-Review and photos by Scott Rubin

One of the coolest things about HeroClix is how WizKids takes the basic rules and applies them to various properties and franchises that can all play together.  DC and Marvel are obviously the biggest parts of HeroClix, but they mix and mingle with everything from video games to movies, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lord of the Rings, and more.  The latest full expansion set hitting stores in a few weeks adds a whole new world to the game with Star Trek HeroClix Away Team The Original Series!  Now, this is far from the first appearance of Star Trek in HeroClix; way back in 2012 WizKids began the “Tactics” line of Star Trek ships in the game, and that year they also released a seven-figure Starter Set of the main characters from J.J. Abrams’ reboot Trek film.  But now fans and collectors can get all of the classic Starfleet crewmembers, Klingons, Romulans, and wacky aliens from Star Trek the Original Series in HeroClix form!  Today we’re going to give you an in-depth look into a brick of Away Team along with the accompanying Starter Set and Dice & Token Pack.

Packaged just like any other HeroClix expansion, the boosters of Star Trek HeroClix Away Team The Original Series show off some of the cool stuff you may find inside.  The front panel has artwork of our favorite dynamic duo of Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock based on 3D renders of their figures, and the sides of the box feature Klingons, the Enterprise Crew (Bones, Uhura, Sulu), the Romulan Star Empire, and the awesomely named “Space Creatures” (Tribbles, Gorn)!  The back panel of each booster lets you know about the Away Team The Original Series Starter Set (and see below for a look at that item) as well as pointing you to the WizKids website for more information.

Let’s dive into the sealed brick of ten boosters!  After checking out the video make sure to scroll down for a full breakdown of the figures pulled, photography, and lots more.

Here’s the breakdown of the figures in this brick (your results will vary of course):

COMMONS (including duplicates)

• 001 Romulan Centurion
• 002 Klingon Bekk
• 003 Starfleet Security Officer
• 004 Lokai
• 005 Talosian
• 006 Lt. Kyle
• 007 Ensign Chekov
• 008 Klingon Lieutenant
• 009 Nurse Chapel
• 010 Romulan Lieutenant
• 011 Tellarite
• 012 Tribbles
• 013 Andorian

UNCOMMONS (including duplicates)

• 014 Romulan Commander
• 015 Korax
• 016 Mr. Scott
• 017 Bele
• 018 The Keeper
• 019 Lt. Sulu
• 020 Dr. McCoy
• 021 Klingon Captain
• 022 Yeoman Rand
• 024 Orion Female
• 025 Lt. Leslie

RARES

• 026 Captain Kirk
• 027 Mr. Spock
• 030 Romulan Subcommander
• 031 M-113 Creature
• 032 Mugato
• 035 Horta
• 036 Mr. Spock

SUPER RARES

• 037 Charlie X
• 038 Uhura
• 045 Shahna

Wow, I gotta say again, it’s crazy that these characters are in HeroClix!  I really didn’t know what to expect with this set (other than the obvious), so just about everything was a surprise.  Starting with the commons we pulled Enterprise crew Starfleet Security Officer (Red Shirt) with communicator, Lt. Kyle with phaser, Ensign Chekov, and Nurse Chapel, Klingon Bekk and Lieutenant, and Romulan Centurion and Lieutenant.  We’ve also got some representatives from alien races like the Cheronian rebel leader Lokai (black on the LEFT side) and generic Talosian, Tellarite, and Andorian… and a pile of furry Tribbles!

Uncommon figures with green tabs continue populating the Federation flagship with chief engineer Mr. Scott, helmsman Lt. Sulu, Dr. McCoy, the lovely Yeoman Rand, and the multi-talented Lt. Leslie.  The Klingon Captain and Koloth’s belligerent first officer Korax and Romulan Commander bolster their respective empires, while other non-humans at this rarity include Commissioner Bele (black on the RIGHT side) hunting down Lokai, the Keeper who kidnapped travelers for the Talosian menagerie, and a sultry Orion Female.  There’s some real magic here in the rares starting with a Title Character Captain Kirk with sword followed up by his best friend and first officer Mr. Spock wishing you live long and prosper!  There’s a Romulan Subcommander for my Star Empire, and then some really unique characters like the hypnotic “salt vampire” M-113 Creature, the poisonous ape-like Mugato, a silicone-based Horta that consumes rock, and the goatee-sporting first officer of the Terran Empire ISS Enterprise Mr. Spock of the Mirror Universe.  Finally, this brick had three super rare figures: the Thasian-empowered but immature “Charlie X,” Mirror Universe Uhura, and the drill thrall fighter who fell in love with Kirk on the planet Triskelion Shahna.

