I have to disagree. I loved MotS due to the better gameplay and weapons (mixing light & dark powers), seeking missiles and the Carbonite gun. Also, I thought the maps were great. Loved the Spaceport, freeze chamber, and Bespin Gantry maps. And, keeping on topic with this thread, it was the Spaceport map that had the Moldy Crow :-)

But to each their own - MotS will always have a special place in my heart.

It's all good, man. If it makes you feel any better, Star Trek The Motion Picture is my favorite Trek film of all time.

I played Kyle last night with Recon Specialist and Moldy Crow title. I had 8 focus tokens on the ship at one point and was still passing them off. I played it as a Focus factory for Dutch with the Blaster turret and Wedge. I put Advanced Torps on both, but never got to actually use them. I need more practice flying to get good range 1 shots. If I play the list again, I'm definitely dropping at least 1 advanced torps for an Ion turret on Kyle.

I enjoyed it as a pure support ship. It was flying around, passing off focus tokens to keep my Y-Wing blasting its turret while Wedge flanked in. I also put R5-K6 on Dutch. Essentially, it was Kyle handing out Focus, and Dutch handing out Target lock. A few times I was able to blaster turret with 2 focus tokens and a target lock, making hits very likely.

Drawback was it got to the point where I had so much focus I wished I had another action to take. I'm considering adding Engine Upgrade just to help the HWK stay out of firing arcs.

Kyle was the Buff specialist of the group. I remember when I first read about what the HWK was going to do with its cards, that I immediately though of my old WoW days and raiding parties.

I played Kyle last night with Recon Specialist and Moldy Crow title. I had 8 focus tokens on the ship at one point and was still passing them off. I played it as a Focus factory for Dutch with the Blaster turret and Wedge. I put Advanced Torps on both, but never got to actually use them. I need more practice flying to get good range 1 shots. If I play the list again, I'm definitely dropping at least 1 advanced torps for an Ion turret on Kyle.

I enjoyed it as a pure support ship. It was flying around, passing off focus tokens to keep my Y-Wing blasting its turret while Wedge flanked in. I also put R5-K6 on Dutch. Essentially, it was Kyle handing out Focus, and Dutch handing out Target lock. A few times I was able to blaster turret with 2 focus tokens and a target lock, making hits very likely.

Drawback was it got to the point where I had so much focus I wished I had another action to take. I'm considering adding Engine Upgrade just to help the HWK stay out of firing arcs.

The focus token giveaways seem very generous. Let me get this straight..........you can just pass off unspent focus so long as other ships are in range allowing other ships to use other actions instead?

Kyle can pass off one focus to a ship in range three or less at the start of every combat phase. That frees up one ship to do some other action. He can only pass off one and only if he has it but recon gives him two for every focus he performs and Moldy crow lets him stockpile. It's a costly combo but it makes him quite a nifty support ship.

I used Kyle and he was quite annoying. I don't want to say he was a pivotal part of the list that won that night, but he was helpful. I would have almost been happier with Wedge shooting instead though. It was an annoyatron list though.

I could see Kyle+Garven as a focus factory. Kyle gives Garven a focus and Garden gives it back or to a lower PS pilot or to any Pilot for defense.

Kyle can pass off one focus to a ship in range three or less at the start of every combat phase. That frees up one ship to do some other action. He can only pass off one and only if he has it but recon gives him two for every focus he performs and Moldy crow lets him stockpile. It's a costly combo but it makes him quite a nifty support ship.

Nifty indeed! Quite nice.

I could see Kyle+Garven as a focus factory. Kyle gives Garven a focus and Garden gives it back or to a lower PS pilot or to any Pilot for defense.

I was thinking about this and wondering how it would play out. Even with something like Lando, giving a free action. Focus anyone?

One list I am thinking of, I call "Blue and Green Mold".

Kyle Katarn, Blaster, Recon, Moldy Crow, Engine Upgrade (35)

Green Squadron Pilot, Cluster Missiles, Deadeye (24)

Blue Squadron Pilot, Fire Control System, Heavy Laser Cannon, Adv Proton Torps (37)

4 points to spend on... maybe HWK Stealth Device?

The big problem with Kyle is that he can only hand out 1 focus, and to really do it right, he needs either the moldy crow or a recon specialist, which makes him cost, at the very least, 24 point - only 2 less than Garvin for a substantially less powerful ship. Jan has the same problem, but I find 1 extra attack die to be more powerful than 1 free focus.

My guess is, the most effective list for either one is 3 Rookie X-Wings + a bunch of points spent on keeping Kyle or Jan alive (Chewie or Flight Instructor, Stealth Device, and a turret of some form to let them fire). Unfortunately, I think Wedge + 3 X-wings (or whatever) is just plain better than trying to squeak in a support ship.

