Risk is a board game for 2 to 6 players that requires a lot of strategy.
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Game rules Risk
The game board
The game board is a map with 6 continents divided into 42 areas. Each continent has a different color and contains between 4 and 12 territories. The numbers along the lower southern edge of the board indicate the number of armies you get for a set of cards when you trade them in.
Army
There are six complete sets of armies, each of 3 types:
- Infantry (value l)
- Cavalry (value of 5)
- Artillery (value of 10)
Start the game by placing the infantry pieces. Later, you can trade 5 infantry pieces for 1 cavalry, or 2 cavalry (or 1 cavalry and 5 infantry) for 1 artillery.
Cards
The 42 cards have an image of an area and an image of infantry, cavalry or artillery.
Two "wild" cards are marked with the 3 types of armies: infantry, cavalry or artillery.
In addition, there are 12 secret mission cards, which one can use or not.
Aim of the game
The goal is to occupy all areas of the world and thus eliminate all your opponents. If you play with secret missions, you have also won if you have achieved your secret mission.
Setup
Each player chooses a color. Depending on the number of players, you start with a number of armies:
- 2 players: 40 infantry,
- 3 players, 35 Infantry.
- 4 players, 30 Infantry.
- 5 players, 25 Infantry.
- 6 players, 20 Infantry.
If you play with secret missions, each player draws a mission card, you don't show it to anyone else.
Each player rolls the dice. Whoever rolls the highest number takes an infantry piece from his or her pile and places it on a territory to claim it.
Starting with the first player on the left, each player in turn may now place one army on an unoccupied territory. This continues until all 42 territories have been taken.
After all 42 territories have been captured, each player in turn may place an additional army on a territory he or she has already occupied.
Continue until everyone has placed all their armies. There is no limit to the number of armies you can place on a single territory.
Shuffle the pack of RISK cards and place the cards face down on the side of the board. Cards are drawn from this pile later in the game.
Whoever placed the first army may also open the game.
Game flow
On your turn, you try to conquer territories by defeating your opponents' armies. But be careful: Winning battles depends on careful planning, quick decisions and also stubbornness. You have to place your armies smartly, and attack at just the right time and also strengthen your defenses against all enemies.
Note: At any time during the game, you can surrender infantry pieces for the equivalent in cavalry or artillery if you wish or need to do so.
Each turn consists of three steps, in this order:
- Getting and placing new armies
- To attack
- Reinforcing positions
New armies
At the beginning of each turn, you calculate how many new armies you can add to your territory based on:
- The number of territories you own.
- The value of the continents under your control.
- The value of the sets of RISK cards you trade in.
- A specific territory depicted on a traded card.
Attack
After placing your armies at the start of your turn, you decide whether you wish to attack this turn.
The aim of an attack is to conquer an area by defeating all the enemy armies on it. The battle is won by a roll of the dice.
If you choose to attack, the following rules apply:
- You may only attack an area adjacent to your own area (or connected by a dotted line).
- You must always have at least two armies in the territory from which you attack.
- You may continue to attack an area until all the armies present there are dead. You can attack as many times as you want during a turn.
First announce which area you are attacking and from which area you are attacking. Then roll the dice against the opponent who owns the territory.
Before rolling, both you and your opponent must say the number of dice you are going to roll and you both roll the dice at the same time.
The attacker will roll 1, 2 or 3 dice: You must have at least one extra army in your territory than the number of dice you roll. Tip: The more dice you roll, the greater your chance of winning. But the more dice you roll, the more armies you can lose or have to move to a conquered territory.
The defender will roll either 1 or 2 white dice. To roll 2 dice, he or she must have at least 2 armies in the territory. Tip: How the more dice the defender rolls, the greater his or her chance of winning, but the more armies he or she can lose.
Compare the highest die rolled from both sides. If yours (the attacker) is higher, the defender loses an army from the attacked area.
But if the defender's die is higher or equal than yours, you lose an army from the territory you are attacking from. So put an army back in the box.
If each of you rolled more than one die, this process must be repeated for the second highest dice from both sides.
Strengthening your position
It doesn't matter what you did on your turn. Your turn ends with strengthening your position. You are not required to win a battle or even make an attack.
To fortify your position, move as many armies as you wish from one (and only one) of your territories to one (and only one) of the adjacent territories.
Remember to move troops towards the borders so that these armies can assist in an attack and always leave at least one army behind.
Keep score for Risk
On this site you can keep track of your played games of risk. Also you can view the statistics of all your played games. You can share the results with your fellow players, family and friends via mail and other social media.