Risk is great fun, but has some flaws, This opinion will give you an alternative play, which makes it far more fun: by removing the dice! This version is conceived by a Dutchman called Martin Medema, and now it's brought to the other side of the pond, courtesy of DooYoo.

Intro
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Risk is a wonderful boardgame, in which two or more players fight for world domination. For those that do not know the game, I will briefly describe it. If you know the game already, skip to the Flaws part. (since almost all people have played Risk at least once, I?ll see you all there?) I know that part of the description is double, but I find this necessary to make the story totally clear. Hope you don't mind.

Standard Risk
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Risk is played on a board, on which the whole world is depicted. The world is divided in continents, continents are divided in countries. At the start of the game, each player gets an equal number of countries, which are seeded over the board, a set number of armies, and an assignment. If players have a lot of time or there are only two players, one can also play for the entire world. The assignment can vary from conquer this many countries to occupy these continents. At the start, every player places hit armies across his countries, whereby any country must have at lease one and at most four armies. (This limit only applies to the start-up).

Next, the starting-player is chosen by throwing the dice. Whoever has the highest score, starts. A turn can be one of two things, either you attack, or you pass. When you pass, you get a number of extra armies, based on the number of countries you own. These can be placed at random. (of course only on the countries you already control). When you attack, you challenge your rival, and duel it out by throwing the dice. As an attacker, you can choose how many armies you want to attack with, with a maximum of 3. The defender can also decide how many armies he wants to
defend with, but with a maximum of two, and also no more than the attacking force. (so if the attacker uses one army, the defender is only to defend with one too.) For each of the clashing armies, a die is thrown. As expected, the army with the highest die wins. A more easy approach is always to throw the same number of dice, and the highest value wins, the losing army is removed. There is a little more to it, but let's leave it to that.

If, at the end of a turn you have won at least one country, you get to draw a card. When you acquire three cards of the same rank (cavalry, soldier or cannon), they are interchangeable for armies, which you can issue at the start of your turn.

Another bonus is when you conquer an entire continent, you get a bonus of x armies per turn. The value of a continent depends on size and ability to defend of that continent. F.i. Australia is small and easily defended, but is worth only two armies. Asia, on the other hand, is the largest continent on the map, and is very difficult to defend. Therefore, it is worth seven armies each round you hold it.

Flaws
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Hi, and welcome back th those that skipped the previous... Ok, we proceed.
All playing factors combine to a fine game, but not without its flaws. For one, the game is quite reliant on luck. In theory, you can overtake an overwhelming army with only a couple of armies yourself, if the dice roll in your favour. On the other hand, and overwhelming army might fail to conquer a totally underdefended country, just through bad luck, thereby wrecking your strategy.

Another flaw is an unbalance in the continents and countries. Australia is not worth much, but is almost impossible to penetrate, once a player owns it and has his defences up. Also, the possibilities to attack Russia from Northern America are very limited.

A third one, is that the game doesn't take into account, that in real life isolated countries are worth less
than clusters of countries.

Fanate-risk
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This new version of Risk, called after the boardgames-group ?De Fanaat? in the Netherlands. It takes away most of the flaws and mishaps of Risk, and generally makes the game far more intriguing, focussing more on strategy, negotiating, backstabbing and trickery. This is what is changed:

First, throw away the dice. You won't need them any more.

The startup is unchanged. Still, all countries are divided between the players, and armies are spread about those countries, with a minimum of one and a maximum of four. Also, still assignments are handed out, or one plays for the world. At the start of a turn, the player gets a armies for bonus-lands. Bonus-lands are those lands, that are completely surrounded by the players' own countries. These armies must be placed at the start of the turn. He can then either pass or attack.

Pass
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If a player passes, he gets extra armies for each three countries he owns, with a minimum of three. He can place them wherever he wants, but is NOT allowed to move any armies. A player can of course only pass at the start of his turn. As soon as he attacks one country, with at least one army, the turn counts as an 'attack'.

Attack
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From one or more countries, the player moves armies to an enemy country. Armies are exchanged 1-to-1. No country may be without armies at all times. After an attack, extra armies can be moved from the attacking country to the defeated country. At the end of a turn, the attacking player is allowed to move every army across one border to an adjacent (own) country, as long as at least one army remains in each country. If you conquered at least one country, you get a 'country-card'.

Country-cards
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This is the crux to great tactical play. Country-cards can be used as instant-armies, at ANY time in the game. You don't need three cards th
at fit, each card is worth 4 (for a cannon), 6 (soldier) or 8 (cavalry) armies. The cards can be used as extra defence, during an attack, or during negotiations. I won't get into this in more detail, the fun is in finding out what the possibilities are of this change. However, it is good to notice, that offensive play is now far more lucrative than 'digging in and collect armies', since each time you conquer at least one country, you get a card worth of at least four armies!

Alternate boundaries
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To break the power of the continent Australia, a new boundary between eastern-australia and Argentina is proposed. Further, boundaries between Western-Australia and Madagascar and boundary New-Guinea - Middle America can be added. These changes all make Risk a far more balanced game.

Alternate rules
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As always, rules are there to be bent. If you think a new rule should be implemented to enhance your play, do it. This is what makes playing these games great, and leads to new ways of playing, as described above. Try it out, and have great fun. If you have any questions about the rules, think up an answer yourself, or just ask me. You know where to find me.