reply guys, he did get split off from the Luke and Wedge kinda early in the game and got taken out long before the finish. Luckily Wedge killed everything that moved!

Thanks for the quick reply guys, he did get split off from the Luke and Wedge kinda early in the game and got taken out long before the finish. Luckily Wedge killed everything that moved!

Yeah, "Divide and Conquer" is a strategy for a reason. If you decide to pre-divide, you're pretty much killing that ship yourself.

try this: http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v3!s!8:0,-1,-1,5:-1:6:;0:10,-1,3:-1:2:;4:-1,-1:-1:-1:

it's unconventional but it might suit your needs... also i'm not sure if you're someone to "proxy" upgrades or not. so i tried to keep it within Core + X-Wing + Y-Wing.

If you cannot see the link right now its:

Horton - Ion, R5D8, Hull

Wedge - R2D2, Squad Leader, Shield

Biggs - None.

----

Horton has a built-in TL at ranges 2-3, and with the Y's having a good deal of Hull R5D8 will add even more surviability.

Wedge with Squad Leader is for passing Actions to Horton when you are using R5D8 or if he needs a real TL or Focus.

Biggs is Biggs.

if you're not able to get your hands on a Hull or Shield that's 7pts floating. Squad Leader your friend might lend you. That's if you're of the "I don't Proxy" sorts... otherwise there's lots of other doors to explore still.

...don't try to run Horton. His ability syncs up well with Proton Torpedoes, but for new players in particular that's throwing good points after bad. To start out, stick with Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Cannon Turret or Dutch with the same loadout (add R5 Astromechs if you like).

Horton has a far easier time to Range-2 Ion Lockdown than the other options.

Within Range 1 All Y-Wings + Ion have the same choices Fire Primary for 3 dice or Ion for 3 Dice.

Sure his ability makes investing in Torpedoes more profitable, but he does the same with Range-2 Ions as well.

Also Horton does not have a higher learning curve than other Y-Wings. the Y-Wing just has a Higher Learning curve than the other ships.

just to chime in...the basic r2 unit is great on the y-wing. lets it keep up with the x-wings in your squad.

I've loved the Y and have played it constantly since it was released.

My normal build for it now is simply: Grey Squadron + R5 Astromech + Ion Turret + Hull Upgrade at 29 points. The HU takes you to 6 hull and the base R5 flips down those nasty crits that will pop up. I find that this overall gives me more survivability than using R5D8 as the base R5 is one Ship card flipped down automatically each round, instead of needing an action. Ship cards make up most of the damage deck so it's a decent option.

On top of this Y, you can easily add two of the upgraded Wedge, Luke or Biggs. Or go more generic and go for three vanilla Red Squadron X-Wings. This would put you at 98 points so you'd be in good position to do what you want with initiative.

My first y wing list was Horton and the newbies.

Horton, r2 and ion turret.

3x rookies

Thst should leave you some points to play with and three x wings that know where you will be are no fun at all' for the other guy.

If you get your opponent to fire on the Y-Wing when they could be shooting Wedge (or Luke). I'd say the Y-Wing performed very well.

Thanks guys appreciate all the help, I'll try all the suggestions and see what works for me

You could also consider giving Horton a talent by taking R2-D6. Using Deadeye could be useful if he takes a couple of cheap flechette torpedoes. Otherwise Swarm Tactics is another cheap upgrade that benefits others due to his high PS. He is also good with a Blaster Turret as his ability somewhat compensates for his lack of focus at range 2.

A three Y wing "tank" build I have considered (but never flown) called "Horton hears R2"

Horton (43 pts)

R2-D6

Swarm Tactics

Ion Turret

Flechette Torpedoes x 2

Hull Upgrade

Wingman 1: Grey Squadron (32 pts)

R5-P9

Ion Turret

Shield Upgrade

Wingman 2: Grey Squadron (25 pts)

R2

Blaster Turret

PS: I fly casual and would rather play thematic lists rather than uber-competitive lists. I rarely if ever fly the same list twice.

The Y's pretty tanky and tough, but it's the ion turret which makes it awesome and a real pest for enemy ships to deal with.

Try to get it behind enemy formations. The ion turret means you don't need to worry about keeping your opponent in arc, just about keeping yourself out of your opponent's arc. Use the ion turret to shut down enemy movement and line up next-turn shots for your other ships. A standard R2 unit is a good upgrade as well.

a recent mini tournament I went to was won by Han and 2 Y wings. Just too many hp to get through and all three with turret weapons.

I personally use the Garven & Dutch combo, with wedge with swarm tactics to lay down the hurt, and a cheap a wing to cause a distraction and dodge about so that they stick around for the end game. It's also great for giving the opponent trouble over target priority: do you kill wedge first, leaving me with Dutch and Garven still passing off target lock and focus to each other, or one of them, but leaving wedge around, still target locked and focused until you've taken down both of the others. Then there's the a wing zooming about and getting behind you that quite often tempts people into devoting some resources into tackling him. I've not been using the list long and I'm sure there are counters, but I really like how it flies, and out of the few games I've played with it I only lost once, in my first game with it, and that was due to big errors on how to play it on my part.

I don't bother with a turret on Dutch. I give him a basic R2 and he can fly in formation with the X wings. In the early game he's there to generate a TL for Garven or wedge, and if they take out wedge first, as many do, at range 1 with TL & Focus he's still getting 3 hits most (82%) of the time. It's usually enough to finish off what wedge started.

Cheerio,

Ben

Has anyone tried something like 4 grays with ion turrets? Or Three golds + Dutch + ion turrets and a couple of astromechs for the few points left? Just curious if such a list would have any success flying near the edges of the field, 'escorting' out anyone who gets near them...

Horton Salm is a boss. I made the final table at the assault on imdaar alpha event this past weekend with the following list:

Horton + 2 protons, ion turret
Dreis + R2D6, veteran insticts
Ten Numb + advanced sensors

Hortons ability coupled with the passed focus from Garvin virtully guarantees 4 hits from a torp. YTs, and B-wings whither before such an onslaught and a mistake by an irritating interceptor or howlrunner can be efficiently punished.