So I've been playing this game since it came out, and the one rule that I've seen interpreted the most differently is the Shield TA. My biggest question is does the friendly figure have to be adjacent at the time of the range action, at the beginning of the action, or at any point during the action?

It is my understanding that as long as the Shield member is adjacent at some point once the action begins to when the attack is made that it is fair game.

One thing I like to do from time to time since I don't get to play much is to build the cheesiest teams I can think of in the Units section, and this is an 800 point whopper that I have come up with:

2 Vet Icons Supermen
6 Rook Mandroid Armors
6 Shield Agents.

Turn 1 - Wait until 1st turn immunity is over
Turn 2 - Spend 3 power actions powering Superman's (1) damage to 8 and 3 free actions to power his range to 13. TK Superman (1) and 1 Mandroid out as far as you can. Superman HSS in such a way that he can hit any square on the map and make it back to the Mandroid. TK Supes back to starting.
Turn 3 - Do it again with a separate set of Mandroids Agents and Superman (2).
Turn 4 - Continue to do this until the inevitable plan falls apart from weak defenses, but not from pushing.
Turn 5 - Though it is fun to deal out 8 damage each attack, only 1 attack a turn is not nearly enough to win many 800 point matches.
Turn 6 - By this point I have surely been beaten, but I had a fun time anyway.

If I am wrong about the TA, and especially if they have to be adjacent at time of attack, then this plot will not work at all, but it would still be fun to try in a cheesefest match sometime.

btw, I still have 70 points left over for feats, 35 points each Turtle. Other than protecteds, what feats do you think would help out?

It must be adjacent at the time of the attack.

This is incorrect.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.™ When a friendly character makes a ranged combat attack, you can give any
number of friendly characters adjacent to the attacker and using the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability either a
free action or a power action (but not both) before making the attack roll: For each character given a free
action, modify the attacker’s range by +1; for each character given a power action, modify the attacker’s
damage value by +1."

If the adjacency is at any other point of the action, the adjacency is not there when the character makes the attack.

Well, it won't work, but you could TK some of the SHIELD guys out, too, to give the needed actions from the spot where they need to be.

good to know.

I've heard the TA Ruling so many different ways from so many judges that it gets frustrating to try to build a team around it.

For the record, I was probably never going to play this team, just keep it in my book of crazy stunts that would be funny to watch people try to pull.

You must be adjacent at the time the action is made. It's still possible to have 6 figures around Supes when he makes the atack, but he can't carry any of them when he does because a carried figure is considered off the board and you can't place the carried figure back on the map until after the action has resolved. In Supes' case, HSS.
If you really wanted to increase Supes' stats then Con Artist are always going to be the cheapest option. You just need a telephone booth for efficiency. You'd need 12 actions to Tk each one onto the booth, use the free action damage and then move them off, but in an 800pt match that getting them all on their second click by turn 2 shouldn't be a problem either. Or you can just use some of the super-perplex figures that are available now like Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Strange.

The biggest flaw in that plan is that now you can no longer TK after TK, meaning that the Mandroid that was thrown at the beginning with Superman would have to wait until next turn to throw Superman back. Your best option here (IMHO) is to drop 2 Mandroids and replace them with cheap barrier makers. Instead of TKing a Mandroid, throw the barrier maker to cut off line of fire. If they do get an attack against Supes they have already wasted an action either destroying your barrier markers or going for the source of the barrier. the SIF can keep you safer, but I'd recommend perhaps Endurance on either Supes or the Barrier makers. My favorite Barrier piece is Vet Blizzard from IC. RS & PW aside, Barrier + MoE TA = Barrier every turn for 53 pts. Throw in Construct and you have a highly efficient tie-up piece with options.

You can only use the Phone booth once per turn. "Once per turn, a character occupying the same square as this object can be dealt 1 unavoidable damage as a free action."

Rookie Pyro = 27 points...Mandroid = 28 points...good swap

Can a character with the SHIELD TA use the free action more than once per turn?

yes they can.

Are you sure? I don't believe the Shield TA acts like 'Enhancement' (i.e. boosting all adjacent friendly characters).

Eventhough the ranged boosting portion of the TA is a free action, I believe it can only be used once per character per round (just like Outwit, Perplex, and PC).

EDIT: Notice that the wording of the Hydra ability (which grants 'unlimited' AV boosting) is completely different than that of the Shield TA.

When a friendly character makes a ranged combat
attack, you can give any number of friendly characters
adjacent to the attack and using the S.H.I.E.L.D. team
ability either a free action or a power action (but not
both) before making the attack roll: For each
character given a free action, modify the attacker’s
range by +1; for each character given a power action,
modify the attacker’s damage value by +1.

i do not see anything that says other wise? it says that u need to give them a free action or power action(not both). there is nothing that says that you can not be given a free action more than once per turn. If so then those with outwit and perplex could not use both in one turn.

Edit: Also unless a Free action says that u can not use it more than one time per turn you can use it more than one time. This is the reason that the Chase Batman had to be errated to once per turn for smoke cloud instead of as many as he wanted.

Maraud is correct.

Free actions are, as he says, by nature unlimited.

To give another example, Nanobots does not say that it is limited to once per turn. It can be used as many times in a turn as there are objects.

It has been my understanding that making an action (even a free action such as Perplex) in the middle of another action (such as Running Shot) was not allowed. So is the Shield TA the exception to the rule in that you can RS to move next to a Shield member, boost their range or damage and then make the ranged attack?

Yes, the SHIELD team ability is an exception because the ability specifically states that it is used during an action.

In fact, you cannot use the SHIELD TA at all without having it occur during another action.

I was just under the impression that the boost had to be used before an action that resulted in an attack - free/power action, ranged attack, action resolves. Knowing that you can use the Shield TA during a Running Shot or HSS attack makes it much more usable. Thanks for clearing that up guys.