BMD: An Outline of Gameplay
(As always, a huge thanks to my readers. Your refined tastes and massive IQs have supported and inspired me.
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BMD is a complex game. Let’s look at an example session to understand the basic flow of gameplay and the pieces involved in that flow. We will inevitably gloss over small details here and there—our interest is in the big picture.
How do we, as players, understand what is happening? And then, how do we move the action forward?
Step 0: Gameworld Generation
The first necessary item is a gameworld. Before we can set about making Troop Leader (TL) characters and assembling their Forces, the referee needs to provide the physical landscape of gameplay.
Generate a Sector
The recommended size for a Star Sector is a 10×10 hex grid. On this grid, 15 star systems are placed randomly by rolling [1d10, 1d10] and interpreting the result as [column, row].
Each hex on this grid is a warp, an abstracted unit of distance. To illustrate usage, a ship with a Terran warp drive can travel one warp in 36 hours.
The map of the Sector tells us about populated star systems, “empty” space, anomalies, and uncharted regions. Each of these serves an important strategic purpose for considering the larger war.
Star systems hold Strategic Locations—planets, moons, and space stations that are important war territories. The “empty” space between star systems provides a time and opportunity cost to shift warfronts (among other things). Anomalies are unusual places with unique attributes. The uncharted regions offer high risk opportunities for a great variety of wonders and riches.
Generate Locations
Strategic Locations or Locations are the center of most gameplay.
Each star system contains 2-5 Locations, with most containing 3. That’s an expected 45 Locations that need to be generated.
The procedure to generate a fresh Location is simple and can be completed in a few minutes. It requires no mediation, making it a perfect task to distribute to players— especially Braunstein players who could be acting as governing rulers and such.
Each Location has an array of static characteristics we can use to understand what it’s like to deploy there. Some impactful attributes are:
Type (Planet, Moon, Station)
Influence (Galactic Council, Dhross, Vessamar, Terran, Yazimfa), i.e. Location owners
Atmosphere (Null, Basic, Breathable, Toxic, Hostile)
Biosphere (Desolate, Magmatic, Flora, Fauna, Megafauna)
PopType (same array as Influence) i.e. who actually populates the Location
Size, i.e. the physical dimension of the Location (abstracted by travel time)
SecLevel, the degree to which the Influence’s order is maintained
Locations are designed to have a lot of character and direction but are abstract enough to provide for open-ended creative interventions.
Determine Directives
All factions (except Terran neutrals) have Directives, an established set of rules and goals that will guide their behavior. In particular, the Prophet’s Directive is important for the players to understand. This Directive will determine where the Sol Crusaders command fleet is located and what their current priority target is.
Step 1: Create a Force
The conventional player character in BMD is the Troop Leader (TL). They mainly lead men into combat, though they can develop followers with other skills as well (an element we’ll overlook for now).
I) Create a Troop Leader
First, we roll character scores. We get the following for Strength, Agility, Toughness, Intellect, Grit, and Presence:
STR AGI TGH INT GRT PRS
3 3 4 3 4 3This is equivalent to the standard fixed array for Terrans, a common result even when rolling. On the scale that these scores exist, the differences between most Terran fighting-men are going to be indistinguishable.
Now we get to optionally replace one score with a 4. We choose Presence.
Any scores below 2 (or having Toughness under 3) disqualify a candidate for service with the Sol Crusaders. In later steps, a TL can be disqualified for having Presence 2 or less. Since this character already easily passes those requirements, we’ll give him a name: Roberts.
Background and Training
Background features are small elements that may, for example, tell us about why Roberts joined the Sol Crusaders or how he came to be a leader of men. These are simple one-liners that come with small gameplay adjustments.
I rolled Forced Into Leadership for Roberts—he was compelled to lead by circumstance, and those men rallied around a natural ability of his. When a unit he is leading makes a check involving his highest score (I chose Grit since he has ties), a 1 can be rerolled (in game terminology, this is called Reliable).
Next comes a Training feature. These are similar to Background features—small personal details which are only germane to Roberts himself—but these focus on military skills. I rolled Determined Shot, giving Roberts one of the most simple and straightforward Training benefits; he gains +1 Accuracy when using personal weapons.
These are interesting but small thematic elements to help us characterize Roberts’ history and create distinctions between him and other TLs.
