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Help My Game - RISK
calebb writes "RISK is a classic board game that's been around since 1959. This week, Science News posted an article titled 'Improving the Odds in RISK.' They mention that '...the chances of winning a battle are considerably more favorable for the attacker than was originally suspected.' Amazing! Risk is over 40 years old & nobody ever calculated the odds of winning a 5 vs. 5 battle!"
I thought the WPOR told Professor Falken that "the only way to win was not to play". Now we are learning that the way to win is to attack, attack, attack.
I can confirm this. I recall one game with a friend years ago when we were both young teenagers. Early in the game we found that we were rather balanced as far as the map went. Since my friend had a triple set of armies, we simply built up our armies until we had used up all of the spare pieces. Both sides were perfectly balanced, but I attacked first.
It took a lot of dice rolling, but I wiped out his entire force in one turn suffering only 1/3 losses or thereabouts.
I was interested, so I did a calculation of the odds. Yeah, they're stacked for the attacker.
I liked risk, but it was to much of the same. Castle risk tried to fix this, but IMHO Risk 2210 AD takes the cake.
I don't know how many of you have played this game, its a refreshing approach to risk.
New Features include:
-New pieces, mech-like units.
-5 new units (generals) that add attacking and defense bonuses (namely they roll 8-sided)
-No more changing in cards for the 'next big bonus'. Extra units awarded for how many territories you control, plus complete continent bonuses. Very well balanced, the bonus scales, so it remains very fair.
-Territories are chosen round robin style at the beginning of the game, so you wont get shafted with bad luck.
-Sea colonies and moon colonies to expand into, these are vaccant at game start.
-general cards (strategy cards that enchance generals' powers).
-Random territories nuked at the beginning of the game (significantly alters the map every game, new choke points, battle strategies, etc).
-Energy is gained through combat and territories that allows you to hire generals, purchase general cards, and more.
-Turn order is bid for each round, with a 5 round limit (faster games). Energy is used for bidding, so strategies exist around the saving of energy for turn order (imaging going last one round and then first the next!)
-more, more more, and much more!
No, I don't work for Hasbro(current game owner?), but I do really like this game. There are options for playing classic risk too. I have found a few copies at WoTC, but have heard rumors that they are out of print know, don't know. Expect a 30+ price tag, there are a lot of pieces.
Doesn't anyone play Diplomacy? It's much more interesting. No dice involved, no randomness at all.
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