So in the same spirit as Cruzintovictory's A-Wing threat, I would like to make a similar one devoted to the HWK 290.

Aside from A-Wings HWK290 is my favorite ship in the game. Unfortunately I have difficulty making it work well in battle. I would like to hear everyone's thoughts on the HWK290. Is it playable? How do you play it will? Who does it play well with?

My thoughts are as follows:

Kyle Katarn with Recon Specialist, Heavy Laser Cannon, Moldy Crow title and Determination seem to work well for support. Especially with Jake Farrel. However Carnor Jax always seems to pop up where he's least wanted.

Rebel Operative+Recon Specialist+Blaster Cannon seem like fairly good, cheap turrets platforms at 23 points.

Roark does the same job but has a great ability for 3 points more.

I've never been able to use Jan Ors effectively.

I have heard Engine upgrade is nice with HWK290s but find it extremely limiting since it means I am stuck with Ion Turrets (no focus action for blaster turrets or Kyle's ability.)

Please share your thoughts.

Roark Garnet is a Whisper-Killer only outstripped by the guy who sold him the Moldy Crow in the first place.

He's also doubly effective if someone in your fleet has Swarm Tactics or Decoy.

I'd love to see you fly Kyle with an HLC

Here's a list that'll make you sing pass the focus on the left hand side.

Scum hawks ftw!

It's not really competitive (ie. tournament-worthy), but a fun way to use Jan is:

Something I've seen that was particularly effective was palob paired with kavil.

Palob, opportunist, blaster turret, recon specialist, moldy crow

Kavil, opportunist, blaster turret, r4 aggromech

Palob steals things, and you face 2 gauranteed 4 dice turrets, sometimes a 4 and a 5.

Capable of clearing a lot of health in one turn, believe me. The stress only bothers either ship if they are inflicted stress from an outside source. Otherwise they just do one forwards until you die.

a couple things about the HWKs from my perspective:

Moldy Crow is the ****. It basically turns you into Luke Skywalker, and Luke is to the X-wing what Kevlar is to our squishy insides. Because it's so good, though, I find it impossible to justify more than one HWK in my list.

What's not the ****, however, is auto-blaster turret. These things move like amputee turtles. It's why Rebel Operative never saw any play even before the Gold Squadron Pilot got its super nifty title.

Blaster turret is real nice, but moldy crow is basically required for it to function reliably and you really can't have it on Kyle because you're pissing away 3 focus a turn (not counting the focus you need on the defense).

Ion cannon is a nice, safe default.

Imo, the S&V HWKs are superior in terms of the impact they will have on a list. Palob's ability is ridiculous, it's like what happens after tactician B-wings start jousting (focus for us, **** for you) and Mux greatly extends the usefulness of your fodder by letting them shoot before the guy who kills them. Dace is weird, but if you treat as his own double-damage ion cannon turret he starts to come into his own (especially with the security driod).

For rebels, Roark (which I keep pronouncing like a parrot's squak...rrrrrRO--ARK) works similarly to Mux but with more range and not as cool. Rebels have superior control mechanics (access to R3-A2 and Tacticians on B-wings), however, so that's worth looking into.

Jan is expensive, but her ability is crazy good and Kyle Katarn (crew) from rebel aces lets you build her at an effective, inoffensive 32-33 points (ion or blaster + Kyle) with an extra point tacked on for anti-whisper duty (V.I). Personally recommend springing the extra point for the Ion Cannon, cause you never know when she'll get blocked with dat dial and you don't want to toss her one focus away on a naked shot. Still, she's probably the only HWK I'd run without Moldy, though I think Palob might also be able to sneak by.

Imo, Kyle Katarn's (HWK) ability is weak **** and I personally wouldn't run him

Blaster turret is real nice, but moldy crow is basically required for it to function reliably and you really can't have it on Kyle because you're pissing away 3 focus a turn (not counting the focus you need on the defense).

I disagree. Recon Specialist, or some other way of getting offensive actionesque modifiers is required.

Of course, Recon Specialist is also deuced nifty with the Moldy Crow title.

I've made regular use of Kyle, Jan and Roark all before S&V came out (oooh, so hipster!).

I've flown Palob a few times now and am in total fanboyluv with him, especially when paired with Kavil and Kaa'To.

Roark (with ICT and IntAgt) is fun with three Blue Bs with Tacs. Pop up a PS12 shot to hurt/stress something (esp. Phantoms who've decloaked), then pop more stress out after.

Roark Garnet — HWK-290 19
Ion Cannon Turret 5
Intelligence Agent 1

3 of Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing 22
Tactician 2
B-Wing/E2 1

Kyle is generally fun with other Focus passing ships, or ones that get stressed before they take their action (or flying against Panic lists)

Jan is always a good boost but really needs Nien to help clear the stress with her.

For S&V, I'm wanting to get Torkil on the table against a Whisper/Echo list and have some fun with them. Dace may be fun but the max one stress seems too limiting to make regular use of him.

