I'm thinking of picking up my first HWK this weekend and really want to try a Rebel squad out that uses all 5 ship types. Using the cheapest ship for each gives me a total of 94 points, with 6 points left to play with.

The most obvious thing to spend those points on is a turret for the HWK so it's not using a pathetic 1 attack all game.

That gives two options:

A) Ion Cannon Turret for 99 points, and "hopefully" get initiative.

B) Blaster Turret for 98 points, leaving 2 points to bump one ship up in PS and get to 100 points.

Which option sounds better? If you would go without the turret, how would you spend the last 6 points?

Ion Turret + Nien Nunb for 100.

A vanilla hawk w/o a turret is waste of points. I don't like blaster turrets w/o recon specialist, so I'd take the ion turret.

Prototype Awing

Gold Ywing + R2 Astromech (not R5)

Rookie Xwing

Rebel Operative HWK + ion turret

Blue Bwing

exactly 100 points, exactly 1 of each ship.

Prototype Awing

Gold Ywing + R2 Astromech (not R5)

Rookie Xwing

Rebel Operative HWK + ion turret

Blue Bwing

exactly 100 points, exactly 1 of each ship.

Though 5 ships is nice, only having 2 attack dice with 2 of the ships and one ship beng only effective at R1-2 I am less than confident with the abilty of this fleet to really hurt.

I'd rather have 4 ships with 3 dice each.

Prototype Awing

Gold Ywing + R2 Astromech (not R5)

Rookie Xwing

Rebel Operative HWK + ion turret

Blue Bwing

exactly 100 points, exactly 1 of each ship.

Though 5 ships is nice, only having 2 attack dice with 2 of the ships and one ship beng only effective at R1-2 I am less than confident with the abilty of this fleet to really hurt.

I'd rather have 4 ships with 3 dice each.

all ships have 3 attack dice. Ionize the target, and bring your Awing and Ywing within range1 of it

The potential damage output is low vs 4 ships of X or B in my opinion. 6 attacks in one go is better than two lots of 3 because they only get to do one handful of green dice rather than 2.

Simply comparing attacks

R3 12 attacks (from 4 ships) vs 11 attacks (from 5)

R2 12 (from 4) vs 13 (from 5, but 3 are ion so only will inflict 1 damage)

R1 16 (from 4) vs 17 (from 5, but 3 are ion) or 16 (from 5, no ion)

Ion is not always going to work and it will only inflict a maximum of 1 damage if it does. Ion vs swarm is even less effective because by you ioning them they just move forward as a block and remove what ever you "predictably" move into R1.

I've been flying rebel op with ion and chewie and it's beefy but I don't think it contributes it's points worth.

The HWK really only shines when it has unique pilot skills to boost the rest of the fleet. I think it's a fun idea to have a varied fleet, but I'd ask my opponent if they wanted to do 120 points for that option, honestly.

As far as Co-Pilots go, I do it by the pilot.

Jan Ors gets Nien Nunb, as she's pretty much starting every turn stressed.
Kyle Katarn gets a Recon Specialist, as he's kicking away a focus every turn anyway.
Roark Garnett gets Chewbacca, as his ability is huge, and he needs the survivability boost.

Rebel Operatives get Saboteurs, as it's a surprisingly good finisher, particularly in an ion-turret heavy fleet.

So I got to play this squad today. I ended up going with the ion cannon and the 1 point R2 for the Y-wing for 100 points.

I flew against a 99 imp squad that had (forgive me for not looking up the names) a PS2 Bomber, PS 5 & 6 Fighters, and PS 1 & 3 Interceptors. The bomber had two proton torpedoes, a concussion missile, and a seismic charge.

I flew 2 groups, the bwing with the hwk, and the xwing awing and ywing together. He flew 3 groups, the interceptors together, the fighters together, and the bomber alone.

I took out his bomber before getting off any warheads due to 2 hits plus a direct hit crit hit from my bwing, followed by an ion hit from my hwk. The ion caused him to hit an asteroid and he rolled a hit ending the bomber, though not before deploying his seismic charge which gave 1 damage to both my bwing and hwk.

Further over his 2 ties and 2 ints did a lot of damage to my other 3 fighters without me doing much in return.

The middle of the game saw my biggest low moment and high moment within one turn. First I got a crit on my hwk which had me remove my ion cannon, making it almost worthless. But on the next turn by luck I ended up dead behind one of his damaged ties and my range 1 attack was enough to take him out.

The game came down to my bwing and his ps1 tie int. His int was already damaged and my bwing was almost unscathed, so I ended up with the win.

I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that you can't drop the seismic charge while ioned. Seismic charge is dropped just after you reveal your movement dial, but when you are ioned you don't reveal a movement dial. Either way, thanks for the write-up.

I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that you can't drop the seismic charge while ioned. Seismic charge is dropped just after you reveal your movement dial, but when you are ioned you don't reveal a movement dial. Either way, thanks for the write-up.

I was wondering about that myself at the time. The other player obviously thought it was legit, and I asked a couple players next to us who also thought it was legit. I only had 2 ships hit so it wasn't a major effect on the game, but it would be nice to know for the future.

Aye, Bombers haaaate seeing Ion Turrets come up against them. Proton Bombs and Seismic Charges die in their bays in an overly ionized ship.

Yep. My Y-wing LOVES TIE Bombers.

Prototype Awing

Gold Ywing + R2 Astromech (not R5)

Rookie Xwing

Rebel Operative HWK + ion turret

Blue Bwing

exactly 100 points, exactly 1 of each ship.

The Blaster turret is a non-option since you don't have a 2nd action for it, and without that it's not worth it!

Also it is not at all clear if it's actually an advantage or disadvantage having initiative! Some of the pros always want to have it, others don't care at all!

Prototype Awing

Gold Ywing + R2 Astromech (not R5)

Rookie Xwing

Rebel Operative HWK + ion turret

Blue Bwing

exactly 100 points, exactly 1 of each ship.

I would go further and say: This is THE ABXYHwk Squad. Also known as the Duraham Squad! Or short: Dura Squad