Yes, I want a separate ship for the Raven's Claw.

So your fleet (100 points games... yeah right) is all 5 plus pilots then huh?

Now your mighty elite three ship fleet is ready to destroy all turreted ships...after you buy at least three $14 ships to get the new sexy thang card!

A million X-Wingers will do this and the meta will be phooey forever.

Yeah rrright.

There are two autothrusters in the starviper box. Will only need 2.

Yes, I want a separate ship for the Raven's Claw.

Fair enough, I'm just not sure if it will really be justifiable. I don't think Kyle Katarn/Jan Ors are popular enough to justify 2 whole ships in this game. So far nobody has two ships yet. (Boba and Kath KINDA do, but thats' different. Same ship model, just different card).

If FFG were willing to print it though, I'll admit that I'd buy it. But one problem might also be that wouldn't the Raven's Claw completely replace the HWK? You don't want to make an entire ship obsolete. It would be a very difficult design process. By far, the easiest way to do it would be to simply add the Raven's Claw title to eth HWK, but I totally get why that is also a problem.

So your fleet (100 points games... yeah right) is all 5 plus pilots then huh?

Now your mighty elite three ship fleet is ready to destroy all turreted ships...after you buy at least three $14 ships to get the new sexy thang card!

A million X-Wingers will do this and the meta will be phooey forever.

Yeah rrright.

There are two autothrusters in the starviper box. Will only need 2.

Smarty...

I do love me some EMPIRE too... in fact I just plan ole love me some STAR WARS!

How to fix the HWK: buy most wanted

seriously, the ship's fine. It's maligned mostly because of having the worst base stats and 2nd worse dial in the game, but the little thing is a beast once you slap a named pilot in it (Except kyle, not a fan of him)

How to fix the HWK: buy most wanted

seriously, the ship's fine. It's maligned mostly because of having the worst base stats and 2nd worse dial in the game, but the little thing is a beast once you slap a named pilot in it (Except kyle, not a fan of him)

Plus Alex has said a few times now that "It SHOULD of had 2 attacks."... just give it a second dice already people!

No new card, no nothing, just do it.

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.

Fair point, I should have spent longer to clarify my argument.

Yes, as you pointed out, you'd need to spend 2 points to make Garv PS8 (28 pts total). Kyle on the other hand has a slight advantage in being able to allocate focus at the start of combat, but I think that one is pretty situational as you mentioned. PS8 is enough to cover the majority of Bs, Ys, etc.

But to make Kyle work in a HWK, you are probably looking at the Moldy Crow title, Ion Cannon Turret (possibly blaster, but that soaks up more of your focus) and probably RecSpec crew as well in order to maximise your focus action. Thats 32 points without spending anymore on EPTs for Kyle or filling the modification slot. Thats still on a HWK, which has a pretty crappy dial and is a squishier target in comparison to an X Wing

Garv brings 3 red dice which is a solid attack, plus the X-wing's improved dial and a bit more resilience with the same total HP (extra shield over hull). Garv only needs to attack to pass his token , he can 'spend' it even if he doesnt need to modify focus results (as per the FAQ). Staying inside 1-2 of the ship you want to buff is easy with the X-wing dial. So if all you want to do is buff ordnance carriers, Garven can do this the same way as Kyle, but without the range 2 attack limitation and worse dial, which pinning yourself to a HWK entails. You give up an awful lot to increase your focus allocation reach by 1. I know which one I would rather have backing up my ordnance carrier, you're going to want both ships aiming their pointy ends towards the enemy.

Overall I like the idea of the HWK, I think its characterful, but I agree with the points made that it's a bit of a damp squib. Its turret is a situational benefit and blaster turret is a fairly poor attack option if you also want to spend focus to buff your buddies (OK more turrets might solve this in future). Kyle struggles to bring any benefit over Garven in this regard IMHO. Jan is ok, but as has been pointed out, more decent attacking ships is probably better than adding 1 red dice to 1 ship with those same points. Roark is probably handiest in the current phantom influenced meta and the PS battle which resulted. But overall the HWK is a bit of a donkey with lackluster support abilities. Which is a shame when compared to some of the support options which the imperials get. Rebels are supposed to be the faction of synergy.

[looks at how well HWKs did at Worlds]

Just because a ship doesn't work the way you want it to, doesn't mean it needs to be fixed.

Did I miss something? I don't recall a HWK in a single top 8 list in 2013 or 2014.

If you're trying to get all ships to be represented in top lists you're in essence chasing a unicorn.

Precisely. What exactly will you people have to complain about when there are more ships that can be represented in the Worlds top 8?

It's a support ship. What were you expecting from it, a small Falcon?

