Considering the full cards and points have been spoiled for Wave 2, I really should be posting the upcoming Wave 2 Update article instead of this one. However, this one has been in the hopper for over a week, and I don’t own any of the W2 stuff yet. In addition, Scum has been somewhat slighted on this blog in terms of volume of articles. To partially make up for this, they get to claim my final Wave 1 Building Blocks article.

The BTL-A4 Y-Wing is a working-pilots starfighter. It isn’t particularly beefy, it’s certainly not nimble, but it is versatile. With an array of upgrade slots, a decent attack value, an average dial, and an overall low cost, the Y-Wing can play quite a few roles on your list. Today’s article is going to cover the Scum options for the ship, with the Rebel options to be covered in a later article.

The Scum faction has 4 available pilots to fly their (beat up, heavily modified, and often stolen) Y-Wings. Of the generic options, the most basic option is the Crymorah Goon. At a mere 32 points, this Initiative 1 pilot can be used as an option for a tankier swarm ship than usual, or to fill a list with a good amount of hit points for cheap. On the other hand, the Hired Gun is the benchmark for Y-Wings in the Scum faction. 34 points gets you an Initiative 2 pilot, whose improved score lands them in far more lists than their lower-Initiative counterpart.

Starting off the named pilots is Drea Renthal. Her ability, for 40 points, is to allow all friendly, non-limited (or generic) ships who attack targets in her firing arc to reroll 1 attack die. This ability is similar to the TIE/ln pilot Howlrunner, and has made the Initiative 4 pirate lord the Scum’s Queen of the Swarm. Drea’s version allows her swarm to spread out more, helping protect them from cluster weapons and bombs, but requires Drea to have eyes on target for it to work. While Drea helps her team, Kavil is out for himself. This callous corsair may roll an additional attack die any time he fires a non-forward arc weapon (including any turret.) For only 42 points, his Initiative 5 is a pretty good bargain for the large improvement over his 1.0 ability.

In terms of the ship itself, the Y-Wing packs a 2 attack forward arc primary, 1 agility, 6 hull, and 2 shields. Its action bar consists of white Focus and Lock actions, and red Barrel Roll and Reload actions. The Y-Wing also packs 7 upgrade slots, including an Astromech, Illicit, Modification, Gunner, Turret, Device, and Torpedo. Additionally, each pilot except the Crymorah Goon can take a Talent upgrade.

Talent

The Y-Wing makes a poor option for the maneuverability-based Talent options, or anything that references its forward or bullseye firing arcs. However, Expert Handling is a cheap way to improve that maneuverability. Elusive and Debris Gambit are solid options to improve the ships defense, though its dearth of blue maneuvers makes it harder to clear the stress required to use either of them.

Astromech

In addition to the generic astromechs, Scum have access to an array of unique droids, each of who are a little… different. On the BTL-A4, the generics are usually better, whether to bolster their easily depleted hit points or to VASTLY improve their dial. However, “Genius” deserves special mention, as it can be combined with the Gunner slot’s Skilled Bombardier to really screw with normal bomb placement options.

Illicit

Most of the Illicit upgrades in the game currently support either Aces or Blockers, and the Y-Wing isn’t great in either of those roles. However, they are also often cheap enough to toss in anyway, and any of them can be great additions to various, narrowly-focused builds.

Modification

Survival modifications like Hull Upgrade and Shield Upgrade are cheap on the Y-Wing, and since they start with an odd amount of hit points, they also increase the amount of damage necessary to take the ship to half points. Given their health, and Electronic Baffle may be useful on a crucial turn, getting rid of a stress token to enable an action or red maneuver when absolutely vital.

Gunner

I’ve said before that Scum has the best Gunner in the game, and Han Solo still makes a powerful statement on any ship. Here he’s best combined with an R4 Astromech to improve the options for discarding the stress. I’ve also already mentioned Skilled Bombardier for a bombing option, but Veteran Turret Gunner has the potential to allow for a double-tapping Y-Wing, and its lack of a unique dot means your entire list could be spitting out 2 (admittedly weak) attacks per round.

Weapons (Turrets and Torpedoes)

There are relatively few options for each of these slots, but nearly all can easily find a home on a Y-Wing. Both turret options are solid, with Dorsal allowing for more damage while the Ion Cannon gives your list a control element. Similarly, Proton Torpedoes can cause a serious amount of damage, but Ion Torpedoes grants you another control option for a reduced price (Adv. Proton Torpedoes’ requirement of Range 1 severely limits its use on this chassis.)

