Star Wars X-Wing HWK-290 Light Freighter Expansion Pack Game

Product Description

FFGSWX12 HWK-290 Light Freighter: Star Wars X-Wing Expansion

Designed by Corellian Engineering Corporation to resemble a bird in flight, the Hawk series excels in its role as a personal transport. The HWK-290 Expansion Pack comes with one detailed miniature at 1/270 scale, a maneuver dial, all necessary tokens, six upgrades, and four pilots, including the renowned Kyle Katarn. Each HWK-290 provides a wide range of support options for your squad and can be outfitted with both a turret weapon and crew member.

This is not a complete game experience. A copy of the X-Wing Miniatures Game Core Set is required to play.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5392 in Toys & Games
• Brand: Fantasy Flight Games
• Model: SWX12
• Released on: 2013-08-31
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.50" h x 3.25" w x 6.50" l, .22 pounds

Features

• The personal transport made famous by pilot Kyle Katarn
• The first starship from the expanded Star Wars universe to join the battles of the X-Wing Miniatures Game
• Includes one detailed, pre-painted HWK-290 miniature at 1/270 scale
• Four ship cards and six upgrade cards allow you to customize your HWK-290
• Designed primarily as a support ship to enhance the rest of your squad

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Some interesting pilot abilities and upgrade cards make having a 1-2 of these a good choice
By El_Tonio
The HWK-290 is one of four "Wave 3" expansion sets for the X-Wing miniatures game. I think there are some good reasons to add at least one or two HWK-290s to your Rebel fleet.

To start on a slightly less positive note, the main thing to keep in mind is that this is a support ship designed to help other ships in your squad. So, while the base stats are less than ideal (1 attack dice, 2 defense dice, 4 hull, and 1 shields, plus the focus and target lock actions), they have some nice special abilities and upgrades that still make them worthwhile (including a crew upgrade). Further, this is the first expanded universe ship that has been created for the game (and while it is an interesting choice, it would not have been my first choice of expanded universe ships... but, at least this really opens up the possibilities for future waves)

On a more positive note, is that it comes with 4 pilots (including 3 unique pilots with some very nice special abilities). Pilots include:

(1) Rebel Operative, a level 2 non-unique pilot that costs 16 points.

(2) Roark Garnet, a level 4 unique pilot that costs 19 points, who has a nice support special ability that reads, "At the start of the combat phase choose 1 other friendly ship at Range 1-3. Until the end of the phase, treat that pilot's pilot skill value as 12." Currently, the highest pilot skill is 9 (or 11 if you use the Veteran Instincts elite pilot skill), so this effectively guarantees your ship will fire before anyone else.

(3) Kyle Katarn, a level 6 unique pilot that costs 21 points, with another nice support special ability that reads, "At the start of the Combat Phase, you may assign 1 of your focus tokens to another friendly ship at Range 1-3."

(4) Jan Ors, a level 8 unique pilot that costs 25 points, and yet another nice support special ability that reads, "When another friendly ship at Range 1-3 is attacking, if you have no stress tokens, you may receive 1 stress token to allow that ship to roll 1 additional attack die." This can really help another ship offensively, potentially rolling five attack dice under the right circumstances (this can be especially devastating if the attacking ship happens to have a focus and/or a target lock on the ship that is defending).

Another nice thing it adds to the game are 6 upgrade cards (several of which is exclusive to this expansion set at the time it was released): (1) Ion Cannon Turret -- a 5 point upgrade that also came with the Y-Wing; (2) Blaster Turret -- a new 4 point upgrade that can also be used on the Y-wing -- it allows you to spend a focus token to attack one ship at range 1-2 with three dice and a 360 degree firing ark; (3) Saboteur -- a new 2 point crew upgrade card (so it can also be used on the YT-1300, Firespray-31, or Lambda-Class Shuttle) that gives you a 50/50 chance of turning a random face down damage card on an enemy ship face up (i.e., from a regular hit to a critical hit); (4) Recon Specialist -- a 3 point crew upgrade (ditto) that lets you take two rather than one focus token when you perform a focus action; (5) Intelligence Agent -- a 1 point upgrade that lets you look at an opposing ship's maneuver dial at the start of the activation phase; and (6) Moldy Crow -- a unique 3 point title upgrade that allows one HWK-290 (only) to keep unspent focus tokens from turn to turn.

As with all expansions, this one includes all tokens, dials, etc. that you need to use this ship in a game (though a copy of the base set is still needed to play).
Overall, I think this ship adds some nice twists to an already fun game (especially since so many of the upgrade cards can be used on other ships). I do not feel there is a need for an entire squad of them, but I did decide to buy two given the nice special abilities and upgrade cards it adds to the game. Definitely take a look around online as you can often find these for less than $10 each with free shipping if you buy enough.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
A Sorely Underrated Addition to Your Rebel Fleet
By Brian D. Seavey
The second I opened my new Hawk on the day it came out, my eyes fell on the attack abilities of the ship and, like many others who look at the ship without understanding, my heart groaned: one attack dice...ONE?! But, this was before I started looking at the other cards and the abilities this ship can be stacked with.

First, for those like me who hate the one attack dice concept, you can throw on a turret cannon. This accomplishes two things: 1) you can now attack in a 360 degree firing arc and 2) you remedy the one attack dice issue and can now roll three (unless you put on an ion cannon turret). There is a drawback to this: you have to spend a focus token to fire. Luckily, the Hawk offers an offset to this problem in an operative card.

The Hawk includes an operative upgrade card that costs 3 points: the Recon Specialist. This upgrade allows the player to take an extra focus token each turn. To make it even better, the player can spend an extra 3 points to add the Moldy Crow title to the Hawk (an upgrade specific to this ship type). This new title allows the ship to carry over all unused focus tokens, allowing you to stack up piles of focus tokens for future rounds. But the joy of building focus tokens doesn't end there, the Hawk includes the pilot Kyle Katarn, who can assign a focus token of his own to any other friendly unit within firing range (1-3).

While not the best ship out of the box, this little craft can be upgraded to be one of the most formidable support ships in the game.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Expanded Universe comes in quickly with Wave 3
By Geoff Dearing
The HWK-290 offers some unique options to any X-wing pilot. With an added array of features and abilities, the HWK does not disappoint. It is a little light on weaponry, but has options to be a strong force in any army. I recommend having at least one in your arsenal to augment your forces, although I picked up 2 due to it's diversity.

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