Class
The next choice is the most important character feature—the leadership role that defines their connection to the Sol Crusaders. Roberts is a great candidate for any class, but we will choose Hierophant.
There are many benefits Roberts receives as a result of class choice.
Some benefits are specific to the Hierophant. Roberts gains a powerful Atlantean artifact that can protect his units from harm. He also has the ability to supernaturally convince, embolden, intimidate, or otherwise inspire awe in those around him.
Other class benefits are attributes shared among the classes; the most important are Honor Guard, Force Size, and Command Experience—traits which characterize Robert’s fighting Force of men.
II) Gather Troops
All characters begin their journey with the Sol Crusaders command fleet, wherever it happens to be positioned in the Sector. The first thing every TL needs is troops to lead!
Mustering
As part of character creation, every TL Musters at the command fleet. Mustering is the (often abstract) act of gathering additional followers. This is different from hiring mercs or convincing a group to go along with a plan—Mustering is specifically about finding loyal fighters who are interested in following our character.
First, Mustering guarantees an Honor Guard. At Infamy level 1, Roberts is guaranteed 10 Honor Guard. Because he’s a Hierophant, these are Purifiers—fierce zealots with Morale and Resolve bonuses.
His Force Size at Infamy 1 is 20, leaving 9 open slots. Our Mustering roll results in 4 additional followers. Repeated attempts are unlikely to be successful at this Infamy. Roberts now leads a total of 1 (himself) + 10 (Purifiers) + 4 = 15.
Traits
In BMD, followers can gain Traits to represent a skillset or talent they contribute. For every follower gained, we roll for a Trait.
A Purifier rolled Deadly (a unit they are part of adds 1 Damage at the end of an attack), and another follower rolled Mech Savvy (they can initiate repairs on a vehicle without a maintenance station).
Step 3: Find a Target
At Infamy level 1 we lack the resources, manpower, and intel necessary to carve out our own front in the war. But the Prophet’s Directive will always give us a viable way to contribute and, if we’re skillful about it, grow more powerful. In this case, the Prophet’s Directive is focused on the star system Thronekeep at [5,6] on the Sector map.
Following the Prophet’s Directive makes things easier for us. The intel, scouting, and additional support are abstracted by making a lot of our movement and exploration rolls change in our favor.
Step 4: Plan and Organize
Because we are following the Prophet’s Directive, the Sol Crusaders command fleet is there to act as our Forward Operating Base (FOB). It is our source of supplies, vehicles, specialists, and many other elements needed to prosecute a war. Having the command fleet as our FOB simplifies these things substantially.
Planning an Assault
The Thronekeep system has 2 Locations. We choose the planet Scimitar as our target. Let’s see a few of its attributes.
Influence: Yazimfa || PopType: Vessamar
Size: 6
SecLevel: 2 || Influence Centers: 3
Atmosphere: Basic || Biosphere: Flora || Gravity: Balanced
PopSize: Medium
This place is poorly secured and will make a great target for assault! It has a low Security Level and a large (6×6) Size, a recipe for poor coverage. We can see three Influence Centers (ICs) at SecLevel 2—all isolated from one another. When we get stronger, we won’t organize our operations like this!
The three ICs are: biolab [2,5], population hub [2,1], and engineering center [5,3]. They provide adjustments and bonuses for the owning faction (Yazimfa).
Our plan is to attack the engineering center. Following the purple route, we will land in [6,4] and proceed to the target. Our Force will Encounter the facility, attempting to cause critical damage, and then follow the orange path for eventual escape. At all times, we are staying far from other ICs. Their reinforcements, if they are sent, are less likely to reach us in time.
Terran infantry in normal gravity would take 24 hours to transit from one Zone to the next. With a troop transport, we cut that down to 4 hours. “Renting” a driver for a transport sled (think hovertank personnel carrier) will pay off.
Organization
Troops have to be equipped and placed into well-structured units to fight most effectively—this is the process of Organization. An in-depth explanation is better suited for another context, but we decide to Organize Roberts’ men into a single Standard Squad.
Terran squads are normally limited to 10 (9 + leader) during Organization, but we have a Force of 15. Roberts uses unallocated Command Experience to learn One God, One Squad, allowing him to overcome some of the coordination difficulties that limit the size of squads. This Hierophant-specific ability lets him organize squads of size 13 (if he is personally present) or 11 (for squads under his indirect command).
