Risk Review

Hi friends and enemies! I recently wrote about Risk and how it holds a special place in my heart due to the memories and nostalgia I have around the game. Today, I wanted to actually dive into a review of Risk and look at how well it stands up. As much fun as I have with the game, there are a certain number of flaws that detract from the overall experience. There have been many, many variants of Risk that have been released over the years. This review will focus only on the original board game, as played in the standard ruleset. Because there have been many editions of the original game released, I won’t be including a complete breakdown of the box contents as versions may differ slightly.

While I’m sure most folks are familiar with the game of Risk, I’ll quickly recap it: Risk is a game where 2-6 players battle for total world domination. Players choose their colors and take the appropriate amount of starting units (as determined by the amount of players). In a standard game, they will roll off with the winner placing one unit in any territory of their choosing, then the other players take turns choosing a territory. Territories continue to be chosen in the cycle until all open territories have been claimed. At this point, players may choose to reinforce their territories as they see fit with the remaining pieces. This process follows the same cycle with each player placing one unit at a time until all starting units have been placed. There is a decision to be made when playing as to whether a player would like to concentrate their forces in one area or spread them out. Players choosing the former may like to consolidate their infantry into cavalry (Worth 5 units each) or cannons (Worth 10). After placing units, the Risk cards get shuffled and put into a deck.

From here, players take turns starting with the player who placed the first unit. On each turn, a player will first reinforce their territories with an amount of troops based on how many territories they control divided by 3 (Rounding down, always with a minimum of 3) plus a bonus for any controlled continents or Risk cards that are being turned in. Once placed, the player begins the attack phase of their turn in which they will choose to attack enemy territories. When choosing to attack a territory, a player declares their attack on an adjacent territory or a territory connected overseas via a line. They choose the amount of units to attack with and begin their attack.

When resolving an attack, players will roll 6-sided dice equal to the amount of units up to a maximum of 3 for the attacker or 2 for the defender. Players compare their highest rolls to eachother with the higher result in each matchup winning, ties going to the defender. This process repeats for as many rounds as needed to defeat an army or until the attacker calls off their attack. If the attacker conquers any territory in their turn, they will gain a Risk card. Over the course of the game, a player will gather Risk cards which they can turn in as sets of 3 (Either all matching, or one of each unit symbol) for extra reinforcements. If you take an opponent’s final territory, that opponent is eliminated and you capture their cards. The game ends when all but one player has been removed from the game.

Finally, once a player has ended their attacks, they may move units from any one territory to an adjacent territory, keeping in mind that each territory must have at minimum one unit within it.

The Good

Risk is an easily approachable board game, and an incredible entry point for “Dudes on a Map” style games. The rules are simple enough that a child can understand them and succeed in the game. In a well-matched game of Risk, anyone can feel like they’re a wildly powerful general leading an army across a worldwide front, with large battles getting much fanfare and attention.

The game setup is great because it allows for each game to be as similar or as different as players would like. By allowing players to choose how they deploy, the game starts forcing decisions from the very beginning. Do you want to keep adding to your foothold in North America, or make sure your opponent can’t start the game holding all of Australia? Once territories are chosen, will you go for an all-out blitzkreig on a single front, or will you leave forces in far-flung territories to prevent easy victories for your opponents? These types of choices are the core of this game, so it’s great that they force them early on.

I find the reinforcement system to be (mostly) intuitive too. Controlling more territories logically gets you more reinforcements, with completed continents providing some nice bonuses. While I have my issues with the cards, it is a great feeling to be able to turn some in and plop down an extra 20 dudes in the late game.

The attack system leaves much to be desired, but it does create for some fun swingy moments of action. While 2 dudes being able to hold off 20 dudes is rare, it is something that happens in this game which creates some great stories, even if it is not the best balancing. It feels great when you’re able to string together a series of attacks that culminates in the consolidation of an entire continent.

Overall, the game does a great job at entertaining and evoking the feelings of being a commander launching a series of bold attacks. Each game develops its own power dynamic, particularly as players grow to understand the game and each others’ tactics more.

The Not So Good

As stated earlier, Risk is by no means a perfect game. The three biggest issues with Risk, in my opinion, are how swingy and random the game can be, how imbalanced the bonus cards are, and the fact that a game usually follows a pattern of <30 minutes to effectively eliminate most players, but then having a 1-2 hour showdown between the biggest players.

Overall, most games the dice will end up balancing out. You’ll have some great luck, followed by some bad luck, and then some okay luck. Some games, however, you will end up with rolls that will make you wonder why you’re even trying – or perhaps you’ll be exceptionally lucky and your plucky band of heroes in Australia will be able to come back and save the day! To me, the dice have far too much of an impact on the winner of the game.

The next big issue I have with the game is how imbalanced the Risk cards can be. I mean this in two ways: First, if you are exceptionally lucky you will always be playing Risk cards when you have three in hand. Unlucky players will need to wait an additional two turns to max out the cards in hand and have a guaranteed match. One would think this is balanced out by the way reinforcements seem to ramp up as more people have turned cards in. This is only marginally helpful and creates its own set of issues, as playing your cards is a guarantee that other players will be getting more value out of theirs. While this is a decision that the player must make, it’s hard to justify someone getting 20 extra dudes because they lucked out on the turn order. Thankfully, later editions saw this problem and include alternate rules.

Finally, due to the nature of Risk, it is a game that tends to result in players being kicked out as soon as possible. Dealing a death blow is rewarded in the rules, and this pushes players to rush in and destroy weaker opponents. At the end of the beginning frenzy, you will either have one obvious winner or two strong players and a few folks on the sidelines who now have to wait or find another activity.

Overall, Risk is an above-average game in my opinion. However, it has too many issues to be a truly amazing game. As a result, I’d give it a nostalgia-tinted 6.75/10. This is a game that I know I will come back to time and time again, but which I will always know has deep flaws and much better counterparts out there who have built on Risk to develop more balanced games that deliver the same feelings.