A new HeroClix Fast Forces set has been released featuring the recent cinematic versions of the popular Star Trek characters. The characters from the Star Trek franchise are no strangers to comic books; this week's Longbox article features a 400-point team-up force of characters from the 2012 Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes series by Chris Roberson and the Moy brothers.

To see a lineup of characters from two different futures take the fight to a past that belongs to neither of their worlds, follow the link!

Synopsis: Something is wrong the timestreams...all the time streams. This 2012 series from IDW started with two groups of characters from different franchises trapped in a world they did not know, having a misunderstanding that led to a fight, and finally deciding to band together to confront the force responsible for their predicament.

Naturally, they split up...with half of the characters traveling to the prehistoric past to learn the secrets their mutual foe. That teams was:

88 (Superman 008) Brainiac 5
75 (Star Trek FF 003) Spock
70 (LSH 003) Cosmic Boy
60 (LSH 002) Saturn Girl
50 (Star Trek FF 002) Dr. Leonard McCoy
50 (Star Trek FF 007) Ensign Pavel Chekov

= 393 Points



Because this force uses new figures with some new team abilities alongside the wild card team ability Legionnaires, I'll include the text of the new team abilities. The first new team ability Federation Away Team is unfortunately uncopyable, and it is found on the dial of Spock.

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.

For the purposes of this force, it simply means that either Dr. Leonard McCoy or Ensign Pavel Chekov can take an action to place Spock anywhere within 12 squares of his square...if Spock is in his starting area. I suppose it will be possible to get the drop on opponents with this power, but it seems very situational to me. Keep in mind that this force has a couple of figures with Telekinesis, so it may be possible to slingshot Spock into the starting area and then use the team ability to deploy.

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...so again, not the most useful for this force, but it is another option.

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 characters in the Star Trek: Tactics release has two distinct dials; each dial has the same point cost, team ability and combat symbols. For completeness I will include both dials. As the Star Trek figures are the newest, I will go ahead and discuss Spock and his Star Trek allies first. Please note that each of the Star Trek figures has the symbol, which means that they can be carried by the flying members of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The Spock dial allows the character to play two different roles. The 'A' dial is the coldly logical and efficient Spock; the 'B' dial is the more combat-oriented of the two. I will leave it to you to decide which you prefer, but for my force I would use the 'A' dial, mostly because of the starting 3 damage but also because Spock didn't properly go 'amok' in this comic series. The combat-oriented half-dial is not a bad fit for the rest of this force however.

R Spock Points: 75 Range: 6
Team: Federation Away Team
Keywords: Federation, Scientist, Soldier

7 10 17 3

7 10 17 2

6 9 16 2

6 9 16 3

6 8 16 3

KO KO KO KO

7 9 17 1

7 9 17 1

9 11 16 3

9 11 15 2

8 10 14 2

KO KO KO KO

Emotions Unchecked: Spock can use Charge and Flurry.

Vulcan Nerve Pinch: Spock can use Exploit Weakness and Incapacitate.

Vulcan Physiology: Spock can use Toughness and Willpower.

The Refuge of Logic: Spock can use Outwit and Probability Control. When he uses Probability Control during his own attack rolls, he may choose to reroll only one die.

The choice of dials for Dr. Leonard McCoy is much easier for me: I'm going with the 'A' side almost every time. The 'B' side isn't bad, but the powers are far to conditional for my taste. The 'A' side offers me more choices of how to play the figure, as I look at the B-side it looks as if I am pretty much having to play nothing but defense with him. I am not a fan of the Tricorder special white power, as it appears to be far too limited, but if you are committed to trying to make it work, I suggest you play both dials of McCoy and Chekov that have it, otherwise you may never have the opportunity to use it.

R Dr. Leonard McCoy Points: 50 Range: 0
Team: Federation Support Team
Keywords: Federation, Scientist

6 11 16 0

6 10 16 0

6 10 15 0

6 10 15 0

5 9 15 0

KO KO KO KO

7 10 17 2

6 10 17 1

6 9 16 1

6 9 15 1

5 9 16 1

KO KO KO KO

Tricorder: Give Dr. Leonard McCoy a free action if he has no action tokens and choose a square within 6 squares and line of fire. Characters occupying that square can't use Shape Change or Stealth.

Melvaran Mud Flea Vaccine: Give Dr. Leonard McCoy a free action and choose an adjacent character of 100 points or less. That character can use Shape Change until your next turn as long as he is adjacent to Dr. Leonard McCoy, but only succeeds on a roll of 6.

Ensign Pavel Chekov offers an interesting choice. Since the Legion half of this force already has Telekinesis, you can opt for the 'B' dial to play with two Telekinetic/Transporter Technology characters. Not many players are used to facing against two such characters, and if you are the type of player to exploit opponent's unfamiliarity with such tactics, go for it. Otherwise, I think you will get more mileage from the top-dial Perplex on the 'A' side. Note that the trait is only good for the 'A' side dial as well.

R Ensign Pavel Chekov Points: 50 Range: 0
Team: Federation Support Team
Keywords: Federation, Teen

8 9 16 1

7 9 16 1

6 9 16 1

6 9 15 1

8 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 9 16 1

7 9 15 1

7 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

Transporter Lock: [007a Only]: Friendly characters modify their speed value by +3 when using Phasing/Teleport.

