In April, Fantasy Flight Games announced Daybreak, the third exciting expansion for Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. Designed to evoke the epic climax of the hit Syfy Channel series, Daybreak allows players to undertake desperate missions to find the location of Earth, struggle under the constant threat of mutiny, and bargain with Cylon Leaders driven by motives of their own.

Today, exclusively in the pages of Game Trade Magazine, we’ll take a closer look at the new mechanics Daybreak brings to your games of Battlestar Galactica. Specifically, we’ll look at the all-new “Mutineer” mechanic, which allows Galactica’s crew members to gain a range of powerful new abilities...for a price.

Inspired by the events of the fourth season of the television series, the Mutineer mechanic represents the fleet’s unraveling command structure in the face of overwhelming tension and desperation. [Spoiler Warning: In the series, Junior Lieutenant Felix Gaeta and Vice President Tom Zarek conspire to overthrow Admiral William Adama and President Laura Roslin. Genuinely believing that they are acting in the best interests of democracy against power-hungry leaders, Gaeta and Zarek carry out a brief takeover, jeopardizing humanity’s chances in the process.]

This attempted coup is just one manifestation of the fleet’s larger problems: rapidly degenerating morale, coupled with a paranoid crew’s questionable loyalties. Accordingly, the Mutineer mechanic involves a change to the game’s Loyalty Deck; in short, it optionally replaces the base game’s “Sympathizer” rules.

When constructing the Loyalty Deck at the start of any game that uses the Daybreak expansion, the players include the new “You Are the Mutineer” Loyalty Card in lieu of the “You Are a Sympathizer” Loyalty Card. And since the Mutineer immediately draws an additional Loyalty Card (after his Mutineer Loyalty Card), he can still be either a human or an unrevealed Cylon! This means that compounding their challenges, the human team will have to grapple with yet another dilemma: there’s a mutineer in their midst...but is his rebellion motivated by a genuine concern for humanity’s well-being, or is that just a convenient cover for his underhanded Cylon agenda?

~ Mutiny Abounds ~

To further explain the role that the Mutineer plays in Daybreak, we must first discuss a new card type: Mutiny Cards. Mutiny Cards represent the various insubordinate activities that a disgruntled crew can engage in throughout the fleet, and any human or unrevealed Cylon can acquire and play them. After all, even well-meaning and loyal crew members, when dragged to the edge of total despair, can disregard the chain of command.

Each Mutiny Card presents some sort of risk/reward proposition, available as an action. “Feed the People,” for example, increases the food dial by one, but it does so at a cost to the Jump Preparation track. “Ruined Reputation” allows a player to increase his hand of Skill Cards, but its beneficiary may find himself in the brig for his trouble. And for more militant revolutionaries, “Armed Resistance” sends the Admiral to sickbay, placing the player who used it in the driver’s seat for one brief, but potentially significant, decision.

While Mutiny Cards may seem desirable, a canny human player would do well to steer clear of them. In addition to the penalties described in their text effects, the mere possession of too many Mutiny Cards means a trip to the brig! Indeed, as soon as a player draws his second Mutiny Card, he’s placed under arrest and sent to cool off in a cell. Any player holding a Mutiny Card is therefore in the uncomfortable position of looking for his first chance to play and discard it, worried that his second card (and his immediate arrest) is right around the corner.

~ Leading the Insurrection ~

This brings us back to the player who has drawn the “You Are the Mutineer” Loyalty Card. The player in this precarious role must balance the above considerations even more delicately; he is able to safely hold two Mutiny Cards at any given time (he’s sent to the brig upon drawing his third), but he also draws them at a far less forgiving rate; on his turn, if his Crisis Card has a “prepare for jump” icon on it, the Mutineer must immediately draw another Mutiny Card! With so many Mutiny Cards coming into his hand, the Mutineer must manage them carefully if he hopes to retain his freedom.

Ultimately, the Mutineer role thematically represents a character who is constantly scheming to usurp or undermine the authority of the President and Admiral, whether that character is secretly a Cylon, or simply a rebellious human. After all, the stakes have never been higher, and there’s no room for failures of leadership. When you can’t trust your commanding officers, isn’t mutiny the only option?

Find out when the Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak Expansion releases early in the third quarter of 2013!