Being a huge Y-wing fan, I wasn't sure what to make of the BTL A4 card when I first saw the spoiler . Initially I was disappointed as I wanted to have a BTL S3 upgrade that mimicked the B-Wing E's upgrade that gave an extra crew slot (Fitting C-3PO with Salm would've been fun).

However I do like that I does help increase firepower (which is quite lacking in a ship that is supposed to be known for it's firepower) and it gives it a more Y-wing flavour/fluff than a extra crew slot would`ve done. I think i`ve read somewhere that this is exactly what FFG planned was they didn`t want to have too much niche overlap between the two rebel fighter-bombers.

Anyways I'd like to hear your thoughts on this new card and how it would effect the game. I know Salm and Dutch + extra target locking upgrades just became that much stronger (not to mention the two new Scum wishbone pilots) if you're okay with trading turret gameplay versatility for increased firepower.

Well you would never use BTL-A4 on Kavil (the PS7 Scum Ywing Ace) because it completely defeats his ability: when firing at something OUTSIDE your arc, you may roll 1 additional attack die.

I think its an interesting upgrade, but to capitalize on it you need to either build on:

1) focus generation

2) target lock distribution

That being said, I also think the title wont win any awards until they release a better turret.

... if you're okay with trading turret gameplay versatility for increased firepower.

This is what everyone's going to have to decide with the card. Personally, I am currently not okay with the trade. I don't want to lose 75% of my turret just so I can get off an often unmodified 2-dice attack. Not on a ship as clumsy as the Y-wing. But I haven't actually played with it yet, so this is just first impressions. It could turn out better than I think it will be.

... if you're okay with trading turret gameplay versatility for increased firepower.

This is what everyone's going to have to decide with the card. Personally, I am currently not okay with the trade. I don't want to lose 75% of my turret just so I can get off an often unmodified 2-dice attack. Not on a ship as clumsy as the Y-wing. But I haven't actually played with it yet, so this is just first impressions. It could turn out better than I think it will be.

On Unnamed pilots it won't be great. However Salm may get to reroll blanks on both attacks if in range 2-3. Dutch +R5-K6 may get multiple locks (and give locks). I find the title plays up these abilities but you're right that we lose the compensation for poor maneuverability. I'm unsure if EU will compensate enough.

Check the link to the appropriate MathWing post in my signature.

It's very good. We discussed this on the latest NOVA cast too.

As of now there are only 2 turret upgrades with a 3rd one coming out. You sacrifice the 360 in order to boost your primary attack with another in arc secondary weapon attack in arc at range 1 or 2. Lets take a look at each of the turrets and effects.

Ion Cannon Turret: probably the most effective use of BTL-A4 as Ion which provides great control and the sacrifice of damage out put. With this upgrade you can essentially deal up to 4 damage at range 1 with an ion token. At range 2 you get 2 attack plus an ion which is harder do evade as it is 3 attack but only does 1 damage. Since they are separate attack a turtling defender has the tough choice to choose to cancel the damage or the ion effect. Now 3-4 damage is enough to destroy some low hp ships so the ion token is more of a bonus against larger ships.

Blaster Turret: This one is trickier because it requires you to use a focus token. At range 1 it is essentially a cluster missile with deadeye that doesn't discard. Range 2 it is spend a focus to do another 3 firepower attack. Now you sacrifice dice modifying abilities for the sake of rolling more dice. The conundrum you may run into is when attacking at range 1 and rolling 3 focus results or 2 focus results and a hit and now you have to decide if you want to spend focus for the second attack or to get 3 hits. Now focus passing ships like Wes and Kyle can make this build easier obviously.

Autoblaster Turret: This allows you to roll 2 additional attack dice at range 1 as a separate attack in which hits cannot be evaded. Biggest drawback is getting both firing arc line up and within range 1 while in a Y-wing. With out the title you get a little more leeway on using the autoblaster turret. With the BTL-A4 it is best you probably equip either R2-astromech or unhinged astromech to get a little more mobile.

