So a few weeks ago Endgame124 started a really great thread about A-wings, their strengths and weaknesses, their uses and strategies. I just received my first Y-wing for Christmas, so I was wondering if we could do the same sort of discussion about this iconic Star Wars fighter, especially since it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of love since the B-wing came out.

So what do you think? What do you like/hate about the Y-wing? How do you use it in your squads? Where does it really shine or fall short? How does it compare to other rebel ships?

I just feel the Y-wings need a turret to be competitive/a threat, or condemn them to blocking/annoyance duty.

Dutch seems like the solid option, and the only good platform for torpedo's is Horton. The regulars gold and grey...meh.

Also their dials are not that fantastic to stay on a target (see the need for a turret).

Then again if you want to play with ion disruption the Y-wing is a very solid platform (the best) for it!

Strengths:
Astromech Slot
Turret Slot

High HP
Excellent pilot abilities

Cheap

2x Torpedoes

Average

Attack Dice (2)

Mobility

Weaknesses

Low Agility

No EPT slots

I could digress further, but that's the whole list

So a few weeks ago Endgame124 started a really great thread about A-wings, their strengths and weaknesses, their uses and strategies. I just received my first Y-wing for Christmas, so I was wondering if we could do the same sort of discussion about this iconic Star Wars fighter, especially since it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of love since the B-wing came out.

So what do you think? What do you like/hate about the Y-wing? How do you use it in your squads? Where does it really shine or fall short? How does it compare to other rebel ships?

It's probably slightly better by points than the A-wing, and is generally more versatile.

I just feel the Y-wings need a turret to be competitive/a threat, or condemn them to blocking/annoyance duty.

Dutch seems like the solid option, and the only good platform for torpedo's is Horton. The regulars gold and grey...meh.

Also their dials are not that fantastic to stay on a target (see the need for a turret).

There is your answer.

Also: The named Y-wings really need EPT. Poor guys. Yay for house rules!

I love the Y-Wing. It's my favorite ship to fly. It's maneuver dial isn't that great, but I love running ion turrets on them and just disrupting enemy movement. Most rebel squads I run has at least one y wing. I love running Horton, Dutch and Kyle together.

They can take a beating and the Astromech slot is extremely useful. All around I feel the Y-Wing is a great ship. Not as flashy or impressive as a B-Wing, but it has it's place and I feel is underrated.

I just feel the Y-wings need a turret to be competitive/a threat, or condemn them to blocking/annoyance duty.

Dutch seems like the solid option, and the only good platform for torpedo's is Horton. The regulars gold and grey...meh.

Also their dials are not that fantastic to stay on a target (see the need for a turret).

Jim Blakley (Top 8 at World's)

Rookie Pilot

Rookie Pilot

Blue Squadron

Gold Squadron

Gold Squadron

There is your answer.

Yup and he used them as blockers and annoyance. Hench my 'condemning' them. It does not 'feel' very good using them like that. Then again fluff and competitive have nothing to do with each other.

If only they had an EPT slot...

All of my Rebel squadrons now have an auto-include Gold + R2. I have seen more people throw firepower at the cheapest, most durable, and frustrating ship than any other single ship. It costs 19 points, or 2.375 points per hull/shield. X-Wings OTOH cost north of 4 points per hull/shield. If the enemy ignores the Y-Wing it sits and shoots at range 1/2, getting in the way of things, and generally annoying while everything else dies. If they shoot at the Y-Wing, it absorbs shots instead of the Luke/R2-D2 or Wedge/Biggs combo that is also shooting 3 attack dice. It is a great ship and I can understand why people don't like it. I just happen to like the ship a lot and find it a good place holder. Even side by side, I like the Y-Wing dial much more than the B-Wing. It is faster than the B-Wing and has more options in terms of movement than the B-Wing does (with an R2).

All of my Rebel squadrons now have an auto-include Gold + R2. I have seen more people throw firepower at the cheapest, most durable, and frustrating ship than any other single ship. It costs 19 points, or 2.375 points per hull/shield. X-Wings OTOH cost north of 4 points per hull/shield. If the enemy ignores the Y-Wing it sits and shoots at range 1/2, getting in the way of things, and generally annoying while everything else dies. If they shoot at the Y-Wing, it absorbs shots instead of the Luke/R2-D2 or Wedge/Biggs combo that is also shooting 3 attack dice. It is a great ship and I can understand why people don't like it. I just happen to like the ship a lot and find it a good place holder. Even side by side, I like the Y-Wing dial much more than the B-Wing. It is faster than the B-Wing and has more options in terms of movement than the B-Wing does (with an R2).

wouldn't an R5 be better on the Y-Wing? same costs for better survivablity? since it can turn "Ship" crits in to regular damage at the end phase.