We still have 2 men unaccounted for, but here’s where planning pays off. A transport sled is provided for us if we are using the command fleet as FOB, but we still need to hire the crew. The typical crew for a transport sled is 3—a driver, a secondary, and a scout.
If we hire a driver, we have a great secondary to assign to the vehicle (he has Mech Savvy), and our last follower can scout (this requires no special abilities). Now we will have an armored troop transport protecting our whole Force (a transport sled can fit one squad + driver + secondary; the scout rides a scoutbike to spot a pathway for the sled).
It’s all coming together!
Starting Currency and Inventory
Roberts’ squad will be equipped with the basic “free” Earth Sectors Authority (ESA, disbanded former Terran government) weapons and armor—the more desirable stuff is in high demand and low supply.
He will buy some enhanced armor (Protection 3 instead of 2) for himself and spend much of the rest of his starting ISC on a supply of grenades (frags, incendiaries, and stunners). He will purchase some Light Armor-Piercing ammunition (this brings any Protection 3 armor down to 2) just in case.
Step 5: Execute
We land our Force in [6,4] without issue (our landing craft is provided by the FOB). Roberts orders Basic stance as the Force moves south.
First Encounter
We roll, seeking 4+ on D10, for Encounter Evasion and fail! Maybe Evasive stance, safer and slower, was the way to go.
We need to roll 3 traits for each Encounter: terrain, type, and Response. For terrain, we consult the table for the planet Scimitar’s biosphere (Flora), rolling “Plains.”
For Encounter type, we actually need to “build” the table from a procedure. This is one of the most important systems in the game, and we will focus on it in a future article. The table we get is:
8-10 Vessamar
6-7 Wild
1-5 YazimfaWith a result of 8, we are running into some kind of Vessamar activity. To understand precisely what we’re up against, we need to go to the Vessamar Faction Table. Because Vessamar are not the Influence, we ignore SecLevel and look to the “Civilian” column. A D10 gives us a 1, the weakest Force result—this is a small (2D12 = 9) gathering of noncombatants!
The Response roll (similar to a Reaction roll) yields 5 on 2D6. Ordinarily, this is a poor result (“Disadvantage”). However, a Force with a Hierophant present receives +1 on all Response rolls, nudging us into the “Balanced” result.
Leaving Encounter setup details aside, a Force of noncombatants poses no threat to Roberts’ Force. Because they did not manage any level of surprise from advantage, there is no chance they called for help (our transport sled has a localized signal jammer). These are fodder to our transport sled on the Plains.
We run them down, search their belongings, and prepare to head southwest to our target facility. That’s 9 alien heads already to our name—our infamy grows!
Second Encounter
We roll, seeking 4+ on D10, for Encounter Evasion and fail again! That’s two 3s in a row!
This Encounter happens while we’re passing through “Mountain/Hills” terrain.
8-10 Vessamar
6-7 Wild
1-5 YazimfaD10 on our Encounter table yields 5—Yazimfa. We look at the Yazimfa Faction Table in the SecLevel 2 column. A result of 2 means a relatively weak Force—two Teams of five combatants each. Most Yazimfa forces are composed of mercenaries from Galactic Council races; these are lizardmen mercs. Unfortunately, no Yazimfa are actually present (they have a general bounty from the Prophet of 1000 ISC per head).
The Response roll yields 10—Roberts has the advantage. When we have “Advantage” on Response, there are some options. Roberts will choose deployment advantages rather than initiative advantages—we want to surround this enemy Force so nothing can escape.
The sled deploys north of the enemy, and Roberts’ squad south—they are surrounded. Both sides declare actions, and thankfully we win initiative.
Round 1
We proceed with our units (the Standard Squad and the sled) in Command order. Roberts’ squad is in perfect firing position from deployment advantage. They manage to deal 8 (7+1 from Deadly) Damage.
The team of mercs they’re firing at all have Protection 2; the team leader allocates Damage and ends up with four mercs requiring Toughness rolls—three casualties result, necessitating multiple Morale checks. The remaining two lizardmen hold steady.
Roberts’ squad makes a successful Coordination check—his side continues to hold initiative. The secondary driver in the sled fires the mounted gun at the second team, managing a single hit dealing 5 Damage.
