So, are there any other dopers who enjoy this game. The board version, not the computer one. Whats your stragedy for winning? I’ll try to start in Africa, since its pretty easy to defend, but very easy to expand from.
I like the game, but ever since I discovered Diplomacy, Risk just pales in comparison.
I love Risk - I persuaded my family to buy me a new copy for Christmas, and we spent many happy hours over the holiday with me getting beaten soundly by people who’ve never played before. Don’t have a positive strategy as such, depends on the mission. I hate getting stuck in Australia though, so I populate that whole country really sparsely.
It was strange though, I always remembered a game of Risk taking us the same time as one of Monopoly - anything up to a couple of days all told. Since I started playing again, games seem to last only 3 or 4 hours - I don’t know if it’s the company I’m keeping or the circumstances these days, but I’m quite disappointed.
Charley, did you get the new version, with the metal pieces? Its pretty cool. And Australia rocks at the begining of a big game. Those extra armies really come in handy.
I like risk. But it pales in comparison to Stratego. Now that’s a game!
Anyhoo, the strategy that’s always worked for me is to first conquer Australia and then get South America. The faster, the better.
From there you can easily move around and have access to all the other superpowers. On top of that, it’s easy as hell to protect. I think it’s the easiest of all the possibilities.
Then I move real slow and take North America and Africa, usually only taking a single piece of land and then stopping.
That way you can build up cards and armies.
Once I’ve built up enough armies and have my ‘main’ land completely fortified, I go for broke and break the competitors back, digging holes in their armor.
Then I take surgically strike the Asian continent while penetrating the European arena on my way to complete superiority, while North America dangles in the wind and that waste of trash greenland teeters on oblivian and move…
Oopps. Sorry 'bout that. Getting a little carried away here.
Ugh! Risk! I hate that game!
I remember once in college… some guy came by my room and asked if I wanted to play Risk. I had heard of the game, but never actually played it. So I said “I’m game.”
Six hours later :eek: we’re still playing. [Friends]Oh My God![/Friends] Never again.
:eek:
Give me a good game of chess any time…
I can only play Risk aganst the computer since I don’t have anyone to play with. I usually start out by getting Australia, then Africa, then Europe. NA and aisa are the last to go. I try to leave an army in Aisa though to keep anyone else from getting it. though the computer is a pretty easy beat since it does leave single armies alone until it wants the whole place.
Risk? Bah!
There’s nothing like getting five guys together with two cases of beer, enough money for a days’ worth of order-in food, and a set of “Axis and Allies” with the expanded “world at war” rules.
Risk? Bah!
There’s nothing like getting five guys together with two cases of beer, enough money for a days’ worth of order-in food, and a set of “Axis and Allies” with the expanded “world wat war” rules.
My strategy depends on how many folk are playing. My 11 year old son is pretty much of a Risk fanatic, so I play quite a few head-to-head games. At first I gave him advantages - more armies, he picked more countries to start. Now I just give him 5 more countries, and we are pretty even.
In a 2 person game, I don’t worry about Austrailia, but instead try to get S.Am. or Afr. first. In a larger game, I try to get Aus., and harrass the other players to keep them from getting continents of their own. Generally like to have some presence in Alaska and Kamchatka.
I also agree it is better to stop after modest gains, than to be aggressive and spread yourself too thin.
Do you play that you increase the number of armies for each set of cards you turn in?
When in PolSci grad school, many of my cohorts played all kinds of battle games, but I never got into them.
When I’m starting to get beaten, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom. As I stand, I tip over the table, disrupting the board. Then I say, “Oops! Well, let’s call it a draw.” :D:D:D
I agree with Dinsdale that it depends on the number of people playing. With a 6-person game, I definitely like Australia. With 2 or 3 people, I’d go with Africa or South America. North America is always tempting since it is easily defended for such a large continent. Of course, it depends on whether we’re playing choose your countries one at a time or dealing out the cards.
And I always prefer to play increasing the number of armies for card sets.
I haven’t played in a while. Now I have to see if I can find my Risk computer game since I don’t have anyone to play with.
Anyone ever try World Empire? It’s a computer game similar to Risk but with more detail.
We used to play compulsively in high school. At first I believed the maxim :“She who controls Australia controls the world.” Later I noticed that, because of the incredible diffiulty in defending Asia, this not necessarily the best plan.
So, I would always go for Africa, followed by S. America. Since S. America only has one border that isn’t Africa, it’s very easy to defend. Africa, I believe has three borders, 2 in Europe and one in Asia. Make sure to establish a Non-Aggression Pact with the owner (or likely owner) of N. America (this avoids a wasteful buildup of armies in central America or Northern Mexico or whatever that property is called) Now you are set to conquer Europe.
Have you ever noticed how Risk makes Iceland out to have a strategic importance totally out of proportion to it’s actual importance in world events? I always found that funny.
Speaking of Risk, I have a question that’s been bothering me. My friend Matt, a handsome man of German descent, tells me the story of going to visit his family in Munich a few years ago and pulling out the game Risk.
He said it was fun but that parents in Germany are wary of letting their children play such a game, undesirious to perpetuate the stereotype that Germans are hellbent on world domination.
He said this without an ounce of joking sarcasm, and actually reiterated that these parents urged their children to “share the nations” rather than accumulate them for themselves.
This strikes me as EXQUISITELY THOUGHT OUT BULLSHIT, but he swears it’s true. Any German dopers want to help me out?
jarbaby
I agree with you. My favorite Stratego strategy was to send my captains on suicide missions, essentially taking out as many opposing pieces as they could. The thinking being that they could knock out a lot of deadwood, but weren’t high ranking enough to be dearly missed.
I also agree with Tzel that Diplomacy is a superior game.
Having said that, Risk IS a lot of fun. I agree with the others that South America, Africa, and particularly Australia are fairly easy to conquer and to keep. Asia is WAY too difficult–N. America has only a few points of entry and is a much better choice.
Are there any online Risk or Risk-like games? If so, then some of us could have a nice friendly war.
No bullshit. Sounds like a typical reaction. Many Germans really don’t like that kind of thing, and not necessarily because they don’t want to be seen as being “helbent on world domination”, but because they truly - and understandably - feel that war is nothing that should be played at. And I must admit feeling the same way to an extent (maybe I’ve been here too long – or maybe it’s not such a bad thing to feel that way.) Anyway, I believe that the German edition of RISK even has the players trying to achieve a limited goal, rather than world domination (although I’ve never played it here, so I’m not sure.)
Having said all that, Diplomacy is a much superior game, if only I could find 6 other people here to play it with. Oh well.
They may still be looking for players in this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=51978
I used to play Risk fairly often with a bunch of friends from college (it’s tapered off in recent years now that we’re scattered across three or four continents). The games were not hugely long, but they were long enough… The best part, though, were the things that would be said during the games. My favorite Risk quote of all time came from one such game: “What’s Brazil without the Ukraine?”
One of us also had the double-sided Risk set that included Castle Risk, which we played a few times. Castle Risk, for those who don’t know, is a sort of Medieval-Europe-Only version of Risk. Smaller, shorter game, but also a little odder. One of the rules, you see, is that you can move from any coastal area (province? nation? I can’t remember now) to any other coastal area, no matter how far away, in one move, which prompted this comment from one of the players: “We have castles, and swords, and crossbows – and hydrofoils.”
– Bob
three words:
Warhammer Fantasy Battle