The HWK is a perfectly usable ship. I think a lot of opinions about certain ships are based upon subjective thinking instead of objective thinking. What I mean to say is a lot of people have their own play styles and certain ships fit into those play styles a lot easier than others. One tries to quantify that the ship doesn't fit their play style but typically does so by subjectively saying "this ship is bad".

The HWK typically fits my playstyle when I'm flying for the Rebellion. I prefer 3 ship squads with 2 heavy hitters and some type of support role. The HWK fits that support role quite easily with any 1 of 3 different named Pilots with Abilities that affect squad mates within Ranges 1-3. Considering how popular 2 ship squads are, meaning two attacks per round, splitting your points into 3 different targets and giving buffs to your attackers is a smart idea in my opinion. Tossing on a turret for 4-5 points more and getting a third attack every round is just a bonus.

And now the B wing does this better...

I love the HWK, and am a huge fan of the video game. Let's be subjective here for a moment. The ship should have been a large base, but it was given a small base to match the video game. Unlike the video game, it was given a large (and slow) dial. Then, FFG gave it a single attack die!?! The pilot abilities are cool, but not game changing enough to give up an entire ship's worth of points for. Unlike the B and Y wing, it isn't even durable. There is not a ship north of 20 points that is so crippled by crits as the HWK is.

Honestly, before Rebel Aces, an argument could be made for the HWK's place in a Rebel fleet. Now, a B-wing with crew is cheaper, tougher, and more useful than a HWK. This is a crime that should be fixed. After seeing the S&V set, I don't think it's going to be.

The HWK needs 'fixing" now? Certainly not more than my beloved Defender or TIE bomber...but I digress.

The HWK isnt an attack ship...not in dark forces nor in the lore. It was designed in X WIng to be support ship...which it does very very well. I dont play the filthy rebels often but when I do I almost always include a HWK...passing out focus tokens, doling out extra attacks, or giving someone PS 12 (12!!) during the combat phase is well worth the price of admission. Treat it as the support ship it is supposed to be, not the attack ship you might like it to be.

There is not a ship north of 20 points that is so crippled by crits as the HWK is.

Decimator? TIE interceptor? Thats 2x right there...

The Hwk is a much better ship than most give it credit for. It's the only turret + crew option at the moment. They all have uses, and they are really customizable.

While anecdotes don't count, I've done well with dual, and triple HWK lists.

The HWK is a perfectly usable ship. I think a lot of opinions about certain ships are based upon subjective thinking instead of objective thinking. What I mean to say is a lot of people have their own play styles and certain ships fit into those play styles a lot easier than others. One tries to quantify that the ship doesn't fit their play style but typically does so by subjectively saying "this ship is bad".

The HWK typically fits my playstyle when I'm flying for the Rebellion. I prefer 3 ship squads with 2 heavy hitters and some type of support role. The HWK fits that support role quite easily with any 1 of 3 different named Pilots with Abilities that affect squad mates within Ranges 1-3. Considering how popular 2 ship squads are, meaning two attacks per round, splitting your points into 3 different targets and giving buffs to your attackers is a smart idea in my opinion. Tossing on a turret for 4-5 points more and getting a third attack every round is just a bonus.

And now the B wing does this better...

I love the HWK, and am a huge fan of the video game. Let's be subjective here for a moment. The ship should have been a large base, but it was given a small base to match the video game. Unlike the video game, it was given a large (and slow) dial. Then, FFG gave it a single attack die!?! The pilot abilities are cool, but not game changing enough to give up an entire ship's worth of points for. Unlike the B and Y wing, it isn't even durable. There is not a ship north of 20 points that is so crippled by crits as the HWK is.

Honestly, before Rebel Aces, an argument could be made for the HWK's place in a Rebel fleet. Now, a B-wing with crew is cheaper, tougher, and more useful than a HWK. This is a crime that should be fixed. After seeing the S&V set, I don't think it's going to be.

The HWK really wasn't really an "ace flying" ship though. It was designed for moving cargo from point A to point B. In Dark Forces and Jedi Knight, it's used to just drop off and pick up Kyle, so again no fancy maneuvering required. The only really tense, clutch, fly for your life moment in those games was when Kyle escapes that giant ship crashing into the planet and barely outruns it. I really wouldn't say it's a fast, maneuverable ship to begin with.

Also, in the games it really wasn't used for attack much at all. There was a blaster turret equipped to it but again, they pretty much never used it. Thematically, I would say the design of this ship in X-Wing Miniatures is on point.

As far as ships being "so crippled" by crits, I'd say it's about the same as any TIE Interceptor Pilot. You only notice it less because the Squint is more likely to die in a single hit than survive with some Hull points left. Once S&V is available to all, you'll notice real quickly when Ten Numb hits you with that Mangler Cannon how much crits hurt the Interceptor.