There are a few takeaways we can see just from this one brick.  First, at 50 figures the set size is slightly smaller than we’re used to with current DC and Marvel expansions reaching over 60 per set, so the rarities are a bit more condensed.  Next, there is a decent amount of sculpt sharing between Star Trek figures, though I’m very much okay with that.  To be honest, when watching Trek most Starfleet officers look pretty much the same except for their heads since they’re wearing the same uniforms with only slight cosmetic differences.  Same goes for classic Klingons and Romulans with their uniforms as well.

Just like in the show, the Away Team set features a lot of uniformed humans and their Klingon and Romulan counterparts, and then uniquely dressed (and colored) humanoid aliens and finally the totally bizarre.  That combination gives us an interesting mix of figures from the “red shirt” Starfleet Security Officer to the literal pile of fur balls known as the Tribbles… not to mention other things like the Horta and Mugato.  Among the sculpts I like the most among the figures from this brick include the well-appointed Romulan Centurion with hanging cloak, the hard-charging Klingon Lieutenant, Nurse Chapel/Yeoman Rand with their different and surprisingly intricate hairdos, the stack of furry Tribbles in all of their glory, the lava-encrusted rock of the Horta, and Shahna swinging her weapon.

Figures like the Klingon Bekk striding forward with a sway in his hips, the undulating Orion Female, Captain Kirk charging with his sword, the devious Charlie X, and Uhura about to stab someone show a really nice range in poses with attitude, while intricately sculpted textures abound on the Andorian’s uniform and the fur and skin of the M-113 Creature and Mugato.  Lastly, while they may not be the most eye-catching for their relative human-ness, the Starfleet figures have a nice variety of poses and actions (brandishing/shooting phasers, scanning with tricorders, using communicators) that are really differentiated by their paint jobs.

When it comes to Starfleet, everyone basically wears the same uniform that’s differentiated by colors to represent shipboard duties.  In the Original Series that breakdown was: yellow for command, blue for science/medical, and red for engineering/security/etc.  Each major department also had a unique symbol that appeared on the uniform’s left breast, and rank indicators were worn on the uniform’s cuffs.  The Away Team figures do a really nice job of replicating these bold, easily recognizable colors, and it’s a combination of the uniform colors and face/hair painting that differentiates figures with shared sculpts.  In person and up close I was really pleased with how this turned out, and I think figures like Mr. Scott, Ensign Chekov, Lt. Sulu, and Dr. McCoy really do look like the characters.

Beyond those Starfleet examples, some of my favorite paint jobs in this brick include the Cheronians Lokai and Bele with their stark black & white (no, white & black!) faces contrasting with excellently painted eyes, the exceedingly retro Tellarite with his patterned jumpsuit, all of the Romulans with their cool color palettes but especially the Romulan Commander with a dead on likeness of actor Mark Lenard, the strangely beautiful Horta, and Mirror Spock with his intricately detailed uniform covered in sashes, medals, and weapons.  Meanwhile, this set definitely has fewer examples of metallic paint and translucent effects (fewer characters who can turn into metal or fly/shoot energy beams), though there are some nice details like the metal highlights on the uniforms of the Andorians, Klingons, and Romulans and some weapons (Kirk, Shahna, etc.), and the translucent energy weapon effects on Lt. Leslie and Mirror Spock and Shahna’s swinging weapon.

Now that we’ve seen the figures from this brick, how about looking at some Star Trek HeroClix Away Team the Original Series dials?  I have the pleasure of sharing a few with you today, so let’s dive right in and start with the generic everyone was dying to see: the red shirt, aka Starfleet Security Officer!  A common generic, the Officer is 25 points with a 6 range and the new United Federation of Planets team ability that says “When this character is given a MOVE action, modify speed +1.”  His trait “Redshirt” is a perfect encapsulation of what we see in classic Trek; when an adjacent ally 100 points or less or with the Starfleet keyword is KO’d you can instead KO the Security Officer and turn the ally to its last non-KO click!  He has utility beyond that sacrifical trait as well, with a short dial featuring Incapacitate, Enhancement, and Empower.  He’ll be a great point filler for Starfleet teams and a fun figure for strategic bodyguarding.

One of my favorite understated characters in Star Trek is Ensign Chekov, and especially with him missing the cut for the Starter Set I was interested to see him portrayed in HeroClix form in the main booster set.  The Russian is a lean 45 points with a 5 range and the United Federation of Planets team ability.  Chekov is not particularly a team player, instead focused almost entirely on offense!  He starts as a ranged attacker with Running Shot, Precision Strike, and Energy Shield/Deflection plus Probability Control that he can use for himself or a friend.  After taking a hit he goes a little mad and gets up close with Charge while being protected by Super Senses.  Top dial that Precision Strike means he can hurt anyone, while late-dial low damage forces him to pick support pieces to suffer his rage.

