Bad Company

Bad Company is a brilliant game about robbing banks, getting away from the police and making as much dosh as possible. I really like it and you can read my review here. If you want to learn the game I also have you covered so read on to find out how to play.

Set Up

Set up doesn’t take too long but make sure there is enough room for each player (especially at the higher player counts) as they need to have their criminals lined up in front of them.

Place the city board and score board so all players can see it. Shuffle the upgrade cards and make a stack face down in the middle of the table and then do the same with the loot cards. Shuffle the heist cards and stack them face up. Now draw 4 heist cards and also place them face up in a row in front of the stack.

Place the coins, markers and necklaces in the middle of the table. Finally for general set up place the police car at the beginning of the road on the same number as there are players.

For each player you need to place their scoring marker on the 0 space, place their recruiter on the starting space in the city, place their car on the blue space on the road. Give them a left and right board at random so they have all numbers represented (2 – 12). Finally give them $2 and 3 heists cards from the top of the deck from which they pick 2 and discard 1.

Let’s Get This Robbing Started

The starting player is called the boss and they will roll all 5 dice. The boss pairs up the gold dice so they match their gang members. The boss activates both pairs of dice and all other players only activate 1 pair. You take the benefits of activating the dice (collecting money, moving your car, collecting markers) and then all players allocate markers, upgrade their gang, complete heists, collect loot, grab necklaces and finally move the police car and grab new heists if needed.

As long as the game hasn’t ended then the dice are passed to the next player clockwise and they become the boss. You continue like this until the end of the game when the player with the most points wins. Let me now explain each step in a little more detail.

Rolling Dice & Allocating

All 5 dice are always rolled and the boss can choose to re-roll any of them for $1. Once the boss is satisfied with the results of the roll they pair up the gold dice. Results will be from 2 to 12 which matches your gang members. You can make it so that both pairs are for the same gang member.

Activating Gang Members (Play Is Simultaneous)

For each gang member activated you take all of the bonuses on their card(s). Initially each gang member will only give 1 reward but as you upgrade them you will receive numerous rewards. The rewards could be $2 to be spent on recruiting new gang members, steering wheel moves your car one space forward, markers (mask, torch, lock, gloves) which you place on Heists or Tasks (below gang members 2 & 12).

If the gang member chosen to activate is the 2 you look at all gang members in your crew and choose either locks, gloves or masks and get as many markers as one of these. So if you have 3 masks get 3 markers for masks. If number 12 is activated move your car two spaces up the road.

Recruiting (Play Is Simultaneous)

Once you have $3 you can spend it and jump your little recruiter to the next space on the city map. You take 3 new gang members from the stack, choose 1 and discard the other 2. This new gang member is placed on top of but slightly above the same number as is on the card. Place it so you can still see the benefit of the card underneath. From now on when that number is activated you get both bonuses.

It becomes more and more expensive to recruit new gang members but if you manage to get to the end you can start to pay money just to get points.

Moving Your Car (Play Is Simultaneous)

For each steering wheel you move your car one space further down the road (towards the getaway zone – red). At certain points you will go past money or loot, take these rewards once you pass them. If you take the short cuts you do not get any bonuses that are skipped but it is a good way to keep ahead of the police.

Completing Tasks & Heists (Play Is Simultaneous)

Underneath the number 2 & 12 gang members are tasks. When you complete these tasks they give you a specific bonus. Under the 2 is 2 masks, when you complete this you can put 1 marker anywhere. Also under the 2 are 2 gloves, when you complete this gain $2. Under the 12 are 2 locks, complete this to move your car 1 space. Also there are 2 torches, complete this to take 1 loot card. When you complete any tasks put the markers used back in the middle of the table.

When you finish collecting all required markers for a heist you return the used markers to the middle of the table, take any immediate bonus from completing the heist (if there is one) and then turn over the card and place it below your gang. Some of the heists will now provide a permanent bonus such as benefits for certain numbers rolled on the police car, or a discount for recruiting. Luckily the iconography is good with this game but if you need some help there is a handy reference sheet in the box.

Loot Cards

The loot cards obtained by moving the car, completing some heists or the torch task can provide either points, money, markers or the ability to use both pairs of numbers on another players go, or to use the ability of an adjacent gang member of a dice roll. If using one with an ability it is discarded after use, otherwise keep the points cards face down.

End Of Turn, Necklaces & Clean Up

When all players have finished taking their actions you will compare the completed heists beneath each players gang members. The player with most of each of the 4 symbols (gold bars, paintings, jewels and bags of cash) will take the corresponding necklace and place it on a gang member. They immediately receive $1 for taking the necklace and will receive another $1 each time that gang member is activated. In the event of a tie for a symbol you look at the number in the top left corner of the heists cards and the winner is the highest.