How to fix the HWK: buy most wanted

seriously, the ship's fine. It's maligned mostly because of having the worst base stats and 2nd worse dial in the game, but the little thing is a beast once you slap a named pilot in it (Except kyle, not a fan of him)

Plus Alex has said a few times now that "It SHOULD of had 2 attacks."... just give it a second dice already people!

No new card, no nothing, just do it.

Check your quote. I believe he said "two dice attack wouldn't have changed much". That's very different than saying it's wrong and should have two attack.

Blaster turret is *kinda* like a mini falcon?

I've actually really been enjoying this list (particularly in a 2-ship meta), which includes a HWK:

100 pts
Kyle Katarn (21) + Jan Ors (2) + Moldy Crow (3) + Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Biggs Darklighter (25) + Experimental Interface (3) + R2-F2 (3)

Garven Dreis (26)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

When, oh when, will FFG just make every ship 3/3/5 with a turret and 1 of each upgrade slot so we can stop these "Ship X needs to be fixed because I want to use 3-4 of them as dog fighters instead of the roll they actually fill."?

having seen the options and pilots for the HWK in 'most wanted' i have to say while i always foudn the HWK fine whe used in its proper role before... well for S&V its just even better now.

When, oh when, will FFG just make every ship 3/3/5 with a turret and 1 of each upgrade slot so we can stop these "Ship X needs to be fixed because I want to use 3-4 of them as dog fighters instead of the roll they actually fill."?

It will be right before the flood of "OMG Ship X is OP!!!!11!!" threads.

I think a R1-3 turret would be a good idea - perhaps a mangler one.

I think a R1-3 turret would be a good idea - perhaps a mangler one.

Would have to be expensive though. You wouldn't want to see 4 Y-wing each with a range 3 turret.

When, oh when, will FFG just make every ship 3/3/5 with a turret and 1 of each upgrade slot so we can stop these "Ship X needs to be fixed because I want to use 3-4 of them as dog fighters instead of the roll they actually fill."?

Nev-ahh... and thus we will always have a few dummies on here boo-poo'n .

Boy howdy ain't it fun!

I think a R1-3 turret would be a good idea - perhaps a mangler one.

Would have to be expensive though. You wouldn't want to see 4 Y-wing each with a range 3 turret.

I want it...

I think a R1-3 turret would be a good idea - perhaps a mangler one.

Would have to be expensive though. You wouldn't want to see 4 Y-wing each with a range 3 turret.

Make it 7 points for all I care - Crow/Rec Spec + Blaster Turret is already 7.

Had back to back store championships on sat/sun this last weekend, won the one on sat so I decided to take a goof off list to the one on Sunday.

Jan Ors w/ Kyle, blaster, predator

Roark w/ blaster, rec spec

3x bandit

I was expecting to get stomped just having fun, but it was a surprisingly effective list. All but one of the games was down to the last couple hit points on each side. The ones I won, I was able to keep the Hawks on the fringe and **** did they do work. The ones I lost were usually to my poor flying (don't remember the last time I even took my Hawks out of the box) mixed with the rough dial they have. I would say their biggest weakness is turrets that only go range 2, but a dial that is really really slow. But broken and super in need of a fix? I wouldn't say that at all.

Bringing b-wings into a discussion about the hwk is like bringing up how awesome steak is to a hindu priest while discussing lentils. Sure its valid but its not really what is being discussed and more than a little offensive.

I want to run a 3 named Scum HWK list, but I don't really want to buy 2 more HWKs. It wouldn't be competitive at all, but it would be a lot of fun shenanigans.

Something like:

Torkhil Mux + Moldy Crow + EU + Outlaw Tech + Blaster Turret (32)

Godalhi + Opportunist + SU + Rec Spec + Blaster Turret (35)

Bonearm + VI + ICT + K4 Sec. Droid + Dampeners (33)

Best fix = HWK only Cloaking device. Modification slot that adds the cloak action to the ship.

Lore reasons: It was used as a sneaky drop ship for Kyle to get in and out of missions.

Since the HWK doesn't focus on attack anyway, it allows it a little extra protection without allowing it to drop out and destroy things. This also provides an occasional boost to mobility.

It should cost a decent amount maybe 3-4 points. Enough to make it an option instead of turrets, and taking both would be a really expensive option.

This way, it doesn't interfere with the unique properties of the empires fighter of death. Instead it provides a unique slightly more mobile/survivable support ship.

Best fix = HWK only Cloaking device.

Surely this is a piece of performance art...?

I want to run a 3 named Scum HWK list, but I don't really want to buy 2 more HWKs. It wouldn't be competitive at all, but it would be a lot of fun shenanigans.

Here in The Battle Parlor fun beats competitive... all day every day.

Now if FFG wants to pay me to game all serious and meta yah yah like... then... well no, not even then!!!