Ok so real quick I looooove ion turrets. I put them on my hwks and y-wings when ever I get the chance and see all the benefits to them. That being said I'm coming in to this very open minded and want to know why or when I should ever take a blaster over ion.

When you are running a Recon Specialist or some other double-action method as well.

The main weakness of the Blaster Turret is that it requires an action to attack (Focus, in this case), which means you don't get to use that action to modify your dice.

1. Recon Spec leaves you with a second focus, with which you can mod your attack. This is actually viable.
2. Moldy Crow lets you save up some focii, with which you can mod your attack. Less viable than Recon Spec, but is an excellent companion upgrade.
3. R5-K6 will (5/8 of the time) replace a spent Target Lock (which means you didn't attack with the Blaster Turret at least once).
4. R2-D6 + Push the Limit seems like it will be good enough, excepting the Y-WIng's dearth of Green Maneuvers.
5. Horton Salm's ability is pretty feasible if you can stay at R2 consistently.
6. Garven/Dutch/Kyle/Lando/Squad Leader accompaniment is a bit of a crutch, but are also viable.

Beyond the very good information from the above reply, the Ion is effective even if only 1 point of damage gets through. I find the Ion works better than a Blaster Turret on high agility targets due to the 1 damage effectiveness of it.

Forcing that very predictable 1 forward white move becomes very helpful to slow down anything that may move out of the way quickly and then you can quickly get a B in behind it and tear it to pieces. My 125 point list of B/B/Kyle/Jan works very well doing that if I equip the HWKs with Ions.

EDIT: If I'm going to use the Blaster, it's typically in a Focus sharing list. I'll use it on Kyle/Recon Spec/Blaster/Moldy build, or on a Grey Squad Y with Garven on the field too to support. This will normally be if I'm expecting something more agile on the field.

The long version is what Pyrothayan says. The short version is… don't use a Blaster Turret over an Ion Cannon Turret. If you can manage the action stack it's a very nice buff to your damage, but (1) it doesn't come with the same control effect, and (2) it's horribly action-dependent--which means it's just too easy to lose attacks due to being unexpectedly stressed or blocked.

Ultimately the biggest use is simply the fact that it is slightly cheaper. This means it can be slightly easier to fit onto a missleboat y-wing or named, non-kyle HWK to provide a bit of secondary punch (Kyle can make use of it but generally has to go all out with recon and moldy crow, which negates the "cheap" factor).

The short answer is: everyone go with Blaster Turret, that way I can win with only Dark Curse.

Seriously, though: ICT does less damage than BT but has a secondary effect that makes it easier to kill said ship next turn (while the ICT ship then moves on to the next enemy ship to Ion it). It is worth the points if you want a turret.

Despite the draw backs of the BT I have had bad luck when fighing agianst Y-Wings with it. I have been one round killed by Blaster Turrests.

Yeah it definitely on paper can pack a punch. I think I may for fun and to really see the blaster turrets in action I will run a kyle with recon and moldy and 3 y wings with blaster turrets

If you want control go Ion. If you can get extra focuses from the list above, Blaster gives your hwk some teeth. One of the few rebel lists I like is Blue Garnet dagger

Roark + blaster + recon

Dagger

Blue

Rookie

Shoots at 12/4/4/2 and everybody has 3-4 dice.