Without one you're just a pure support ship, which isn't the worst thing in the world... unless you suffer double crits like I did, and have to both discard your secondary weapon and ignore your pilot ability. That was rough.

It is interesting if you think how they designed the ship... they could have done 2 hull and 3 shields, which would have made it much less vulnerable to critical hits and maintained the same shield+hull total.

Has anyone tried Chewie on a HWK? Seems like a good fit with just the one shield token to begin with.

What I've been experimenting with:

Lando Calrissian with Nien Numb, Millennium Falcon title card

Dutch Vander with Blaster Turret

Kyle Katarn with Recon Specialist and Blaster Turret.

Each turn, Dutch target locks, passes one to Lando. Kyle Focuses, gets two from Recon Spec., and gives one to Dutch. Lando makes a green maneuver and Focuses or Evades (depending on the situation) and allows Kyle to Target Lock.

So all three get a Focus and a Target Lock each turn, with 360 firing arcs on each. The real beauty of it is that if one goes down, the remaining two can keep right on boosting the other.

Without one you're just a pure support ship, which isn't the worst thing in the world... unless you suffer double crits like I did, and have to both discard your secondary weapon and ignore your pilot ability. That was rough.

It is interesting if you think how they designed the ship... they could have done 2 hull and 3 shields, which would have made it much less vulnerable to critical hits and maintained the same shield+hull total.

Has anyone tried Chewie on a HWK? Seems like a good fit with just the one shield token to begin with.

Not a bad idea, if you can find the points for it.

The big problem with Kyle is that he can only hand out 1 focus, and to really do it right, he needs either the moldy crow or a recon specialist, which makes him cost, at the very least, 24 point - only 2 less than Garvin for a substantially less powerful ship. Jan has the same problem, but I find 1 extra attack die to be more powerful than 1 free focus.

My guess is, the most effective list for either one is 3 Rookie X-Wings + a bunch of points spent on keeping Kyle or Jan alive (Chewie or Flight Instructor, Stealth Device, and a turret of some form to let them fire). Unfortunately, I think Wedge + 3 X-wings (or whatever) is just plain better than trying to squeak in a support ship.

The main advantages Kyle has over Garvin are that he can pass off the focus at the start of combat, ignoring the issue of Garvin not being able to help higher pilot ships offensively, and that he can do it at a longer range to stay out of the worst of the fighting. The downside is that he can't use the token himself first of course. The HWK has a lower offense, worse dial, and slightly worse hull/shield ratio, but makes up for it with a turret option and the fact that Kyle can take elite pilot skills. Overall I think the pricing is fair since Kyle's better range means that he is less likely to suffer from the "KILL THE SUPPORT!" mentality than Garvin. Or at least they'll have to go farther out of their way to do it.

What about:

Rookie X-wing: 21

Rookie X-wing: 21

Rookie X-wing: 21

Jan Ors w/ blaster turret, Chewbacca, and shield upgrade: 37

That seems as survivable as you can make the HWK.

You might even want to give it the Engine Upgrade instead of Shield-- might help you get out of some firing arcs.

Going to the engine upgrade necessitates dropping the blaster cannon. Ideally the blaster canon needs 2 focus - one to fire and one to modify. When you go on defense, you still want two, one to fire and one for defense.

Going to the Engine upgrade means we are never doing the blaster cannon and the engine upgrade without an extra action coming from somewhere. Jan and Push the limit / Elusiveness are pretty bad combinations, so she won't be self sufficient. going to a stealth device also means we want a focus token...

While I believe the engine upgrade will help us maneuver out of more arcs, and does have nice concert with our turrets (we don't need to care about our firing position as much)... once we go the chewie route, if we don't have the points - we may as well not give Jan a turret at all Otherwise, I think it'd be better to dig up the points to make that into an Ion Cannon Turret - now as a defensible ship, you don't need the focus token as much (though it's still nice.) so you can engine upgrade, and she can have a bit of control about how incoming ships are forced to approach.

I'd propose dropping the blaster turret in RMB3's list, and upping one of the rookies to biggs... Now you have a more defensible Jan.

So I've come up with an interesting list, and I want to share it with you guys.

HWK-290: Kyle Katarn
PS:6
ATK:1
AGL:2
ARM:4
SHLD:1(+1)
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Blaster Turret, Nien Nunb, Moldy Crow, Expose, Shield Upgrade

I figure I can turn the HWK-290 into a strange kind of... Tank, if you will. With the blaster turret, ain't nobody gettin' too close to it. That should keep TIEs away, or eliminate TIEs pursuing allies. Nien Numb is there to destroy that stupid stress token giving forward-four. This way I can get away quickly. To boot, if I have a stress token of any kind for whatever reason, I can fly any forward distance and just mosey on out of there. The Crow card does the obvious. FOCUS TOKEN CANDY WITH KYLE! Expose is there for when of course, I might be behind something and I can nail it real quick with an admittedly wimpy two-attack. But I'm cool with that. That's what I want. Also I can attack when something is in range. This lets me get hit, but that's okay too! That's why the extra shield exists, to safeguard from such an attack.

