So, I've got a tournament coming up in two weeks and was wondering about some of your strategies. Personally I always take Africa, build up my borders, then storm South America for a cool 5 extra troops per turn while being able to raid everywhere but Australia enough to keep the others from holding the bigger continents until my troop bonuses allow me to move on North America, getting me Ten troops not counting the ones based on territories. Suggestions of better/alternate strategies?

Are you guys claiming land at the start? Or is it random assignment?

If it's random and I have 2/1 and siam i'll take australia (if it doesnt look like anyone else has a better advantage to claim it) and use it has a permanent base. Fortify it a little bit while using armies elsewhere to claim stuff like south america and expanding from there.

It depends on whether or not I can get a majority to vote in favor of claiming territory. I usually take Africa because it can access everywhere else quite easily.

And that's not a bad idea if you can take it and hold it, but every game i've seen someone try to take africa, they never get the bonus because its usually easy enough to push into it.

I always make a grab for South America+Mexico/West Africa as buffers. I sometimes try to take Australia as well, but if I don't it's no skin off my back. I spend the beginning of the game building up-I don't attack anybody, peace treaties all around. I Have heavy defenses on SA as well as my Buffers. I use my awesome diplomacy skills to tell people I'll be their "Ally" as long as they don't attack my buffers. Once anybody does, however, is when I declare war on them and obliterate them to the best of my ability. Naturally, this means that whoever's in charge of Africa almost always falls first.

Hah, I use fear rather than neutrality my friends will leave me alone as long as they can because they know they'll lose if they don't wipe me out or have a guaranteed win.

I hate when people use treaties, and when people refuse to stop attacking. I have lost one game in my current group of friends, when one kept pushing and pushing until both our forces were decimated and the third player obliterated us both. Well, I like treaties in my favor, but everyone always sides with the under-dog.

I almost always go africa, because my friends usually fight to take Australia... any extra ones i put in the americas...

Yet.... i almost always have to kill out my one friend who tries for south america because he always goes balls to the walls kamazee on me

Start with South America, it is low profile, has two borders, only 4 territories and gives more than Australia...

Many people go for Africa, and the Asia people always watch out for it....

Africa next....

The biggest trick, in my opinion is two fold, watch for a swing continent (one where only two people are lining up for it) which would be South America Australia. Have a few countries near by (China for Australia, West or East US for South America), and build up forces, pinging small countries for your card a turn.

Now your goal hear, is to build a fairly substantial army, while the two weaken each other because neither wants to sacrifice the country, then sweep in and take it from the weak. This should leave you with a reasonably sized army. If you're taking South America, you've just created a two country buffer on your north side, and you're pretty much set, and if it's australia, well you can reinforce to Siam and be ready to start waging wars!

At this point, I'd suggest building a strike force, and eyeing up your weaker enemies. These are normally the people who got screwed and are dwindling in their supply of units (but they still have juicy cards!!!) I'll stage an elaborate strike force to go through 3-4 weak countries (with no clear plan or so it appears), to do a massive death strike to finish off a rogue tiny player. Collect his cards, turn in, and use those to fortify my new positions. The rest of the players may or may not be scrambling to clear your trail, or be worrying about your next strike position, at which point if I have South America I normally start pushing my borders north through the rest of America. If I can push well, I just have my two northern posts to fortify and suddenly I have all of the Americas!

At this point it is vital to take out another opponent, because they're going to start forming strategic alliances and their combined reinforcements per turn are all coming your way. The best defense in this case is a good offense. You can sacrifice South America (at least the bonus) for a distraction as you clean up another color, and use that turn it to hopefully knock out another!

Not sure if you're using the 4-6-8-10 turn in strategy, or the growing strategy (4-6-8-10-12-15-20-etc). if it's the latter, you really don't start wiping players until after everyone has turned in once (when they hit 5 cards). Depending on how many players you have, this means that every player you beat will be an extra 10 reinforcements minimum which is more then enough to fuel another clean up attack on another player. Also be sure to isolate weak players (attack the countries closest to the other guys first, so you're surrounding their sweet weakness, if you can't clean them up or have unluck die rolls.)

By the time you get to the 15-20 reinforcements, knocking out that extra player normally means you have the reinforcements to knock out the next, which tends to chain to a win. Also, knocking out a player with 4-5 cards can net you a double turn in (15+20 = 35 Reinforcements!!!)

I am taking this advice!

...I always just run around the board with no particular plan. Win more times then not sure, but now I think I might want to actually insert some planning in to my next game. At least against you people >.<

Sorry, someone mentioned fear, but if you're playing a tournamanet game, that won't work.

Although friendly games, yah, that works fairly well.

My normal game was pretty much involving three of us. One we'll call the dumb ox (attacks when he feels threatened, makes treaties when he has something shiny, and avoids full out confrontations). The other we'll call the evil twister. He makes treaties with the dumb ox at all times, as long as they suit his purposes, and breaks them always at opportune times just to claim "Buffer states!" (He loves the buffer).

Of course we play with the realistic attack rule (as in, you can only attack one country away per turn (no overrun rule). Personally I like this rule because it mitigates the just huge swarm rules.