B's don't really have support Abilities, so they can't really replace the HWK in that respect. B's don't have turrets either, so you're relying more on better maneuvering. B's also can't fill the role of a 21 point ion ship that a HWK can. B's take crew members for 1 point more than any other ship, so that's also a downside.

I realize the HWK isn't a combat ship, but even a support ship needs to be survivable, and at the moment, the HWK just isn't. It's closets Imperial equivalent is probably the Lambda, and I don;t think I'd see much argument that the HWK sees far less play than the Lambda does - that's partly because the Lambda has double the HP - 5/5 vs 1/4 - and I just don't think one extra defence dice compensates the HWK for that much health (especially given the fact that its weaker shields leave it far more vulnerable to crits).

Moreover, in order to be really useful on the board, you need to invest points in at least the mid 20s, more often high 20s, low 30s - that's a lot of points, and a lot more points than you generally put down in a similarly defended X-Wing (not to mention the significantly worse dial than the X Wing). That's a huge risk to take, and more often than not will result in a list with a pretty glaring weakness. In my experience, people see the HWK (not incorrectly) as an easy way to collect a decent amount of points early on, and if (when) it dies quickly, those fancy, expensive abilities quickly become liabilities.

I'm glad that people have found ways to use them successfully, but in my experience (which, I'll admit, isn't vast) they're not a widely used ship by any stretch of the imagination - in fact, the only ship I've seen less of in my group is the TIE Advanced (widely recognized as needing a boost), and the only reason the HWK isn't equal last is because I keep trying to use it.

To me, this feels very much like Chardaan refit - take away a rarely used capability and use it to fix a glaring weakness (Cost in the A-Wing's case, fragility in the HWKs).

Oh, and regarding a 5 dice Phantom, if my opponent flying a Phantom wanted to take this and leave ACD out, I would let them make that trade every single time. ACD is an autoinclude on Phantoms for a reason.

My idea to 'fix' the HWK 290 - give it a HWK-290 only title/upgrade that extends the range of its turret by 1. The times I've flow the HWK, only being able to shoot at range 1-2 was the biggest issue/concern. Aside from that (and even without that 'fix') I think it is a perfectly useable ship.

It also does well in Epic format

HWK doesn't need a fix.

Would be nice to have a little more hull or something thougb

I think the larger issue (other than the attack dice issue) is that the "formula" for green dice:hit points has been out of whack for a while. The 2 green dice for 5 HP just isn't that good and both the X-wing and HWK suffer for it. The E-wing whole expensive gets away with 5HP because it has access to evade and 3 green dice.

The Y-wing and B-wing with the 8 HP to 1 agility ratio are pretty solid since you know they will last several shots. Realistically it is almost impossible to 2 shot a B-wing or Y-wing and highly unlikely to 3 shot one. X-wings and HWKs can often go down in 2 or 3 shots no problem, meaning that they really suffer from focused fire more so that the more resilient ones do. High agility ships have a pretty chance of avoiding damage from low attack ships and tend to have maneuvers that prevent lots of incoming shots (something that both X's and HWKs lack).

I think the base formula should have been 6 HPs for 2 agility. An X-wing with 3 hull and 3 shields (it takes the Shields from Y-wing and the hull from the B-wing) would actually be pretty solid. A HWK with 4 hull and 2 shields would be more respectable and less likely to be shot off the board quickly, something you really don't want to happen to a support ship. There are a number of really solid HWK builds primarily because the Moldy Crow is one of the best cards in the game. I have found both Lando and Jan Crew to be great for HWKs as the ability to add an evade token on top of all the focus is invaluable (both are better than Chewy IMHO).

Sadly the "formula" is not something that can really be fixed at this point, but FFG have done a really good job of giving each the fixed ships an interesting set of abilities/cards that have not only made for interesting combos but brought the ships into line pretty well. It only sort of worked for interceptors until Autothrusters was released though.

That being said a HWK-specific fix could be something like a heavy freighter refit that gives +1 red dice, +1 shield and +1 hull. Essentially this gives you 7 HP at 2 agility but that fits with the freighter profile. Stacking it with Chewy does make it a tough ship with 9/10 effective HP at 2 agility, but it's not like it will tear up the meta, and frankly there are better choices than Chewy. Costing this is tricky since this is about 11 points of upgrades. Chewy who effectively gives you 2 HP is 4 points, but the extra red dice would normally cost about 4 if going from 2 to 3 or 5ish going from 3 to 4. 4 points seems cheap but feels right since it is ship specific.

