Badass Force: Édition VHS
Badass Force: Édition VHS Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
In Badass Force, the goal is to be the most badass. To do so, you must be the first to reach 16 points on the score track, the Badassometer.
For a shorter game, you may play to 12 points. For a longer one, play to 20, 30, or even 50 points, if you are still waiting for the pizza delivery guy. As soon as a player reaches the limit set at the start of the game, the game ends at the end of the active player's turn. The player who reached or exceeded the limit is declared the winner. If several players are in that case, the player highest on the Badassometer wins!
Each time a player is responsible for the loss of an opponent's character, they gain victory points and their score marker is adjusted immediately.
Components
- 1 score board
- 6 score markers
- 6 Game Mode tiles
- 24 Weapon cards (8 weapons, 3 copies of each)
- 56 Character cards (8 characters, 7 copies of each)
- 6 Play Aid cards
- 2 dice
- 6 charge markers
- 1 rulebook
Setup
Badass Force is played by 3 to 6 players.
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Select 7 different characters from those available and deal one copy of each to every player (so each player will have 7 cards). Then place one remaining copy of each selected character face up in the centre of the table (these cards serve to remind players of the characters' powers during the game). Return the remaining Character cards to the game box; they will not be used in this game.
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Each player takes a charge marker, a Game Mode tile placed face up on its Cool side, and places their score marker on space 0 of the Badassometer.
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Deal one Weapon card at random to each player, then place 3 of them in the centre of the table. Each player places their Weapon card face up in front of them and places their charge marker on the starting space of their weapon's charge bar (often 0). Form a face-down pile (Weapon draw pile) with the remaining cards.
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Each participant sets aside 1 card at random from their hand. The best approach is to have the player to your right draw this card at random from your hand. This card is called the "Loge". It is placed face down under your weapon.
Note: at any time during the game, you may look at your Loge, but it must remain face down under your weapon. It is not considered part of your graveyard.
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Each player selects 1 character from the 6 in their hand and places it face down in front of them: this is their active character, or, for convenience, their Badass!
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The first player to ask who starts will be designated first player. If nobody asks the question, the last person to have seen a Steven Seagal film or a film with a ninja is designated first player.
You're ready!
The rulebook shows an example setup for 4 players as a diagram on page 3; the diagram is not transcribed here.
Turn Structure
On your turn, you must do 2 things:
1. Increase the Charge of Your Weapon
Look at your Game Mode tile:
- If it is on the Cool side, you increase the charge by 1.
- If it is on the Vengeance side, you increase the charge by 2.
To do so, move your charge marker to the right along your Weapon card. If your weapon was already at maximum charge, the charge marker stays on its space.
2. Then Perform One of the Following Actions
Change Character or Weapon
This action is free (it does not cost any ammunition).
- If you change character, take back the character that was placed in front of you and choose a new one from those remaining in your hand. You may perfectly well put back the same one!
- If you change weapon, all remaining charges on it are lost. Discard your card (the discard is next to the Weapon card pile), choose one of the Weapon cards and place it face up in front of you with 0 charge on it. Immediately reveal a new Weapon card from the pile so that there are 3 Weapon cards in the centre of the table.
Use Your Weapon's Execution Ability
Your Weapon card has 1 space marked with an explosion. If your charge marker has reached or passed this space, you may use your weapon's execution ability. Then do what is indicated on the card.
Most often, this will let you eliminate an active character of an opponent and gain the corresponding victory points, but you will also have to change weapon and therefore take a new weapon with 0 charge on it.
Immediately reveal a new Weapon card from the pile so that there are 3 Weapon cards in the centre of the table.
Go to the Armoury
Roll the 2 armoury dice:
- For each green symbol: gain 1 charge.
- For each yellow symbol: all players, including you, gain 1 charge.
- For each red symbol: all players except you gain 1 charge.
- If both faces show a red symbol, not only do the other players gain 2 charges, but you also lose all of your own charges. Feet in the carpet, weapon jammed, an ill-timed slip... try to stay dignified.