You now move the police car, then in turn order players will take a new heist card (s) to replace any that have been completed, always making sure there are 5 options for taking.

End Game Trigger & Scoring

You then check to see if the end of the game has been triggered which is either a player having 6 completed heists, or a players car / police car going into the red zone of the road.

If the end game hasn’t been triggered the next player clockwise becomes the boss and they roll the dice.

If the end game has been triggered one final turn is taken but it is a bit different to normal turns. The player to the left of the current boss becomes the boss and rolls the golden dice only (the police car doesn’t move any more). Each player can now use the dice to make 2 pairs and activate both sets. Play continues until all players have finished completing heists (no new heists are taken though).

Points are then awarded for completed heists, any special scoring on heists, points on loot cards, the points on the top upgraded gang members (not the ones below), 2 points per necklace, 1 point per 2 markers left over on heists and tasks, 3 points are deducted if the police car ended ahead of you. Coins break ties between players on equal points.

Conclusion

I hope this has helped you to learn the rules and how Bad Company plays. Obviously I would always recommend people use the official rule book to learn the rules in depth but this blog should give you a really good flavour of how the game flows.

I really enjoy the game and if you want to find me on twitter to discuss how brilliant Bad Company is please do @boardgamehappy.

Bad Company is a board game for 2-4 players that sits with games that have similar mechanics to Catan. Except the theme is a lot more fun. In Bad Company you are playing as a gang (for example, the Sneaky Ninjas, a very threatening gang name) with eleven members doing their best to complete heists, get loot, upgrade their members and evade the police.

Preparing For A Heist

There are a few different components to get together before starting a game. You have to put your gang board together with 2 and 12 being special characters that can help you exchange certain resources for others or drive faster. You get a little bit of money to start and you put your little car on the track.

The police car is always set a few spaces behind you and your rivals. Nothing bad actually happens to you if the police catch up to you (no actual arrests), but they are there to remove the bonuses on the track (which includes loot, money and points). If you cross certain points you get a bonus, which encourages you to move forward in the game. If you get there after the police, no loot for you. There are little shortcuts on the track if you want to get ahead too. Once one player reaches the end of the track, it’s the last turn and everyone only has one more opportunity to try and complete their heists.

You start the game with two heist cards, some are easier to complete than others but they also have variable rewards. The card will indicate the reward and once you’ve completed it, you flip the card over. You’re able to complete heists through your gang members. They all have different resources attached to them and if you activate a certain number, you get the resource (for example a lock, a torch or a glove) and you can choose which heist (or the fixer) to place the resource on.

On your turn you roll the four gold dice and the black police die and based on what you roll you can choose which two gang members you want to activate. Once you’ve announced what numbers you’re activating the other players can choose which one gang member they’ll activate from the numbers you’ve chosen. It’s a nice way to keep everyone engaged when it’s not your turn Catan-style. The police die determines how many spaces the police car will move (and sometimes it doesn’t move).

Wheelin’ And Stealin’

There are different things you can prioritise in Bad Company, whether it’s the upgrade track or completing heists or getting ahead of the police. All are satisfying in different ways.

Admittedly some of the loot rewards are a bit confusing, some let you do things like store extra resources but it can be difficult to know how to make that work when you’re starting the game. Often you’d just prefer the loot that gives you extra points or money. Kind of like 7 Wonders where you begin to understand the more complicated wonder powers, as you become more familiar with Bar Company, you can use those loot powers better.

The recruitment track is one of the best parts of the game, kind of like building a city in Catan but so much better. As you go up the recruitment track you get three upgrade cards and you get to upgrade one of your gang members, giving them insane legs and some extra resources if you choose to activate them. Like if you want satisfying, this is it. You pay your way up the recruitment track with the upgrades getting slightly more expensive as you go up. It’s definitely worth it. Though there is a limit to how many times you can upgrade as when you get to the end of the track, you pay for points not upgrades.

Also also gotta love the necklaces (or croissants). It’s kind of like Catan’s longest road on steroids as you’re constantly comparing your amount of loot with other players, and there are four different necklaces for art, diamonds, gold bars and money bags.

Crime Never Sleeps

I’m a big fan of Bad Company as it builds on a lot of good board game mechanics and gives it a quirky gloss of paint. Completing heists is fun, upgrading your gang is fun and wearing the necklaces is fun. While luck always plays a role in dice games, you normally can find ways to optimise your gang members and make a bad roll work. You also have the option to pay money to re-roll dice too if a bad roll is something really off putting for you.

I did a lot of Catan comparisons in this review but it takes a lot of really fun things about Catan and puts lots of good twists on them. It’s also nice when you’re teaching the game and can use Catan as a reference point. Definitely recommend Bad Company if you want an interesting take on this formula!