You know...with all the talk about B-Wing Bombing runs, Rhymerball, A-Wings and all the other combos and crap, I almost overlooked this thing. It's called a Y-Wing, perhaps you've heard of it.

People are dismissing it, but I think it's got some awesome potential, I'll tell you why.

1. Cheap

2. Durable

3. Sexy

We are talking a possible 60hp's of fighters in a 300pt game. Unprecedented. In extended dogfights that gives the Y some stamina....and anti-squadron firepower from ships gets laughed off in comparison to other squadrons.

That many black dice speak for themselves on bombing runs.

I like to go quantity over quality in games like this...I think Y-Wings can pull off the job if you think creatively.

First, you probably do not want to bunch up. The Heavy rule is a drawback, but generally opposing enemy ships will not want to break from you if all you have are Y-Wings...so in effect...they will lock down opponents just fine. Bunching up makes it easier for Tie's to get their bonuses as well on you, you don't want that. You also do not want bunches of Y Wings locked down by single fighters. You should have a numerical advantage in the air, to use it, you must have a large cloud of fighterbombers.

Also, Flight Controllers. This card solves so many things and helps the Y out immensely. Sure the card can give an addt'l dice to interceptors, Vader, X-Wings, whatever, but for the Y it brings it up to speed with all the other fighters in the game....making it a passable interceptor. BETTER than a Tie Fighter in a 1 on 1 dogfight. (you stay spread out remember?)

Anyway, I'm playtesting this idea and would like some feedback from you other squadron lovers. I'm well on my way to testing this theory against other builds...even Capital only lists....what I"m running....

Mon Mothma

Assault Frigate IIB

-Hanger Bay

-Flight Controller

-Raymus Antilles

CR90 Corvette B

-Leia Organa

CR90 Corvette B

6x Y-Wing Squadron

3x A-Wing Squadron

Run Corvettes to ensure that the Assault Frigate does not get "boxed" in by Gladiator Boxing tactics. Box THEM instead. You MUST think carrier tactics with squadron build. All ships but the Carrier are expendable. Leia helps with orders on the fly if you need to repair, change speed or whatever.

Try to gain air superiority. You ships may need to get stuck in to do that, but you DO have lots of Y's. On a full Antilles Squadron order, you can send 3 A's and two Y's in to intercept stuff getting close. That's a lot of blue dices. Even then you till have 4 bombers to get in the way of attacking ships.

About intercepting....when an A-Wing and a Y wing fly into another two squadrons....they are locked down, despite HEAVY. Yes you just kill the A and can get away, but there are problems with that. (counter). You see my line of thinking here....

Fly in loose formation. A huge cloud of Y-Wings with A's to the rear. Remember...A wings have black dice for anti-ship as well.

....anyway, just a little write-up here. I will come back as I plan on playtesting this more. I have grand hopes for this little fighter no one hears about. Maybe back with a batrep as I'm playing tomorrow night.

Sorry. I was on the wrong section.

Honestly the only real benefit I see to it is that it is cheap. However, it looks like a situation where you really get what you pay for. They are more appealing for Scum honestly. The B-wing just does a pot of the same stuff but better and with more synergy. Their synergy basically stems from the variety of upgrades they have. Yes the Y-wing has an astromech slot making it a unique bomber, but the Scum Y-wings get better options with their salvaged astromechs.

Personally I think the Y-wing is going to benefit a lot from extra munitions and the new ordinance options, but what it really needs is is more diverse pilot options and maybe a bit more diverse upgrade options. Frankly just some more pilots with elite talents should do the trick.

Check your map, friendo. You're not where you think you are.

I am a long time supporter of Y-wing. I like your thoughts and look forward to your test results.

Thanks,

Duncan

Gold 109 (ret.)

I too enjoy the Y-wing. Six hull is a lot to chew through. I have only fought against them a couple of times but they did ok.

I will always have a love for the Y-Wing. I'm glad to see a post on them.

I only have 2 Y Wings (In fact, only one of each fighter pack!) so I haven't really had a chance to try a Y heavy build. But I'd really like to!

Whaaaa...is that what those things are.

Just Played a game last week, 4 Y wings Squadrons Decimated a Vic. Helped the Imperial Player had Most Wanted in his Objectives. 2 black antiship dice on a Ywing that was fun , and Dodonna controlling the crits worked great

Personally not a fan of one black die bombers in either faction. I've just replaced both with their black die non-bomber (As and Advanced, sensing a pattern) because they hit almost as hard and aren't worthless against squadrons.

For rebels, I can't not take the B. It's just almost double damage than a Y, and with Yavaris it scales ridiculously.

can't argue about "sexy," though

It's Why-Wing, not Y-Wing! Kids today with their text speak... -.-

Seriously though, I do think a lot of people are underestimating them purely because of the Heavy keyword. If you're wanting to pin down enemy fighters, take something else along and use Y-Wings as cheap weight of fire

My only problem with squadron spam is the real-world-cost of doing it. It helps that I prefer multiple options and varying stuff.

I think most Rebel fighters are useful. I mean the B Wings make you have to be pretty darn good at positioning, but the Y's are definitely more forgiving. I'm still a big fan of the don't take more squadrons than you have squadron value in your fleet (per MoffatZen's post). The heavy keyword means you should consider them expendable or fly them with a few interceptors.

