The two defense dice are usually not a big problem, but combined with at least one Evade token (which he gets a lot of the time) and it can be a problem to land even one hit.

Last night I took this list:

Oicunn + Darth Vader + Mara Jade + Ysanne Isard + Expose + Dauntless

Backstabber

Obsidian Squadron Pilot

Obsidian Squadron Pilot

With all due respect this is a big part of your issue right here. You have a mini swarm (and with only 3 TIE's make sure to put plenty of emphasis on the mini part) that all roll just 2 attack dice (yes Backstabber is sometimes an exception) but they are paired with a turret that in actuality isn't that strong of an attacker.

Yes Oicunn can inflict some extra damage but we aren't talking about anything crazy.

One of the big issues is his load out. Expose sounds like a good idea but in practice it's actually inhibiting your attacks if you don't do it right. Yes you throw an extra attack die but it's at the cost of a focus or target lock in which you would want to modify your dice. It also eats up your EPT slot so you can't add Predator or something else.

In my opinion you should tweak your set up on your Decimator (different pilot, crew, EPT, etc) to improve its attack capability and/or drive down the cost.

In addition I would highly recommend ditching the 3 TIE's for something else such as 2 Interceptors, one of which could be Soontir.

TIE fighters are great but you often need enough of them to be able to get enough damage through.

The two defense dice are usually not a big problem, but combined with at least one Evade token (which he gets a lot of the time) and it can be a problem to land even one hit.

Last night I took this list:

Oicunn + Darth Vader + Mara Jade + Ysanne Isard + Expose + Dauntless

Backstabber

Obsidian Squadron Pilot

Obsidian Squadron Pilot

With all due respect this is a big part of your issue right here. You have a mini swarm (and with only 3 TIE's make sure to put plenty of emphasis on the mini part) that all roll just 2 attack dice (yes Backstabber is sometimes an exception) but they are paired with a turret that in actuality isn't that strong of an attacker.

Yes Oicunn can inflict some extra damage but we aren't talking about anything crazy.

One of the big issues is his load out. Expose sounds like a good idea but in practice it's actually inhibiting your attacks if you don't do it right. Yes you throw an extra attack die but it's at the cost of a focus or target lock in which you would want to modify your dice. It also eats up your EPT slot so you can't add Predator or something else.

In my opinion you should tweak your set up on your Decimator (different pilot, crew, EPT, etc) to improve its attack capability and/or drive down the cost.

In addition I would highly recommend ditching the 3 TIE's for something else such as 2 Interceptors, one of which could be Soontir.

TIE fighters are great but you often need enough of them to be able to get enough damage through.

Pretty much the only way I can find to fit in two Interceptors with a Decimator is something like this;

Patrol Leader w/Darth Vader and Gunner

2 x Saber Squad w/PTL and Autothrusters

This is a weird thread. It may be the first one where I've seen responders be more douchey than helpful. It seems odd.

Only thing to do is change it and be helpful!

I hadn't considered how offensive Palob could be with Opportunist and stockpiling Focus Tokens with Moldy Crow. I'll have to try it sometime soon instead of the weaker ICT Spice Runner setup.

The two defense dice are usually not a big problem, but combined with at least one Evade token (which he gets a lot of the time) and it can be a problem to land even one hit.

Last night I took this list:

Oicunn + Darth Vader + Mara Jade + Ysanne Isard + Expose + Dauntless

Backstabber

Obsidian Squadron Pilot

Obsidian Squadron Pilot

With all due respect this is a big part of your issue right here. You have a mini swarm (and with only 3 TIE's make sure to put plenty of emphasis on the mini part) that all roll just 2 attack dice (yes Backstabber is sometimes an exception) but they are paired with a turret that in actuality isn't that strong of an attacker.

Yes Oicunn can inflict some extra damage but we aren't talking about anything crazy.

One of the big issues is his load out. Expose sounds like a good idea but in practice it's actually inhibiting your attacks if you don't do it right. Yes you throw an extra attack die but it's at the cost of a focus or target lock in which you would want to modify your dice. It also eats up your EPT slot so you can't add Predator or something else.

In my opinion you should tweak your set up on your Decimator (different pilot, crew, EPT, etc) to improve its attack capability and/or drive down the cost.

In addition I would highly recommend ditching the 3 TIE's for something else such as 2 Interceptors, one of which could be Soontir.

TIE fighters are great but you often need enough of them to be able to get enough damage through.

Only use expose with EI it's seven points but you can TL and roll four dice that will hurt, and anything stupid enough to get into range one is dead.

