Last week I showcased three dials from the new Star Trek Away Team HeroClix Fast Forces set as three members of the Enterprise crew joined with three members of the Legion of Super-Heroes as they traveled to a past to learn the origins of their troubles. This week, I focus on the combined forces that have traveled to the future to uncover the true identity of their enemy.

The force of this article reveals the villain, and showcases a 500-point team that might have existed, if our heroes had joined with him. Follow the link to see what might have been...

Synopsis: The villain of this wonderful mini-series written by Chris Roberson is an amalgam of two immortals, onel from each franchise: Flint from Star Trek and Vandal Savage from DC. Vandal the First offers the characters that have traveled to his future time the opportunity to join him, here is what that force would have looked like if they accepted his offer:

133 Unique (Origin 091) Vandal Savage
+ 3 Additional Team Ability The Society
75 (Star Trek FF 001) Captain James T. kirk
70 (LSH 001) Lightning Lad
66 Veteran (Collateral Damage 036) Shadow Lass
58 Veteran (Unleashed 039) Chameleon Boy
50 (Star Trek FF 004) Lt. Nyota Uhura
40 (Star Trek FF 067) Lt. Hikaru Sulu

= 495 Points

Once again, I'll include the text of the new team abilities. The first new team ability Federation Away Team is remains uncopyable, as does the Additional Team Ability The Society.

FEDERATION AWAY TEAM
Once per game per character, when this character occupies your starting area, you may give another character with the Federation keyword a power action and place this character within 12 squares of its current square. Uncopyable.

Since there are two figures on this force (Kirk, Sulu) with the team ability, the utility of it improves somewhat. Note that both of them are somewhat mobile attackers, so it isn't a bad idea to plan to bring one or both of them out of the starting area with this team ability.

The second of the new Team abilities is the Federation Support Team, which can be copied by Wildcards. It is essentially a power action to use Perplex on a limited number of characters. Since this force sports a somewhat weak figure that is happy to take action tokens (Chameleon) it is not completely useless, as long as boosting a Federation-keyword figure is useful.

FEDERATION SUPPORT TEAM
Once during each of your turns, you may give a character that can use this team ability a power action to use Perplex, but only to target a character with the Federation keyword. This Perplex may be used in addition to other uses of Perplex by this character.

Each of the HeroClix Star Trek Away Team characters offer two different dials to play, I will show both of them. the "A" dial is the first and the "B" dial is the second. Note that traits are restricted to only one of the dials. I appreciate the "B" dial of Captain James T. Kirk much more than I like the "A" dial. The Unexpected Leader damage power is just so wonderful, especially considering that the "B" dial is meant to start in close combat. Please note that the colors on the "B" dial don't look as obvious as to what they are (more purple than dark blue), but careful comparison with other figures in the set may convince you that the cards have correctly identified the powers.

E Captain James T. Kirk Points: 75 Range: 6
Team: Federation Away Team
Keywords: Federation, Soldier

8 11 17 3

7 10 17 2

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 1

7 9 16 3

KO KO KO KO

8 10 17 3

8 10 17 3

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

Unwinnable Kobayashi Maru: [001a Only]: If you control no other characters, during your turn he may use Outwit a number of times equal to the number of opposing characters on the map.

Unexpected Leader: Captain James T. Kirk can use Leadership. When he does, on a result of 3-4, he may give an action token to an opposing character within 3 squares and line of fire.

I think I will always choose to play the "A" dial of Lt. Nyota Uhura because of that power. It is an interesting mechanism for the Wild Card members of this team to end up with a more useful team ability than either Injustice Society or Federation Support Team. I also think you will get more offense from the "A" dial, despite the better numbers on the "B". In any case, on this force she is likely to be the one that helps deploy an Away Team member.

R Lt. Nyota Uhura Points: 50 Range: 5
Team: Federation Support Team
Keywords: Federation

7 9 16 1

7 9 16 1

7 9 16 1

6 9 15 1

6 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

7 10 17 1

7 9 16 1

7 10 16 1

6 9 15 1

6 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

Intercept Communications: [004a Only]: At the beginning of the game, choose a team ability that an opposing character can use that isn't a Wild Card team ability or a team ability a Wild Card can't use. Friendly characters can use that team ability this game in addition to their other team abilities as long as Lt. Nyota Uhura is on the map.

It is A Relationship: [004b Only]: When Lt. Nyota Uhura and a character named Spock are adjacent to each other, modify both of their defense values by +1 if not already modified by this effect.

Phaser Settings: Lt. Nyota Uhura can use Incapacitate and Penetrating/Psychic Blast. When she uses Incapacitate, modify her attack value by +1. When she uses Penetrating/Psychic Blast, modify her damage value by +1.