The question is IF a "Direct Hit" crit hits you and you have equal damage to hull do you remove the Y-Wing immediately? or does R5 still work and your ship stays there with 1 hull point because R5 can negate the "Direct Hit - Ship" critical.

With no turret, I do a lot of extra K-Turns. I want that 1 bank and 2 turn green after a red maneuver. Even the 2 bank green is excellent, but less so than the 1 bank.

All of my Rebel squadrons now have an auto-include Gold + R2. I have seen more people throw firepower at the cheapest, most durable, and frustrating ship than any other single ship. It costs 19 points, or 2.375 points per hull/shield. X-Wings OTOH cost north of 4 points per hull/shield. If the enemy ignores the Y-Wing it sits and shoots at range 1/2, getting in the way of things, and generally annoying while everything else dies. If they shoot at the Y-Wing, it absorbs shots instead of the Luke/R2-D2 or Wedge/Biggs combo that is also shooting 3 attack dice. It is a great ship and I can understand why people don't like it. I just happen to like the ship a lot and find it a good place holder. Even side by side, I like the Y-Wing dial much more than the B-Wing. It is faster than the B-Wing and has more options in terms of movement than the B-Wing does (with an R2).

I confess to never have flown a turret-less y wing. Something I'm curious to try now.

I prefer speed and manuever so Y-Wings aren't my thing and haven't played with them yet. However, a "naked" Y-Wing seems like a very cost effective damage soak.

Jim Blakley (Top 8 at World's)

Rookie Pilot

Rookie Pilot

Blue Squadron

Gold Squadron

Gold Squadron

There is your answer.

Iv tested this squad a little and its really good. The Y-Wings largely get ignored early on and they dish out the damage.

So a few weeks ago Endgame124 started a really great thread about A-wings, their strengths and weaknesses, their uses and strategies. I just received my first Y-wing for Christmas, so I was wondering if we could do the same sort of discussion about this iconic Star Wars fighter, especially since it doesn't seem to be getting a lot of love since the B-wing came out.

So what do you think? What do you like/hate about the Y-wing? How do you use it in your squads? Where does it really shine or fall short? How does it compare to other rebel ships?

It's probably slightly better by points than the A-wing, and is generally more versatile.

I just feel the Y-wings need a turret to be competitive/a threat, or condemn them to blocking/annoyance duty.

Dutch seems like the solid option, and the only good platform for torpedo's is Horton. The regulars gold and grey...meh.

Also their dials are not that fantastic to stay on a target (see the need for a turret).

Jim Blakley (Top 8 at World's)

Rookie Pilot

Rookie Pilot

Blue Squadron

Gold Squadron

Gold Squadron

There is your answer.

although i wasnt at Worlds i believe the strategy with this list is to block with the Y-Wings in the front line and use their primary attacks at close range. AT that range the high durability of the Y-Wing somewhat overcomes its low agility letting it trade equal damage with a tie-fighter and merely soak up hits on its shields and then hull - probably letting regular hits through to the hull and stopping the crits with the shields. Of course even 2 attack die is decent - just ask rebel players who inflict regular damage with tie-fighters at long range

I often go with the cheapest Gold Squadron Pilot with Ion Cannon. For 23pts thats a solid support ship. I am weary of playing more than one Y-Wing though - possibly 2 Y-Wings with a Falcon would be the only time id use two (other than in Jim Blakley's 5ship squad above).

All the name pilots are solid in a 3ship rebel list but imo they need an Ion Cannon to really show their potential and annoy enemy ships. Tie Swarms fear ion disruption - even if they wont admit it That 360 degree turret negates a lot of their movement options and an ionized fighter can be forced from the battle for 2 turns which messes with formation flying. Ion Cannon is consistent damage but its not for everyone.

Interestingly the Blaster Turret that accompanies the HWK-290 expansion provides another turret option for the Y-Wing although its harder to 'fuel' it due to its requirement to use a focus token to fire it -something Moldy Crow and recon specialist are very good at.

Since the arrival of big ships — if I fly Y-Wings, I take at least 2 of them. It's quite inadequate bringing a single Ion weapon to a big ship fight. I'm quite fond of Gold Sqd + ICT + R2. I prefer R2 on them so they can crank out those Hard 3 and K turns.

Flying 4 of those, + a single Proton Torpedo on one of them, is more solid than I had expected before I actually took it out for a spin.

