Welcome to the Risk Page! Risk is Parker Brothers' World Conquest Game! This page is dedicated to some of the strategies and tips for playing the game, as well as a version you can play on your Mac!*
For Risk players who use Mac OS X, you can download Dustin Sak's "Lux"! This version has many of the basic game features, plus newer configurations. Download Lux for Mac or PC from SillySoft.
Sony Play Station users and Mac OS 9 players can get a classic CD-ROM version of Risk.
For Macintosh OS 9 users, here is an exciting version that you can download.
It's features are very close to the actual board game.Download Risk for Macintosh!
Introduction & Strategy Hints
In the classic "World Domination Risk" game of
military, you are battling to conquer the
world. To win, you must launch daring attacks,
defend yourself on all fronts, and sweep
across vast continents with boldness and
cunning. But remember, the dangers, as well as
the rewards, are high. Just when the world is
within your grasp, your opponent might strike
and take it all away!
STRATEGY.
in all RISK games, keep these 3 strategy hints
in mind as you play, add armies and fortify:
1. Conquer whole continents: you will earn
more armies that way.
(this doesn't apply in Secret Mission RISK.)
2. Watch your enemies: if they are building up
forces on adjacent territories or continents,
they may be planning to attack you.
3. Fortify borders adjacent to enemy
territories for better defense if a neighbor
decides to attack you.
Equipment
1 gameboard
5 dice: 2 white and 3 red
Deck of 56 risk cards
set of 6 different color armies
The game board.
The game board is a map of 6 continents
divided into 42 territories. The numbers along
the bottom (southern) edge of the board
indicate the number of armies you will recieve
for a set of cards you trade in.
The Armies.
There are 6 complete sets of armies, each
containing 3 denominations of army pieces:
Infantry (worth one)
Calvary (worth 5 infantry)
Artillary (worth ten infantry or 2 calvary)
Start the game by placing Infantry pieces;
later in the game you may trade in 5 infantry
for 1 calvary, or 2 calvary (or 1 calvary and
5 infantry) for 1 artillary.
The 56 Risk Cards:
42 marked with a territory and a picture of
infantry, calvary, or artillary
2 "wild cards marked with all three pictures,
but no territory
12 secret mission cards used only with secret
mission risk
Setup, Including Initial Army Placement
INITIAL ARMY PLACEMENT
consists of these steps:
Select a color and depending on the number of
players, count out the "armies" you'll need to
start the game
if 3 are playing, each player gets 35 infantry
if 4 are playing, each player gets 30 infantry
if 5 are playing, each player gets 25 infantry
if 6 are playing, each player gets 20 infantry
Roll one die. Whoever rolls the highest
number, takes one infantry piece from his or
her pile and places it onto a territory on the
board, thus claiming that territory.
3. Starting to the left of the first player,
everyone in turn places one army onto any
unoccupied territory. Continue until all 42
territories have been claimed.
4. After all 42 territories are claimed, each
player in turn places one additional army onto
any territory he or she already occupies.
Continue this way until everyone has run out
of armies. There is no limit to the number of
armies you may place onto a single territory.
To Complete Game SETUP:
5. shuffle the pack of RISK cards (remove the
mission cards) and place it, face down, by the
side of the board. This pack forms the draw
pile.
6. whoever placed the first army takes the
first turn.
Playing
On your turn, try to capture territories by
defeating your oppenents' armies. But be
careful: winning battles will depend on
careful planning, quick decisions and bold
moves. Yoou'll have to place your forces
wisely, attack at just the right time and
fortify your defenses against all enemies.
NOTE: at any time during the game, you may
trade in infantry pieces for the equivelent in
clavary if you need to, or wish to.
Each of your turns consists of three steps, in
this order:
AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH TURN, CALCULATE HOW
MANY NEW ARMIES YOU'LL ADD TO YOUR TERRITORIES
BASED ON ...