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​

X-WING: Luke Skywalker
PS:8
ATK:3
AGL:2
ARM:3
SHLD:2
______________________________________________________________________________
​

R2-D2, Marksmanship

This one I figure speaks for itself. Luke is intended to generally go about and screw up foes. He can take the risk too thanks to R2. Marksmanship should help him get a little more owie dealt, and since you can use a focus roll or token, Kyle's candy giving should make Luke much scarier to be around.

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​

X-WING: Red Squadron Pilot
PS:4
ATK:3
AGL:2
ARM:3
SHLD:2

______________________________________________________________________________
​

Proton Torpedoes, Deadeye

This is where it gets interesting. Whilst Luke Skywalker aces about sans targeting computer and letting go like he doesn't need to use the handlebars on his bike, this dude's dead-eye ability allows him to use the focus token Kyle is giving out in some form of space charity drive in order to fire the proton torpedoes. RSP's job here, is to escort Kyle. Once his torpedoes are out and away, he has far less incentive to, but he still should.

______________________________________________________________________________
​

In short these X-wings are going to fly circles around The Crow and screw up TIEs around it while the Crow can't be touched too easily. Now if the Crow goes out, they might be in trouble. But needing to take a solid six hits before getting shot down should keep it alive long enough, and it can zoom out pretty easily thanks to Numb.

This should all go very well. Thoughts, folks?

I still think Jan is going to be a natural Focus/TL giver with squad leader an an ion cannon. 33 points and she just ions and gives extra actions and dice. She is expensive at 33 points in this config with Nein Numb.

So I've come up with an interesting list, and I want to share it with you guys.

HWK-290: Kyle Katarn

PS:6

ATK:1

AGL:2

ARM:4

SHLD:1(+1)

______________________________________________________________________________

Blaster Turret, Nien Nunb, Moldy Crow, Expose, Shield Upgrade

I figure I can turn the HWK-290 into a strange kind of... Tank, if you will. With the blaster turret, ain't nobody gettin' too close to it. That should keep TIEs away, or eliminate TIEs pursuing allies. Nien Numb is there to destroy that stupid stress token giving forward-four. This way I can get away quickly. To boot, if I have a stress token of any kind for whatever reason, I can fly any forward distance and just mosey on out of there. The Crow card does the obvious. FOCUS TOKEN CANDY WITH KYLE! Expose is there for when of course, I might be behind something and I can nail it real quick with an admittedly wimpy two-attack. But I'm cool with that. That's what I want. Also I can attack when something is in range. This lets me get hit, but that's okay too! That's why the extra shield exists, to safeguard from such an attack.

______________________________________________________________________________

​

X-WING: Luke Skywalker

PS:8

ATK:3

AGL:2

ARM:3

SHLD:2

______________________________________________________________________________

​

R2-D2, Marksmanship

This one I figure speaks for itself. Luke is intended to generally go about and screw up foes. He can take the risk too thanks to R2. Marksmanship should help him get a little more owie dealt, and since you can use a focus roll or token, Kyle's candy giving should make Luke much scarier to be around.

______________________________________________________________________________

​

X-WING: Red Squadron Pilot

PS:4

ATK:3

AGL:2

ARM:3

SHLD:2

______________________________________________________________________________

​

Proton Torpedoes, Deadeye

This is where it gets interesting. Whilst Luke Skywalker aces about sans targeting computer and letting go like he doesn't need to use the handlebars on his bike, this dude's dead-eye ability allows him to use the focus token Kyle is giving out in some form of space charity drive in order to fire the proton torpedoes. RSP's job here, is to escort Kyle. Once his torpedoes are out and away, he has far less incentive to, but he still should.

______________________________________________________________________________

​

In short these X-wings are going to fly circles around The Crow and screw up TIEs around it while the Crow can't be touched too easily. Now if the Crow goes out, they might be in trouble. But needing to take a solid six hits before getting shot down should keep it alive long enough, and it can zoom out pretty easily thanks to Numb.

This should all go very well. Thoughts, folks?

Not a terrible list, but I think you're overstating the HWK's survivability by a large degree. If I've got a few TIEs, a Falcon, a Firespray, or even a couple good interceptors, I'm not one bit scared of that blaster turret. It's no scarier than an X-wing and those stopped being scary sometime in my second or third game. Two rounds of fire and Kyle is dead, unless you can REALLY manage to keep him back - but HLCs don't fear range, missiles don't fear range, and TIEs can outmaneuver anything you've got.

It'd be interesting, but nothing in this list looks too scary to me really.

