First let me say I haven't tried this out yet (as I only have 3 Y-wings), but has anyone out there tried to play with 5 Y-wings? Here's what I'm thinking:

5 Gold Squadron pilots=90 pts, and for the other 10 I'd go with R2D2, Ion Cannon, and R2 Astromech

I mean, yes, I know offensively it wouldn't do much, but you're looking at 40 hits to take this squad out, and that's without R2D2 replenishing shields. Do you know how long it would take to get 40+ hits? I guess that's the downfall of this build. You're looking at a VERY long game.

Mainly I'm just tossing around squad-building ideas in my head, and I find this build intriguing. Not that I'll ever play it, I just think it could last a while vs a TIE swarm or something, and if I brought it to a tournament , the looks I would get. Like I'm crazy…yet genius…

doublepost!

From a what if standpoint, this might be fun, but from a competitive one I have to ask…

Why would you want to roll as few dice as possible in this game? No matter what else a Y-Wing can do to make it awesome, that 1 agility die is a weakness that 5 hull and 3 shields can't completely make up for.

Maybe try 4 GS all outfitted with ion cannons and R2 Astromechs? Play to stay out of as many firing arcs as possible while staying at range 2? You may not win, but you'll kill more TIES than with 5, R2, R2D2 and an ion cannon.

5 Ywings would work if you have 2 ion cannons instead. Then you'd try to ion TIEs and get as many Ywings within range 1 of that poor bastard as you can and blast away, while trying to keep the 2 Ywings with ion-Cs alive. If you manage to take down TIEs faster than you are taken down, then you do stand a pretty good chance I guess. Maybe you'd like to try 2 Xwing 3 Ywings or 3Ywings 2 Xwings instead? Either way, with so many Ywings you will be eating shots left right center nonstop, so you better have some asteroids in play.

if you ever meet a rebel opponent, good luck, especially with wedge. He will tear up your entire Ywing lineup as if they only had 1 hull and 1 shield each

Yeah, I was thinking 2 ion cannons originally, so that's probably a little better. And yes, I know there are other better Rebel Squads out there, but I just wanted to bring this one up for discussion.

Assuming tournament rules, so 6 asteroids. Some thing to consider:

1. Y-wing primary weapon attack value is 2, the same as a generic TIE. The TIEs strength is in numbers. So, 5 Y's should help to either cancel out or mimic that advantage.

2. TIEs can only take 3 hits, a Y can take 8, almost 3 times as many.

3. Yes, I have no doubts that a Wedge/Biggs combo would likely obliterate this squad, but it's still fun to consider.

4. The Gold Pilot value is 2, so moving first to intentionally cause collisions (which I liken to football "blocking") is a strategy that is definitely in play with this squad.

5. Ion cannons on 2 Y's can also be very effective for not only causing some damage, but also for throwing opponents formations out of whack. Or possibly causing someone to crash into an asteroid, which is even more fun.

I dunno, I just thought it would be a fun squad to discuss.

I agree, it's a fun squad to discuss. Somehow I didn't realize that with 5 Y-wings you still have 10 points to play around with. That makes it a little more interesting to me.

My thoughts on the squad are that it's a great squad against the Imperial swarm. If you can maneuver right, you'll really challenge the TIE's to be able to take out any of your ships. That is to say, people usually expect slow Y-wings, but if you use your Speed 3 straight maneuvers you could blow past them and leave them flat footed. This is because they'll be eager for that Range 1 attack bonus. Why would dodging them be good? Because at tournaments, games are only 90 minutes, and you stand a decent chance of destroying more of their points than they can of you. If you want to really increase your chances of stayin' alive you could load 'em up with R2-D2, R2-F2 and R5-D8. That'll have your opponents desperate for hits.

Probably won't make for the most exciting matches of all time, but it might stand a chance. Okay, I've just talked myself into wanting to give it a try! Now where can I find 4 more Y-wings…

Another reason for wanting to blow by the initial wave is because Ion Cannons can still do damage to ships not in your firing arc. And it keeps them going straight 1, whereas a ywing can koiogran afterwards and have a clean shot on the ion-ed ship.

you will have big problems if your opponent decides to use evade on all TIEs by default, making the ion cannons pretty much your only confirmed way to deal damage, apart from catching him when he's unable to make any actions. I have no doubt the early part of the game would be in your favour, but once it gets do to say about 2 Ywings vs 2-4 TIEs, that is when you will have major problems, especially if you do not have ion cannons.

hothie said:

It is a fun squad to discuss, but in a one on one fight, a single TIE will beat a single Y-Wing most of the time, and it will do so while costing 6 points less.