I don't think people will be putting it on horton turrets only have a range of 2 so his ability will only trigger at range 2 I think he is better off fielding torps and a regular turret.

I can see this on Dutch with a blaster or ion turret especially if you are fielding kyle or garvin.

You won't see it on kavil unless someone wants a higher PS

I can see it on Drea with a blaster turret but personally I would rather run her with torps or an actual turret so you can take unhinged to keep her clear of stress

I feel its biggest boost is to low ps pilots with an ion turret. They are relatively cheap which, a pair of golds or syndicate thugs costs you 46 points, leaving you 54 points to come up with ways to punish ioned ships. It will make bombs easier to use, it will allow you to easily outmaneuver your enemy.

2 of these against fat Han you are getting 4 attacks against agility 1 he will hate it, so will any other low or no agility ship.

With 2 ships having one with arc on a phantom isn't too hard and while 4 agility will be hard to get through if you are running torkil or roark you can fire your 2 dice attack on a 2 agility ship and then fire the ion, scoring that ion token won't be too hard which preventing decloak next round and if you are running R3-A2 said phantom is not going to be cloaking.

If you are flying against a formation they either will be forced to break formation or you just force the whole formation to only move 1 forward. At 8 HP a ship it can probably withstand return fire while you less durable ships get out of arc of the formation.

Everyone gets hung up on the Y-wing dial and the loss of 360 arc, but the Y-wing dial isn't bad it is missing 1 hard turns but so are most ships it has 4 red maneuvers, but those are the speed 3 hard turns the 4 straight and the K-Turn; it has all the speed 2 and 3 maneuvers though and the 1 forward and banks. I honestly don't see losing the 360 arc and being "stuck" with a Y-wing dial being that hard to manage. If you play turrets alot maybe missing the 360 arc might be a problem but if you mainly play with non turreted ships there won't be much of change. Now with an ion cannon giving out 1 damage and your regular 2 dice attack its pretty safe to assume that you will be doing an average of 2 points of damage to whatever you are firing at at range 1-2 which isn't great but it is one more then you would have had with just an ion turret or your 2 dice attack and it has an ion token.

I've found that the BTL-A4 works well when paired up with a Y-Wing without it. The ion turret helps control where the ship is going to go, making it easier for the A4 to line up a shot.

That is a neat idea. I think I should try it.

Being a huge Y-wing fan, I wasn't sure what to make of the BTL A4 card when I first saw the spoiler . Initially I was disappointed as I wanted to have a BTL S3 upgrade that mimicked the B-Wing E's upgrade that gave an extra crew slot (Fitting C-3PO with Salm would've been fun). However I do like that I does help increase firepower (which is quite lacking in a ship that is supposed to be known for it's firepower) and it gives it a more Y-wing flavour/fluff than a extra crew slot would`ve done.

I think the problem is that adding a crew slot and keeping the turret slot open would marginalise the already under-used HWK.

Not something I'd ever take issue with but FFG might.

One solution I guess might be to develop crew cards that are either soecific to the Y or only work on ships with a turret slot (sorry Han, your fat enough as it is)

That is a neat idea. I think I should try it.

I used a normal Y-Wing with a Ion Turret, paired with a "Warthog" Y-Wing BTL-4A with the autoblaster turret. The ion cannon made it fairly easy for the A4 to get behind a Tie Defender at range 1 and unload on it. That gives the Y 5 dice, 2 of which can't be evaded unless they're <crits>

The trick of course being that since I know what that ship will do next turn it's a lot easier to range 1 and in arc.

The BTL-A4 title gives the Y-Wing the unique distinction of being the only ship in the game that can consistently attack twice per turn, with no discard and no failure condition for a 'Second try'.

And it's only going to get better depending on the next few turret releases.

Cheap Syndicate Thug with BTL-A4 title, blaster turret and R4 agromech escorting a named HWK-290 with an Ion Cannon Turret.

