Finally ordered a HWK-290 and I'm looking forward to using the blaster turret in action.

I'm curious to know which of the above upgrades you have found the best for making it productive.

The Reckon specialist looks good but then if you dont have an action you are in a spot. The crow tittle looks like you need to move slowly at first to stock up, but even then do you end up running out and having nothing left to modify you results?

Of course both would be ideal, but then that makes the whole set up prohibitively expensive. So what do you reckon? Does one prove better that the other in practice, or is the whole thing best leaving alone in favor of the ion cannon?

Sorry if this has been asked before.

Both, on Kyle Katarn, plus a blaster turret can be impressive. You can have 6 focus tokens before you even get into combat and you can hand them out as needed.

I'm sorry to use such a lame pun, but the title begs it: "I reckon you spelled recon wrong."

Seriously though, I've found the Moldy Crow title card to be AWESOME when paired with Kyle Katarn. You can build up Focus tokens and then spend them at leisure later in the game when you really need them.

The main problem however is that the HWK-290 is, essentially, a support ship, with very little combat effectiveness. You're basically trading in a possible X-wing or B-wing for a small ship that only serves to buff other ships, and while it can help out with the Ion Turret or Blaster Turret, it's not going to be your primary attack craft and will quickly die without support from the real starfighters. I'd say use it only in a 125-150 pt game, when you can build up a decent attack force and still be able to afford the HWK-290.

oh Stoma me.

Certainly figures to make sense in bigger battles. If I really wanted to win on a 100pts it would be hard to include, but there must be some way to use it effectively. Kyle + Moldy and Blaster still leaves another space for 3 other ships I guess.

I've seen people use this crow set up, Garven and two other xwings. There is a lot of target lock focus fire going down. It works well.

I'd say use it only in a 125-150 pt game, when you can build up a decent attack force and still be able to afford the HWK-290.

You can make it work in the standard 100 point game. But yes it is tight. I'm not sure Kyle's the best option, especially with a blaster turret. Being able to pass out focus means you may not want to spend it on an attack.

But I've had fairly good luck with Luke, Wedge and Jan. At range 1 Jan + Wedge = Huge Pain

It can definitely be a potent set up on a HWK. It seems like a natural fit for Kyle, but I actually like to run it on Roark or a Rebel Op, because you will find that between saving them for defense rolls, spending one every time the turret fires, and often spending one to modify the turret's attack roll, you can blow through focus tokens faster than you imagined possible - and that's without Kyle passing them out. You'll have a stack you'll think will last all game, and one shot and a couple of defense rolls later you're down to a single sad focus token wondering where all of his friends went. Great combo, but mo' focus, mo' problems. Sometimes having more focus just means you burn through them quicker.

My friend has used Kyle + Crow title + Recon Specialist to good effect, the focuses can run out and it is a tad pricey but it does support other ships quite well assuming they're designed for heavy-hitting.

I'm sorry to use such a lame pun, but the title begs it: "I reckon you spelled recon wrong."

When I see 'Reckon Specialist' all I can think of is Kyle flying with Slingblade as co-pilot.

Billy Bob Thorton staring out the window and grimacing; "I reckon that there's a TIE fighter, mmm-hmmm."