Risk

[Felch]

I'm going to head out and play tonight with some of my smoking buddies. Although I know this belongs probably in Other Games, I figured I would get more responses by posting this in OT.

Here's the deal. I've played Risk before, but not for years, and I really don't know any strategies. I was wondering if you all could give me any hints within the next hour or so.

[Ming]

Ok... since you only have an hour, I will leave it here for now.
After an hour, I'm moving it to the other games forum

Good luck tonight.

[orange]

go for a continent, any continent, early. Preferably one you get a lot of units on.

If you're able to pick your own nations, try to get a monopoly on Australia or South America or both. Amateurs try to get a big force in Eurasia - this is a mistake! Your easily made the target of expansion and you're attacked from all sides. Try to get a set of territories that connect somehow.

Try to make some alliances with people, some mutual 'he's the bad guy' stuff going on...stab when necessary or easiest.

Good luck!

[Felch]

Thanks Ming. Cool, Orange, will do.

[Chowlett]

Australia is usually a good bet, you can pick it up quickly and there's only one border to controll - hold Siam and you're laughing. SA is decent as well, only 2 entrances there.

[Frankychan]

my tactic is to take over Autralia first, it only has one point of entry and i usually bolster this area with all my troops. you get little troops at first, but combine them with troops in Asia and you'll do relatively well.

I usually try and claim Australia and South America first cause their the easiet to defend. After, its N. America, Africa, S. Europe, N. Europe and Asia last.

Just have some troops in Asia blocking the pass into Australia. Use Aussieland as a last defense if your losing, or a supply depot for your armies in other lands.

Good luck, dude.

[Hobbes]

Get all of North and South America at all costs. If at all possible have the Australian continent. Also have Iceland, Siam, and to a lesser extent, East Africa. Build up, then kick ass. Invade through the Bering Straight, and Africa. Wooopah!

[Felch]

Cool.

So basically the trick is just to pick the right continents? Or is there anything else I should be aware of.

I suppose it'd hard to explain specific things, but are there any common tricks that I should keep an eye on?

[Natan]

North America is actually a pretty good continent, just don't get caught up in an endless war there in the beginning. I've had some success with Africa, but it's probably not the best choice. North and South America are the best choices. Australia doesn't work especially well because it's so isolated.

As for strategy, depriving other people of continents is almost as important as getting one yourself. Try grabbing one territory beyond your continent - i.e., if you've got South America try to grab West Africa and/or Central America, since it won't be any harder to defend those than to defend Brazil and Venezuela.

[orange]

Originally posted by Felch X
Cool.

So basically the trick is just to pick the right continents? Or is there anything else I should be aware of.

I suppose it'd hard to explain specific things, but are there any common tricks that I should keep an eye on?

It's really nice if you can get a good territory like Siam or Brazil built up with tons and tons of troops, and then invade and go as far as you can in one major push. Try to take out the biggest guy, it helps you to gain some support from the others...you may not hold those territories long, but you take a big chunk of the lead's power by taking away his territories.

[Darsnan]

If I recall correctly you only got to draw a card if you conquered a territory. Therefore if your in SA and have opponents in both NA and Africa, then establishing a small army in Asia and/or Europe is a must. Conversely, if your in Australia it behooves you to eliminate the SA players armies in Asia, as then the SA player can only attack NA or Africa, causing instability in those areas.
Wow - Risk! That brings back some good old memories! Good luck!

[Felch]

Tight. This sounds good.

[orange]

Originally posted by Natan
As for strategy, depriving other people of continents is almost as important as getting one yourself. Try grabbing one territory beyond your continent - i.e., if you've got South America try to grab West Africa and/or Central America, since it won't be any harder to defend those than to defend Brazil and Venezuela.

Australia is only good if you can get Siam, and massively built up on top of that.

North America is a good place to have, but I recommend making it the second continent you conquer, not the first (as it, along with east asia, is often the source of much fighting and the least hegemony.)

[Hobbes]

Key areas of defence (pretty fricken obvious):
Alaska
ahh... the Russian side of Bering
Greenland
Iceland
Mexico
Brazil
East Africa
Siam
Indonesia

These are always good to have and fortify.
Oh, and defenders win a lot. So, it's good to be a defender. Also, if you're very competetive you will usually loose. That seems to happen a lot and it really pisses that person off.

[Andemagne]

if you cannot take/get Australia or SA in beginning,
try to conquer one of the bigger ones by taking on area
per turn and securing all your possions on that continent.
you get 1 risk card per turn and then when you get a
complete set take the rest of the continent. make sure
you don't lose that continent right away. then when
your secure and strong continue to another continents.