I am looking at the HWK-290 and can't help thinking I like the look of the standard edition.

If you give it an Ion Cannon and a gunner, you can pretty much be sure you'll get the ion token through.

If you use blaster turrets with a gunner, it's needing a focus token is somewhat mitigated.

It has less hull and shields than a Y-Wing, but 2 Agility. The movement dial will seal it for me as maneuvering will help with increased cost and reduced hull/shields and the range 1-2 restriction.

Maybe 2 with a tooled out B-Wing?

Even the named pilots might prove quite efficient.....

Gunner won't help the ion token much, it just gives you a primary weapon attack if you miss your first attack.

yep, thought of that immediately after posting.

so I'm back to the Ion Cannon usage and a potentially different crew option.

hmmmm

Its going to be an interesting ship. It absolutely needs a secondary weapon. I was under the impression at first that it was a large ship. Wow I never thought it was a small ship. I am surprised the Empire gets a big ship and not the rebellion. If big ships are even ideal. What I see with this ship is having to have a good secondary as the main is pretty crap.

Roark or the generic pilot might make this a good way to get an ion turret into the middle of a formation and cause some problems. I guess either the recon specialist or the weapons engineer could help you ensure a hit. I also like the idea of flying it up into a group of ties with the turret and a saboteur on on board. Though maybe you'd need Biggs in the mix too to keep it alive.