The second team’s leader allocates Damage, and two mercs require Toughness rolls. They both succeed, and the team continues on unscathed!
Initiative moves to the enemy side. The first team has been devastated, and the team leader fails to rally—they lose their activation. The second team fires at Roberts’ squad. Deployment advantages are coming into play here, because this squad is behind strong cover. They manage 5 Damage.
Roberts’ troops all have Protection 2. After allocation, two of his troops need to make Toughness tests. One fails—man down!
Round 2
We barely win initiative again. Roberts’ squad fires at the unscathed team, hoping for revenge. Rolling out of control, they deal a whopping 14 Damage.
The team leader has 5 Hit Points to work with. With Protection 2, it only takes 10 Damage to fully saturate those HP—thus, two of the five mercs are getting double-saturated and will need to pass two Toughness tests to survive. The end result is three Casualties!
At this point in the battle, 100% of the enemy forces are at or below their Half Strength (HS) value. Units at HS can only support other units (if they rally); they do not have enough firepower to be effective in combat. The enemy side routs!
Given the situation (surrounded from deployment advantage), they have no chance of escape!
Findings
That’s 10 more aliens—19 total. Roberts’ Force collects the loot (a few hundred ISC worth). We roll for intel after combat, win or lose, against Influence forces. We fail, but the Prophet’s Directive is with us! A reroll sees us succeed and we gain 1 intel for Scimitar. This is sure to come in handy soon.
We had a Casualty during battle. Since we have no special medical skills in our Force, there wasn’t much to do for him during combat. We check on him after the fighting stops and find he sustained a Minor Wound. He got very lucky, but he will be unable to fight with this wound.
Facility Challenge
We’ve arrived in the IC already. This shows the deficiency of having low SecLevel. In order to make an attack that could cause real damage, we will first have to pass the perimeter security. Each type of IC will bring different challenges in this respect.
The facility is in desert terrain.
We take an inventory of Roberts’ Force. No hackers, no stealth recon, no other specialists that could let us bypass perimeter security—our only real option is to watch for an opportunity and engage. We roll a D10 to see the perimeter strength… and get a 10! Disaster!
But we have 1 Scimitar intel, and we can use it to reroll—a 2, much better. This is a guarded checkpoint, sort of a modern gatehouse. It is protected by one team of lizardman mercs and a gun emplacement. We’ve seen that our force can deal with teams, but the gun emplacement is scary.
There are many plans we could attempt. Roberts decides to have the sled fake an approach from one side while his squad attempts to sneak closer from the other. In assault range, grenades will force the gunnery crew to abandon or die. This is not a fool-proof plan because we lack any expert stealth capability.
There is a Noise and Motion system (relating Size, movement, and stealth) in the game, but it is notionally targeted at sneaking passively rather than hijinks with distractions. A ruling is made that a Response roll will determine the degree of success of this plan.
The ruling is as follows:
2 Ambushed! (failure)
3-5 Disadvantage (failure)
6-8 Balanced (4 successes)
9-11 Advantage (2 successes)
12 Ambush! (0 successes)A result of 6 or better means our plan has a chance to succeed. We then need Roberts’ squad to successfully make a certain number of Agility checks to have it play out as imagined.
With it all laid out, we make the Response roll—a 10, “Advantage.” Our first Agility check fails—the gatehouse is aware of Roberts’ squad sneaking up, and the sled is far away!
Round 1
Both sides declare actions, and Roberts wins initiative. His squad is going to Move only, which will happen in a later phase. He passes a Coordination check.
The sled is well outside optimal range, but the gunner is still going to attempt to fire. He miraculously scores maximum hits, dealing out 10 Medium Armor-Piercing damage to the gun emplacement.
The emplacement normally has Protection 5, but Medium Armor-Piercing turns anything 5 or less into Protection 2. With only five durability, 10 Damage is enough to destroy the gun emplacement outright! The gunnery crew are Casualties—one unit down.
The team of lizardman mercs fires on Roberts’ squad. They are out of optimal range but manage 4 Damage. Roberts allocates 2 Damage to saturate a troop and then 2 Damage to himself—his Protection 3 armor is coming in useful here. The saturated troop passes his Toughness test; Roberts’ squad is unscathed.
The sled and Roberts’ squad both move closer.