Announce a Character and Use Its Power
When you use a power, announce which character is your active character placed in front of you, by saying "I am…". You will then apply the corresponding power, if all goes well.
However, nothing requires you to use the character that is actually in front of you. It is possible, and even advised, to bluff!
Once the name of the character has been announced, the other players have the chance to denounce it as a bluff or not.
- If nobody denounces a bluff, the character played is considered to be the one announced, and you apply its effects.
- If someone denounces a bluff, you must reveal your active character. If more than one player denounces the bluff, it is the first player clockwise from the active player who is involved in this attempt to denounce.
Option 1: You were not bluffing, the character announced is indeed the one in front of you. The player who denounced the bluff loses 1 character taken at random from their hand, and you gain 2 points on the Badassometer. You then play the power of your character normally.
Option 2: You were bluffing and were found out. You lose your active character, the player who denounced you gains 2 points on the Badassometer, and you therefore play no power this turn.
Note: A character sent to the graveyard makes points score, but has no other effects, unless stated on the card.
At any time in the game, if a player is required to show their character to the other players for any reason (and not just to a single player), they take this character back into their hand and change character for free by taking one of those available in their hand (they may put back the same one).
A player must always have an active character in front of them. If their character is killed by another player, or they lose it following a successfully denounced bluff, they immediately place a new character in front of them, face down, from their hand.
Scoring Points
Each time a player is directly responsible for the death of a character, they score points. This can be done through a weapon or a power, but also by denouncing or by resisting a denounced bluff. It is also possible by making another player's weapon explode by giving them ammunition. Be creative!
- The first character you kill during any player's turn is worth 2 points.
- Subsequent characters are worth 1 point each.
- If you targeted the player who is alone in the lead on the Badassometer, you also gain 1 extra point. Caution: in case of a tie, nobody is considered to be in the lead!
Back in the Game
As soon as a player has only one character left in total (counting the active character and those in their hand), they are no longer Cool and switch to Vengeance mode.
They flip their Game Mode tile to its Vengeance side, take all their cards back into their hand, including the one in the Loge. They then set aside one card at random from the Loge, bring a character back into play, and continue normally.
Once in Vengeance mode, a player gains 2 charges per turn instead of only one, and may now use the power in the red-framed box marked with a symbol.
If a player is again required to lose all of their characters while already in Vengeance mode, proceed in the same way. There is no particular effect other than the shame of being a living target for the others.
From the moment there is at least 1 player in Vengeance mode, the other players in Cool mode gain 1 point on the Badassometer at the start of their turn.
Clarifications
- In case of a contradiction between a character's power and the rules, the character's power prevails.
- All characters lost or killed are placed in the player's graveyard, face up next to them.
- Characters in the graveyard are visible to the other players, who have the right to come and look at your dead.
- If the Weapon pile is exhausted, shuffle its discard pile to rebuild it.
End of the Game
If a player reaches 16 points on the Badassometer, the game ends at the end of the active player's turn.
The player who reached or exceeded the limit set is declared the winner. If several players are in that case, the player highest on the Badassometer wins!
If the 2 players are not separated by points, then the player with the most cards in hand or ammunition on their weapon wins. If there is still a tie, play on, and a new game must be played to break the tie!
Note: Use the other side of the score marker when a player exceeds 16 points.
Translator's note on the tie-break: the printed text reads "If the 2 players are not separated by points", which refers to "the 2 players" although the rule applies to any tied players; it is transcribed as printed.
Mixing Badass Force Boxes
The cast of Badass Force is not limited to the heroes in your box. Expansions will gradually bring other characters from several sub-genres of action cinema.
To use them, it is very simple: you only need 7 different characters in a game!
Try however to keep a defensive character, an assassin, and a character that gains ammunition in your selection (follow the class icons shown on the cards). Weapons are also compatible; do not hesitate to mix them between expansions. However, so that they all have a chance to appear, once the cards are shuffled, take only 24 of them.