Button Men: Soldiers

Soldiers was the original Button Men set (originally just called Button Men).

  • Release Date: April 1999

  • Designer: James Ernest

  • Artist: Brian Snoddy

  • Characters: initially 10, later 12 (added Kublai and Hannah)

  • Rares: Changeling

  • New Mechanics: Swing Dice

  • Origins Awards: Best Abstract Board Game and Best Graphic Presentation of a Board Game of 1999

Links: (Page in progress, Coming Soon)

  • Original (Included) Rulebook PDF

  • Button Men: Soldiers at DriveThruCards

Character List:

  • Avis: 4 4 10 12 X

  • Hammer: 6 12 20 20 X

  • Bauer: 8 10 12 20 X

  • Stark: 4 6 8 X X

  • Clare: 6 8 8 20 X

  • Kith: 6 8 12 12 X

  • Karl: 4 6 6 20 X

  • Iago: 20 20 20 X

  • Niles: 6 10 10 12 X

  • Shore: 4 4 20 20 X

  • Hannah: 8 10 10 10 X (Added in 2nd Edition)

  • Kublai: 4 8 12 20 X (Added in 2nd Edition)

  • Changeling X X X X X (Rare)

History:

Button Men: Soldiers was the first Button Men set. The first printing included 10 characters, and came with a 2-fold rules sheet. The first edition buttons can be distinguished by the slightly larger size and their "Badge-a-Minit" backs. The second edition buttons had a slightly smaller, unmarked back, and included a tri-fold rules sheet, as well as two new characters: Hannah and Kublai, bringing the total to twelve.

Soldiers also had one rare character,"Changeling." Rare buttons were printed on the extra space on rulebook press sheets, and hand-assembled in small quantities. Rares from Cheapass Games are always easy to distinguish by their "Badge-a-Minit" back. Rares are not normally offered for sale, and are sometimes overpowered or otherwise unusual characters.

Though essentially fair, Changeling was dubbed illegal in tournaments simply because she was hard to find, and might be perceived as unfair because of her five Swing Dice. One misconception about Changeling is that her Swing Dice can vary independently. In fact, the rules dictate that they must all be the same, so there are only five permutations of Changeling.

Button Men: Soldiers was created to be a dice combat system in which every size of die was relatively equivalent. It wasn't a perfect system. Although the differences are slight, certain characters from Soldiers have proven stronger against each other and the rest of the system. For heavy hitters, Bauer and Hammer are the hands-down favorites. Hardcore players are big fans of Shore and Stark. New Cheapass expansions are typically playtested against the trio of Bauer, Shore, and Stark.

Soldiers introduced the template for all subsequent Button Men character biographies, which are essentially a mockery of traditional character biographies. Each one is described by several random and incongruous elements of "personality," concluding with the universal common denominator that they like to Beat People Up.

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