Biggest problem with Firespray is that it has two huge exposed side arcs. However this can be fixed, with Expert Handling. Receiving a stress token is a small price to pay in order to take the Firespray out-of-arc or out-of-range AND remove a target lock makes a HUGE difference.
I know overall the firespray doesn't shine in the majority of the community, but in my local playgroup, I kick butt with it. I have always been suprised when people have said it stinks. I have had tremendous success. Maybe I am just lucky. . .
Same here. I keep hearing "Slave I Sucks!" and every time I hear that, I put it on the table and wreck someone's face. Not a lot of Scum ships can load up on bombs, missiles, canons, whatever ordinance you love most, and also take Evade actions to last long enough to find all that ordinance a worthy home; try that with the Scurrg and it gets focus-fired and wiped off the table in a turn or two. The tail gun is just icing on the cake.
I started collecting the minis close to when the game first came out, but only recently started actually playing, but of course I have the bad luck of falling in love with some of the least competitive ships, Mist Hunter and HWK ended up being two of my favorites, mostly due to the pilots being some of my favorite characters.
Spiderwave Aesthetic the HWK is fantastic if built right. It's certainly not a major combat ship for in the heat of the battle, but some of the pilots (Especially Kyle Katarn for the rebels) are exceptional support ships. It doesn't have a ton of health, but enough that making it a good turret boat is fantastic fun, and Kyle Paired with Jake Farrel or another ship that benefits from recieving focus tokens gives you all the maneuverability you could ever dream of.
As someone who used to play the Dark Forces games, I guarantee you the scale of the HWK is correct. It also matches the size it's usually described in the fluff.
Mist Hunter and the Scum Y-Wing would both be in my top 5. I think Mist Hunter is a tough little ship that needs to be equipped and flown a little 'outside the box'. The Y-Wing is just so versatile, and seems to get stronger with every expansion. BTL title + Unhinged Astromech + Synced Turret + Vectored Thrusters makes it a great jouster.
I'll be very curious to see your rankings on the other 10 ships...the ones I fly the most will be in your top 10, and the next one after that is the Y-Wing, so it was the best of this bunch (though I understand and agree with your assessment of its limitations).
I think that a lot of the problems with scum ships, is the fact that the title cards are mostly limited to only one ship out of your entire fleet. One Mist Hunter, one moldy Crow, One Virago, ect. many of the ships have too high of a base cost, particularly for what they do, or their survivability. low agility values, combined with low Shield values, just makes them not worth putting into play most of the time even if they have a really cool pilot ability or ship abilities. Also the illicit upgrades really are not that spectacular most of the time. for the y-wing fighters, I like kavil as a pilot, with an autoblaster turret. add Emon with the Slave 1 title, extra munitions, Cad Bane, and cluster mines, is pretty awesome.
Wait...the Y-Wing is at the top of the bottom list for Scum? What am I missing here? Drea with a BTL-A4, Synced Turret and the R4 Agromech = a LOT of pain per turn...yes? It may not maneuver well, but that's what the protectorate is for and people tend to worry about that ship more than the Y-wing...til they get slammed with five attack dice over two separate attacks...each round. (2Attack first triggering the turret for 3Attack). 28pts for the build, but dang...
well, being primarily #Scumlife player, I won't agree or disagree with your choices, they aren't mine, of course... I run multiple Ys all the time, and while Horton Salm is nice, Kavil is a badass a level above. I also do not like TLT spam and generally run Dorsal Turrets. I agreed with your choices for the most part though... The Croc isn't so low for me because I do get to use it frequently, it has it's tricks and they are fun. Mist Hunter is lowest for me, next is Punishing One (simply tired of seeing it) I'm more surprised that the Zed wasn't on this list... I'm the only one I know that flies them...