We also play with the 4-6-8-10 rule for turn ins (infantry/cavalary/cannons/one of each).

But I always attack the strongest person, as a rule, so normally I'm kicking the hornets nest, and getting beat on, then the Evil Twister decides to break his treaty (because A. He's feeling powerful or B. He wants territory). The Dumb Ox gets mad and the battle each other, while I just pick up the shattered pieces, and kill them...

But fear doesn't work in those games (ok it works against the dumb ox, but not against me, and smart players won't be intimidated!)

I can accurately describe each of the competitors as an animal,

Tom: Brown Bear, maybe not the biggest of bears but piss him off and he will not let up until one of you is dead. His strategy includes marking a set territory with two powerful claw nations to pinch off and crush invaders with little baby nations around the outskirts. He takes it quite personally when a baby nation is overrun, hence mother bear. Easiest way to defeat him is to direct his rage toward an enemy or divert the most damaging retaliatory strikes into a dead end in Asia.

Kevin: Red Fox, not much for direct conflict but he makes up for it with clever and damaging mini strikes before offering treaties that protect him. Most manipulative of us all, he nearly always secures the entirety of Asia for a turn before we realize he has done it. Easiest way to defeat him, snap his neck early on before his silver tongue influences the weaker willed players -or- offer other players better treaties.

Alex: Jack Rabbit, quickly secures small continents such as South America or Australia then holes up to quickly and efficiently produce troops at an advanced pace. Not much for attacking, he waits in his hidey hole until there is an easily conquerable nation nearby that he can 'jump on.' A devastating blow to the entrance of his continent should be enough to collapse his entire strategy.

Cesar: Basset Hound, a lovable(and sexy) oaf that lives to please. He gains territories by siding with another player and occassionally following orders with little regard for himself. Watch for his teeth though, they are well hidden and unexpected, easily ripping the throat out of an unwary abuser. Defeated through pacification followed by a jab to the producer territories.

Jason: Gazelle, fragile and quick to bolt, he has no heaquarters. He jumps from place to place, concentrating his forces at the place he lands in. He hops around until he gathers enough cards to cash in for a new herd. Shatter his hind legs in one fell swoop and surround the location with imposing forces to kill him off. He is worth a lot to kill due to his tendency to hold on to cards he could have turned in, hoping to cash in for a larger prize.

Ryan(me): Giant Anteater, formidable and frightening enough to scrounge out a medium sized continent by picking off and consuming ill defended or sacrificed territiories. I scrape out a line and slowly expand with a small expeditionary force, slithering through the defenses of the other players to devour their unprotected colonies. I am taken down easily through clever deception, cutting off my 'tongue' and slowly smothering me, or uprooting my claws and forcing me into the dark wilderness.

My friends think they're too old to play board games.

Meh.

Me and my friends still play board games. Tho normally it's monopoly with us normally forming into corperations when one is about to be bankrupt, not risk. I dread getting a risk game going, mine and my dads games could last for days. He often won tho.

I don't like monopoly... I can NEVER get people to make deals with me, so I end up having to offer half of my properties just to make my first monopoly....

I must have shifty eyes or something.

Regular Risk we've never really gotten past the one day mark (I think we saved a board once, but then someone got drunk and well, when Jamieson plays, no one wins...

LOTR rings... god... that one can go on FOREVER. One of the parts I like about LOTR risk are the cards you get, they make people second guess attacking and there's so much strategy in simply reinforcing so people THINK you have certain cards... it's hilarious and awesome.

For instance, there's a "Storm At Sea" card, so if an enemy troop (no matter what size) tries to attack by ocean, you can play the card and kill the entire army! Man, good times when people thought I didn't have it and wiped out a15 unit army!

Yeah, I'm the weirdo with the board games. Ha.
Usually risk games are only supposed to last 4 to 6 hrs with 4+ players.
With me, I mean.




Yeah, I think Risk 2280 (or whatever year) is the longest risk game. There's a moon, and everything. Very time consuming. Didn't play it more than a few times. If you want to play a board game for days, there's always Axis & Allies! Love that game.

If it weren't for the fact that the single country per army rule is revoked for the last two players, my games would go on FOREVER!

north America is were i go

In a prepreliminary match on saturday I shut myself in Australia while playing Capital RISK which is where you choose a territory as your capital and if it is take that person takes your cards. Cesar agreed to surround me, leaving a single troop in Siam for me to take over to get a card every turn. Tom used his berserker tactic and knocked Cesar out of Asia only to, as Alex put it, 'open Pandora's box.' I cashed in my cards for a 40 man bonus, tore through Asia into North America and took Tom's capital, gaining me two cards. At the end of the turn I cashed in said cards for 45 men. Needless to say, I won. Hooray for the cacoon tactic! Five reinforcements a turn until I could emerge as a beautiful HELL DRAGON and rip the world apart.

That capital strategy leads to some severe devestation as you rape them of their cards and turn in like a maniac, eh? Congrats!

Avenging my boyfriend and tearing the two that slaughtered him apart was thoroughly exciting