Here, I think this is a stronger version of that same basic concept. Should keep Kyle alive for longer and put some very accurate torpedoes into a couple enemies – hopefully with initiative.

So I've come up with an interesting list, and I want to share it with you guys.

HWK-290: Kyle Katarn

PS:6

ATK:1

AGL:2

ARM:4

SHLD:1(+1)

______________________________________________________________________________

Blaster Turret, Nien Nunb, Moldy Crow, Expose, Shield Upgrade

I figure I can turn the HWK-290 into a strange kind of... Tank, if you will. With the blaster turret, ain't nobody gettin' too close to it. That should keep TIEs away, or eliminate TIEs pursuing allies. Nien Numb is there to destroy that stupid stress token giving forward-four. This way I can get away quickly. To boot, if I have a stress token of any kind for whatever reason, I can fly any forward distance and just mosey on out of there. The Crow card does the obvious. FOCUS TOKEN CANDY WITH KYLE! Expose is there for when of course, I might be behind something and I can nail it real quick with an admittedly wimpy two-attack. But I'm cool with that. That's what I want. Also I can attack when something is in range. This lets me get hit, but that's okay too! That's why the extra shield exists, to safeguard from such an attack.

______________________________________________________________________________

​

X-WING: Luke Skywalker

PS:8

ATK:3

AGL:2

ARM:3

SHLD:2

______________________________________________________________________________

​

R2-D2, Marksmanship

This one I figure speaks for itself. Luke is intended to generally go about and screw up foes. He can take the risk too thanks to R2. Marksmanship should help him get a little more owie dealt, and since you can use a focus roll or token, Kyle's candy giving should make Luke much scarier to be around.

______________________________________________________________________________

​

X-WING: Red Squadron Pilot

PS:4

ATK:3

AGL:2

ARM:3

SHLD:2

______________________________________________________________________________

​

Proton Torpedoes, Deadeye

This is where it gets interesting. Whilst Luke Skywalker aces about sans targeting computer and letting go like he doesn't need to use the handlebars on his bike, this dude's dead-eye ability allows him to use the focus token Kyle is giving out in some form of space charity drive in order to fire the proton torpedoes. RSP's job here, is to escort Kyle. Once his torpedoes are out and away, he has far less incentive to, but he still should.

______________________________________________________________________________

​

In short these X-wings are going to fly circles around The Crow and screw up TIEs around it while the Crow can't be touched too easily. Now if the Crow goes out, they might be in trouble. But needing to take a solid six hits before getting shot down should keep it alive long enough, and it can zoom out pretty easily thanks to Numb.

This should all go very well. Thoughts, folks?

First, the Red doesn't have an Elite Talent slot, so no Deadeye. I think Expose is a poor choice for Kyle. Without Recon Specialist, it's unlikely you'll be able to have enough Focuses to pass, use to activate Blaster Turret, and to modify dice while using your action for the turn on Expose. At least not for more than one turn.

Kyle is useful, but keep in mind that if you want a turret ship that can pass actions, there's always Lando. If you're spending 30pts or more on Kyle, you really should consider if he'll be more effective than someone like Luke or Wedge. I would consider Kyle with Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow + Blaster/Ion Turret to be fully decked out and would need a good reason to spend more on him.

Not to mention also, that Expose only affects the primary weapon... You turn your HWK into a weak y-wing (attack 2, defense 1) with expose.

Anybody consider Flight Instructor with Jan Ors? If she's not focusing (eg. Squad Leader or Engine Upgrade), it could work out well. We all know from our favorite droid, R5-K6, that rerolling agility dice isn't very hot, but if she's taking a lot of fire, it may actually pay off more than Chewbacca. Or if she does focus for defense, you can still get some utility out of Flight Instructor after you've spent your token.

I came up with a Roark squad where he has Flight Instructor:

Wedge Antilles (R2 Astromech)

Roark Garnet (Flight Instructor, Ion Cannon Turret)

Rookie Pilot

Rookie Pilot

TOATL100 pts

It's not dazzling by any means, but in the late game those Rookies start to become deadly as they kill before they get killed. Would be nice if it had some ships that could reposition, but if Roark tags a ship it's almost as good as repositioning I suppose. And while we're talking about this squad, do you think Veteran Instincts would be better on Wedge? That way you'd have two ships attacking before anybody else. I thought about it, but I reasoned that PS 9 was high enough not to worry too much, and opted for maneuverability.

I will play 3 Gold squadron with blaster turrets and R2s (69p) plus a fully decked out Kyle Katarn for 31 pts. Maybe i will play around a bit to give either Kyle or one of the Y-Wings an ion turret.

I know this list gets hardcore owned by Dark Curse alone but i will play it nonetheless. I posted a thread with this sone time ago. I also had one with Garven and one with Dutch in them with some less points on Kyle.

Generally i think the Y-Wing will be the better blaster turret carrier ship compared to the HWK.