I really want them to remake the HWK as a large-base ship. Maybe make a set where you can get a new, bigger, more accurately scaled model with the new stuff, but also a way to just get the ship cards/templates and whatever else to just plug the current model on a large base. In the legends stories from which this ship came to us from, it was really quite a bit more impressive than the version we have in X-Wing.There is a lot of wonderful history and emotion behind the Moldy Crow, and it's a shame that the power creep and just better design from modern waves have made this early wave ship so... unimpressive.
It is absolutely not correctly scaled compared to the other models in the game. A T-65 X-Wing is about 12.5m in length. A YT-1300 freighter is about 34.5m in length. An Imperial Lambda class shuttle is about 20m in length. A HWK-290 light freighter is about *29m* in length. The HWK-290 in the X-Wing minis game should be a large-based ship comparable in size to the Falcon model, definitely bigger than a Lambda. It is absurd that is it about the size of an X-Wing or TIE fighter in model form. In universe the ship is over twice as long as an X-Wing and almost 50% longer than the Lambda shuttle, which has a model in this game that is way larger than the HWK-290 model.
Marclivis WRONG. The official Lucasfilm-confirmed length is 16.5 metres. The length you stated (as used on Wookieepedia) was taken from one of the novels. In the Dark Forces games, the length of 16.5 metres holds up to scrutiny. Do your research...
Marclivis see this cutaway image. It's not a particularly big ship at all: pre02.deviantart.net/886f/th/pre/i/2012/046/d/d/the_incredible_cross_sections_moldy_crow_by_millenniumfalsehood-d4k1has.png
Biggest problem with Firespray is that it has two huge exposed side arcs. However this can be fixed, with Expert Handling. Receiving a stress token is a small price to pay in order to take the Firespray out-of-arc or out-of-range AND remove a target lock makes a HUGE difference.
I know overall the firespray doesn't shine in the majority of the community, but in my local playgroup, I kick butt with it. I have always been suprised when people have said it stinks. I have had tremendous success. Maybe I am just lucky. . .
nope, we have a couple of Firespray players up here in Western Washington that do fairly well with them, myself included
Same here. I keep hearing "Slave I Sucks!" and every time I hear that, I put it on the table and wreck someone's face. Not a lot of Scum ships can load up on bombs, missiles, canons, whatever ordinance you love most, and also take Evade actions to last long enough to find all that ordinance a worthy home; try that with the Scurrg and it gets focus-fired and wiped off the table in a turn or two. The tail gun is just icing on the cake.
I started collecting the minis close to when the game first came out, but only recently started actually playing, but of course I have the bad luck of falling in love with some of the least competitive ships, Mist Hunter and HWK ended up being two of my favorites, mostly due to the pilots being some of my favorite characters.
Spiderwave Aesthetic the HWK is fantastic if built right. It's certainly not a major combat ship for in the heat of the battle, but some of the pilots (Especially Kyle Katarn for the rebels) are exceptional support ships. It doesn't have a ton of health, but enough that making it a good turret boat is fantastic fun, and Kyle Paired with Jake Farrel or another ship that benefits from recieving focus tokens gives you all the maneuverability you could ever dream of.
As someone who used to play the Dark Forces games, I guarantee you the scale of the HWK is correct. It also matches the size it's usually described in the fluff.
Mist Hunter and the Scum Y-Wing would both be in my top 5. I think Mist Hunter is a tough little ship that needs to be equipped and flown a little 'outside the box'. The Y-Wing is just so versatile, and seems to get stronger with every expansion. BTL title + Unhinged Astromech + Synced Turret + Vectored Thrusters makes it a great jouster.
What the Epic ships need are objective cards like Armada to give purpose to the fleet rather than a dogfight with large ships.
I flew a CROC in the 1st mission of HotAC. It was GREAT!
I love the Hawk. Recently had a lot of fun (and success) with a Spice Runner with TLT, Cad bane and proximity mines.
The only thing is maybe putting the Firespray a little higher in the list but I'm not sure where.... Fun subject to talk about, thanks!
