The Best Strategic Game Board Game: Risk

By Cheryll Tefera


A board game is a game that involves counters or pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games can be based on pure strategy, chance (e.g. rolling dice), or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal that a player aims to achieve. Early board games represented a battle between two armies, and most modern board games are still based on defeating opposing players in terms of counters, winning position, or accrual of points (often expressed as in-game currency). 'Risk' is a complex board game produced by Hasbro that involves both luck and skill. The goal is simple: take over the world. Despite this simple goal, the game is very complicated and dynamic. Players attempt to take over the world by eliminating all other players. 'Risk' can be an immensely enjoyable pastime. Children and adults can spend hours in the glorious splendor of their imaginary empires. An aspect of 'Risk' that has made it so popular over the years is its realism. It mimics actual geopolitical maneuverings in the diplomatic world.

The time required to learn to play or master a game varies greatly from game to game. Learning time does not necessarily correlate with the number or complexity of rules; some games having profound strategies (e.g. chess or Go) possess relatively simple rule sets. The key to winning is fairly simple and goes along the lines of a famous ungrammatical and pithy quote from the Civil War General, Nathan Bedford Forrest, "Get the first with the most" (with emphasis on most). The strategies in Risk rely on fundamental ideas around human relations and the national use of force.

The game board is a map of the world divided into six continents comprised of 42 territories. Players may only move between adjacent territories, with the exception of few territories over water. Additionally, Alaska connects to Kamchatka, which is the easternmost territory in Asia. The official rule book gives three basic strategy: Players should control entire continents to get the bonus reinforcement armies. Secondly, players should watch their borders for buildups of armies that could imply an upcoming attack. Finally, players should build up armies on their own borders for better defense.

When deciding on a strategy at the beginning of the game, settle on a continent to take. Your army placements should augment your goal. Keep your armies and your countries as grouped together as possible. Armies that are far from your front lines are not particularly useful for attack or defense. You should therefore try to move them towards your border territories, where they can enter into battles. A realistic strategy to do well in this game is to occupy several adjacent territories in one or two continents. Then, after all 42 territories have been covered, you can place your additional armies in your border territories to defend your holdings and attack opponents.

It is also important to know how to deal with the game board, as path efficiency is a key to success. It makes no sense to leave troops in the center of an area controlled by a player, and choosing the quickest path from end to end of a continent is of the utmost importance.

There are two ways to determine the initial territories: Have each player roll a die (Standard Rules). The player that rolled the highest value will choose an open territory and place one soldier in it. Moving clock-wise, each player will select an open territory until all territories are occupied. Once players have claimed all the 42 territories on the board, players place their remaining armies onto territories they already claim in any order they choose.

The game starts by appropriating the domains among the players. There are two regular approaches to do this. The main system is to roll dice to focus the request of play. When the request of play is resolved, the first player picks a domain to claim and spots a troop on the asserted region, trailed by the player to one side and continuing clockwise until the sum total of what regions have been guaranteed. The second system is to take the 42 region cards and partition them equally among the players. Players then place one troop on every region demonstrated on the cards managed to them. No matter how many armies you receive at the start of your turn, deploy them carefully-either to prepare for an attack or to defend against one. It is good military strategy to move your armies to the front, heavily fortifying territories that border enemy territories.

Once all territories have been claimed, players proceed to place the remainder of their initial troop allotments one by one in a clockwise fashion. It's good to note that: the term 'Turtling' was popularized in Real-time Strategy games where a player creates a defensive perimeter or a Turtle Shell" around the base of operations. Solutions to counteract this strategy using cooperation have been proposed by Ehsan Honary. The initial troop allotment per player is dependent on the number of players participating in the game and can be found in the game's rule book. Taking risk is the element that gives 'Risk' its name. If you decide to take over the world in one turn, and fail, you will usually be so scattered that it would be easy for the next player to eliminate you.

For a game with such simple rules, Risk can be an intricate, even beautiful game. It is fun, intense and requires skills that will also benefit the player in the real world. Keeping the advice set down here in mind, the best way to learn the game is, like everything else, through experience. 'Risk' boats of numerous exciting versions all over the web. Every version is unique and demands aptitude and luck to be at your forte!




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