Or you could go the TIE advanced route and give it a modification that gives +1 red dice, and allows you to select another mod at -4 cost (to represent the customisability of a freighter). This is probably easier to cost and represents some cool options (though I suspect engine upgrade would win a lot of the time).

As for the original posts idea, I did really like it, until I saw it was an action. As an action it is an inefficient card. If instead you chance the trigger to "At the start of the combat phase" or similar it would be pretty effective. Either than or just have it always on. Something like "When making a primary attack roll one less attack dice. When defending roll one additional defence dice". Y-wings are still interesting, but not overpowered, since you are paying for the privilege and you are forced to take a turret (and it doesn't combo well with the BTL-A4). The HWK sacrifices its all but useless 1 attack for something that will potentially keep it alive. And most interestingly it actually works as a really interesting (and potentially viable) mod on the Phantom making it a hybrid between a traditional Phantom and an Interceptor, I.E. 5 green dice when cloaked, but forced to use an action to do it (every other turn) or stay uncloaked and have 3 red dice and 3 green. The Scyk, is getting pretty expensive if you pay 2 points for this, 2 points for the mod and whatever points for the cannon, so it is not exactly points efficient.

Anyway, sorry for the HWK rambles, but it is my favourite ship so I have thought a lot about it.

I don't think the hawk needs fixing. It is a great ship especially in large point games as a support ship. In 1 epic game I played in it became target number 1 due to the insane support it was handing out to other ships. Sure it may not be great in a 100 pt list but there is more to x wing than that.

As stated above I dont think we will ever see or should attempt to balance all ships to make them competitive in the 100 pt death match. Some ships are better dog fighters than others but specialised ships have a place in scenario and large point epic games.

Still need a fix for ordnance though as often a TIE swarm can be more effective than capital ship busting bombers.

The hwk actually makes ordnance better.

Kyle katarn with moldy crow and recon specialist flying next to a Y/B wing packed with ordnance, allows you to assign focus while the Y/B wing target locks, possibly augmenting the chance to hit with your ordnance.

A role which Garven fills equally well in a 3 attack fighter with a better dial and the same PS for less points than it would take to make Kyle, HWK title, turret etc work.

A role which Garven fills equally well in a 3 attack fighter with a better dial and the same PS for less points than it would take to make Kyle, HWK title, turret etc work.

Depends on wich Y/B you use, horton salm,Keyan or ten numb attack before Garven has a chance to spend his focus token on his attack. You will have to equip R2-D6 + veteran instincts to get his PS up to 8 .

Would work very good with nera dantels though who comes in at PS 5 and can attack out of arc with ordnance. Just don't roll 3 hits for garven's attack and all the evades you need, otherwise you can't spend your focus. That's the 'plus' of using the hwk with kyle, you can transfer it no matter what.

HWK are seriously gimped with authrusters.... really to point of uselessness.

ANY list worth a lick will have Soontir at least in this wave and he will be "unkillable" for a HWK with a turret now.

Might as well put support personal on a Bwing instead of a useless HWK now turrets are nerfed to dirt.

If you're using a HWK as anything other than a support ship you're probably doing it wrong. If you're trying to kill Soontir Fel with a HWK you're definitely doing it wrong. Soontir could always sit at Range 3 of a HWK and the HWK'd get no shot on him. Autothrusters isn't really a major shift in HWK versus TIE/in.

Energy Transfer System

Modification

Small ships only.

2 points

Action: For the duration of this round, decrease your primary weapon value by 1 and increase your agility by 1.

This would allow a phantom to have 5 agility.

So does Stealth Device.

Well only flown it once but Kyle in his hawk was key to locking down & killing soontir. No autothrusters though. Was a month ago.

I think it's fine at the moment.

I realize the HWK isn't a combat ship, but even a support ship needs to be survivable, and at the moment, the HWK just isn't. It's closets Imperial equivalent is probably the Lambda, and I don;t think I'd see much argument that the HWK sees far less play than the Lambda does - that's partly because the Lambda has double the HP - 5/5 vs 1/4 - and I just don't think one extra defence dice compensates the HWK for that much health (especially given the fact that its weaker shields leave it far more vulnerable to crits).

Interesting, we now entered a part in the game where 5 health and 2 agility is not considered survivable.

Now, I don't think the HWK and Lambda are that close in role and playstyle. First, the HWK is slightly more maneuvrable than the Lambda with the Turn 2 being white instead of red; The HWK is a small base so is actually harder to target and easier to move in an asteroid field or close encounter; The HWK can (and should) equip a turret, so it isn't bothered with actually having a target in his arc, it can concentrate on flying and doing his best to dodge enemy arcs; Unique Pilot abilities are actually VERY useful compared to the Lambda pilots.

A role which Garven fills equally well in a 3 attack fighter with a better dial and the same PS for less points than it would take to make Kyle, HWK title, turret etc work.