Devices

Devices are perhaps where this ship truly shines, despite not being the best bomber in either of its factions. With the combination of Skilled Bombardier and “Genius”, a Y-Wing can put its bombs nearly anywhere, possibly trapping even the most agile ace within range. The mines aren’t quite as good in that regard, but both can serve as useful control options, mostly by guiding where you opponents ships shouldn’t go.

Given the large amount of upgrade slots and low starting price point, there are dozens of ways to deck out each of the pilots for this ship. I’m going to cover quite a few, especially for the chassis’ primary workhorse (each of these below the 50 point mark.)

The Deadman Goon

This variant of the Crymorah Goon is able to be flown as a swarm of 5 ships, which provides a large area for the Deadman’s Switches to detonate. Their Dorsal Turrets also allow them to attack in a literal swarm, not really caring if they’re even facing the same direction as their wing-men. However, the Deadman’s Switch is well documented in its ability to backfire hideously, and the low Initiative value of these ships makes it hard to keep opponents within range.

The Trick-Torp Gun

With the lower Initiative value of the Hired Gun, getting your Locks set up for an initial attack run may prove difficult. Luckily, the BTL-A4 has a decent amount of health, potentially allowing you to survive the initial encounter and let loose your Torpedoes. The R3 Astro lets you either bank a second lock for your next target, or provide ambiguity as to who you’re looking to take down in the first place.

The Veteran Gun

A single ship attacking twice, so long as you’re on target, is sometimes better than 2 ships shooting once. The action economy may be a bit tougher, but you tend to give away fewer points as your ship hemorrhages hull. This version is the same cost as 2 Academy Pilots in the TIE/ln, and is probably worth at least that much in a brawl.

The Genius Bomber

Its obvious why the ability of “Genius” is on a unique droid; having 4 of these in a single list would be absolutely bonkers. This Gun is possibly the most controlling Y-Wing in the game, with a ton of locations to plant your bomb, a white Barrel Roll to clear it, and the ability to ionize your target to force them into your blast zone. Obviously, swapping out the Proton Bombs for Seismic Charges greatly increases your range, but will lower your damage against most current (often critical-hit prone) lists.

Drea, Queen of the Swarm

Sarah Kerrigan Drea Renthal is not much to speak of herself, but she is a force multiplier for those around her. Combining her ability with a Hotshot Gunner helps to get the often weak attacks of her minions to punch through the harder-to-hit Ace pilots out there flying Fang Fighters, A-Wings, and half of the TIE-variants out there.

Beefy Kavil

Kavil is the default Ace of the Y-Wing, at least for the Scum faction. His ability basically mandates a Turret, and his moderately high Initiative makes him a threat against most of the games pilots. This version has him tricked out about as much as possible, improving his mobility, defense, and offense across the board. However, it also weighs in at 62 points (63 if you swap Trick Shot for Expert Handling,) which is only a few points shy of 1/3 your list for a selfish Initiative 5 gunner. Lets see what fat we can trim off of this guy…

Lean Kavil

Ok, this is far better. We drop off 10 points of chuff to bring Kavil down to barely more than 1/4 of your list without losing much of his effectiveness. The importance of the Engagement Phase Focus action can not be overstated, as it allows you to be focused no matter what, so long as you aren’t stressed. This includes after bumping or crossing over an asteroid! A 4-dice Range 1 Dorsal Turret will make nearly any ship blink, especially if you Locked onto your target during the Activation Phase and Han tossed you a Focus token right before your shot!

As I hope I’ve shown you, the BTL-A4 Y-Wing is a very versatile ship hidden away behind a clunky dial and mediocre Initiative values. Its low cost and high number of upgrades means it can find a place in most lists without giving up your overall goal. Of course, a list of JUST Y-Wings can also be effective…

The Goon Squad

The Queen of Swarms leads this bunch of goons into battle with wild abandon. Ok, maybe some abandon, as she selfishly takes an Evade action to help preserve her own life while her attacks mostly serve to strip away the opponents defenses. However, after the defenses have been breached, her group of Crymorah pilots will outlive most enemy lists while launching their attacks. The fact that you have 5 Y-Wings on the table is just icing on the cake.

As always, let me know what you think! I’ve been getting a lot of awesome feedback through Reddit, and can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks about one of my favorite old ships.

Next time: Finally, a tournament?