[Ashrak]

im probly the stupidest person ever asking this, but how the hell do you play risk. i know you get a set ammount of units for your starting territory + some bonu units from cards?

but how does the attacking and movement of units work, can i traverse empty grids with my armies without rolling dies? how does attacking work, can i attack multiple enemie positions with 1 roll of the dies?

[Nuclear1]

At the beginning of every game, the Territory cards are divided equally among players. Depending on how many players are in the game, each player will receive a set amount of armies for the beginning. For set up, each player places armies on the territories indicated by the cards in their hand. Each has to have at least one army.

For attacking, the player must have at least two armies on the country he is attacking from. If he has only two armies total, he may only roll one die. If he has three, he may roll two. If four or more, he may roll three. The defender can roll a maximum of two dice (only one if he has only one army on his territory).

Say the attacker rolls three dice, and the defender two. If the attacker's dice roll higher numbers than the defender's, the defender loses armies. Ties mean the defender wins.

Example: Attacker rolls a 6, 4, and 2.
Defender rolls a 5 and a 5.
You always pair the highest numbers in each roll with each other--the attacker's 6 with the defender's 5 and the defender's other 5 with the attacker's four. In this case, both attacker and defender lose one army each--attacker won with the 6, but defender won with a 5 against the attacker's 4.

At the beginning on every turn, players receive at least three new armies to place, but the number is determined by (the number of territories owned/3) plus the bonus for any continent a player controls.

 At the end of a turn where the player conquered another territory, he receives a territory card. On these cards are the name of a territory and one of three symbols: infantry, cavalry, or artillery. When the player has a matching set of three, or one of each, he may turn them in at the beginning of his next turn for additional armies. The number of these armies increase as more sets are turned in: when a player first turns in a set, only 4 armies are granted. When another set is turned in, the number climbs to 6.

Those are the basic rules.

[Bob-san]

At the beginning of every game, the Territory cards are divided equally among players. Depending on how many players are in the game, each player will receive a set amount of armies for the beginning. For set up, each player places armies on the territories indicated by the cards in their hand. Each has to have at least one army.

For attacking, the player must have at least two armies on the country he is attacking from. If he has only two armies total, he may only roll one die. If he has three, he may roll two. If four or more, he may roll three. The defender can roll a maximum of two dice (only one if he has only one army on his territory).

Say the attacker rolls three dice, and the defender two. If the attacker's dice roll higher numbers than the defender's, the defender loses armies. Ties mean the defender wins.

Example: Attacker rolls a 6, 4, and 2.
Defender rolls a 5 and a 5.
You always pair the highest numbers in each roll with each other--the attacker's 6 with the defender's 5 and the defender's other 5 with the attacker's four. In this case, both attacker and defender lose one army each--attacker won with the 6, but defender won with a 5 against the attacker's 4.

At the beginning on every turn, players receive at least three new armies to place, but the number is determined by (the number of territories owned/3) plus the bonus for any continent a player controls.

 At the end of a turn where the player conquered another territory, he receives a territory card. On these cards are the name of a territory and one of three symbols: infantry, cavalry, or artillery. When the player has a matching set of three, or one of each, he may turn them in at the beginning of his next turn for additional armies. The number of these armies increase as more sets are turned in: when a player first turns in a set, only 4 armies are granted. When another set is turned in, the number climbs to 6.

Those are the basic rules.

On a side note, with the territory cards, you may claim an additional army if you have control over a territory represented. Beyond that, you move armies at the end of your turn. You may only move to adjacent territories or across pre-determined bridges (represented by dotted lines). Common rule is you may only move once, though there's a variation where you can move along a route.

Typical strategy is to gain control over a continent, mount a defense, and disrupt your opponents' control over their continents. For example, if you control South America, your goal should be to build up enough defending units to keep control over your choke points (meaning that anything behind those choke points should have minimal armies on them), as well as to disrupt your opponents' control over North America and Africa. When possible, attack and take over as much of a continent as you can. Territories are power, though each continent is typically connected by 2-4 "choke" points. The notable exception to this is Australia, which can be defended by a single tile in Asia, which serves the dual-purpose of defending Australia and disrupting control over Asia.

Ideally, you want all your territories connected, so that you have no islands territories. You can keep moving armies so long as they keep capturing territories--meaning that if you start in England, you can fight your way through to Greenland or beyond. My other suggestion is to stop whenever possible at a core choke-point. An example of that is taking Greenland, a part of North America, and using your heaviest defenses there to hold off a counter attack. Whenever possible, you want to defend instead of attack. Yes, you only roll two dice, but you match or exceed their rolls and you're defending.

Towards the end of the game, it's entirely possible that you control either nearly nothing or a whole lot of everything. It all depends on how you play. Some continents, like Europe and Asia, are simply very difficult to defend. You'd be better off trying to defend the Americas.

