Chewbacca crew:

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Setup: Lose 1 .
After a friendly ship at range 0-3 is dealt 1 damage card, recover 1 .

Fireball's "Explosion with Wings":

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Explosion with Wings: Setup: You are dealt 1 facedown damage card.

Assuming the ship with Chewbacca crew is placed on the board before the Fireball, can Chewbacca recover his lost charge during setup? Timing seems right for it to work.

Hmm... Initial reaction: yeah, looks like it checks out.

That depends on precisely when the Fireball's "Setup" effect happens (which is not defined on the card). Let's see what the Rules Reference has to say, on page 17, under Setup!

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If a card has the “ SET UP : ” header, this effect is resolved during the appropriate step of setup .

...well, pudu.

My interpretation (which is not official) is that the Fireball's "explosion with wings" ability would come into effect in Step 6 of the setup process, when the Damage Deck is first addressed. Since this happens after Place Forces, as long as Chewbacca is within range of the Fireball, he should be able to recover that charge.

4 hours ago, emeraldbeacon said:

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If a card has the “ SET UP : ” header, this effect is resolved during the appropriate step of setup .

...well, pudu.

Exactly. For cards without a specific before/after place forces/after setup timing window, it usually doesn't matter when it happens.

Given how abilities on reserve ships are not active until they deploy, I would assume that abilities like this don't take effect until Step 5: Place Forces at the earliest.

I like your Step 6 justification. Can't deal damage cards without a ready damage deck.