I absolutely could not do this review and not take a look at the Tribbles!  The fur pile looks great and as you’d expect it’s a wacky figure to play.  Each “figure” is 5 points and essentially a bystander with just one click.  The Tribble has the Animal keyword for theme team shenanigans and combos and it’s Tiny, and three traits give it tons of fun.  The first lets one Tribble figure on your team reproduce each turn, bringing in another from outside the game for free.  The second allows opposing characters to walk past the Tribbles without stopping and break away from them automatically.  The last is the biggie, dinging characters -1 speed for each adjacent Tribbles and -1 attack for each 2 Tribbles adjacent.  And, hilariously, if the character has the Klingon keyword it also suffers -1 defense for each adjacent Tribbles!  Load up your team with Tribbles, give ‘em the Animal ATA to make them really annoying, and sic ‘em on your Klingon enemies.

There are quite a few Romulans in this Away Team expansion, so let’s look at one of them.  I don’t just like the Romulan Commander because it so closely resembles classic Trek character actor Mark Lenard, but also for its interesting dial.  70 points brings you a 6 range, permanent Stealth via the Romulan Star Empire team ability, and a mean trait that lets you inflict one damage on all characters adjacent to a square in which an adjacent ally OR a friendly Romulan was just KO’d.  On the dial the Commander starts the game shooting with Sidestep for positioning (hopefully in hindering to make use of his Stealth), Energy Shield/Deflection for protection, and Ranged Combat Expert.  Mid-dial his defenses become more versatile with Super Senses, and late-dial the Romulan moves into melee alongside his allies with a combination of Charge, Defend, and a nice last click spike in attack, defense, and damage values.  Naturally he has the Romulan and Spy keywords.

The Romulans aren’t the only ones with solid representation in this set and really useful team traits.  So too the Klingons!  The uncommon Klingon Captain is 60 points with a 6 range, the Klingon Empire trait shedding a token when he rolls a 10-12 making an attack, and a trait that potentially lets allies do the same (makes perfect sense that the Klingons are relentless attackers).  The Captain is an incredibly mobile attacker with starting Hypersonic Speed, though his 2 damage means he has to pick his targets carefully.  Toughness protects him during his opening salvoes, but everything changes once he takes some damage and gets mad; three clicks in he switches over to Sidestep, Blades/Claws/Fangs, and Combat Reflexes!

Naturally in a Star Trek set Kirk has to take the spotlight, and so the rare Captain Kirk is a Title Character!  With sword in hand he’s a dynamic, eye-catching figure and he brings a ton to the table for his 100 points.  Off the top he has the United Federation of Planets team ability, a 6 range, and Indomitable.  His long eight click dial is packed with powers starting off with a ranged emphasis with Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast plus Super Senses and Leadership.

From mid-dial on Kirk switches to melee with a huge run of Charge, alternating Combat Reflexes and Toughness, and a progression of Outwit, Perplex, and Probability Control.  The captain starts the game with no Plot Points; his +1 Plot Point ability is a free action that lets allies missed by an enemy’s attack remove an action token, while his -X ability is a free action used to bring in Starfleet reinforcements from your Sideline!  This costs 1 Plot Point plus 1 per 10 full points of the figure’s cost (so 5 Plot Points for a figure 40-49 points, etc.).

Next I’m going to look at a couple of the truly bizarre creatures found in this brick starting with the M-113 Creature.  Known colloquially as the “salt vampire,” this alien lunges toward its prey with its creepy, long-fingered hand.  The Creature is 75 points with two traits; the first gives it permanent Shape Change while the second hurts and enemy AND heals itself when an opponent fails its break away roll to get away from it.  A seven-click long dial is entirely filled with Super Senses and Exploit Weakness; the first click has Sidestep and every other one has Steal Energy.  The M-113 Creature’s battle plan is simple: get into melee, lockdown enemies, kill, and repeat.

The most alien and monstrous of the Star Trek aliens in this brick has to be the Horta.  In HeroClix this unique creature appears as a rounded mound of lava and rock, centered on a “peanut” base.  The Horta is 100 points with Indomitable and a six-click dial featuring surprisingly strong stats, especially defense.  A special power running down the whole dial gives it Sidestep and Improved Movement ignoring and destroying blocking terrain (yum!), plus the ability to make a free close attack after moving 5 squares or less and ending adjacent to blocking terrain.  The Horta also has Poison and Exploit Weakness for its whole dial, and defensively it starts with Impervious, switches mid-dial to Invulnerability, and ends with a STOP click granting Toughness.  Especially within this set the Horta is a fast and deadly opponent able to shrug off a huge amount of damage while inflicting tons of its own in melee combat.  It can also be played at 75 points starting on click #3.

