Take It Or Leave It, Can Only Be Risk (Risk)

Member Name: shadowhawk

Product:	Risk
Date:	06/09/04 (301 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Enjoyable, Unexpected turns

Disadvantages: Bit Tedious, Luck

Risk
Board Game

Ever wanted to know what it was like to pitch war against war with other dictators in a battle of wits and pure luck? Know you have the chance.
(Big build up isn't it)

~ The Game ~
Risk is a board game where the board is a map of the world the size and shape depending on the version you have purchased. Version on retail sale now is wider then the older versions by about 33% across the width. But the map, boundaries and countries are all the same just a little more space to play on.

Its for 2 to 6 players but the 2 player game is tedious at best so really best to have 3 players or above.

At the start of the game the 42 country cards are dealt out to the players split up equally. I know 42 does not divide into 4 or 5 but in these cases one or two players will get an extra country to start off with its no big advantage can even prove a disadvantage.

Each player is given a mission card if playing the "mission game" (read later about game types.)

After gaining all the countries they can occupy they put one army on each country as you can desert or leave a country they must always have at least one army on them. They then get what is left of their 40 armies to space out across the board as they see accordingly this is normally done 1 army at a time by each player so there is no biased in going last or first at being able to see your opponents move. This however will take a while and it sometimes proves better to just place 2 down at a time increasing speed, 3 at a time gives too much advantage to the person going last.

After all pieces are on the board each player takes a turn at rolling the dice to see who will go first, second through to last.

First player has his goes it picks a country to attack from to attack to, and he can do this as much as they like before ending their go i
f they have taken over a country the get a card from the countries pile. (Read later about cards)

After this players turn the person going next gets reinforcements at the start of their go and every will at the start of their go their forward. Count your countries you get one new army for each country you own with a minimum of 3 armies. If you own a whole continent you will get extra reinforcements, the number accordingly to the difficulty of the continent to own with Australia and South America only giving you an extra 2 as they are easy pickings with low amount of countries and easy to defend with only one or two entry points, Asia will give you 7 as it is the biggest and is connected on 3 sides by many countries borders.

~ Battling ~
The battles take place by a country attacking another where their boarders touch. Attackers can use up to 3 dice and the defence 2, the attackers can only attack if they have 2 or more troops.

Attackers:
2 armies: 1 dice
3 armies: 2 dice
4+ armies: 3 dice.

Defenders:
1 army: 1 dice
2+ armies: 2 dice

When both set of dice you compare the top attacking dice to the defending ones, and the higher score wins if scores are level then the defending team because they only have 2 dice they win.

Examples:
If the Attackers roll 6, 4, 1
and the defenders roll 5, 4
Then you match up 6 to 5 and the defenders loose one
Then you match up 4 to 4 and the attackers' loose one

If the Attackers roll 5, 3, 2
and the defenders roll 3, 1
Then you match up 5 to 3 and the defenders loose one
Then you match up 3 to 1 and the defenders loose another one

If the Attackers roll 6,
and the defenders roll 5, 4
Then you match up 6 to 5 and the defenders loose one

~ Game Types ~
Mission Based: Eac
h have a mission card given as above it has instructions on it once you fulfil these instructions then you have won the game its first to fulfil wins.
This game is the more tactful one of the two but it can be over very quickly.

Domination: No mission cards the idea of the game is to wipe out and away your opponents until you own all the countries on the board.
Once a player is on top and owns a lot of the countries he will get more reinforcements granted but the other players will then tend to gang up as he owns more land and so more chance of having something that one of the other players' needs or wants.

~ Cards ~
The cards referred to previously that you get by taking over a new country has two features on it a country and either a man (infantry) a horse (cavalry) or a cannon (arsenal).
For trading in 3 men you get: 4 armies
3 horses: 6 armies
3 cannons: 8 armies
1 of each: 10 armies
Cards can only be traded in at the beginning of your go.
No player can hold more then 5 cards at anytime.

Cards can swing a game largely the can bring you back from the edge I know a lot of people whom have got heavily annoyed by the cards. But I personally think it adds an unexpected turn in the game that adds a lot more fun.

~ 2 Players Only ~
For 2 player missions there is no mission option the only way you can win is to wipe out your opponents. Due to the lack of players a neutral army is assigned. Divide the cards up still among the 3 of you. For each country the neutrals have place 2 men on each.
When each player gains new forces before their go the other player gets the turn to place half (summing down 5 is 2.5 so becomes 2) the amount of neutrals down.

~ Pieces ~
The game is made up of little figures, these represent your armies they come in 6 colours. They represent:
The Man (
infantry): 1 army
The Horse (Cavalry) 5 armies
The Cannon (Arsenal) 10 armies

~ Tactics ~
Going for your mission card head on will normally cause you to fail a few good tactics that I have found.
Australia holds the key to the game. It only consists of 4 parts and only has one entrance. It is each to take over and once you've finished taking it over just pile up the defence in the one entrance. It will get you 2 extra armies every turn.
Reserve yourself flying into every available battle may look welcoming but remember at the start of that persons go he will get more armies and spreading yourself way too thin it will be hard to recuperate.
Cards can make the game for you with high player games I find it best to hold your cards until you have one of each, if this doesn't happen by the time you get 5 get rid of 3 and wait again for it. As it gives you the highest number and cards are valuable.
All the rest is up to personally taste. I like to go for continents while my hun likes to take as many of my countries out to mare sure I don't get many reinforcements.

~ Problems ~
Australia is such a strong hold is may ruin the game.
The luck based side of it, you may get annoyed when you mass army is wiped out by a single army. Mathematically possible and it does happen.
Gets a bit repetitive not the game you can get out daily, more of a fortnightly game.
When someone luckily has a mission which due to their positioning on the board is very easy to do and complete.
Taking it too seriously may loose you friends

~ Overall ~
I enjoy the game and so do a few other people I know but some people really do not like it and really can not take to it. It really is a marmite thing; you love it or hate it. If you are interesting in tactual games that still involve the surp
rise of luck then you'll enjoy this game. Plus you can get it new for about £9.99 from Toys R Us. If you don't entertain a lot but you want to play it then you can buy it on PC or Playstation and play against the computer, and with your friends without all the setting up but it does not have the same atmosphere.
Have a Nice Day
© David Clark ~ Electronics
(DaivdJamesClark@hotmail.com)

Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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