1. getting and placing new armies
2. Attacking, if you choose to, by rolling the
dice;
3. Fortifying your position
RISK Cards
Earning Cards.
at the end of any turn in which you have
captured at least one territory, you will earn
ONE (and only one) RISK card. You are trying to
collect sets of 3 cards in any of the following
combinations:
3 cards of same design (3 infantry, Calvary of
Artillary)
1 of each 3 designs
Any 2 plus a "wild card"
If you have collected a set of 3 RISK cards,
you may turn them in at the beginning of your
next turn, or you may wait. But if you have 5
or 6 cards at the beginning of your turn you
MUST turn in at least one set, and May trade in
a second set if you have one.
Trading in Cards for Armies
at the beginning of subsequent turns, you may
trade in matched sets of cards and take
additional armies based on the total number of
sets anyone has traded in so far. For quick
reference, keep trade-in cards face down under
the bottom edge of the game board to mark the
values (in armies) on the next trade.
First set traded in -- 4 armies
second set traded in -- 6 armies
third set traded in -- 8 armies
fourth set traded in -- 10 armies
Fifth set traded in -- 12 armies
sixth set traded in -- 15 armies
seventh set traded in -- 20 armies
etc...etc...
Occupied territories.
if any of the 3 cards you trade in shows
picture of a territory you occupy, you recieve
2 extra armies. You must place both those
armies onto that paticular territory.
NOTE: on a single turn, you may recieve no more
than 2 extra armies above and beyond those you
recieve for the matched sets of cards you trade
in.
HINTS: No matter how many armies you recieve at
the start of your turn, deploy them
carefully-either to prepare for an attack or to
defend against one. It's good military strategy
to move your armies to the front, heavily
fortifying territories that border enemy
territories.
Getting And Placing New Armies
At the beginning of each turn, calculate how
many new armies you'll add to the territories
based on...
1. the number of TERRITORIES you occupy;
2. the value of the CONTINENTS you control
3. The value of the MATCHED sets of RISK cards
you trade in;
4. The specific TERRITORY PICTURED on a
traded-in set
Territories
at the beginning of every turn (including your
first), count the number of territories you
currently occupy, then divide the total by 3
(ignore any fraction). The answer is the
number if armies you recieve. Place the new
armies on any territory you already occupy.
example
11 territories= 3 armies
14 territories= 4 armies
17 territories= 5 armies
You will always recieve at LEAST 3 ARMIES on a
turn, even if you occupy fewer than 9
territories.
Continents
In addition at the beginning of your turn you
will recieve armies for each continent you
control. (to control a continent you must
occupy all it's territories at the start of
your turn.) To find the exact number of armies
you'll recieve for each continent, look at
this list:
North America : 5 armies, South America : 2 armies, Europe : 5 armies
Australia : 2 armies, Asia : 7 armies, Africa : 3 armies
Attacking
After placing your armies at the beginning of
your turn, decide if you wish to attack at
this time. The object of an attack is to
capture a territory by defeating all the
opposing armies already on it. The battle is
fought by a roll of the dice. Study the board
for a moment. Do you want to attack?
If you choose not to attack, pass the dice to
the player on your left. You may still fortify
your position, if you wish (see fortifying).
If you choose to attack you must follow these
rules:
You may only attack a territory that's
adjacent (touching) to one of your own, or
connected to it by a dashed line.
Examples:
Greenland may attack the Northwest Territory,
Ontario, Quebec and Iceland. North Africa may
attack Egypt, Western Europe and Brazil. At
the western and eastern edges of the board,
Alaska is considered adjacent to, and may
attack, Kamchatka
You Must always have at least two armies in
the territory you're attacking from.
You may continue attacking one territory until
you have eliminated all armies on it, or you
may shift your attack from one territory to
another, attacking each as often as you like
and attacking as many territories as you like
during one turn.
To Attack.
First announce both the territory you're
attacking and the one you're attacking from.
Then roll the dice against the opponent who
occupies the opposing territory.
Before rolling, you and your opponent must
announce the number of dice you intend to
roll, and you both must roll at the same time.
