about a year ago, my son asked me to buy him the board game Risk. the instructions were so daunting, we put it away. last spring while i was visiting friends, i played a game with them and got a little bit of an understanding. my project for winter break is for my son and i to finally figure this out.

so, we'll take this very incrementally.

we want to play 2-player global domination. the instructions say each of us gets 36 units, and each neutral country gets 24 units. okay, i got that.

then,

Deal out 9 Territory cards to each player and 6 to each neutral. Place one unit for that army into the territory. After every territory has been claimed, return the wild cards and Territory cards to one deck, shuffle it and set the deck face down near the gameboard.

this is where i'm confused. when you play with 3 or more you don't dole out territory cards so why are we doing it here? if i understand it correctly, with 3 or more players you can choose territories to occupy willy nilly. are they saying that in 2-player you have to take the territories that come up in the cards you are dealt?

Is there an electronic version that will bring you up to speed faster?

That is how I originally learned to become obsessed with backgammon - via a handheld about 20 years ago from Radio Shiit.

I spent many hours if not days playing risk in HS.

It is a great game. My guess about the reason you have to deal the cards in the two player game is so that you're forced to have a more random initial distribution of armies.

Don't give up on it too fast--you will enjoy playing the game immensely if you give it the chance. Of course, you'll also teach your son all about global domination and warfare strategy.

-Tofer

Actually, with 3 (or more) players you could also assign territories randomly via the mechanism of dealing out the cards as well. However, when you get 3 players it is easier to block any individual player from gaining too much power too quickly, and hence it's not necessary to randomize the distribution of territories.

The key to Risk is to build up a big stack of armies on a few key points while defending continental areas contained therein. I.e. If you own South America (4 territories) you can defend it from just two points.

I'm sure there's some decent strategy guides to risk out there that will give you a better understanding.

As an alternative to dealing cards if you find that confusing, you could simply rotate picking the territories for yourself, your son, and the neutral countries.

You: Madagascar
Son: Kamchatka
You (as neutral #1): Iceland
Son (as neutral #2): Ontario
You: South Africa
Son: Irkutsk

(I forget how many neutrals there are, and as you can see, and unlike the above example, the two of you will be placing your own and neutral units in the same continental areas to prevent the other from gaining too much power.)
g=



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2005 09:19PM by endymion.

I haven't played Risk in years. But I think dealing out territories theoretically keeps the game from going on forever when there's only 2 players.

I do remember that we never played that way, because we didn't like it. I actually think either way, dealt or not dealt, is okay as long as both players agree on which way to play it.

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What Tofer said. When I used to play with my brother too many years ago, I would occupy countries with cities that i liked or would want to live in, until my brother would sweep up out of some godforsaken place like Irkutsk and destroy me.

Here are some basic tips that sound good:

[boardgames.about.com]

okay, so it seems we do/can use the dealt cards to take territories.

that's a start. we'll try it tomorrow.

Of course, you'll also teach your son all about global domination and warfare strategy.

actually, that's the part he's looking forward to the most. pretty funny since we're quakers.


we have heard that this game is addictive which is why i bought it. it's just been a bit intimidating. i told him we'd work on this over the course of a few days.

stay tuned...

Sounds like maybe we should set us up a little online game of it... goodness this makes me hanker for some Risk!

I can remember the best game of Risk I ever played - a few players had some skill, I kept getting bad breaks; so I consolidated all my armies on Afghanistan of all places... figuring I could at least bargain my way to survival for a while in the game since everyone else was bickering over the lesser continents and trying to build up a power base in North America. I'd foray every once in a while to the Ukraine or Southern Europe or Saudi Arabia just to keep balance in the game... and to keep getting those cards. When I got my cards to cash in, I'd just sit them back on Afghanistan until nobody wanted to bother with me.
Then I swept the globe... it was glorious!

The key, though, was convincing everyone that my 7 armies on Afghanistan weren't WORTH the effort of eliminating in the earlier stages of the game when there were so many more crucial objectives to attain.

It's really all about Diplomacy. There's another game you and your son should check out, with a few friends.
g=

"What are we going to do tonite, Brain?"

"Same thing we do every nite, Pinky. Try to take over the world!!!"

Risk is fun, but I always preferred Axis & Allies

I second axis and allies...now that was a more indepth game.

The trick to Risk is to take over Australia first. You can't lose with that strategy. Of course, others may have the same idea, so be aware.

With your son, I'd talk about how great the continent of australia is first...then let him take over the continent. He'll gain extra armies from owning an entire continent. Also, always try to win at least 1 country each turn, as that will give you an extra Risk card...more risk cards = victory.

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.

I used to love all of those old Avalon Hill games.

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$tevie has it right. Risk is a multi player game (where you get to make informal alliances, then stab each other in the back). It truly sucks as a two player game.

Axis & Allies is for the dedicated; if you can read and understand any document ( with subsets) issued from the Pentagon, this is for you.

Agreed. 2-player Risk isn't a lot of fun.

well, for right now it's just the two of us so we'll make our own fun.

i figure once we learn it, we can teach it to others when his friends visit. that's not as easy as it sounds. i find that board games hold little interest for kids nowadays. my son is 12 and for his generation it seems that if a game's not electronic it's not worth the playing.

graylocks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well, for right now it's just the two of us so
> we'll make our own fun.
>
> i figure once we learn it, we can teach it to
> others when his friends visit. that's not as easy
> as it sounds. i find that board games hold little
> interest for kids nowadays. my son is 12 and for
> his generation it seems that if a game's not
> electronic it's not worth the playing.

That's a shame. I have such great memories of playing board games. Even of my brother, the "sore winner". :-D

The computerized versions of Risk are actually finishable within a reasonably short timeframe. If you get four determined players sitting around a Risk board, you can have a serious, multi-hour affair on your hands.

In college, we had a really old version of Risk designed for 9" black and white Macs. It was really easy to play, even if the computer's AI was beyond stupid. Two people and four computer drones usually resulted in a game that ended in less than half an hour, though all the normal back and forth dynamics of the board game still applied.

I'm also a major proponent of the Southern Hemisphere Strategy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2005 12:42PM by Silencio.

<steps up onto soapbox>
Ahem. Now, if you're wantin' to go a little beyond just rollin' dice and shufflin' little pieces to and fro, from Irktusk to Alaska/Western Canada, please give some consideration to the game Diplomacy.

The game is set during turn of the 20th century Europe. There are no dice - just your skills at negotiation, skulldrugery and strategy. You negotiate with the six other players, making agreements to work together against others, keep the peace, or what have you, and then write down specific moves for your units. They can either move from one territory to another ("attack"), support another unit ("defend"), stay put, or if they are a naval unit, they can also convoy armies. That's all. If two armies try to move to the same territory - they each move in with a power of one, neither has the upper hand, and they both bounce back to where they came from. If one of the players has another unit supporting its move - 2-1, and the territory is captured. The first player to gain control of over half of the cities on the map is the winner.

A fun, strategic game. Only problem is that it takes a while to play - and can be tricky to get seven people together long enough to finish a game. Thankfully - some smart people put together an online version - see [www.diplom.org] for more information.
</steps off soapbox>

[mac.the-underdogs.org]

Risk for the mac...classic app.

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.