Is the blaster turret = ion turret on the HWK? What do people think? I did great with the turret (battle report below) on Ors but died fast with the ion turret in another game. To be fair, I died so quick with the ion I never got to use it much so I might just be off. Next game I added Biggs, changed trategy, and won. But I'm curious. Have people had great success with the HWK? I only used Ors' ability once and really used him for the turret weapon too so maybe I could save points on a lower PS + turret?

Battle Report

Used the HWK for the first time, with Moldy Crow title and blaster turret. I actually ended up winning with Biggs and Wedge for support. Biggs soaked up damage and lasted far longer than I thought he would by keeping asteroids between himself and others. Meanwhile Wedge kept them honest. It was 3 of us, 1v 1 v 1. Side cards too but here's the gist.

Jan Ors Luke Vader

Biggs vs Tycho vs Turr

Wedge Soontir Fel Backstabber

Vader erased Tycho with assault missiles at range and their wingmen were embroiled in the resulting fray. I came in slow to give the Crow time to stack focus tokens while Biggs and Wedge paced on the flanks. Meanwhile, I slammed into the mixed group with the blaster turret and Wedge blazing.

Vader swung around to take a swing at me but clipped an asteroid, hanging him up. Soontir Fel jumped the now wingman-less Turr, vaping him. Ors kept taking pot shots from the perimeter and removed stealth devices from Fel and "Mr. Stabber" as we know him. Wedge ends up killing Vader with help from the asteroid's denying Vader double action.

We always arrange the asteroids with a risky path through them to reward the daring and I ended up getting Biggs and Wedge back to back with Ors in the middle for a perfect set up. Luke pursued and, because I plugged up the gap, was pushed onto an asteroid. Everybody takes turns shooting at Biggs since... nobody else could be targeted. But the protective asteroids give him enough defense bonuses that he survives, albeit with one hit left. Meanwhile, Ors and Wedge are still at full strength.

Mr. Stabber, Wedge, and Ors all fire on Luke but he survives with help from R2D2 and a shield upgrade. Jerk. Luke kills Biggs for leaving him on Tatooine, making Wedge and Ors finally available for targeting.

Mr. Stabber, Luke, and Soontir Fel kill Wedge after his torpedoes keep Luke's shields off. Ors puts a dent into Luke.

Ors scuttles behind an asteroid to reboot, and, after Luke clips the asteroid trying to keep him in his sights, ends up being killed by Mr. Stabber and Ors' turret.

Ors circles the asteroid, TL's Fel, and stays away. Fel and Mr. Stabber go head to head and end up with one health left each.

Ors kills Fel with a TL + focus on his turret while he's heading the wrong direction and Mr. Stabber is trying to line up on Fel again. Next turn, Ors TL's Mr. Stabber after surviving the return run behind an asteroid. Ors' wins by using his turret's flexibility with the TL + focuse combo.

It really depends on the way you trick out or support your HWK. Going with the Blaster Turret almost requires the Recon Specialist and/or Moldy Crow title. Push the Limit is also an option to consider on Jan or Kyle, but I'm not a fan with the HWK's rather poor dial . With the Ion Cannon, you can focus on using the Crew and Elite Talent on other options. I'm a fan of putting Nien Nunb and Squad Leader on Jan Ors. She makes a very handy support craft.

I prefer the ion for Jan, since she'll often be stressed and while getting rid of said stress is a priority there are times it's just not smart to do a green, ion gives her at least something to do in those cases, it also boosts her overall survivability by helping her ion targets then run. Anyone else with recon can make decent use of blaster, though I still prefer ion on Kyle since he wants to pass off his focus most turns.

Overall I think blaster is good to give the Hwk a bit of a kick, but I like ion better, even if you use recon or some other method to modify your shots the enemy is still likely to dodge a shot or two so you won't be doing much more than one damage a shot anyway and the extra points you spend to get that extra shot negate the lower cost. Advantages are of course the much higher potential damage but I think the crowd control offered by the ion works better on a ship that is meant for a more support roll anyway.

The BIG weakness of the blaster turret is that it BEGS for Focus tokens just to fire. Sure Recon can help you get them and Crow can let you bank and you may be passed things letting you get/use them but all this time nothing changes the fact that you still NEED them. If your opponent prevent you from getting those tokens then the Blaster Turret is just dead weight.

There are times I'd take the Blaster but depending on what you are shooting at the Ion may be just as likely to deal a point of damage with the chances of dealing two or three points being pretty remote.

I actually have a question for the thread: has anyone had success with the Blaster Turret on Y-Wings? And if so, how do you run them effectively?