Fun for a 60 -point game, and feels thematic :-)

Or spend those 40 points on a glorious Firespray.

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2 of these against fat Han you are getting 4 attacks against agility 1 he will hate it, so will any other low or no agility ship.

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It isn't the agility as he will get a roll against each attack. So splitting attacks into 2 separate attacks might not be that much of a boon. What it does get is token turtling, and card combo like Falcon+C-3PO or TaRn-7.

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2 of these against fat Han you are getting 4 attacks against agility 1 he will hate it, so will any other low or no agility ship.

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It isn't the agility as he will get a roll against each attack. So splitting attacks into 2 separate attacks might not be that much of a boon. What it does get is token turtling, and card combo like Falcon+C-3PO or TaRn-7.

I think you misunderstood and I could have been more clear. I didn't say 4 dice attack I said that 2 ships firing at an agility 1 falcon will have 4 attacks, 2 with the 2 dice attack and 2 with the 3 dice ion attack. Specifically the fat falcon doesn't like multiple attacks against it because it will lose its evade tokens and 3P0 is only usable once a round. Also of note 2 ion tokens will stop a falcon so if you have a way of stressing it too you will then not have to deal with its token stacking abilities for a turn. This will also work very well on any of the decimators including kenkirk + isaard. B-wings, other Y-wings, and shuttles won't like it either.

I also think that ion turret is better than the blaster turret in general for the title because you only need to come up with a way to modify 2 attacks, throwing a blaster turret in you need a focus in addition to being able to modify 2 attacks.

I feel that Kavil with an ion is a bit of a waste, would rather give him an autoblaster.

I would agree Kavil screams give me a blaster turret.

The list I am putting together is

2x Syndicate Thug + Ion Cannon turret + BTL-A4

Palob + Blaster Turret

N'Dru + Lone Wolf

That leaves me with 10 points I am still trying to decide what to do with them. Contenders are moldy crow and opportunist for Palob, cluster missiles for N'Dru, either Agromech or salvaged astromechs for the Thugs

There is no "trade-off" between the title versus a turreted ship. They perform 2 different roles. You don't expect Kyle with a blaster turret to do the same thing as a Bwing with an ion cannon.
I've proxied the Blaster turret version on Dutch with r2-d6/marksmanship and Garven tossing him focus. It's murderous. Not even Phantoms can stand up to that kind of firepower coming down range. Gold with Ion/R3-A2 will wreck just as hard. 25 points for an ion cannon/stressbot that plinks down 2ish damage a turn? Yes please.

I need to get two more Z's, then i'll run 4 with 2 PS 2 Y's with Ion/Title and R2/Unhinged and Seismic Charges. Works for either Rebels or Scum, has 32 health and 12 Primary with 2 ion shots.

Ion Turret on Kavil makes it 4 attacks, which means it can hit agility 3 ships without them rolling defense dice. If you roll 3 hits, a TIE can dodge it. If you roll 4 hits, something is getting through, unless he rolls like a god and has an evade token.

4 Dice also lets you hit cloaked Phantoms.

Also as for N'Dru + Lone Wolf, it sounds good on paper, but more often than not, you end up being within RB2 of a friendly ship, so you end up paying for an EPT and pilot abilities that he doesnt use and you have a 19 point generic Z95 flying around. You are better off giving NDru Outmanuever and deploying on the opposite flank. This will force your opponent to either go after ndru, giving your main fleet a few turns of unmolested fire, or ignore ndru and go after you main squad.

This is a better list:

I personally don't like leeachos, but I do like out maneuver. The idea behind giving N'Dru lone wolf was if my opponent turned to attack him it would give him a slight firepower buff and he would last a little longer. As for him being in range of another of my ships I can keep him out of range long enough for it to not matter, especially if he is packing cluster missiles.

The BTL-A4 title gives the Y-Wing the unique distinction of being the only ship in the game that can consistently attack twice per turn, with no discard and no failure condition for a 'Second try'.

You say that as though it's an inherently good thing. I don't see why it is.