What is the point of a generic HWK-290? The Rebel Operative is only a few points cheaper than a Gold Squadron, and has less primary attack, less upgrade slots, and less survivability. What is the point of it? Am I missing something?
HWK-290 generic?
What is the point of a generic HWK-290? The Rebel Operative is only a few points cheaper than a Gold Squadron, and has less primary attack, less upgrade slots, and less survivability. What is the point of it? Am I missing something?
It's not a combat ship but a support vessel. With all the crew upgrades that are available I'm sure there's a build that will screw with the enemy squad. Wren gives you a bomb slot. Syndulla allows red maneuvers when stressed. A little out of the box thinking should give you some ideas. I'm not saying it will be a killer build but interesting.
As Stoneface said, it's a support vessel and a crew carrier for a fighter squad. I bought the expansion purely for a couple of the upgrade cards and the impending release of Most Wanted, and considered it to be a damned ugly ship, especially in the factory colour scheme. The first thing I did was paint it, then I thought after the work I spent painting it, I might as well give it a go on the table. I was surprised by how helpful it was to some of my fighter builds and it made an appearance in more than a few games after that. More often than not I forgot to use the unique pilot ability on the ship and used the crew more, so it really turned out to be a slightly overpriced generic HWK-290 for me.
He's buddies with Outer Rim Smuggler.
Seriously though, those 2 points can make a difference between squeezing a TLT to your list or not.
Is this a Rebel-only inquiry?
'cause I heard of a quad Scum HWK squad winning a tournament not long ago, with TLT-Feedback Array (one of them was Torkil without FA, IIRC).
I ran a list at my store championship using a Rebel Operative with Jan and TLT. I went 5-1 and made top 4 (only loss due to me flying a ship off the board). It's definitely a ship that can go down fast, but Jan helps mitigate some damage, and you might have kind green dice sometimes. If they are shooting at the Hwk, that means your other ships are not taking damage. Having the TLT also means you don't care about the horrible dial, keeps it on the outskirts of the fight, and just slowly turn when needed.
Is this a Rebel-only inquiry?
'cause I heard of a quad Scum HWK squad winning a tournament not long ago, with TLT-Feedback Array (one of them was Torkil without FA, IIRC).
I think the HWK got a little help when Most Wanted came out and now with the TLT, it has become even more effective. It's gone from an average option to a reasonably good option.
In an Epic game, Roark is a godsend. Your Corvette can get 4 attacks off at PS12. That's most of the Rebel Hawk problem, actually. They are fairly costed for what they do, but eat up too many points to support much of a fleet.
You will learn to fear the 4 Hawk Flock! 
It's a cheapest TLT carrier. I take two in Epic play and they save 4 points for me.
I prefer the term hawk block!
20 points for HWK, Dorsal and Hera is not bad at all.
20 points for HWK, Dorsal and Greedo/Boba/Zuckus is not bad either.
Generic HWKs definitely have a place in this game
The 'point*':
17 pt tacticians
Cheap no frills tlt
*still not competitive but not terrible
The 'point*':
17 pt tacticians
Cheap no frills tlt
*still not competitive but not terrible
Didn't realize HWKs get a 1 pt discount on Tacticians.
Or that I can't count.
A couple of waves ago I had a pretty successful list with Keyan, a generic HWK with Jan crew, and a couple of Rookie Pilots. I'd put an Ion Cannon Turret on the HWK. Won a game night with it, came in 2nd at a ComicCon tournament, and 4th in a Store Championship with it. It'd be interesting to look back at it with some of the new crew options.
Right after the K-wing came out I flew a list with Tycho, Roark w/ TLT, and a Warden Sq. K-wing with Proximity Mines and Proton Bombs. That was the list that got my friend to stop flying the Decimator. I've been able to make all the HWK pilots work for me, their abilities can be game-changing if flown right (I've gotten Jake/Tycho to fire Proton Rockets with 6 dice thanks to Jan Ors before).
I have never personally used the generic HWKs, but they're cheap turret slots/crew slots, and Scum gives it an illicit, so it certainly has its place.
Edited by SgtSmithyI wonder if the attack shuttle steps on its toes a bit now. If you're going for tactician or intelligence agent the shuttle seems like a better bet, especially since it doesn't require a turret upgrade like the HWK to be useful otherwise. Kyle is pretty good, but actually rather expensive once you start piling on the necessary upgrades.
Yeah the HWK-290 is not very offensive . . . which is why I customized the look of a few, modified what they can do & gave them a little backstory (full pics & stories in the thread "REPAINTS, CONVERSIONS & SCRATCH BUILD THREAD", starting on page 39-40, or just search my posts I suppose). Here is a little of what I mean:
HWK-909Q QUATTRO
BASE SHIP – HWK-290
MODIFIED SHIP STATISTICS
Firepower – 4
Firing Arc - 360
Additional Maneuver - Green 5 Straight
HWK-909M MESSENGER
BASE SHIP – HWK-290
MODIFIED SHIP STATISTICS:
Firepower – 3
Modified Maneuvers - Green 5 Straight (x2), Green 4 Straight (x2), Green 3 Straight/Turn, Green 2 Straight, White 2 Straight/Turn, Red 1 Bank
Additional Action Bar – Jam
HWK-909D DRAGONFLY
BASE SHIP – HWK-290
MODIFIED SHIP STATISTICS:
Agility - 4
Modified Maneuvers - Green 3 Straight/Turn/Bank, Green 2 Straight/Turn/Bank, Green 1 Straight/Turn/Bank,
Action Bar – Evade, Barrel Roll, Cloak, Jam [All enemy ships within Range 3 lose 3 Agility]
HWK-909T MILLENIUM TALON
BASE SHIP – HWK-290
MODIFIED SHIP STATISTICS
Firepower – 4
MODIFIED SYNERGISTIC SHIP STATISTICS (docked to Millenium Falcon)
Firepower – 6
Agility – 2
Hull – 9
Shields – 10
Additional Maneuver - Green 5 Straight (x2), White 5 K-Turn, White 2 K-Turn
Modified Maneuvers - Green 4 Straight (x2), White 4 K-Turn, Green 3 Straight/Turn/Bank, White 3 K-Turn
Special Rule - If destroyed, all ships within Range 3 suffer 2 Damage.