I actually have a question for the thread: has anyone had success with the Blaster Turret on Y-Wings? And if so, how do you run them effectively?

I've found them to be pretty decent on Horton since he can modify automatically as long as he stays at range 2. Otherwise they have the same strengths and weaknesses as on the HWK, though the Y-wing's better dial can certainly allow them to make the most of it more easily. Utterly worthless on Dutch of course. Has the added problem of taking any action reliant Astromechs off the table since you need those focus actions.

am i missing something or did one player have luke , tycho and soontir in the same squad??????

It's fundamentally impossible to figure out normal 1v1 squad balance from a 1v1v1 battle report. In almost any 3 way FFA that I have played in, in any game, you always end up with "King Making" where the guy who never attacks until everyone else has killed themselves off will win.

That said, I have toyed (theoretically) with some 4-ship builds that use a HWK with an Ion + Chewie as Crew. It's 2 points more than a Gold Squadron Y-Wing + Ion, but it is FAR more survivable.

Biggs is always good in any squad for someone who can fly well, you force them to take bad shots in those first few crucial rounds.

I think Garven Dreis might be an option too with his ability of giving off Focus tokens after spending them himself.Actually, if you have pilots with equal or lower pilot skill you'd be able to use the laser turret in addition to whatever other action the HWK or Y-Wing uses with this strategy, so you could actually either double focus or have a Target Lock set up..

We mixed Imps and Rebels to give it some wild flavor. Especially with it being a FFA, it adds to the chaos of a dogfight. House rules allows it. I guess my main hope in the HWK list was that, though I'd have one less true fighting ship, its turret would allow me to hit opponents anywhere while also giving my other 2 ships freedom to operate more freely. Biggs amped that up.

I guess my question is do people find turrets effective for space denial in this way? Is it worth the sacrifice of a 3rd true fighting ship? I went HWK instead of Y-wing because of the abilities. Biggs helped keep him alive with a lesser movement dial since he'd be given a pass by Biggs' cover.

I think Garven Dreis might be an option too with his ability of giving off Focus tokens after spending them himself.Actually, if you have pilots with equal or lower pilot skill you'd be able to use the laser turret in addition to whatever other action the HWK or Y-Wing uses with this strategy, so you could actually either double focus or have a Target Lock set up..

My regular opponent favours an HWK (Kyle Katarn in the Moldy Crow + Recon Specialist), Garven Dreis + two Rookies setup. I found it a very tough nut to crack. He was able to target lock AND focus with two X-wings every turn which made my life hell! I finally beat him on the third attempt using regular TIE fighters (the six named pilots + Adrenaline Rush for Howlrunner and Mauler Mithel). I lost Mithel and Backstabber but Dark Curse was able to chip away at the Crow without having to worry about return fire. I suspect he'll switch to the Ion Cannon Turret next time, so my triumph may be short-lived!

I guess my question is do people find turrets effective for space denial in this way?

The answer depends on defining "space denial". In military terms, area denial involves artillery and denying area to the enemy by blanketing the area in question with shells. TIE Bombers and Firesprays are particularly good at this because of their bombs, and so far are the only ships in the game capable of true area denial/space denial.

In this respect, the blaster turret is not a good choice.

Offensively, it removes one of the most important actions: the focus. Focusing can increase your chances to hit by 25%, which is not insignificant. For this reason, the blaster turret only really works well when you have surplus focuses at your disposal, either from having Garvin Dreis handing them out to you before you fire (thus ensuring you have one to spend on the turret and one to modify dice with) or having the Moldy Crow title (enabling you to stockpile them). Moldy Crow title plus Garvin would of course be far better, but this poses the question of whether the Hawk is your primary attack vehicle. If it isn't, then why spend so many points ensuring it can fire the blaster turret every round and still be able to modify dice results? Hawks are mainly support ships in the first place, though they can be excellent turret platforms (the low-PS Y-wings are better, though; higher armor and shield rating, plus an astromech space for the R2 Astromech).

In my opinion, the ion turret is a far better choice for the points. It requires no tokens to fire, and it has a higher chance for its effect to occur (it needs only one hit out of three dice, compared to the blaster turret needing all three to hit in order to be effective). This allows you to focus more points on your attack ships and buff them up.

To make the Blaster Turret useful, to me, requires a Recon Specialist. Adding the Moldy Crow title is also nice. If you're going to be running that on Kyle Katarn, then running Garven Dreis is also required. He's also super-useful alongside anyone else running the Blaster Turret, for the same reason as the Moldy Crow.