Tips & Strategies (25)

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Tips & Strategies (25)

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6
Gamer - Level 6
Intermediate Reviewer
Amateur Advisor
Strategist
11 of 11 gamers found this helpful
“Limited Resources”

This can be implemented at any point, though typically doesn’t become an issue until the end game. Put a stop to card turn ins for units. You can do it in a “In 5 turns…” style, or right then, though it is usually more even to delay it a bit.

What this does is prevent a player from taking over huge amounts of territory on a turn from turning in cards and receiving huge reinforcement bonuses, only to lose it all as the opposing player does the same, to be continued until someone makes a foolish mistake.

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3
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
Sophomore
Professional Grader
20 of 21 gamers found this helpful
“Feign Innocence...”

When you would like to begin a planned conflict with another player attacking them directly can give you the appearance of being an “aggressor” to the others at the table. Players may band together to defeat you simply based on this impression of your gameplay style. Instead, try to leave a “soft spot” in your defensive lines by gradually building up other territories instead. The key here is GRADUALLY. Then (hopefully) the opponent you wish to engage with will attack what they perceive to be a misstep on your part. You will then draw sympathy from the other players at the table, and possible treaties so you may “defend yourself” from the invading force. When you then crush your enemy without mercy, the other players will view this as a justified action against an aggressive opponent. This has been a standard practice in real life diplomacy for centuries.

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9
Intermediate Reviewer
Chief Inspector
Strategist
El Dorado
23 of 25 gamers found this helpful
“Make sure you get a Territory Card! ”

This may seem obvious but cannot be overstated enough:

Make you sure you conquer at least 1 territory on your turn, every turn. You will need those Territory Cards in order to exchange sets for larger army reinforcements.

I’ve seen many a player attack until they’d left themselves too weak to make much of an impact early in the game, so conserve some of your Battalions to ensure you always take a territory!

Those Territory Cards are invaluable.

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5
Novice Reviewer
Novice Advisor
Knight
Baron / Baroness
23 of 25 gamers found this helpful
“Random Country Setup”

Perhaps the most popular variation or house rule (that I haven’t seen on here already) is to distribute countries randomly in the beginning instead of letting players choose in order.

Simple deal out the country cards and each player must place an army on their dealt countries. Then distribute the remaining armies as you normally would, in order.

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6
Brazil
I play red
The Gold Heart
6 of 6 gamers found this helpful
“Diplomatic Agreements”

When I play with my friends, we usually allow people to discuss diplomatic agreements with mutual benefits during the game.

Basically, if two players agree to have a Peace Act between their countries, they can’t attack each other in a specific border without warning their intentions one round before. They may also choose a country to serve as a “Card h**ker”, which they will always leave unprotected so they can attack each other just to guarantee a Territory Card every turn.

It gives the game a new fun way of interaction.

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5
Novice Reviewer
Novice Advisor
Knight
Baron / Baroness
19 of 21 gamers found this helpful
“Army Reserves”

This is a variation that can allow for some explosive action. Basically, players can put 1 army each turn into a reserve pool instead of playing it on the board.

At any time on their turn when they could normally play armies, they may take armies from their reserve to distribute as well.

An additional variation for this is that a player may take an army from their reserve pool (but just 1) to place on a country that is being attacked.

There are a lot of variations on this variation, so to speak – feel free to experiment in your own group!

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1
I'm a Player!
18 of 20 gamers found this helpful
“Assassin Risk”

One thing that kind of bursts my bubble with this game is that it can drag on for quite a while, and is doubly true when there are only two players left in the game. One variant I learned of not too long ago is called assassin risk, where in the participating colors are shuffled in a bag and each person secretly draws the piece. The color of that piece is that player’s target, and once that target is eliminated that player wins the game even if the elimination was carried out by the player herself. Hilarity ensues as people for makeshift alliances and suspicion and tension arises among their peers, loved ones, significant others, etc 🙂

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6
Gamer - Level 6
Veteran Grader
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
I'm a Gamin' Fiend!
28 of 32 gamers found this helpful
“Starting Territories”

Always try to start off in either Australia or South America at the beginning of the game. Fortify your borders as much as possible and start gaining your bonus for owning an entire continent early in the game.

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4
The Gold Heart
11 of 12 gamers found this helpful
“Zombie Risk”

Shown to me a long time go by a group of friends. Have one friend be designated as a zombie commander. He sits out 5 turns, play among all other players normal.

Then, the outbreak hits.

Drawing 5 random country cards, these are now ‘Zombie armies.’ When a player is attacking or defending against a zombie, for every human army lost, the zombie army gains one army.

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7
Intermediate Reviewer
Professional Grader
Tomahawk
“Slow and steady rules the world”

When playing Risk there are many strategies that one may use to achieve world domination, the following works more times than not for me.
1.After placing armies (either by choice or randomly) make a plan on what areas you want to concentrate on. Do you have several countries linked together on one continent? Are the other players focusing on Australia but leaving North America wide open? What countries are you willing to sacrifice so you can strengthen other countries.
2.Do what you can to win a card. If that means placing your 3 armies in an area you were willing to give up because your chances of taking a country where your main force is is nigh impossible, do it! The card will be worth it when you turn in for extra armies.
3.Choose carefully when you turn in your set of cards. You must turn in when you have five cards, this gives you more cards to possibly occupy giving your 2 extra armies plus if others have cashed in before you, your cards will be worth more.
4.Don’t overestimate psychological warfare. If you can get someone else to do your dirty work, all the better. For instance if convincing someone to attack another to break up them owning a continent you can then use your precious armies on a different goal. They will then both be weakening their armies not yours.
5.Your troop move is critical. You only get one so make sure you use it to your advantage. Make sure that the continent you just struggled to take over remains yours.
6.If possible take out the player with lots of cards. If you succeed you receive the cards and if you have six you have to cash in and can keep on rolling.