Blaster turret is real nice, but moldy crow is basically required for it to function reliably and you really can't have it on Kyle because you're pissing away 3 focus a turn (not counting the focus you need on the defense).

I disagree. Recon Specialist, or some other way of getting offensive actionesque modifiers is required.

Of course, Recon Specialist is also deuced nifty with the Moldy Crow title.

Whoops, forgot to add that to my post

Recon and Crow are required, I say, if you're running with blaster. Hell, I wouldn't run blaster with just Moldy since it'd eat all the focus I generate just to shoot and modify it unless you slow-roll like a glacier to build a token pile. Ion cannon and just moldy is pretty nice, though, and it saves you 3 points (well, 2 if you're counting ion over blaster)

Anyway, I believe blaster turret HWKS are required to take the title. Otherwise, that first bump you hit is goodbye being offensively useful for a turn

Imo, Kyle Katarn's (HWK) ability is weak **** and I personally wouldn't run him

Pair him with Jan (crew) and you've got a lot of flexibility in what you're assigning to whom, allowing you to give an evade to that ship in harm's way.

I love pretty much all the named pilots (for both factions), though I feel that Jan does best when she can modify an already heavy hitter, such as Wedge, Wes, or anyone packing Opportunist or an HLC (or both). I also like pairing Jan with Nien Numb, since he makes the HWK's dial a lot better. Jan can zip in, Ion someone, and stress herself to boost another ship's attack, and then do a 4 Straight and clear it, instead of getting another stress token.

I haven't tried too many modifications on my HWKs, and usually fly without them. I have a hard time justifying too many points spent on a "support" ship.

I'm looking to try out a triple-HWK plus Z95, Scum build. I think it's going to be a more fun build than a competitive one, but who knows...?

My question is how you could keep the HWK alive for as long as possible? With only 2 agility and 1 shield (and 4 hull, but that's susceptible to crits), it seems rather vulnerable especially since your opponent is likely to focus fire on it to remove its ability from play.

My question is how you could keep the HWK alive for as long as possible? With only 2 agility and 1 shield (and 4 hull, but that's susceptible to crits), it seems rather vulnerable especially since your opponent is likely to focus fire on it to remove its ability from play.

moldy crow (+/- recon) --> basically luke skywalker

that's about as much you're going to get without doing something stupid, but honestly it's not bad at all.

I don't know the exact math, but on the table the difference has been massive and Luke's ability makes him really the only X-wing I can use effectively as a Stress Wing without Biggs lurking in the background, and that's with all the HLC and phantom non-sense running around. The HWK, being basically an X-wing in terms of defensive stats, benefits similarly.

Go big or go home

Kyle 21

Predator 3

Recon 3

Moldy 3

Blaster 4

Engine 4

It's not really competitive (ie. tournament-worthy), but a fun way to use Jan is:

Wes Janson (29)

Keyan Farlander (29)

Opportunist (4)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Jan Ors (25)

Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Nien Nunb (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Wes strips your hapless target of his defensive tokens, then Jan helps Farlander open up with a 6-dice HLC that often has TL and Stress!Focus behind it. The amount of damage that can be dealt is actually quite hilarious, but the list falls apart when you start taking casualties.

I disagree, mostly because I've placed 1 and 2 in tourneys with lists fairly similar to this one (Ibby instead of Farlander and a VI on Wes). That being said, with the meta-shift in progress, I don't think it's as strong as it used to be. I got torn apart by dual Aggressors at the SC, though I did fairly well against Super Dash.

My question is how you could keep the HWK alive for as long as possible? With only 2 agility and 1 shield (and 4 hull, but that's susceptible to crits), it seems rather vulnerable especially since your opponent is likely to focus fire on it to remove its ability from play.

The key is to make other bigger ships the better targets. Also, since the Rebel named pilots have abilities with range 1-3 you can have them skirt the edge of a fight to provide their support which forces your opponent to choose whether they want to go for your bigger more damaging ships, or whether they want to go for your support ship. If they go after the HWK, those are more turns the actual damage isn't being focused.

Dash and Jan work well. I like to add a Z.

I much prefer the ICT its cheaper and does good control. The amount of hit you sacrifice is not much since it uses up a focus and costs 7 more points with recon spec required and if you get blocked or flub up you dont get to attack since you dont have focus.

Roark goes well with low PS ships. Bs and Ys.

Even As.

Max Dice 7 x 2 TL F:

Epic:

Roark gives the Corvette PS12 for massive firepower early.

Jan gives one of its attacks +1 dice.

Dutch gives Corvette 2 TLs

Etahn gives crits

The DTFs help avoid dying quite as easily. With two to bounce off of, this helps increase survivability by 2 or 3 hull. Still, don't let your opponent focus the Corvette with all of his team for a turn... it will die.

Definitely some good ideas here.