Both of your points here fail to take agility dice, ship maneuvers and TIE actions as factors.

let's just say there's a reason why the rebels developed the Xwing to replace the Ywings in their fight against the imperials.

if it's any consolation, a Ywing with ion cannon can pretty much kill anything under a 1v1 setting with no problems whatsoever. They are one of the best elite pilot nullifier avaliable in the game so far, the others being missiles/torpedoes and another elite pilot

Duraham said:

So it takes 23 points to take out 12 assuming the 12 points can't stay at range 3.

His point was that Y-wings are effective against ELITE pilots, which as you know cost much more than 12. And TIES will have a harder time knocking down the 8 HP on a Y-wing at range 3 where they are rolling 2v2 dice. In the time it takes to do that there ought to be enough chances to knock down the 3 or 5 HP on a TIE or TIE adv. even with the more limited maneuvering of a Y-wing. Nothing's a sure thing of course.

Yes, Evade action on a TIE, that would be the kicker. True, 1 on 1 is a losing battle for the Ywing. You'll just have to defeat them all before you get down to 1 on 1…(looooooong shot, I know.

Thanks.,

hothie said:

I really wish the Y-Wings could do it. They just feel expensive for what they are. Try the 4 with ions and r2s. The ability to fire 360 at range 2 with an ion cannon is the best thing about these ships. If you can avoid enough firing arcs, you MIGHT win due to time. Asteroids are probably the Y-Wings next best friend.

Yeah, somebody posted on another thread about 4 Ywings, and that's what got me to thinking about 5. But without a lot of power-ups, 5 just won't cut it.

I sort of want to try 5 with ion cannons vs 100 points of TIES to see how it turns out. Might give some insight into the cost of the ship and the upgrade. If 5 with cannons were to have been scaled at 100 points, would it be somewhat balanced or ruinously overpowered? It's such a weird ship. The Imperials have two good ships to choose from, and dice advantage in nearly every match up, and it seems the rebels have a good ship and this sort of red headed stepchild. People seem to like Salm, but I think Dutch may be the most useful in a squad even without an ion cannon.

Mostly theory (My Y-wings are still in the mail) but I think 4 Gold squadron, two ions, and one rookie X wing pilot might work better in a sort of "set 'em up knock 'em down" strategy. I think at least one X wing is needed to get the firepower you need to really take advantage of the ions.

Vonpenguin said:

sounds good to me, but unfortunately you could only take one ion cannon. the build you listed is 103 =/

I'm not sure only one ion would cut it, but you could use the remaining two points for some R2's or uprade the x-wing to red squadron.

Personally, if I were going to do anything like this, I would have to go with a maximum of 4 Y-wings. I was contemplating putting 4 Ion cannons and 2 torpedoes on them. It would give you that extra fire power to take out any good T-swarms big nusances, aka howlrunner and/or vader, while allowing plenty of movement dictation with the cannons. You would have to do some slick maneuvering to make it so you dont lose any y-wings in the initial barrage, but in the end it could very well have a chance.

atmsalad said:

I'll say it again. 4 R2 Astromech droids. 4 points of these droids is simply more valuable than 4 points of proton torpedoes on a generic Y-wing. They allow the Y-wing to be more aggressive, even when on the run, which is something the Y-wing will always be when fighting TIEs. The added unpredictability of the maneuver following a 4S or K-turn also adds value. This droid, when combined with an ion cannon really opens up the map for the Gold Squadron.

qwertyuiop said:

In theory, but in my experience with Y wings that would only help late game. The idea of this squad is to use your two torps is to take out threats early and then control late game with the ion cannons, you should not have to perform any red maneuvers. So R2 would not have any application with my tactics. Does anybody else have any takes on this strategy?

you need a way to wither down your opponent quickly, else your Ywings will go down very very quickly from concentrated fire, even faster than an Xwing. I would really suggest you have an Xwing in your majority Y wing squad for many reasons, such as to take down TIEs quickly, acting as a diversion to draw fire from your Ywings, and because Xwings are just so much better if you leave the ion cannon out of the equation.

something like:

Biggs + R2F2

3x Gold Ywing + IonC + R5 astromech

for a perfect 100 pts

Duraham said:

BOO! You with your logical build! This is Y-wing territory! I think I will try this out and see what it can do!

qwertyuiop said:

as usual keep Biggs at range 3, and you will be surprised how long he keeps your Ywing safe, and your opponent can only try to mass swarm you, because any named TIE trying to fly in will get 3 ion cannons to the face with targetlocks, meaning it is pretty much confirmed for dead