I feel like the best way to run them is actually in a mix. A single x-wing squadron and a y-wing squadron are fairly effective, they have 11 hull between them to chew through at only 22 points. The X-Wing, close up with a Nebula, can face off non-unique TIE groups, though you have to be careful with some Imperial combos. It'll escort the y-wing till the enemy starfighters are hopefully down, and then the y-wing can focus on getting in close to the enemy ship. Against a VSD's 1 blue anti-starfighter die, the little y-win will probably survive the rest of the game, unless the VSD gets further support from somewhere.

Just Played a game last week, 4 Y wings Squadrons Decimated a Vic. Helped the Imperial Player had Most Wanted in his Objectives. 2 black antiship dice on a Ywing that was fun

That kind of fun should be illegal.

And, in fact, it is. Most Wanted doesn't give squadrons an extra dice against the objective ship. Please check out the first errata point in the FAQ.

Just Played a game last week, 4 Y wings Squadrons Decimated a Vic. Helped the Imperial Player had Most Wanted in his Objectives. 2 black antiship dice on a Ywing that was fun

That kind of fun should be illegal.

And, in fact, it is. Most Wanted doesn't give squadrons an extra dice against the objective ship. Please check out the first errata point in the FAQ.

Good move lol

Just Played a game last week, 4 Y wings Squadrons Decimated a Vic. Helped the Imperial Player had Most Wanted in his Objectives. 2 black antiship dice on a Ywing that was fun

That kind of fun should be illegal.

And, in fact, it is. Most Wanted doesn't give squadrons an extra dice against the objective ship. Please check out the first errata point in the FAQ.

I see, learning from our game:)

Good move lol

Well Darn There goes the Imps wrecking my Fun again

When I look to build Rebel squadrons I ask myself, "What do I want my fighters to do, and what can do them well?" There are great bonuses for ships that activate closer to their motherships (like flight controllers, Yavaris) and when their fighters don't have to go that far. B-Wings are the better choice over Y-Wings in that respect, because you're not tempted to leap off with B-Wings.

B-Wings also have superior attack abilities in a game where attacking first has tremendous advantages. A B-WIng can one-shot enemy TIE squadrons, while Y-Wings suffer. B-Wings have greater chances of hurting capital ships. Y-Wings have a greater chance of outright doing no damage. Y-Wing's cant tie anything up either.

It's clear the designers and testers wanted to give some relevance to the Y-Wing over the B by giving it more hitpoints and lower cost, but the Y-wing's failure is probably because their Ion turrets aren't represented. This is the reason some take Y-Wings over Bs in X-Wing after all. The only Y-Wing with his ion enabled is Dutch apparently, and I kind of wish that ability could have been extended to Every Y-Wing.

Perhaps Y-Wings can be used as tanky swarm fighters? But one might be wondering if a better mix of the other starfighters might be the more optimal and flexible solution.

Top it up with an X-wing. Same speed as the Y-Wing, not that bad against capital ships, able to pin enemy squads.

I do think they have the edge over B-Wings. As Napoleon said, victory equals mass multiplied with speed.

Game last night. Some thoughts...

I ran my fleet above against my opponents squadron heavy multiple Tie with Howlrunner and Mithell. He also had a small Rymerball with a Victory and one Gladiator. Mission was jump on the station.

My carrier protection tactics worked really well. I sacrificed a 39 pt vette to hold up the victory for two turns. Gladiator came in with fighter support.

My fighters pretty much wasted his. I notice that Y-wings are a better attacker for taking down character fighters. When you are rolling 2 (or 3 with FC) attack dice against a character ship...when it scatters or braces its much less of a dissappointment than then say Wedge fires on Howl, gets 4-6 hits, then the attack gets scattered or braced. Bracing (in fact) is virtually useless against a Y Wing Horde. You cannot brace 1 pt of damage.

I gained air superiority in two turns. I lost only one A Wing. The other two tackled Rymer in such a way that even chireneu could have only allowed them to escape...not attack. My shipa also concentrated fire on the fighters. Ties cannot hold up to withering shipboard firepower.

48 hit points of fighters is a lot.

A Wings compliment Y's totally.

B-wings could not have done the job better.

7 B wings 98pts

-21 attack dice

-35 hit points

-7 black 7 blue vs ships

6 Y wings, 3 A Wings 93pts

-FASTER

-21 attack dice (in smaller groups for better effectiveness killing characters)

-48 hps!

-9 dice for attacking ships. All black. No accurracy results. Comparable if not better than Blues.

Yes I know...Yvarris combo. Personally, I think that combo is a loser that will be difficult to pull off against a savvyplayer. All my squad has to worry about is free flying and protect the carrier.

do you have enough resources to pull off double fatties (flight controllers, hangars; 1 haven and either garm or General-D) w/10 Ys?

would never dump that much $ onto 5 fighter packs, but hey it's an idea

Without good info on new cards, im already planning on a 400 pt list.

10 y's

3 a's.... (133pts on the nose)

Fat guppy

As many little reb corvettes as i can fit in.

Two fatties would be no good. You gotta protect the carrier. Vettes are your linebackers. This is BASIC Navy carrier type tactics. Everything on the water is there to protect the carrier.

Easier to gain air superiority that way as well...lots of little ships firing anti-squadron.

Of course the assault frigate might be replaced by home 1. We dunno what that ship is capable of yet.

Gallant Havan, bleh, too restricting. No title needed here.

...think reverse Gladiator box tactics.

You'd think ywings would protect the Cartier, and you have a spare

The only way they can protect the carrier is by destroying the opposing ships. Not good enough. You need time. I think the vettes are important to the carrier battle plan.

You dont see many navy flotillas consisting ONLY of carriers. There is a reason for that.