 

The first super rare we see here is the boy stranded on an alien planet and given fantastic mental powers known as “Charlie X.”  Formerly Charlie Evans who alone survived his transport crashing on the planet Thasus, Chuck here has a great, aggressive pose with his arms spread out wide.  He has a 40 point dial with a 6 range and the “Don’t Laugh at Me!” trait that deals an enemy’s printed damage to itself after it misses Charlie X with an attack aimed solely at him!  That’s his big trick; on the dial he starts with Sidestep, Willpower, and Probability Control while his back-dial has only Super Senses.  Bump up his defense with Perplex or other mechanics and send Charlie X in advance of the rest of your team.  He’s only 40 points so he’s not a huge investment but if he can get a couple opponents to hurt themselves he’ll be well worth it.

For our last dial review today we’ll take a look at a Mirror Universe character and the super rare Uhura!  Wearing her stripped down uniform and wielding a dagger, the assassin costs 75 points and comes with the Mirror Universe team ability (whenever she takes damage from an opponent’s attack that opponent takes one penetrating damage) and a trait that lets her shut off the defense powers of an adjacent enemy 100 points or less.  Uhura definitely want to get up close to her enemies, too, with no range and a dial built for slicing and dicing.  She has Stealth bookending her dial with a little Flurry in between, and a long run of Blades/Claws/Fangs to put out the hurt.  The front half of her dial is protected by Super Senses and the back Combat Reflexes.  At 75 points Uhura is a good secondary attacker with that killer trait to set up your big guns, and she’s quite team friendly with the keywords Mirror Universe, Starfleet, Assassin, and Spy.

If you’re looking to get more out of your Star Trek HeroClix experience WizKids has a few more items coming alongside the main booster set.  Most notably is the Away Team The Original Series Starter Set, the perfect way for new players to get in the game and a very useful resource for experienced players looking to add more variety to their Starfleet teams.  It brings you everything you need to play HeroClix with dice, objects and tokens, a double-sided map, the new Rulebook and Powers and Abilities Card, and more.  Oh, and it also has six figures of the main Enterprise crew: Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Mr. Scott, Dr. McCoy, Lt. Uhura, and Lt. Sulu (okay, so clearly Chekov didn’t make the cut this time).

These figures share sculpts with their main set counterparts or feature slight differences (for example this Kirk is firing a phaser while the rare version of the figure I pulled in a booster is wielding a sword) with new and different dials perfectly costed for easy team building.  In fact, it couldn’t be easier since each one of these Starfleet officers is exactly 50 points making the sextet an even 300!  Of course, you can mix and match these with other figures from the booster set for unlimited team options.  All of these figures except for Kirk offer a huge bonus to their allies and are truly “team players” (Kirk’s special ability actually only triggers when he’s the only one left on your team, but it can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat like we’ve never seen in the game).

The two-sided map features the battlegrounds of the Gorn Fight (modified “arena style” with elevated rocky perches on the perimeter around a ground level dotted with shrubbery hindering terrain and sparse rock blocking terrain) where Kirk faced off against the reptilian alien and the Forgotten Planet (a verdant landscape of hindering terrain plants with three sections of elevated terrain along one long side, the central one featuring some blocking terrain at its summit and water terrain surrounding it on the ground).

In addition to the Starter you will also be able to pick up the Star Trek HeroClix Away Team The Original Series Dice & Token Pack!  It’s got exactly what’s advertised with six black and yellow poker chip-style action tokens featuring shiny photos of the same Starfleet officers in the Starter: Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Bones, Uhura, and Sulu (again, no Chekov).  But I think the real draw for a lot of players and collectors is going to be the pair of black and yellow dice with the Starfleet insignia on the six sides!

If you’re a Trekkie AND a HeroClix player like me, this set is pretty much a dream come true and you should definitely check it out.  Also, if you’re just a casual HeroClix player you should take a look at the varied and interesting figures in this expansion as they’re 100% compatible with everything else you’re playing and offer new ways to build and play teams with effective low point characters, unique traits and special powers, synergies, and more.  There have even been various Star Trek/superhero crossovers in the past (comics and novels) so there’s actually official precedent for Kirk and the gang interacting with the Legion of Super-Heroes, the X-Men, Green Lantern (modern film Trek, but still), etc.!  The Away Team The Original Series booster set, Starter Set, and Dice & Token Pack will be available wherever you buy HeroClix in early December.  There will also be an Organized Play kit with exclusive limited edition content, so make sure your local comic book or game store is participating.  As always, head to HeroClix.com and use the WizKids Info Network to find a venue near you.  Have fun, and good luck with your pulls.

Stay tuned to Figures.com this week as we’re going to share even more dials from Star Trek HeroClix Away Team The Original Series!

Visit the brand new and improved HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps, and stay tuned to Figures.com as we continue our reviews of new HeroClix!

-Review and photos by Scott Rubin

-Review samples courtesy of WizKids Games

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