As you can see below I currently own 3 Core Sets. I'm looking to pick up a MW to start down the scummy path and am wondering what small ship to add to it?

I'm really drawn to the Scum hwks and the ship comes mostly self contained.

I've always liked the Y-wing in Star Wars lore and MW gives it lots of additional options. On the Reb side it also gives me 2 more astromechs to play with even though only R2 is decent. P.S. Can't afford a Reb Transport anytime soon so no Stresshog for me, yet.

Budget considerations: I'm only looking at cross-faction ships for now because I can get double use out of them. Trying to hold off on the Firespray. It doesn't really excite me and obviously is more $$$ but it comes with very good cards, so I'm torn.

So whaddyathink? Thanks for the input.

TL:DR Which is a better base for a beginner Scum list? YYZZ or Hwk+YZZ?

You get 1 Y-wing in Most Wanted already, so I'd go for a HWK-290. The Scum HWK support abilities are stellar!

YAH-DAT!!!

AND...Dat... D-DAT!

Also, you really should buy a k-wing if you don't already have one...

The ship itself isn't bad, but the thing you want out of the k-wing is the two twin laser turrets.

The TLT (as it's affectionately known) is by far and away the best turret you can put on either of those two ships, and 1 k-wing will get you two of these turrets.

K Wings appear to be hard to come by, at least in my neck of the woods. Hopefully more are inbound.

I did not like the Hwk when it came out so many moons ago. It has grown on me and can always find a place in a list vs the y-wing has to have a list built around it.

Buy the Hwk, it really works well and has an Illicit slot which makes use of the scum stuff, you want that.

Food for Thought, this or something like this is going to be a thing very soon.

Spice Runner — HWK-290 16

Autoblaster Turret 2 Tactician 2 Black Market Slicer Tools 1

Ship Total: 21

Tactician

After you perform an attack against a ship inside your firing arc at Range 2, that ship receives 1 stress token.

Black Market Slicer Tools

Choose a stressed enemy ship at Range 1-2 and roll 1 attack die. On a () or () result, remove 1 stress token and deal it 1 facedown Damage card.

(the damage card bypasses shields)

Edit the thought on the auto blaster is to keep the ship cheap (I know it's range 1 however running this way is 21 points)

I love the HWK. Palob makes a great support ship by himself. That said, without the TLT's the HWK lacks some of the killing power. A TLT hwk with feedback array is quite a fun support ship (2 nice shots at r2 and r3 or punish the ace that arc dodged.

Go with the HWK. Palob and Mux both have really strong support abilities, are fun to play, and frustrating to play against.

HWK

100% HWK. The ship is just way too much fun, and the S&V pilots are all great for their various dirty tricks.

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I'm seeing a consensus here.

Food for Thought, this or something like this is going to be a thing very soon.

Spice Runner — HWK-290 16
Autoblaster Turret 2 Tactician 2 Black Market Slicer Tools 1
Ship Total: 21

Tactician

After you perform an attack against a ship inside your firing arc at Range 2, that ship receives 1 stress token.

Black Market Slicer Tools

Choose a stressed enemy ship at Range 1-2 and roll 1 attack die. On a () or () result, remove 1 stress token and deal it 1 facedown Damage card.

(the damage card bypasses shields)

I'm a little confused by this one. ABT is only range 1. Does BMST count as an attack? I don't think it does without the header. Are you suggesting trying to use the primary?

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I'm seeing a consensus here.

Food for Thought, this or something like this is going to be a thing very soon.

Spice Runner — HWK-290 16

Autoblaster Turret 2 Tactician 2 Black Market Slicer Tools 1

Ship Total: 21

Tactician

After you perform an attack against a ship inside your firing arc at Range 2, that ship receives 1 stress token.

Black Market Slicer Tools

Choose a stressed enemy ship at Range 1-2 and roll 1 attack die. On a () or () result, remove 1 stress token and deal it 1 facedown Damage card.