Garven need to use his focus before giving it. That means that either your opponent have to shoot at him, Garven need to have a target himself to be able to use his own focus, and the guy to who he gives it have to be PS6 or lower to actually use it in attack.

Kyle gives the Focus at the start of the Combat Phase and up to range 3, Garven range is 2.

So, Garven can fill the role, but not equally well.

Last year I had Kyle on a HWK and finished 2nd in a Store Championship.

Maybe they should just add the Raven's claw to the game as more of a fighting ship role?

I have had some good successes with the crow in epic play. Mostly from hiding it behind asteroids and a decent dose of luck as it for some reason drew my opponents focus fire and was able to take it. It did eventually get shot down but he lost a phantom, a bunch of ties and the decimator trying to get the job done.

I see most of the crow's problems coming from its poor dial, terrible firepower, durablity (its no better then an x-wing and people call that ship a glass cannon) and over-costing to fit and fly. If its slow and easy to predict where it will be and its range is terrible then that's probably why people struggle with it.

I know people wont like to hear me suggest this with the number of turreted ships in the game, but maybe give it another title that increases its firepower and changes it from a standard front arch primary to a 360?

Another idea would be to beef up the damage deck with more cards so that the you lose your turret card doesn't come up as often?

The scum Hawk might be better with its tricky illicit slot but i'm yet to test it out.

FFG is not going to change the firing arch or change the base attack ratting of the ship. I like the idea of a new Title that discounts turrets by 2 or 3 points though. This way, one would have to choose between the Moldy crow or the new generic title, as both could not be taken.

Once you accept Jan Ors into your heart, the HWK is fine.

Once you accept Jan Ors into your heart, the HWK is fine.

4 B wings with Target Locks beats 1 ship rolling 4 or 5 dice and two rolling 3 or less every day of the week.

FFG is not going to change the firing arch or change the base attack ratting of the ship. I like the idea of a new Title that discounts turrets by 2 or 3 points though. This way, one would have to choose between the Moldy crow or the new generic title, as both could not be taken.

We already mechanics in the game that change fire arch's and firepower, thanks to things like the outrider title and even things like Jan's ability change ships firepower.

Just a question... If every ship is rated solely on it's ability to stand alone as a competitive dog-fighter then wouldn't existing ships that also fill support roles or create synergies become over powered because by our 'dog-fighting only' desire to rate ships we will ignore other important abilities?

I think support ships can be very competitive just not as stand alone fighters. Yes a squad of HWKs will die against main line fighters and that doesn't bother me; but used in combination with other ships the squad can become very effective. Wasn't a HWK in second place at worlds?

First, I agree with those who say the HWK is fine. It is a bit on the squishy side, but it's not a severe problem.

Second, if FFG did decide to beef the ship up a bit, a HWK-only modification (Armored Courier?) that added +1 hull and +1 shields for 4 points would be just about right. You could also do it with a title (Raven's Claw?), but since that can easily be combined with Hull Upgrade, I'd want to see something like +1 hull for 2 points.

The Raven's Claw would be a separate ship.

Just a question... If every ship is rated solely on it's ability to stand alone as a competitive dog-fighter then wouldn't existing ships that also fill support roles or create synergies become over powered because by our 'dog-fighting only' desire to rate ships we will ignore other important abilities?

I think support ships can be very competitive just not as stand alone fighters. Yes a squad of HWKs will die against main line fighters and that doesn't bother me; but used in combination with other ships the squad can become very effective. Wasn't a HWK in second place at worlds?

2 of them made the cut to top 32. They didn't make that much further, though, but it is still an impressive achievement.

The Raven's Claw would be a separate ship.

Well yeah, but do you REALLY want them to make a whole separate ship just for teh Raven's Claw? Or would you rather them simply give a title that represents that the HWK was upgraded to a newer "light courrier" model. I know it's not technically accurate, but if you make the title cost a little more and represent the new model, I think the playerbase would buy it.

Aside of a title though, I think there are two ways to possibly improve the HWK, while still being somewhat useful for other ships. One way is to take advantage of the single attack die and another would be to take advantage of the single shield.

• Sniper Gunner - Crew - If you attack, and roll only blank dice on the initial roll, you may cancel all dice and assign [crit] to your attack, which may not be cancelled. (While any ship with crew COULD use this, the HWK has the best chance to naturally roll all blanks)
• Camouflage Shielding - Modification - At the start of the combat phase, if you have exactly ONE shield, you may perform a free Evade Action. (Since the HWK starts with one shield it would be most likely to use this. The only problem is that rebel ships with R2-D2 might be able to get too much value out of something like this. Again though, the idea is that it works on most ships, but excels on the HWK.