I'll be very curious to see your rankings on the other 10 ships...the ones I fly the most will be in your top 10, and the next one after that is the Y-Wing, so it was the best of this bunch (though I understand and agree with your assessment of its limitations).
I think that a lot of the problems with scum ships, is the fact that the title cards are mostly limited to only one ship out of your entire fleet. One Mist Hunter, one moldy Crow, One Virago, ect.
many of the ships have too high of a base cost, particularly for what they do, or their survivability. low agility values, combined with low Shield values, just makes them not worth putting into play most of the time even if they have a really cool pilot ability or ship abilities. Also the illicit upgrades really are not that spectacular most of the time.
for the y-wing fighters, I like kavil as a pilot, with an autoblaster turret. add Emon with the Slave 1 title, extra munitions, Cad Bane, and cluster mines, is pretty awesome.
You broke my heart with the firespray, but you're right it's not in a great spot
Wait...the Y-Wing is at the top of the bottom list for Scum?
What am I missing here? Drea with a BTL-A4, Synced Turret and the R4 Agromech = a LOT of pain per turn...yes? It may not maneuver well, but that's what the protectorate is for and people tend to worry about that ship more than the Y-wing...til they get slammed with five attack dice over two separate attacks...each round. (2Attack first triggering the turret for 3Attack). 28pts for the build, but dang...
Never run BTL it's a trap, but I prefer the scum Y-wing to the rebel Y-wing because Unhinged Astromech is awesome for it's points cost.
The Y-Wing would definitely be on my top-3! And no, not even with TLT.
Played Nym and Emon and loved it :)
this^
is the best thing ever when built right!!
Brian Tenorio Emon is great with Bomblet imo
well, being primarily #Scumlife player, I won't agree or disagree with your choices, they aren't mine, of course... I run multiple Ys all the time, and while Horton Salm is nice, Kavil is a badass a level above. I also do not like TLT spam and generally run Dorsal Turrets. I agreed with your choices for the most part though... The Croc isn't so low for me because I do get to use it frequently, it has it's tricks and they are fun. Mist Hunter is lowest for me, next is Punishing One (simply tired of seeing it)
I'm more surprised that the Zed wasn't on this list... I'm the only one I know that flies them...
I really want them to remake the HWK as a large-base ship. Maybe make a set where you can get a new, bigger, more accurately scaled model with the new stuff, but also a way to just get the ship cards/templates and whatever else to just plug the current model on a large base. In the legends stories from which this ship came to us from, it was really quite a bit more impressive than the version we have in X-Wing.There is a lot of wonderful history and emotion behind the Moldy Crow, and it's a shame that the power creep and just better design from modern waves have made this early wave ship so... unimpressive.
Marclivis The HWK is already accurately scaled. What are you on about?
It is absolutely not correctly scaled compared to the other models in the game. A T-65 X-Wing is about 12.5m in length. A YT-1300 freighter is about 34.5m in length. An Imperial Lambda class shuttle is about 20m in length. A HWK-290 light freighter is about *29m* in length. The HWK-290 in the X-Wing minis game should be a large-based ship comparable in size to the Falcon model, definitely bigger than a Lambda. It is absurd that is it about the size of an X-Wing or TIE fighter in model form. In universe the ship is over twice as long as an X-Wing and almost 50% longer than the Lambda shuttle, which has a model in this game that is way larger than the HWK-290 model.
Marclivis WRONG. The official Lucasfilm-confirmed length is 16.5 metres. The length you stated (as used on Wookieepedia) was taken from one of the novels. In the Dark Forces games, the length of 16.5 metres holds up to scrutiny. Do your research...
Marclivis FFG used the Lucasfilm-supplied dimensions for all their non-epic ships, to keep them to scale.
Marclivis see this cutaway image. It's not a particularly big ship at all:
pre02.deviantart.net/886f/th/pre/i/2012/046/d/d/the_incredible_cross_sections_moldy_crow_by_millenniumfalsehood-d4k1has.png