BS: Rules for Risk!

Subject: Rules for Risk!
From: Fedele
Date: 01 Jan 01 - 02:17 PM

I often enjoyed playing Risk with my friends, but some of the rules weren't so clear, and we just settled an agreement between us. Note that I'm talking about the "basic" version.

1) Does the game end...
a) as soon as a player reaches his goal [like we mean], or b) at the beginning of his next turn [as some friends of mine think]?
If your goal is to destroy an opponent's army, that's quite obvious; but if you have to conquer 24 territories and you succeed, you could not have all of them at the beginning of your next turn. I think that assuming that the right rule is b) would lead to a disparity between Goals, as in the example.

2) When you are launching an attack to a next territory and the opponent has the same number of armies as the attacker, can the attacker use all of the armies?
We say NO, because if you attack with three against three, or 2 vs 2, you could lose all of your armies with that attack, so you'd leave your territory with no armies, and you can't. So if you got 3 and the opponent 3, you can attack with just 2. But if, for example, you win, you now got 3 and the opponent 1, and you can use 3 armies to carry on the attack because even if you lose this time you keep at least 2.

3) When things get bigger, and you are attacking with something like 15 vs 5, the battle's initially carried with no more than 3 on each side, that's right. But if you win the combat, dice after dice, how many armies you move in the territory you just got?
Some say, all those you used for attacking
Some say, no more than X or no less than Y...
We always did like this: when you conquer a territory, you can put there as many armies as you wish from the attacking territory, as long as there's at least 1 in the old and 1 in the new.
Restricting the number of the armies you can move would make the game awwwwwfully sloooow.

4) at the end of your turn, when you've carried out all the combats, you can move your armies.
As many as you wish?
From where you wish?
To where you wish?
How far you wish?
This was the most controversial point, and it's important, especially when dealing with many armies.
We did like this:
Choose just ONE of your territories
Take as many armies as you wish from there, providing you leave at least 1
Put ALL OF THEM TOGETHER (no split) in JUST ONE of the adjacent territories.
Stop. So, it's just one move. You can't fly your troops straight from Japan to Africa, you can't say "ok boys, stand up, and some of you go north and some south", and you can't say "you in Brazil go north and you in England go east".

Everything's OK when you agree, but what are the official rules? (don't know about Tournament rules, but I think they're a totally different set of rules)

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: Clinton Hammond2
Date: 01 Jan 01 - 05:43 PM

Try Castle Risk... It's a much better game...

;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: Kim C
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 05:00 PM

I have never played this game! Mister said he used to play it when he was a lad. It sounds like fun, though. I'd sure like to take over the world. Promise we'd all have lots of fun if I did!

----Princess Svetlana of Antioch

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: MMario
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 05:11 PM

Fedele - the way you explain is the way I remember them....

though you fogot the most important rule. PERU IS MINE! and I will defend it to the death, possibly beyond.

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: Kim C
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 05:16 PM

Dare you challenge Svetlana, Keeper of the Holy Spoon of Antioch?!!?!!

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: NightWing
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 05:56 PM

Well, fiddle! I just wrote answers for these based on my "best recollection". Then, of course, I had the good thought of looking on the web. See one on-line set of Risk rules and another. Using the first of these and interpreting them as I always have when playing, I would give the following answers:

1) According to the paragraph on "Winning":

The winner is the first player to eliminate every opponent by capturing all 42 territories on the board.
However, under the new set of rules introduced by Parker Brothers in 1994 (and used as standard in many European countries), the winner is whoever first reaches his goal (specified in his Secret Mission Card).

I interpret this to mean that the game ends as soon as a player has succeeded in his Secret Mission, regardless of anything else.

2) From the paragraph "How 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. [Emphasis added.]
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 required to move into a caprured [sic] 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.

If the attacker has only three armies in the attacking country, the attacker may only roll two dice. For the reason why, see answer 3).

3) From the Rules paragraph on "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. [R]emember: [sic] in most cases, moving as many armies as you can to the front is an advantage, because armies left behiind [sic] 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.

Every battle (dice roll) is an entirely separate event. Only the final battle -- the one in which the attacker defeats the last defending army -- controls how many armies must be placed on a defeated territory. In other words, the winning attacker must move at least the number of armies onto a defeated territory as he rolled dice. He may move as many more as he wishes (always leaving one on the attacking territory).

For example, the attack begins with 15 armies versus 5; the attacker doesn't lose an army; the defender rolls a single die each battle; the attacker rolls the final battle with 3 dice. The attacker must move three armies onto the defeated territory; he may move up to 14 (leaving the 15th on the attacking territory).

This explains question 2). If the attacker has three armies on the attacking territory and the defender has only one, the attacker can indeed only lose one army. However, if the attacker WINS, he must move as many armies as he rolled dice. Thus, only two dice can be rolled in this situation.

4) From the Rules paragraph on "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.

I think this is quite clear and that your interpretation of the rules is exactly correct. During the "troop move" you may move any number of armies from exactly one territory to exactly one other, adjacent territory (always leaving one on the territory moved from).

One thing to note is that this page ALSO says, "Introductory Note: Risk rules differ from country to country; very often the original set of rules has been changed and/or expanded, depending on the country-specific publisher of Risk." This site has a bulletin board Forum that they suggest you post questions about specific rules for any given country.

BB,
NightWing

P.S. My memory was absolutely right *G*

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: NightWing
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 06:07 PM

Oops! Forgot to end that <BLOCKQUOTE> in question 2).

For anyone who's interested and has the time, there appears to be an on-line Java version of Risk at . I haven't tried it so can't comment beyond its mere existence.

BB,
NightWing

P.S. Alaska and Kamchatka are MINE! No one can defeat me! BWAH-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: NightWing
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 06:09 PM

Sheesh! Speaking of not ending things *blush*. But the link works ... all five feet of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: GUEST,Martin Rich
Date: 02 Jan 01 - 07:09 PM

I always sing 4 strong winds when I take Alberta and Old Maui when I land on Kamchatka. Anyone else got any songs associated with the game?

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: rabbitrunning
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 12:13 AM

I don't suppose "Naner naner poo poo!" counts as a song, but it generally gets chanted in our house about the time that Kamchatka (Known for reasons lost in the mists of time as "My Cookies") and Irkutsk (Known for similarly lost reasons as "Yer Cookies") are both gobbled up by the same color armies...

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: Kim C
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 09:50 AM

Oh no! They changed the rules? I bet Mister doesn't know that...

Can I have Pennsylvania and Colorado?

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: John Hindsill
Date: 03 Jan 01 - 10:33 AM

Does anybody remember a board game of the late 1940s called Camelot? My older friends used to play it. I really don't remember much about it, except that the board narrowed at either end, creating a quasi-oval playing surface, and it used playing tokens ala Monopoly and Chess.

Subject: RE: BS: Rules for Risk!
From: GUEST,Fedele (in the library)
Date: 04 Jan 01 - 08:21 AM

So we're intelligent and got the right rules!!!
Thanks. I was wondering that places such as "Cita" are known to the rest of the world just because of this game. Now I just have to convince my friends to start playing again. The rules are quite simple, but winning isn't so; I lost about 100 games because of my lack of experience and my friends didn't want to play anymore when I got to be a decent opponent...