You, the attacker will roll 1, 2 or 3 red
dice: you must have at least one more army in
your territory than the number of dice you
roll. Hint: The more dice you roll, the
greater your odds of winning. Yet the more
dice you roll, the more armies you may lose,
or be required to move into a caprured
territory.
The defender will roll either 1 or 2 white
dice: To roll 2 dice, he of she must have at
least 2 armies on the territory under attack.
Hint: The more dice the defender rolls, the
greater his or her odds of winning-but the
more armies he or she may lose.
Deciding Who Wins A Battle
To decide a battle
compare the highest die each of you rolled. If
yours (the attacker) is higher, the defender
loses one army on the territory under attack.
But if the defenders die is higher than yours,
you lose one army from that territory you
attacked from; put it back in your clear
plastic box. If each of you rolled more than
one die, now compare the two next-highest dice
and repeat the process.
NOTES:
In case of a tie, the defender always wins
The attacker can never lose more than 2 armies
on a single roll.
Capturing territories.
As soon as you defeat the last opposing army on
a territory, you capture that territory and
must occupy it immediately. To do so, move in
at least as many armies as the number of dice
you rolled in your last battle.remember: in
most cases, moving as many armies as you can to
the front is an advantage, because armies left
behiind can't help you when you are attacking.
Also remember you must always leave at least
one army behind on the territory you attacked
from. During the game, every territory must
always be occupied by at least one army.
Ending your attack.
You may end your attack (s) at any time. If you
have captured at least one territory, first
take the top RISK card from the draw pile. (no
matter how many territories you've captured on
your turn, you may only take one RISK card.)
Your last step it to fortify your position, if
you wish. finally, pass the dice.
Eliminating an opponent.
If during your turn you eliminate an opponent
by defeating his or her last army ont the game
board, you win any RISK cards that player has
collected.
if winning them gives you 6 or more cards, you
must immediately trade in enough sets to reduce
your hand to 4 or fewer cards, but once your
hand is reduced to 4, 3, or 2 cards, you must
stop trading.
But if winning gives you fewer than 6, you must
wait until the beginning of your next turn to
trade in a set.
note:
when you draw a card from the deck at the end
of your turn (for having one a battle), it
brings your total to 6, you must wait until
your next turn to trade in.
Fortifying Your Position
No matter what you've done on your turn, you
may, if you wish, end your turn by fortifying
your position. You are not required to win a
battle or even to try to attack to do so. Some
players refer to this as the "troop move."
To fortify your position, move as many armies
as you'd like from one (and only one) of your
adjacent territories. Remember to move your
troops towards borders where they can help in
an attack!
In moving your armies from one territory to
another, you must leave at least one army
behind.
WINNING
The winner is the first player to eliminate
every opponent by capturing all 42 territories
on the board.
Risk Moves
I believe that like chess, Risk should have its own moves documented and
discussed so that young people will not have to suffer pathetic yorkshiremen
complaining that the dice are loaded.
Here are some classic RISK moves I have seen:
A-D E-K L-R S-Z
A-D
Albie's Bluff
Say to the person about to attack you:
If you attack me I will make it my mission to destroy you.
Helpful if it actually is your mission. Works occasionally.
Andrew's Gambit
Build a power base on South America
Ben's Initiative
Take Australia, fortify Siam.
The Blunder of Bally
Take and hold Great Britain, whatever the cost.
Biffs Patent 'Complex Irritate'
This requires you to have a reputation for complaining. When the
countries are initially allocated, complain that everyone else has a better
deal. Upon shaking the dice to see who goes first, complain that the 1 you
got was unfair, and that the person to your left always gets a 6 and thus
you go last. Upon taking your go, sarcastically count up your remaining
armies and say 'Oh four countries left, thats a huge bonus of three, I
wonder if I can put them near each other?'
Continue this repeatedly until it starts to upset everyone, a lot. Next, go
quiet for a while and sulk. Hopefully people will leave you alone, enough
time to create the 'Complex Irritatant Militia'
You will have ruined most people's chances of winning, including your own.