(the damage card bypasses shields)

I'm a little confused by this one. ABT is only range 1. Does BMST count as an attack? I don't think it does without the header. Are you suggesting trying to use the primary?

The attack has to be in arc at range 2, so it would have to be the primary. The attack does not have to hit to trigger Tactician; a 1 die attack will work. Then you can use BMST on the next turn.

Personally, I'd rather have a turret that can hit at range 2 (ex. Dorsal, TLT, Ion), but if you don't have those then ABT will have to do.

EDIT: Now the real trick will be getting another ship in arc at range two of a PS 1 HWK-290. (Bonus points if you can manage that against a PtL Ace.)

To make this post topical... HWK-290 is a great support/control ship. I would definitely use a TLT or Ion Cannon Turret with it. The K-Wing expansion will not only give you 2 TLTs, but also Extra Munitions and Conner Net for a Y-Wing bomber. K-Wings just got reprinted, so some should be lurking about somewhere (online e-tailers have some in stock). Once you get the hang of these, moving further down the Scummy and Villainous path should be fun.

Sounds like your playing casual at your house.

In that case either ship is fun.

If your trying to Min/Max for tournaments y wing hands down.

If you're asking me, I'd say get the HWK for the beautiful beautiful miniature. My favorite mini in the whole game, btw, along with the Falcon (but then I also have some nostalgic attachment to the source material).

You get 1 Y-wing in Most Wanted already, so I'd go for a HWK-290. The Scum HWK support abilities are stellar!

Id' say Scummy and trolltastic xD

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. I'm seeing a consensus here.

Food for Thought, this or something like this is going to be a thing very soon.

Spice Runner — HWK-290 16

Autoblaster Turret 2 Tactician 2 Black Market Slicer Tools 1

Ship Total: 21

Tactician

After you perform an attack against a ship inside your firing arc at Range 2, that ship receives 1 stress token.

Black Market Slicer Tools

Choose a stressed enemy ship at Range 1-2 and roll 1 attack die. On a () or () result, remove 1 stress token and deal it 1 facedown Damage card.

(the damage card bypasses shields)

I'm a little confused by this one. ABT is only range 1. Does BMST count as an attack? I don't think it does without the header. Are you suggesting trying to use the primary?

The Auto Bla Tor is a cheap gun for the ship.(keeping it at 21 points) Yes you have to use the primary for the atk. I mean you can do other things with this but it's just an example of combos for the ship.

A HWK is an excellent pick.

Curiously enough, the advice for taking a K-wing as the next ship after that is pretty solid - the ship itself isn't cross-factional, but it gets you plenty of neat toys that are - the TLT can go on both the Y-wing and the HWK for a pleasingly dakka-ish list whether it's rebels or otherwise, and you'll notice that S&V packs Bomb Loadouts - for which the K-wing will helpfully provide some bombs to play with.

And it's another ship for rebels, to help give some variety to those X-wing squads... Miranda can be a lot of fun, especially with X-wings acting as fire support. Heck, that's the basic chassis for Biggs+Poe+Miranda, so you're a couple upgrade cards (Or when learning the game: A sheet of paper printed from a squad builder like Yet Another Squad Builder , so you can experiment with stuff without spending lots of money on expansion packs just for their cardboard you might not use after game #3!)

After that it's a little tricky. To keep things 'balanced' you'd probably then start casting your eye Imperial-wards, but I honestly am not sure what the best path to take is there, in terms of "Great to buddy up with TIE fighters, but full of handy cards for Scummy pilots too" - maybe an Imperial Veterans, for a boss-fight-y Defender (Just for the variety vs the normal TIEs, y'see), and even more bombs + Long Range Sensors + etc, maybe? If you decide you want to go heavier into Scum, a Hounds Tooth or Jumpmaster 5000 are both very solid picks (especially if playing with squadbuilder lists that save you buying All The Other Cards), and the Fang and Shadowcaster that's incoming are likely to be, too.