But expose on its own is worse than rolling three dice and taking a focus action.

A couple of points:

1) I'm not new to this game, but I'm not what you'd call a competitive player. I wanted to try out some of the crew on the Deci, and I figured why not throw Expose on it since it would be fun. Yeah, it's not a great build by any means, but it is fun, which is the point.

2) The Decimator didn't fire on the HWK at all, and it wasn't a factor.

If I were to do this again, I'd take TIE Interceptors, possible with Outmaneuver and Targeting Computer, for the third attack die. This HWK build isn't unbeatable by any stretch, but it's really easy to underestimate it. I've wiped the floor with HWKs before, but he genuinely surprised me with this build and how survivable it is. I thought for sure he'd be easy to kill, so why not focus on Wedge first and wipe him out? It turned out to be a mistake to ignore the HWK completely. I should also have paid more attention to Vader's ability and not counted so much on the tankiness of the Deci. And I should have hung back with my Decimator until the Y-wing was destroyed. Those torpedoes are what really killed the Decimator because they did so much damage to it and also managed to ion my entire mini-swarm because I forgot what the ion torps do.

Also, the last time I took Expose on the Deci I had EI equipped as well. Why I didn't remember to do that is anyone's guess. FWIW, I didn't use Expose once, so it was kind of a waste of 4 points.

I managed to take down two B-wings with a Palob Hwk, partly because my 120 list (yeah, we were messing around a little. Basically a 100 point list + 20 upgrades. 3 Z-95, Xizor, Palob) had practically had it's Z-95 support dusted early on, and Xizor's duriable reputation was overrated. Ended up circling around, with a blaster turret, Moldy Crow and Recon Spec and ended up 2v2 with a crippled Xizor against two well maintained named B-wings that had been drawn apart due to stress/ion damage.

Ended up winning by using the Starviper as bait (flying it away from the B-wing at speed, Sigma, then ended up flying back at him because map corner) and having the HWK take potshots, and when the second B-wing finally did turn up, the fact I had 5 focus meant I had enough to spend to make 3 attacks without having to focus. Made the two agility annoyingly consistant to the extent he was able to defeat the remaining B-wing 1v1 with 2 hull let. Never got to use Palobs effect the entire match due to the particilar ships in use but my oppoment had put his priority on killing Xizor, and B-wings don't have the defensive statline for a drawn out game.

Of course big ships are nocktoriously difficult to deal with. I was irritated at the amount of effort I had to use to shoot down a 36 point YT-2400. Hit it with a ion torp, an focused/target locked assualt missle and it was still left on 3 hull, so I basically ended up having to trade all my Z-95's to the B-wings just to take the rock out while I still had the strength to. If X-wing was just a fighter game, I imagine the HWK would fare better (though it is the awkward ship that will require at least 1/4 of your points to be effective, thus even if one is taking a big ship one would have to find a good use for the 25/30ish points you would have remaining.)

Key to scum HWK's is pairing them up with something nasty, or basically aknowledging that they will be the target and plan accordingly.

This is a weird thread. It may be the first one where I've seen responders be more douchey than helpful. It seems odd.

Hopefully my comments didn't come across that way. Not what I intended.

It is interesting that the HWK is so maligned, though. Really drives home how important mobility is to survivability, and how bad 2 agility + 5 hp is without it.

That being said, it won't be long before the K-Wing steals the HWK's upgrade paths, excluding the moldy crow title and the pilot abilites, on a theoretically more survivable and definitely more mobile ship.

It's also going to be very much more expensive.

I do like how Outlaw Tech/K4 interact with the HWK dial though. Getting extra focuses to cancel the red moves somewhat and target locks otherwise.

Still, lack of a K turn is pretty significant.

... it's basically a large ship scaled down, isn't it? Slow dial, tanky, moderate agility, turret

...

I think HWKs do have a place in the competitive meta, but it's Jan Ors alongside Dash Rendar or Han Solo, not Kyle Katarn with Lando Calrisian crew. I would never describe a HWK as invulnerable, although with Chewbacca crew they can be about as tough as a Y-Wing and the things Jan Ors does through a super turret can be pretty brutal.

Try Biggs and Kyle

...

I don't particularly like that build above for Kyle. You need to spend a focus to fire the Autoblaster turret and with Lando, the chances of getting one is about 45% of the time . I actually wonder how he made it work (tremendous luck maybe). If i was flying against it, I would just ignore the HWK, take out everything else and then just cleanup.

I think you're confusing Autoblaster Turret with the Blaster Turret

Yes I did, my mistake. I haven't had the balls to use an autoblaster on a HWK yet. I am unsure that an an opponent would let me get into Range 1, although its easier said than done, since it is such a large bubble.