Round 2
Both sides declare actions. The mercs take the initiative.
The lizardman team fires at Robert’s squad again, now within optimal range, causing 7 Damage.
Two men go down from failed Toughness tests. The squad Morale holds steady.
Initiative passes to Roberts. His squad opens fire, finally rolling only 5 Damage.
Lizardman team takes a Casualty from a failed Toughness test. Their Morale check fails!
Roberts makes the Coordination check, and resolution passes to the sled. The gunner opens up, unleashing 8 Damage on the lizardmen.
Every remaining lizardman merc is saturated—but only one additional Casualty results.
Round 3
Sides declare actions, and Roberts takes initiative.
His squad opens up on the mercs but only manages 3 Damage!
This saturates one merc, and he fails his Toughness test—another Casualty. The team is now at Half Strength. Since the whole Force is at or below HS, they instantly rout. The lizardmen are able to retreat deeper into the facility, beyond the gatehouse.
Findings
That’s 3 (gunnery crew) + 3 more aliens—25 total. After a perimeter breach, there isn’t a lot of time to stick around. The Force assembles in the safety of the transport sled before riding past the gatehouse.
We had two Casualties. On inspection, both sustained Serious Wounds. They are on the clock. With only basic medical intervention available, the squad rolls for emergency treatment—no significant effect on either. They will be forced to make death saves every four hours or die. Roberts’ squad is down to 10 from its original 13.
For those of you familiar with X-COM, this is why I don’t get attached to my soldiers.
Engineering Center
Into the breach! We roll to see what kind of Encounter we’ve got here. We roll a 4, revealing a Vehicle Bay—an Encounter where it is possible to steal or destroy a prototype vehicle of some sort. This time it’s a combat vehicle. Details aside, it is similar to our transport sled but it has two mounted guns—very dangerous.
Along with the vehicle itself, we roll to see what is on the grounds. There is no alert status on Scimitar yet—only the facility itself will be alerted because we breached the perimeter without stealth. Unfortunately, even with SecLevel only at 2, there is a Force of two squads (10 each) and one team (5) of lizardman mercs.
Without any fancy tricks up our sleeve (support weapons, psionics, explosives etc.), the odds are that one of these enemy units will take control of the prototype vehicle and shred our small force with ease. Roberts decides to simply observe (we roll for intel, gaining 1) and leave.
Perhaps anticlimactic, but survival is an important part of winning a war.
Step 6: Exfiltrate
We make our way out via our planned route. Roberts orders a Rapid stance advance to the southeast, cutting our time down to 2 hours instead of 4 at the risk of increased chance of Encounters.
We need 6+ on D10 with Rapid to evade Encounters, and we get a 6 exactly. Two hours pass, and we are in hex [6,2]. One more Rapid move south, and we’ll be in position for exfiltration.
We roll 8, dodging yet another Encounter! And that’s it—we’ve made it. Our two Serious Wounds casualties have to make death saves. Both passed. They will live until the lander arrives, and there will be more advanced medical intervention available there.
What’s Next?
Now that we’ve seen an example deployment play out, we have some context for other game elements.
A larger Force, combining the Forces of multiple TLs, can engage and effectively deal with more situations than a smaller one. In particular, having a wider access to specialized skillsets and combined armaments can make some engagements go from questionable to very lop-sided—it’s all about strategy and execution.
When new low-Infamy TLs join a campaign, they will—regardless of circumstances—have somewhere to contribute because of the benefits provided by the Prophet’s Directive and the FOB of the command fleet. As they gain successes on the front, they gain in notoriety, wealth, and experience; they can eventually set their sights on other fronts.
Players with more powerful TLs seeking to carve new warfronts have a big task on their hands. FOB presence is a strict requirement, and that needs lots of resources and manpower. More experienced TLs running their own warfronts will be constrained, with Mustering limitations being a key factor. Bringing in new blood, in the form of new TLs, is an excellent solution to fill in the personnel gap with reliable commanders rather than hirelings.
We haven’t seen the alien governance side of things; that will come eventually. Next up, though, is a detailed look at the Encounters system. We saw examples here, but the full workings behind Encounters is what gives each Location its identity and what distinguishes a dangerous high-security region from a trek through the wildlands.
That's a blast! Looking forward to buy it when it's out!