But worry about that later. A HWK now, a K-wing later, and ships to taste afterwards, will quite probably set you up for plenty of turrety goodness.

A small note on Firesprays: I wouldn't get too excited about buying one just yet. There's a new Boba Fett movie coming out... I'd wait at least until the teaser trailers to see if he rocks a Slave 1. If he does , you can almost gurantee that FFG will use the movie as an excuse to release a repainted model with balance patches attached. That'll be a good time to pick one up, and the S&V pilots (which are honestly the most fun and most potent) will still be awesome.

If you get the Y-Wing then you could run two Y-Wings in either Scum or Rebel.

If you get the HWK you'll only be able to run Y-Wing/HWK in Scum but only use the HWK in Rebel squadrons because you have no rebel pilots for your MW Y-Wing.

If you get the Y-Wing then you could run two Y-Wings in either Scum or Rebel.

If you get the HWK you'll only be able to run Y-Wing/HWK in Scum but only use the HWK in Rebel squadrons because you have no rebel pilots for your MW Y-Wing.

Thanks for pointing this out. I had thought of B but somehow completely missed A.

As for those that have posted about the K-wing. The ship, the cards, and especially Miranda are all good, but that is down the road a bit. Gotta stretch the budget and it does imbalance my factions fairly hard. Like the transport, it is on the some day list for now. Thanks for all the help.

If you get the Y-Wing then you could run two Y-Wings in either Scum or Rebel.

If you get the HWK you'll only be able to run Y-Wing/HWK in Scum but only use the HWK in Rebel squadrons because you have no rebel pilots for your MW Y-Wing.

Ehh, depends how people feel about proxies. A Thug and a Gold Squadron pilot chit are wholly identical but for the name and the color of the fire arc.

And if you want a pair of Golds you end up needing the extra chits either way, so the 'two Y-wings' approach has less flexibility than at first glance.

If you get the Y-Wing then you could run two Y-Wings in either Scum or Rebel.

If you get the HWK you'll only be able to run Y-Wing/HWK in Scum but only use the HWK in Rebel squadrons because you have no rebel pilots for your MW Y-Wing.

Thanks for pointing this out. I had thought of B but somehow completely missed A.

As for those that have posted about the K-wing. The ship, the cards, and especially Miranda are all good, but that is down the road a bit. Gotta stretch the budget and it does imbalance my factions fairly hard. Like the transport, it is on the some day list for now. Thanks for all the help.

If you don't want to buy the ship, the printed-playsheet approach solves the problem for all but bombs. With that said, there's several places you can get bombs, so...

Further, regarding 'unbalancing factions', I note a small thought that it can be better to have one or two properly playable factions than trying to collect all three in even amounts (and thus not having quite enough of any of them), unless you're deliberately trying to set up a self-contained 'play it with your buddies' variety.

And honestly, Scum + Rebels does make a great starting pair, given their cross-faction compatability and tendency to have mutually agreeable upgrade cards. Imperials are awesome, but tend to be more self-contained - and at this point, with a whole lotta upgrade cards in a whole lotta blisters. Soontir Fel's standard build is a little famous for landing you with no less than three Interceptors, a StarViper, and either a Scyk or a Firespray, just for the right cardboard... again, no problem in printed-list play, but he's not exactly cheap for tournaments.

If you're competitive and serious about flying Scum: HWK-290 (then K-Wing, both of which compliment perfectly your MW purchase)

If you want the most bang for your buck in a casual scenario: Y-Wing (only because you can use it in both factions)

Palob is the best positional ship for Scum. All your opponents will play around it, which means you can funnel token stacking ships around your HWK and into an ambush.

I am not sure of the meta in your area, or you are just looking for casual fun, but what I have found currently is that AGI 1 ships go down in a screaming heap at the moment. Which why I was surprised the G1-A is AGI 1. If it was AGI 2 I think it would be in a lot more lists.