How To Play 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.