The Y-Wing has been my favourite star wars ship since seeing the films as child. I'm always trying to put the into lists to get them to work, with varying degrees of success. With Scum imminent, and the beautiful (if that's the right word) repaint in Most Wanted I really want to try them out with Scum and try something new.

Looking at the Scum Y-Wing pilots, Kavil stands out to me as having a really great ability, but how to get him to work?

Firstly, he needs to have a turret, so we've got three possible options:

Firstly there's the usual favourite, Ion cannon. This seems like a poor choice on him, as rolling a extra dice will still only cause one damage. It might make him a bit more effective against phantoms, but generally seems like mostly he'll get not value from his special ability.

Secondly, there's the Blaster. Generally a poor choice, but given that it would mean he had a 4 dice R1-2 turret that keeps its crits, surely that's pretty powerful. Give him an agromech and he's got a target lock he can use on the attack too. But there's still the problem that if he bumps he won't get to shoot at all. Can that be mitigated by flying him well or is it just too much of a liability?

Finally there's the autoblaster. It's cheaper and 3 dice without reply could be nice. It could tie in nicely with a bomb, too, as he gets into range 1, blasts them then drops a bomb as he flies past. But he needs to be at range 1, which I think is harder to achieve with the typical "chase me" manoeuvring of turret combat. At R1 he's also potentially going to be jumped on by everything, and killed quickly, and, whilst its potentially great against interceptors and phantoms, it's a bit pointless vs the falcons and decimators that seem to dominate at the moment.

So here's my plan:

I want to fly the blaster turret build.so I've built a list around it. I'm thinking about a control list but with Kavil providing some punch to back it up.

A couple of Scyks with Ion and/or Flechette cannon(s) to deal out some stress, Dace hanging around with an ion cannon and a tactician so that he can deal stress and ion, and make one of the ion attacks deal 2 damage (It's good that his ability's range 1-3, so he can help the Scyks deal more damage even from range 3). And then Kavil himself with a blaster turret and agromech. It leaves me with (depending on the Scyk set up) 2-4 points for torps/EPTs on Kavil or Dace (my set up for first try-out of the list is one of each on the Scyks and Predator on Dace).

With one Scyk on each cannon type I can potentially cause 2 stress and 2 ion each turn. The low PS flechette cannon/high PS tactician combo means I can double stress an opponent too. If I get a turn where all three can hit, it's going to deal 4 damage too. Then on top I've got Kavil flying around with a 4 dice turret to deal out some big hits.

I'm really keen to try it out. Has anyone tried Kavil yet, or are planning to use him?

Ben

I've run Kavil with all of the currently available turrets, and your breakdown of the pros and cons of each sounds just about right. His ions are very accurate but still suffer from the damage cap; Blaster Turret + R4 Agromech is an Outrider HLC that can crit, but suffers badly from being blocked; Autoblaster Turret varies from effective to spectacular, but the range requirement is crippling.

If you want to try Autoblaster Turret, I'd recommend Unhinged Astromech + Engine Upgrade as a way to get more shots. Ion Cannon Turret is actually not a bad purchase if you're running Dace Bonearm in your list anyway. Blaster Turret + R4 is the most straightforward choice, though, and even the action requirement isn't a huge risk if you play conservatively and steer away from traffic.

I have reservations about the rest of your list--I haven't found Dace Bonearm to be as reliably effective as some of the other HWKs, and in my opinion Scyks are better as high-threat flankers than as control pieces--but your build for Kavil is a good choice.

I was you g to digest you put the ion cannon on Kavil, and then the blaster on dace Bonearm. That way your ion has a higher chance of landing (hello phantoms) Dace deals the extra hit, and then he piles on the blaster turret.

Flavor to taste with scyks and Z's and call it a day.