Tricorder: Give Ensign Pavel Chekov a free action if he has no action tokens and choose a square within 6 squares and line of fire. Characters occupying that square can't use Shape Change or Stealth.

The Legion of Super-Heroes members of this force are three rather effective pieces. Brainiac 5 isn't as useful on this force (because his Force Field Belt only works for Legion of Super-Heroes keyworded figures) as on pure Legion teams, but he isn't exactly a slouch given his ability to withstand damage and the multitude of ticks along his track. Brainiac 5 is from the 2011 Superman booster set.

E Brainiac 5 Points: 88 Range: 0
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Scientist

7 9 17 2

7 9 16 2

6 9 16 1

6 9 16 1

5 8 15 1

5 8 15 1

KO KO KO KO

Force Field Belt: Brainiac 5 can use Invulnerability. Give Braniac 5 a free action and choose an adjacent character with the Legion of Super-Heroes keyword. That character can use Toughness until your next turn as long as it is adjacent to Brainiac 5.

Twelfth-Level Intellect: Brainiac 5 can use Outwit. Once during your turn Brainiac 5 can use Perplex or Probability Control.

Cosmic Boy will likely end up bring most of this force's offense (between ranged and Telekinetic attacks), so do not make the mistake of keeping him too far from the action. Both Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl are from the 2007 Legion of Super-Heroes starter set.

E Cosmic Boy Points: 70 Range: 6
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Teen

9 10 17 2

9 10 16 2

9 9 16 2

8 9 16 2

8 7 16 1

7 7 15 1

KO KO KO KO

Notice that Saturn Girl has the longest ranged attack of any of the characters on this force! Her power do not lend themselves to close combat, so try to keep her where she can make attacks and not block the lines-of-fire from the other characters on this force. I think I've included this advice on every team that features this figure: This is a very pushable dial, so don't be afraid to push her to make attacks.

E Saturn Girl Points: 60 Range: 8
Team: Legion of Superheroes
Keywords: Future, Legion of Super Heroes, Psychic, Teen

9 9 16 2

8 10 15 2

8 10 15 2

7 9 14 1

7 8 14 1

KO KO KO KO

Telepathic Coordination: Once during your turn (but not during another action), as a free action Saturn Girl modifies by +2 the attack value or defense value of any other target friendly character for the duration of an action. Saturn Girl must be within 10 squares of and have a clear line of fire to the target.

The leftover points are enough for the Legionnaires Additional team ability, or perhaps a feat or special object that tickles your fancy. The ATA is an easy choice to bring the force to 399 points, but it is unlikely to have a tremendous payoff for you.

LEGIONNAIRES Cost: 2 per character Prerequisite Keyword: Legion of Super Heroes

Whenever the friendly character with the highest point value that’s using this team ability is KO’d, remove one action token from each other friendly character using this team ability.

There are a more comic-inspired forces that can be made using these new HeroClix figures. Keep watching HCRealms for more ideas!

We are now just 2 more sets away from Star Trek: TNG/ Doctor Who Clix!

I'd be willing to buy Dr Who clix. Sending out a Dalek with Psychic/Penetrating Blast and yelling "Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!!!!!" would be soooooo awesome.

Me Likes! I'd love to see a longbox team from the old Star Trek/X-Men comic.

I built a wicked Star Trek/ LOSH 1000 point team that I won't get to use this Tuesday. Ach!

It would be nice if they would release the Star Trek Fast Forces in my area. No one in town has received any yet and my gaming venue orders everything clix related.

Availability aside, good article. Except the Fast Forces represent the crew from the JJ Abrams movie and not the original series versions featured in the comic. Chris Pine is a terrible substitute for William Shatner.

The set showed up at my venue (SE Michigan) this week. We aren't known for getting things super early, so it should start to appear at most US locations very shortly. By the time Gen Con rolls around, I think most domestic places should have them. I was definitely bugging my venue about this release, I don't think they were aware of it a month ago.

Since I was asked: The icons I used for the team abilities are not accurate. The new team abilities have a small starburst inside them. I simply manipulated the existing icons from the "ships" release to get the point across.

Also, the trait symbol for Chekov is a solid star (unlike the of Montgomery Scott), presumably because he only has the trait on one of his dials.

I hope they make the Star Trek Away Team Modern.

I hope they make some red shirt pogs for the Star Trek set.

I agree. Though the movie (which the set is based off of) didn't follow the whole "Red Shirt Rule" thing, so that might be why. Would have been nice to have some Red Shirts that your Away Team could transfer damage to, since that seems to be all they would be good for.

And don't forget about the Cybermen. Can't go wrong with some Cybermen generics and a Cyberman Commander (can't remember his title).

Very nice! I avoided the comic, but this team seems fun to play.

This is the reason why I hate people trying to say Lord of the rings, Gears of War and Halo should be Golden and Star Trek should not. I have no clue why tactics of all Star Trek is not "Compactable" with Hero clix main set.......

Now, when do we get the X-Men Crossover? http://www.startrekcomics.info/marvel2tosxmen.html

Hmm, what dial would make a good Blackbird ship for the X-Men?