Y-wings are interesting ships, their manuver dial isn't flashy but I hesitate to say that it's bad, rather it requires a slow, steady, dedicated form of movement, and works best supported by fast, more slippery fighters. The droids that convert crits and flat out remove damage are better on them than any other small ship (even if we houseruled that any fighter could take an astromech) due to their high hull values. Horton's ability is good enough I'd be willing to take him upgraded, and as pointed out he's amazing with torpedoes. Speaking of torpedoes the Y-wing is sturdy enough that you have a really good chance of getting one off before you die, I've even managed two while being focused down a few times. Turrets are great, The HWK is cheaper and higher agility but the Y has a better dial.

One thing that hurts the Y-wing is that without a turret it is utterly at the mercy of any three agility fighters in a one on one, they'll avoid most shots and have a good enough maneuver dial that you are unlikely to get very many if they don't want you to. they won't get away unharmed but they will wear down all that health while you're trying to get a decent kiogram off.

I love the Y-Wing. It's my favorite ship to fly. It's maneuver dial isn't that great, but I love running ion turrets on them and just disrupting enemy movement. Most rebel squads I run has at least one y wing. I love running Horton, Dutch and Kyle together.

They can take a beating and the Astromech slot is extremely useful. All around I feel the Y-Wing is a great ship. Not as flashy or impressive as a B-Wing, but it has it's place and I feel is underrated.

I've been flying Kyle and Dutch together recently. I send them around the flanks with blaster turrets. Share some TL, share some focus. Mama gonna knock you out! I fly Garvin and Ibitsam up the middle. Ibit usually takes up a lot of attention with PTL while Garvin recharges with R2D2. The last time I played this list I drew the same crit card for the hawk and the y-wing, discard a secondary weapon, AND reduce your agility by 1 on the y-wing. That really stunk. I still ended up winning because my friend misdialed.

Love y-wings. Possibly the most underrated ship in the game. Would definitely enjoy more pilot options.

All of my Rebel squadrons now have an auto-include Gold + R2. I have seen more people throw firepower at the cheapest, most durable, and frustrating ship than any other single ship. It costs 19 points, or 2.375 points per hull/shield. X-Wings OTOH cost north of 4 points per hull/shield. If the enemy ignores the Y-Wing it sits and shoots at range 1/2, getting in the way of things, and generally annoying while everything else dies. If they shoot at the Y-Wing, it absorbs shots instead of the Luke/R2-D2 or Wedge/Biggs combo that is also shooting 3 attack dice. It is a great ship and I can understand why people don't like it. I just happen to like the ship a lot and find it a good place holder. Even side by side, I like the Y-Wing dial much more than the B-Wing. It is faster than the B-Wing and has more options in terms of movement than the B-Wing does (with an R2).

I confess to never have flown a turret-less y wing. Something I'm curious to try now.

Don't do it man! You're mad!!!

Prrrrretty sure the most underrated ship in the game is the Tie Advanced

I love Y-Wings: I'm getting my third one in the mail soon. I'm actually really curious to try them out with Horton, Dutch and a Grey with Ions and R2 units with Engine Upgrades of all things. I think the boost action on the "slow" Y-Wing would really bring some interesting surprises to the table. I'm hoping to experiment with that soon, so I'll bring my report here to see how it performs. :3

They have been my favourite fighter since 1976 *L* And, i think, have been criminally misprepresented since they were originally intended to be just another fighter, no slower or less agile than the X Wing

They have been my favourite fighter since 1976 *L* And, i think, have been criminally misprepresented since they were originally intended to be just another fighter, no slower or less agile than the X Wing

I always saw them as a fighter/bomber, since they made the first trench run, while the X-Wings flew CAP.

They were fighters that were converted into fighter bombers as they began to show their age and the newer more nimble x-wings became available. The Y-wings were modular, ubiquitous, easily repaired, and rugged enough that they stayed in service long after they're contemporaries like the headhunter were mothballed.

Actually they were bombers that were converted to fighter-bombers. They were never supposed to be used as straight up starfighters, but the Rebels needed a fighter at a time when they had none, and the Y-wing could be had cheaply and with modification could be turned into a decent strike fighter. What the Rebels really needed was a dogfighter, which came about with the X-wing.

Y-wings are interesting ships, their manuver dial isn't flashy but I hesitate to say that it's bad, rather it requires a slow, steady, dedicated form of movement, and works best supported by fast, more slippery fighters. [...]

Garm Bel Iblis' A-Wing Slash Maneuver?...?