I've been trying him and really enjoy the Blaster turret plus agromech combination for him. In regards to bumping, haven't really found it to be too much of an issue, not anymore than what it is with any other ship. Also not really fond of the ion cannon or autoblaster turrets on him. Ion because it underutilises his ability and autoblaster because range 1 is just too hard to keep with the Y-Wing.

The list i've run him in also has 4 black sun z-95s with hot shot blasters and munitions failsafe. In conjunction with Kavil they let you threaten a good part of the board with your shooting.

I'm curious as to how the flechette and tactician combo work with your list. The low ps for the scyk would mean it shoots after Dace. If tactician drops a stress on the target, wouldn't that prevent the flechette cannon from putting a second stress token on that same ship?

If you want to try Autoblaster Turret, I'd recommend Unhinged Astromech + Engine Upgrade as a way to get more shots. Ion Cannon Turret is actually not a bad purchase if you're running Dace Bonearm in your list anyway. Blaster Turret + R4 is the most straightforward choice, though, and even the action requirement isn't a huge risk if you play conservatively and steer away from traffic.

The Blaster + R4 seems the thought of FFG as seen in a preview somewhere (can´t create link, sorry)

When you try autoblaster I agree with Vorpal´s suggestion above to add Engine Upgrade.

To make your Y-wing even more maneuverable I would like to suggest to add Expert Handling as well.

With the Unhinged astromech it is easy to clear the stress and barrel rolling into range 1 can be a surprise when done by an Y-wing!

I Like him with the blaster turret and the agromech. You get good range and damage. I also like EU on a high value Y like Kavil. I think he is a rockstar. Like you I love the Y wing, and it is rare that I field a list without one. Really looking foward to this. His biggest problem is a build that denies the focus action, like carnor Jax, but hopefully you can priorize and take him out. Kavil is in essence a mini falcon with he above build.

I have not fallen in love with autoblaster turret or the BTL title, but time will tell. I'm curious to see how the sydicate thug with blaster and agromech will do as well, I think it will do pretty well. I'm playing in a vassal tourney (small one) now and I have a scum list with Kavil as above, a thug as above, and a mando firespray. we will see how it goes.

You could consider using torkil mux as your HWK pilot. This lets all of your ships shoot at a target before the target can shoot back at you.

what I have not figured out is what EPT to run with Kavil. Predator is redundant. thoughts?

I'm curious as to how the flechette and tactician combo work with your list. The low ps for the scyk would mean it shoots after Dace. If tactician drops a stress on the target, wouldn't that prevent the flechette cannon from putting a second stress token on that same ship?

Drat, you're right. For some reason I thought they'd shoot first. brain fart! Think its probably still worth having the tactician in there for the ability to stress 2 ships.

I also love the Y-wing and when I play Rebels I try to fit them in my lists. The new Scum Y's are superior to the Rebel's IMO. Kavil with the r4 agro mech + blaster turret is very good and can do lots of damage. I don't worry much about being blocked since you still have a primary arc and can adjust your trajectory to still give yourself a primary attack.

Being blocked is a consideration, but he should never be pointed at his enemies. GO WITH the agromech. The autoblaster will need an engine upgrade. Honestly, push and unhinged aren't a bad choice for either

I find EU to be the best defensive upgrade for decimators and high value Y wings, as well as other turreted ships. Like my sensei used to preach, the best way to avoid a punch is not to be there.

what I have not figured out is what EPT to run with Kavil. Predator is redundant. thoughts?

Opportunist, paired with Palob on An HWK with bodyguard to get Kavil at Agi 2. There you go 5 blaster turret dices.

I ran two weeks of Kavil, Push, Unhinged, Autoblaster, Engine, with a miniswarm backup of Binayres on Vassal. It worked pretty well, although I think a blaster turret would have been the stronger option. It helped that both weeks were against TIE swarms with one ace (Soontir week 1, Kath week 2), which is what the autoblaster turret likes to see.

