Risk: The best strategy board game ever!

[Zain]

I absolutely love Risk. Any version, either the World map, Lord of the Rings, or the Star Wars: Clone Wars version!

I have strategies, but I want to make sure I have an audience first before I tell them and show them off.

-ZainDustin

[Csargo]

I love Risk

[Martok]

Risk rules. It's the great original strategy game (aside from chess, of course).

[Zain]

Risk rules. It's the great original strategy game (aside from chess, of course).

Yes, I love Chess as well.

-ZainDustin

[Justiciar]

I chose the "Gah!" option, since I've never acctually played it. My dad has a dusty old box somewhere around the house.. might be worth finding (and kidnapping the nearest person) for a try.

[rotorgun]

Great game. My favorite version has the Napoleonic figures. I used to haave a copy of the original with the little wooden squares and cresents, etc. I don't know what happened to it. This is probably the first strategy game I ever played and is still great fun to play FTF (face to face). We often played during our off time when I was on active duty. The games would last for hours!

[Dutch_guy]

Well I haven't played it in a while, last time was ....about 8 years ago.

However at the time I enjoyed it a lot, I liked it but the word awesome is a bit to big a word in my opinion

[doc_bean]

It's not bad, but it's a dice-fest. Luck matters far more than strategy. Have you played any 'more serious' war games ?

[Keba]

It's not bad, but it's a dice-fest. Luck matters far more than strategy. Have you played any 'more serious' war games ?

I agree ... no matter how hard you plan out your strategies (and there's not that much planning involved) luck still decides.

I mean, one battalion driving away ten is a bit much.

I turned away from Risk several years back ... switched to Axis&Allies and similar stuff ... luck decides a great deal still, but at least it is somewhat more ... how do I call it ... strategic.

[Taurus]

Only played it once for about 3 minutes, it was ok.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Only played it once for about 3 minutes, it was ok.

How could you play for just 3 minutes!? I'll assume you meant hours.

I guess you know how I voted.

[Zain]

Lol, sure do! I'm going to get the 40th Anniversary Edition for my birthday May 26th (school's out that day!)

-ZainDustin

[Beirut]

It's not bad, but it's a dice-fest. Luck matters far more than strategy.

Didn't Napolean say he would rather have generals who were lucky more than smart?

[GoreBag]

Risk is alright. I'd rather play Axis and Allies on any given day, or Twilight Imperium.

[Somebody Else]

Risk is good - but the luck element makes it a distinctly low effort game. Diplomacy on the other hand, is possibly one of the finest board games I know... Such a simple game, and yet... so so complicated. Plus, a good game for whiling away 6 hours or so and several bottles of wine...

[doc_bean]

Didn't Napolean say he would rather have generals who were lucky more than smart?

True, but it doesn't always make for an interesting game.

[Viking]

Luck matters far more than strategy. Have you played any 'more serious' war games ?

Still, when I was younger, my brother used to crush me everytime we played.
I haven`t played any 'more serious' war games, no.

I mean, one battalion driving away ten is a bit much.

That doesn`t happen more in Risk than in real life...

[English assassin]

Speaking of diplomacy, did anyone else ever play a game called Apocalypse? it was a games workshop game of nuclear war in Europe, but like Diplomacy it was really all about diplomacy. Unlike Diplomacy there was a bit more to combat, which was a sort of lairs dice kind of effort and very good (if largely abstract).

The game is similar to Risk, played on a map of Western Europe, and, unlike Risk, allowing simulation of nuclear weapons.

The unique feature of this outstanding game is the combat system. The attacking player chooses a number on a hidden die. He is allowed to choose any number up to the number of counters attacking. The defender has to try and choose the same number on his hidden die. Thus, the more attackers, the better the odds. The clever bit is that the defender only loses one man per unsuccessful defence, but if the defender guesses right, the attacker loses the number on the die. Once the last defender is eliminated, the attacker must move exactly the number-on-the-die of attackers into the now-empty area. It is usually advantageous to move the largest number in, so it is an incentive to choose a large number on the last attack - but the defender knows this so it's rather like going "all-in" on a bluff when playing poker.