I have been trying to work illicit tech onto a HWK, I think getting a focus when you do reds (even when you bump) will really open up the ships dial.

My biggest issues is large ship bases with boost. Those things can get out of HWKs range 1-2 band really quick and still lay down fire.

For more HWK love.

I came in second in a store championship with the following list:

Roark, Moldy Crow, Blaster Turret, Recon

Blue Squad Pilot, Ion Cannon, FCS

Rookie Pilot, R3A2

Cracken, Squad Leader

It did real well, I even beat the guy who won the tourney. We both went 4-1 (it was all swiss), I was his one loss but his 4 wins were 200 MOV. I am not sure how necessary/effective it would be post cloaking rule change, but it does well against a surprising variety of lists.

How does your squad synergize? How do you fly them?

Only thing to do is change it and be helpful!

I hadn't considered how offensive Palob could be with Opportunist and stockpiling Focus Tokens with Moldy Crow. I'll have to try it sometime soon instead of the weaker ICT Spice Runner setup.

I would actually advise against Opportunist

not saying an HLC turret (Essentially) isn't awesome, but Palob is surprisingly badass with just his blaster, title, and his amazing ability. I flew him several times in a HLC Scyk + 3 pirates set-up and he killed the most ships every time

Ties come in, lose their defensive token, Ties go pop.

It's actually pretty hilarious because no one expects anything from the funny little freighter

He will be targeted though (his ability just seems to draw attention for some reason...) and taking on 4 points + limiting his already limited maneuvers makes him a very easy target

Only thing to do is change it and be helpful!

I hadn't considered how offensive Palob could be with Opportunist and stockpiling Focus Tokens with Moldy Crow. I'll have to try it sometime soon instead of the weaker ICT Spice Runner setup.

I would actually advise against Opportunist

not saying an HLC turret (Essentially) isn't awesome, but Palob is surprisingly badass with just his blaster, title, and his amazing ability. I flew him several times in a HLC Scyk + 3 pirates set-up and he killed the most ships every time

He flies a HWK, not a Scyk.

Did you mean alongside, or did you actually put a pilot ability onto a ship for which it was not intended?

Only thing to do is change it and be helpful!

I hadn't considered how offensive Palob could be with Opportunist and stockpiling Focus Tokens with Moldy Crow. I'll have to try it sometime soon instead of the weaker ICT Spice Runner setup.

I would actually advise against Opportunist

not saying an HLC turret (Essentially) isn't awesome, but Palob is surprisingly badass with just his blaster, title, and his amazing ability. I flew him several times in a HLC Scyk + 3 pirates set-up and he killed the most ships every time

He flies a HWK, not a Scyk.

Did you mean alongside, or did you actually put a pilot ability onto a ship for which it was not intended?

not in a Scyk; in "a Scyk + 3 pirates set-up"

a calculator and approximation of the listed ships worth subtracted from 100 points will leave you with a nice, Moldy Crow shaped hole to be filled

or just common sense

Only thing to do is change it and be helpful!

I hadn't considered how offensive Palob could be with Opportunist and stockpiling Focus Tokens with Moldy Crow. I'll have to try it sometime soon instead of the weaker ICT Spice Runner setup.

I would actually advise against Opportunist

not saying an HLC turret (Essentially) isn't awesome, but Palob is surprisingly badass with just his blaster, title, and his amazing ability. I flew him several times in a HLC Scyk + 3 pirates set-up and he killed the most ships every time

Ties come in, lose their defensive token, Ties go pop.

It's actually pretty hilarious because no one expects anything from the funny little freighter

He will be targeted though (his ability just seems to draw attention for some reason...) and taking on 4 points + limiting his already limited maneuvers makes him a very easy target

Pretty much this really. The Palob is really best kept cheap since otherwise he would be an autochoice to shoot at. I piad 30 points on him, but I doubt he could weather a determined assualt on him as well as some ships can. The only reason he contributed for as long as he did was because he had both recon spec and crow, thus he could stockpile for attack and defence as needed and could go for some certains without "refueling" if needs be by stress. Though I guess making him a heavy cannon would be amusing, I would much rather consistantly use 3 dice then sometimes using 4.

Of course, Oppertunist is a fantastic card, just I would rather use that card on his escorts. XD

When I fly the HWK it tends to surprise the opposition. It really isn't that bad a ship but certainly requires a lot of work to fly well (like the originally maligned shuttle). New Turrets and New Crew should breathe some life back into it soon.