It's interesting: Kavil can't be ignored, because letting a focused locked 3 die undodgable attack get behind you is really bad, but he's hard to track down with green 3 turns and boost, and cheap enough that I had 10 red dice (+ 2 oneshot turrets) coming from another angle.

List I'm planning on giving a whirl:

Kavil - R4 Agromech, Blaster Turret

N'Dru Suhlak - Lone Wolf

Syndicate Thug - Ion Cannon Turret, Unhinged Astromech

Binayre Pilot

Binayre Pilot

3 points left over, contemplating a Hot Shot Blaster for N'Dru.

what I have not figured out is what EPT to run with Kavil. Predator is redundant. thoughts?

It depends on the build, I think. Agromech rules out Predator and push the limit (unless you've also got engine upgrade), and makes Lonewolf only half as useful (and why wouldn't you take the R4 if you were thinking about one of these, because its cheaper and better than the effect of the other). Blaster turret rules out expert handling, although this could be useful with the autoblaster. Outmanoeuvre is pointless as you're going to be looking to keep things out of your front arc. Opportunist is a possibility (5 dice turret!), but it depends on what else is in the list as to whether it's likely to happen.

Ironic that after bemoaning the lack of EPTs on Y-Wing pilots, FFG finally gives us one with an EPT and we can't find one that works. :-)

In the end I pipped for predator on Dace instead.

Here's in idea for one he needs: Intensity, 2pts(?), when you take a focus action you may assign two focus tokens instead. If you do so, assign a stress token to your ship.

Cheerio,

Ben

Ironic that after bemoaning the lack of EPTs on Y-Wing pilots, FFG finally gives us one with an EPT and we can't find one that works. :-)

Determination is clearly a decent insurance policy for Kavil. Not that many shields, but a lot of hull!

Why not simply add VI?

As mentioned above, with autoblaster I prefer Expert Handling.

But I must say I like the combination of PTS and an engine upgrade!

The y wing title is going to be fun on other Y wings.

And I would love to do a K-turn and then drop a proton bomb thanks to Genius :-)

As far as EPTs go I can only really think of determination, Ruthlessness, and possibly Adrenaline rush, could be interesting with maneuvering

Oh and VI of course

If you want to go really cazy on points, you could always throw an Experimental Interface and Marksmanship onto Kavil. That way you can have a focus token to activate your Blaster Turret, Marksmaship to convert your focus results to hits and a crit and a TL to re-roll blanks.

Yes I know it really isn't much good for the points you spend, but if you really want to load up Kavil for offense, then it would give you a consistant focused and TLed attack.

Isn't ruthlessness imperial only? VI is a decent shout. Never seen determination used on anyone other than Leebo, feels like you'd have to be lucky to get anything out of it. Most of my thinking was done when I had 3 points spare at the end of the build so the 1pt ones slipped my mind.

I love the idea people are saying of Engine Upgrade and Expert Handling with Autoblaster turrets. I really didn't consider the Autoblaster to be a very serious option, but with Unhinged it's quite possible.

My hesitation for any non-Unhinged build with Experimental Interface or Push the Limit is clearing stress. A Y-Wing has a very very low amount of green...

I haven't found Dace Bonearm to be as reliably effective as some of the other HWKs

Really?

Because I think 2 damage on a ionized ship at the cost of a stress is pretty good. Plaob on the other hand, I'm a little bit more iffy about.

Yes being able to steal a focus is nice, and he seems like a natural fit for the blaster turret. But the simple answer to that is the other guy just doesn't take focus actions and then he's no better than a generic HWK really.

Now admittedly he does serve as a nice control unit, because it does limit the options of the other player, and not being able to take a focus, means lower damage output.

Double post.

Isn't ruthlessness imperial only? VI is a decent shout. Never seen determination used on anyone other than Leebo, feels like you'd have to be lucky to get anything out of it. Most of my thinking was done when I had 3 points spare at the end of the build so the 1pt ones slipped my mind.

derp, yeah forgot ruthlessness was imperial only