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9
Intermediate Reviewer
Chief Inspector
Strategist
El Dorado
10 of 11 gamers found this helpful
“Green Swarm of Death!”

Well, it could be any colour but – the aim of this strategy is quite simple: start off the game with all your battalions grouped together in a single territory, and then just use that bulk to sweep your way across the board!

It may not be very original and of course you will most likely lose many of your other initial territories due to enemy attacks, but it IS fun!

Try it. Just put all your starting battalions in one of your initial territories and then branch out from there, taking several enemy territories each turn. You may end up completing your mission or you may just enjoy the thrill of wiping some of the other players out!

Let the steamroller commence… the Green Swarm of Death cometh!

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4
Gamer - Level 3
Amateur Advisor
Noble
19 of 22 gamers found this helpful
“Just as much social as strategy”

In Risk, you have just as much to gain by convincing other players to attack each other instead of you as you do through your own combat victories. When they fight each other, they both take casualties. You can’t just let them run the board, but if you can maintain the unassuming underdog status you might be able to rush in after most of the fighting is done and take the game in the later wars.

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2
Gamer - Level 2
“Territory Limit”

Everyone knows that once people start getting eliminated, the fun factor drops significantly. I’ve heard of some people using a time limit but that leaves some players unfulfilled. My personal favorite mitigation of this is to agree on a territory limit. Once a player reaches that amount of territories they are declared the victor. This can also allow for consolation victories or place holders.

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5
Knight-errant
Gamer - Level 5
Count / Countess
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
18 of 22 gamers found this helpful
“Nations Unite!”

Bonus armies are gained by owning full continents. Focus your energies on gaining a complete continent first. Those like Australia or South America only have few fronts and are easier to defend, so start there… and for goodness sake, NEVER GET IN A LAND WAR IN ASIA!

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5
Novice Reviewer
Novice Advisor
Knight
Baron / Baroness
16 of 20 gamers found this helpful
“No Card Variation”

This variation increases the time of the game significantly but leads to more diplomacy and less of a chance for 1 player to go crazy and wipe out several players at once with a huge card turn in.

The house rule is basically the what the Title says: don’t use cards, no turning in cards for additional armies.

This rule is not for every group, but it is definitely worth trying once if you play Risk with any frequency.

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5
Crab Clan - Legend of the Five Rings
6 of 7 gamers found this helpful
“The People You Play With”

The biggest tip I’ve learned about Risk is to know the people you’re playing with. This game goes long and not everyone enjoys marathoning an eight hour Risk game. If you love Risk and want to have fun playing it, make sure the people you play with can handle the long haul and won’t be quitting after two hours. Making sure the other players will have fun is how making sure you’ll have fun.
Otherwise, find something shorter.

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4
Gamer - Level 4
Knight
The Bronze Heart
6 of 7 gamers found this helpful
“Back to the Motherland”

We tried playing this game more than 10 people divided up into teams, where each team was dressed up and represented a land. The russians For example were dressed up in russian-looking military uniforms and were simulating a ridiculous russian accent and shouted loud for more vodka all the time. It made it fun for everyone, because we were acting out our “personalities”. Even the losing teams were having a good time.

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6
I play purple
Petroglyph
Baron / Baroness
9 of 11 gamers found this helpful
“Don't be Morpheus”

Morpheus said “There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” That may be true living in the Matrix, but in Risk you’ll never win unless you Know. The. Path.

When you turn in for that Big Cha-ching, the Great Horde, the Sweeping Arm of Justice that will take over the entire WORLD, you can very easily be defeated by a single army if you do not know your path.

Before you roll a single die or place a single army down – LOOK at the board. Figure out the exact path you will need to take. I cannot count the number of failed attempts at winning that were all because the player turning in cards went from Kamchatka to Mongolia instead of Japan or South Africa to East Africa instead of Madagascar and left one lone survivor to laugh with impunity as they turned in for THEIR enormous set and the board went from (almost) all green to all purple in a flash.

Know that path. Sear it into your memory. Writing it down would be cheating IMO but do your best to keep it in your head while you do the rolls.

Morpheus never won a Risk game in his life.

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2
5 of 6 gamers found this helpful
“It's all about (north) America”

I have a great win record against a variety of opponents, and in RISK (or any variant, like 2210, using a similar board) I’ve found America is the key. There are only three access routes into North America, and it gives a great continental bonus.

At the start, lay down army strength near Central America, as most initial trouble will come from down south once you secure the continent. I work upwards from Argentina and out/down from central North America. Starting with some armies in Africa allows you to backbite anyone trying to attack Brazil from Africa. If you take America early (or better yet, both North and South America) you’ll almost certainly take the game, because Asia and Europe are usually taken later in the game (if ever), Africa is almost impossible to hold, and Australia (easy target that it is) just doesn’t give enough bonus armies. Let someone else take Australia, and after holding America for two turns you’ll roll right over them…

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5
Knight-errant
Gamer - Level 5
Count / Countess
BoardGaming.com Beta 1.0 Tester
16 of 23 gamers found this helpful
“Trading in Cards”

the instructions usually have incremental increase of bonus armies everytime you turn in a set of cards. But a more balanced interesting game uses the “fixed” bonus armies for turning in a set of cards. The bonus is based on the type of cards you turn in:
4 for a set of artillery
6 for a set of infantry
8 for a set of cavalry
10 for a set containing 1 of each

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