And for every turn in which you gain territory in combat you get to build a nuclear missile - which cause mayhem just as you might expect. Nuclear missiles can be captured, and cause chain reactions if hit by an enemy's strike - so use-em or lose-em !

The natural course of play tends to handicap anyone doing well as players gang-up on the main threat. Do badly, and you may well get ignored for long enough to recover. Play can go on for a very long time, though without ever becoming tedious since every turn is a desperate battle with plenty of interest for all the players.

That's the best abstract wargame I ever played.

[GoreBag]

That sounds interesting, in a beer & pretzels kind of way.

[LeftEyeNine]

LoTr Risk owns all. We spend very fun time with a lot of snack supplies with it. The game has a lot of originality and instant gameplay shifter/balancer cards (adventure cards) which is what plain Risk lacks and hence being boring.

[GoreBag]

LoTr Risk owns all. We spend very fun time with a lot of snack supplies with it. The game has a lot of originality and instant gameplay shifter/balancer cards (adventure cards) which is what plain Risk lacks and hence being boring.

I agree that it was a more exciting game, but there are simply too few provinces.

[LeftEyeNine]

I agree that it was a more exciting game, but there are simply too few provinces.

After a long session of LoTR Risk, while returning home in the middle of the night from friend's house, we had come up with Medieval Total War Risk board game..I can't imagine how fun it would be.

[Zalmoxis]

I've only played computer versions of Risk, and thought it was pretty good.

[Crazed Rabbit]

I played a fun game o' risk a couple months ago.

I was playing against my roommate and his GF. He mainly took N and S America, I took mainly Europe, western Asia, Nothern Africa. The girl took a smattering of random countries.

I played my usual strategy of heavy borders while consolidating the center and conquering entire continents to draft large armies. I almost died once when my roomie attacked from NA towards Iceland, but my 2 armies managed to repel his 10 armies, which was very good because my interior had a bunch of one army countries. In fact, I had such stupendous luck throughout the game they accused me of having weighted dice, nevermind that we were using the same dice.

So, what other good boardgames are out there? Hopefull not too complicated or requiring too many people.

Crazed Rabbit

[Alexanderofmacedon]

From just hearing things about it and seeing it, I'd say it's the best strategy board game.

Then I'd tell you that I've never played it and you'd all maul me...

I really need to get on that...

[Craterus]

Yep. Love it.

[doc_bean]

After a long session of LoTR Risk, while returning home in the middle of the night from friend's house, we had come up with Medieval Total War Risk board game..I can't imagine how fun it would be.

There already is a boardgame with just Europe on it isn't there ? What other differences should there be between normal risk and Medieval: Total Risk ?

Has anyone played the 'future' version of risk ? 2020 AD or something, I've heard it was much better than normal risk.

[Sjakihata]

It's an extremely good board game, but it sure as hell doesnt beat chess.

[GoreBag]

Has anyone played the 'future' version of risk ? 2020 AD or something, I've heard it was much better than normal risk.

I've played it. There are fewer land provinces than in the latest 'standard' version of Risk, as many of the countries and states have formed separate regions of their own (Quebec, for example, is its own Republic). To make up for the lack of land space, there are also undersea colonies and provinces on the moon, but you have to invest time and resources to make capturing them available. There's a deck of event cards that can spring traps on your opponent or hold them at bay with diplomatic red tape, etc. However, the game ends after 6 turns, no matter what happens. Luckily, when I played, I managed to clinch the very last moon province and conquer the entirety of Earth and its orbit on turn 6, so maybe it's not such a drawback after all.

Rabbit, my friends and I play a lot of Twilight Imperium, an intragalactic strategy game involving trade, politics and warfare. I played a full (6-player) game with extended time rules in effect and came home last night at 6:30 am, after we'd decided to take a break from the game and finish it later - it's about half-finished.

[Zain]

Yay! I got the computer game version of Risk!!!

I'm so happy!

-ZainDustin