Jam Encrypted Communications: Opposing characters within 8 squares can't use Additional Team Abilities.

Lt. Hikaru Sulu also offers a couple of different dials. The "B" dial starts with a couple of tricks (free action, non-adjacent smoke cloud at range 8) and turns into a close-combat monster. I prefer the "A" dial that starts as a close-combat monster. The Fencing Champion special white power means that if he picks his targets wisely, he will be attacking with a +2 bonus.

E Lt. Hikaru Sulu Points: 40 Range: 0
Team: Federation Away Team
Keywords: Federation, Martial Artist, Pilot

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 2

7 9 16 1

7 9 15 2

6 9 15 1

KO KO KO KO

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 1

7 8 16 1

7 9 15 1

6 10 15 2

KO KO KO KO

Hide in Saturn's Magnetic Field: Hikaru Sulu can use Smoke Cloud as a free action and with a range of 8. When he does, he may only place markers in squares occupied by characters and they do not need to be adjacent to each other.

Fencing Champion: When Lt. Hikaru Sulu attacks a character with a range value of 0, modify his attack value by +2.

The only HeroClix version of Vandal Savage is from the Origins set. Itn hindsight, it is hard to believe that dials like this were still showing up in otherwise excellent sets of that era. Long consecutive streaks of certain powers, plus one of the most over-costed team abilities in the game have left our immortal villain with a serious case of bloated point-cost-to-utility ratio. The figure isn't a total loss, you just have to make sure to use every single trick in his playbook...including throwing objects with his super-strength. On the other hand, this is one of the coolest sculpts in the game.

U Vandal Savage Points: 133 Range: 0
Team: Injustice League
Keywords: Injustice Society, Secret Society of Super-Villains, Warrior

8 11 16 4

8 11 15 4

8 11 17 3

7 10 16 3

7 10 15 3

7 10 16 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 8 15 3

6 8 14 3

KO KO KO KO

To add another insult to the pain that is the Injustice League team ability (and the characters that sport it) is the recommended, but still solidly mediocre addtional team ability The Society. It is a small means of protection for Vandal Savage against Outwit. unfortunately it does nothing to prevent an opponent from immediately using Outwit on any other member of the force.

The Society
Cost: 3 per character
Prerequisite Keyword(s): Secret Society of Super-Villains or The Society

Whenever a character using this team ability is targeted by Outwit, you roll a d6. On a result of 4-6, the opposing character that targeted your character cannot use Outwit to target that character this turn. This team ability cannot be used by wild cards.

Lightning Lad is bring the serious ranged-offense to this force, and if necessary, Pulse Wave. He, along with his Legion of Super-Heroes teammates can also provide TAXI service to the grounded members of the force.

E Lightning Lad Points: 70 Range: 10
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen

8 10 16 3

8 9 15 3

8 9 15 2

7 8 14 2

7 8 15 1

6 7 15 1

KO KO KO KO

The Veteran dial of Shadow Lass is just about the only one of the three available REV that can still hang in the modern age and provide offense. This is one of the few forces in which her shared defense power isn't a total waste, but it's her top-dial's high movement, 6 3-damage that impresses me most.

V Shadow Lass Points: 66 Range: 6
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen

10 9 17 3

9 9 16 3

8 8 15 2

7 8 15 2

7 7 14 2

6 7 13 2

KO KO KO KO

Unfortunately it seems as if I cannot find a Legion of Super-Heroes team that doesn't include Chameleon Boy. I have nothing against the character, but the dials just are not that good for the points, especially when his choice of team abilities to copy is so severely limited. Nevertheless, if you know the dial you can find ways to make it work. Don't forget that on this force, as long as Lt. Nyota Uhura is alive, he can take actions to Perplex the Federation members by means of her team ability.

V Chameleon Points: 58 Range: 0
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Spy

9 8 15 2

9 7 15 2

8 7 14 1

8 6 14 1

7 6 13 1

7 5 13 1

KO KO KO KO

That's all for this week. I'm taking a couple of weeks off for a much-needed vacation, so look for some guest columnists until I return!

Great article!
Man, I need to get that ST pack.

It's got Kirk, therefore it must win. That is logical, is it not?

The Society is a nice ATA.

We really need a new Chameleon Boy Clix figure. I was considering the ST/LOSH crossover squad, and then I realized how terrible that Unleashed Chameleon Boy was done.

I don't mind the powers on the Unleashed Chameleon dials...but those stat values are terrible! I almost think we haven't gotten a new one because it would simply emphasize how little raw stats contribute to a figure's cost.