But you were always playing for the benefit of the game!!!
Biffs Patent 'Complex Irritatant Militia'
This move is based on a useless country that happens to have a path through
everyones well existed continents. Cash in your sets, then plough through
the borders, damaging as much as possible, irritating the other players and
complaining as you go, then run out of things to do.
Blitzkrieg
Pincer movements should be avoided at all costs except in special
circumstances, always sweep through, ensuring you leave no territory
available for enemy re-inforcements behind your own front line. Move slowly
if you do not have the skill for a Blitzkrieg, where you have control of a
territory that borders another territory with a single border. Move in, you
are not exposing yourself to further attack, but are increasing the number
of territories you have.
E-K
Gandalf
A honourific to those single armies that managed to take out 5 of the enemy.
John's Resolution
Watch the board carefully and try and work out what is going on.
Johnno's Gambit
Hold Africa at all costs.
L-R
The Feint of Lewis
Allow yourself to be beaten to the point where you have maybe two or three
countries with no more than 6 armies. Appear resolved to defeat. Go on to
win the game. It is argued that this gambit only succeeds if you are Welsh.
Mags' Secret Sweep
The method of taking over half the board while everyone else argues about
the merits of setting alliances against whoever has the most cards.
Merriman's Gambit
Hold and maintain control of North and South America, no matter what the
cost is.
The Pachanga Country
Two players must round a country, so that country can be attacked only by
these two players. The player who owns the country leave it with just one
battalion. The other one, attacks the country (so easy) and put just one
battalion again. This way, both of them have its card almost guaranteed. The
countries that protect the pachanga country should be quite strong, since
the others players (who have to spend more battalions in order to get their
card) will join their efforts and try to break the Pachanga.
The pachanga works whenever the 2 players are having problems in getting the
card. If one of them is much more strong than the other, maybe he will not
leave just one battalion...
Sometimes, a player can negotiate more than one Pachanga with two different
players, so if one pachanga is broken, he has the other. Pachangas can be
also made between 3 players or more, but never between ALL the players,
since there is no benefit on it.
Regimenting Your Men
This superstition surfaces mainly with the lateset board, where all the
pieces are recognizable pieces as opposed to:
* cylinders or triangles - 1s or 10s on the board so old Australia isn't
on ;-)
* triangles, crosses and stars (1,5s,10s)
The superstition holds that without proper regimentation, all pride within
the units is lost and therefore defeat is inevitable.
the units is lost and therefore defeat is inevitable.
S-Z
The Approach of Si
Threaten anyone who does or doesn't make a move against you. You may have to
sacrifice a couple of games to make your point, but after a while people
learn not to trust you.
People on the other side of the world have debated on what the 'point'
actually is. Answers on a postcard.
Townsend's Redoubt
Always keep 3 armies in Argentina if there is war in Africa and you are
playing with South America as your stronghold.The Woody Factor
Whoever you ally yourself to will, in the near future, attempt to wipe you
off the board.
The Wall
Popularized during the great All Night Risk Frenzy of '88. The tactic is of
building a 'Wall' of armies by holding a series of connecting countries and
then placing all the armies next to each other. The whole effect has been
proven to be purely psyhcological as it takes too many armies to maintain
over time. Looks pretty though.
The Winspear
Attacking without invasion. Instead of pushing your largest army up to a
border with another large army, attack to reduce the size of the army to a
single (or massively outnumbered) battalion, and leave your enemy with one
of his own troops between his biggest army and yours. He is unlikely to
commit his reinforcements to the single battalion but will plonk them in the
same territory as the majority of his forces. This gives you time to
re-group, and should it become necessary, a guaranteed risk card.
re-group, and should it become necessary, a guaranteed risk card.
Special thanks to the Mac Shack! This page was last updated March 1, 1999, and is dedicated to:
Tom, Jody, "Junior", my "sister" Gail, Kevin, and the wonderful Sara, the Greatest Risk players in Seattle!
