in literally hundreds (if not thousands) of games of Risk, these are the rules i have learned:
notes on the game diplomacy and charisma are more important than anything else the best continent is North America Australia is easy to take, but too difficult to get out of When shooting for Europe, you must own Africa first the best optional rule you can use is a limit of 12 armies per country only a fool lets a player with one country live no one should attempt to elminiate a player unless virtually guaranteed of doing it if you want to dominate the game, read Sun Tzu, Art of War conclusion Risk blows. it is too simplistic and dull to really challenge a strategic mind... if you like charisma, play Diplomacy. if you like beer & pretzels, play Blood Bowl or Ogre. computer games in the MacOS version of Risk, if you want a "hard" game, choose 6 players, all Neutral, with random placement, and fixed (ie. 5 per) card set. If you can beat this setting, it is time for you to get a new hobby.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each player chooses three of the available colors. These are placed in front of each player in a line left to right and are called Army 1, Army 2, and Army 3. Count out for each color as many armies as would be used in a 6 player game. Shuffle and deal out all of the cards including the wild cards to each of the colors. That is, each player gets a set of 7 cards which is assigned to a color they have. Place one army on each country corresponding to a card you have; if you have a wild card, you may place one army on any country that you own (ie. specified by the other 6 cards). Roll for starting player, highest chooses to go first or second; colors then alternate Player 1, Army 1, Player 2, Army 1, Player 1, Army 2, etc.
Rules of Play1) There is a limit of 12 armies per country. 2) Card sets are always worth 5 each. The traditional reward for having cards of countries the color controls applies. 3) A Player may not trade cards or armies between colors he controls. 4) Different colors of the same Player may attack each other; the other player rolls the defence dice. 5) If a player takes a country from a color they control with a color they control, then they do not receive a card for that victory. 6) When a color is eliminated, the cards belonging to that color go to the discard if the color is eliminated by a color of the same player or to the eliminating color if it belongs to the opposite player. 7) If all colors for a single player are eliminated, the player with no colors can pick one color of the opponent. This color becomes his; he may win with it as normal. This color retains its same turn sequence; if it is the current color, the player taking control continues with the turn.Winning The Game
A player may only win with one of the colors they control. They win if they take over the entire board (ie. normal victory conditions).
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eric