[Nuclear1]

Africa, Europe, Asia, and even North America are notoriously difficult to defend. The best early-game strategy is to try to control South America or Australia, both of which provide decent bonuses and are easy to defend. Once you can get momentum in the later game (when you're getting 30+ armies for turning in cards) then North America and Africa are easy enough.

[phreak]

rather than determine your starting location from the territory cards, i find it more fun to do choose your own starting territories in a round-robin method.

[IceFire]

rather than determine your starting location from the territory cards, i find it more fun to do choose your own starting territories in a round-robin method.

Agreed. That is much better and usually allot faster.  I like speedy Risk games...the faster it is the better so its good to just setup the territories and get going.

[BloodEagle]

Side note involving Risk: Don't trust anyone.

....

Freaking South America teaming up against me with Russia.

[Galemp]

Original 1959 Rules from Hasbro (PDF)

[iamzack]

My friends don't let me play Risk with them because I ate a bunch of foot soldiers that one time. :[

[Mobius]

Were they...tasty?

[Nuclear1]

Well.

Alright then.

[iamzack]

same flavour as the little peoples from The Game of Life

[Bob-san]

Africa, Europe, Asia, and even North America are notoriously difficult to defend. The best early-game strategy is to try to control South America or Australia, both of which provide decent bonuses and are easy to defend. Once you can get momentum in the later game (when you're getting 30+ armies for turning in cards) then North America and Africa are easy enough.

I've found that mounting a defense from the Americas is VERY easy to do, when compared to the other continents. Australia is a common target--people will build up a massive army and just walk right through. Beyond that, defending North America is done through Greenland, Alaska, and Mexico. South America is done through Columbia and Brazil (iirc). Combine those two and you defend two continents by mounting defenses on Brazil, Alaska, and Greenland. You may even want to take them one further, at least from Greenland. Occupying Iceland is typically a good idea, as you're blocking European dominance. I usually try to claim Europe and North America when I play. I figure that it's an extra 10 troops, and gives me flexibility to attack. South America and then Africa are typically my hardest offenses. So long as I can gain control over the former, the latter WILL go down. If you an have control of Asia, taking over Australia is a no-brainer, and doesn't need to be defended.

I'd say play a good number of games. My favorite strategy is to leave some bait, so to cage in a wily adversary. While they're going after, say, South America, I have forces ready to slip in behind them and take over Africa. Sometimes you have to give up territories and thus armies to be successful, but so long as you plan you should be fine. Never let your defenses drop--that's the single most important part of the game.

[Nuclear1]

The way I've usually played is by trying to get a territory on Australia at the beginning, pile all available armies on that one territory, and take the continent in the first turn. Usually, people will just ignore it in favor of getting another continent or just not consider Australia worth it. After that, pile all the troops on Indonesia to defend (that's easily a 15+ army defense in the first round).

Second turn, take Siam. Third turn, go for both India and China. By now your bonuses should be adding up, but its best to wait it out until you can turn in sets of cards. Until then just turtle your way through.

This usually works best in a game with three or more people, because it allows other players to fight each other over the bigger continents while you bide your time in Australia. Typically no one goes for Asia in 3+ player game, so they're usually willing to let their Asian terrritories go so far as it doesn't immediately threaten their North American, African, or European territories.

Your patience pays off when you end up making a beeline for the last few territories of the weaker players, finish them off, and get their cards. More sets turned in, more armies. If you're good enough, the game can end in one or two turns from here.

Of course, in one on one Risk, this doesn't really work.

Anyone ever play the Mission variant of the game before? I've always found that to be really interesting.

[Maniax]

I still remember the day the Great Chocolate Milk Flood of 1996 wiped out the entire planet after a grueling 3 day long, all-out war.  Never again will I drink next to the map while my friend says something funny. 

[Eishtmo]

Sometimes the best way to learn, is to do:

http://www.conquerclub.com/

Join, try a few games.  There's a variety of rules and maps, so pick what you think you can handle and dive right in.

Plus, no pieces to eat.

[Mobius]

Why do you call it "Risk"? Isn't the true name "Risiko"?

EDIT: Oh, my mistake. "Risiko" is the name used in Italy. 

[IPAndrews]

At the start of the game invade Australia. Stay holed up there watching everyone else kick the crap out of one another. Feel free to stoke the flames now and again with a well timed word in someone's ear whilst another player is taking a lavatory break. When everyone is suitably weakened blitz the other players and hold Asia. Time it well because as soon as one player is doing well (at this point that player is you) everyone else will gang up on them. Which is why games of RISK have been known to last for weeks.

[Bob-san]

My only word of advice is don't play against a duo that you KNOW will target you. A good example of this is a boyfriend/girlfriend team, who have the advantage of 2x the turns and territories, and a will to trade territories to get what they want.