Risk~World Home | Links | Downloads

Rules of Risk

Introduction & strategy hints

In the classic "World Domination Risk" game of military, you are battling to conquer the world. To win, you must launch daring attacks, defend yourself on all fronts, and sweep across vast continents with boldness and cunning. But remember, the dangers, as well as the rewards, are high. Just when the world is within your grasp, your opponent might strike and take it all away!

Strategy

in all RISK games, keep these 3 strategy hints in mind as you play, add armies and fortify:
1. Conquer whole continents: you will earn more armies that way. (this doesn't apply in Secret Mission RISK.)
2. Watch your enemies: if they are building up forces on adjacent territories or continents, they may be planning to attack you.
3. Fortify borders adjacent to enemy territories for better defense if a neighbor decides to attack you.

Equipment

1 gameboard
5 dice: 2 white and 3 red
Deck of 56 risk cards
set of 6 different color armies

The game board.

the game board is a map of 6 continents divided into 42 territories. The numbers along the bottom (southern) edge of the board indicate the number of armies you will recieve for a set of cards you trade in.

The Armies.

There are 6 complete sets of armies, each containing 3 denominations of army pieces:
infantry (worth one)
Calvary (worth 5 infantry)
Artillary (worth ten infantry or 2 calvary)

Start the game by placing Infantry pieces; later in the game you may trade in 5 infantry for 1 calvary, or 2 calvary (or 1 calvary and 5 infantry) for 1 artillary.

The 56 Risk Cards:

42 marked with a territory and a picture of infantry, calvary, or artillery
2 "wild cards marked with all three pictures, but no territory
12 secret mission cards used only with secret mission risk

RISK, the classic WORLD DOMINATION game

Object of the game to conquer the world by occupying every territory on the board, thus eliminating all your opponents

SETUP

Unlike most games, Risk demands careful planning before you actually start to play. This initial army placement sets the stage for the battles you'll fight later on.

Setup, including initial army placement

Initial Army Placement

consists of these steps:
1. Select a color and depending on the number of players, count out the "armies" you'll need to start the game
if 3 are playing, each player gets 35 infantry
if 4 are playing, each player gets 30 infantry
if 5 are playing, each player gets 25 infantry
if 6 are playing, each player gets 20 infantry
2. Roll one die. Whoever rolls the highest number, takes one infantry piece from his or her pile and places it onto a territory on the board, thus claiming that territory. 3. Starting to the left of the first player, everyone in turn places one army onto any unoccupied territory. Continue until all 42 territories have been claimed. 4. After all 42 territories are claimed, each player in turn places one additional army onto any territory he or she already occupies. Continue this way until everyone has run out of armies. There is no limit to the number of armies you may place onto a single territory.

To Complete Game SETUP:

5. shuffle the pack of RISK cards (remove the mission cards) and place it, face down, by the side of the board. This pack forms the draw pile. 6. whoever placed the first army takes the first turn.

Playing

On your turn, try to capture territories by defeating your oppenents' armies. But be careful: winning battles will depend on careful planning, quick decisions and bold moves. Yoou'll have to place your forces wisely, attack at just the right time and fortify your defenses against all enemies. NOTE: at any time during the game, you may trade in infantry pieces for the equivelent in clavary if you need to, or wish to.

Each of your turns consists of three steps, in this order:

1. getting and placing new armies
2. Attacking, if you choose to, by rolling the dice;
3. Fortifying your position

getting and placing New armies

at the beginning of each turn, calculate how many new armies you'll add to the territories based on...
1. the number of TERRITORIES you occupy;
2. the value of the CONTINENTS you control
3. The value of the MATCHED sets of RISK cards you trade in;
4. The specific TERRITORY PICTURED on a traded-in set

Territories

at the beginning of every turn (including your first), count the number of territories you currently occupy, then divide the total by 3 (ignore any fraction). The answer is the number if armies you recieve. Place the new armies on any territory you already occupy.

example

11 territories= 3 armies
14 territories= 4 armies
17 territories= 5 armies
You will always recieve at LEAST 3 ARMIES on a turn, even if you occupy fewer than 9 territories.

Continents

In addition at the beginning of your turn you will recieve armies for each continent you control. (to control a continent you must occupy all it's territories at the start of your turn.) To find the exact number of armies you'll recieve for each continent, look at this list:
South America : 2 armies
Australia : 2 armies
South Africa : 3 armies
North America : 5 armies
Europe : 5 armies
Asia : 7 armies

Risk Cards

Earning Cards.

at the end of any turn in which you have captured at least one territory, you will earn ONE (and only one) RISK card. You are trying to collect sets of 3 cards in any of the following combinations:
3 cards of same design (3 infantry, Calvary of Artillery)
1 of each 3 designs
Any 2 plus a "wild card"
If you have collected a set of 3 RISK cards, you may turn them in at the beginning of your next turn, or you may wait. But if you have 5 or 6 cards at the beginning of your turn you MUST turn in at least one set, and May trade in a second set if you have one.

Trading in Cards for Armies

At the beginning of subsequent turns, you may trade in matched sets of cards and take additional armies based on the total number of sets anyone has traded in so far. For quick reference, keep trade-in cards face down under the bottom edge of the game board to mark the values (in armies) on the next trade.
First set traded in --4 armies
second set traded in --6 armies
third set traded in --8 armies
fourth set traded in --10 armies
Fifth set traded in --12 armies
sixth set traded in --15 armies
seventh set traded in --20 armies
eith set traded in --25 armies
etc...etc...

Occupied territories.

if any of the 3 cards you trade in shows picture of a territory you occupy, you recieve 2 extra armies. You must place both those armies onto that paticular territory.
NOTE: on a single turn, you may recieve no more than 2 extra armies above and beyond those you recieve for the matched sets of cards you trade in.
HINTS: No matter how many armies you recieve at the start of your turn, deploy them carefully-either to prepare for an attack or to defend against one. It's good military strategy to move your armies to the front, heavily fortifying territories that border enemy territories.

Attacking

After placing your armies at the beginning of your turn, decide if you wish to attack at this time. The object of an attack is to capture a territory by defeating all the opposing armies already on it. The battle is fought by a roll of the dice. Study the board for a moment. Do you want to attack?
If you choose not to attack, pass the dice to the player on your left. You may still fortify your position, if you wish.
If you choose to attack you must follow these rules: You may only attack a territory that's adjacent (touching) to one of your own, or connected to it by a dashed line.

Examples

=-=-=-=-
greenland may attack the Northwest Territory, Ontario, Quebec and Iceland. North Africa may attack Egypt, Western Europe and Brazil. At the western and eastern edges of the board, Alaska is considered adjacent to, and may attack, Kamchatka
You Must always have at least two armies in the territory you're attacking from.
You may continue attacking one territory until you have eliminated all armies on it, or you may shift your attack from one territory to another, attacking each as often as you like and attacking as many territories as you like during one turn.

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. 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 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.

To decide a battle

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
compare the highest die each of you rolled. If yours (the attacker) is higher, the defender loses one army on the territory under attack. But if the defenders die is higher than yours, you lose one army from that territory you attacked from; put it back in your clear plastic box. If each of you rolled more than one die, now compare the two next-highest dice and repeat the process.

NOTES
In case of a tie, the defender always wins

The attacker can never lose more than 2 armies on a single roll.

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. remember: in most cases, moving as many armies as you can to the front is an advantage, because armies left behiind 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.

Ending your attack.

You may end your attack (s) at any time. If you have captured at least one territory, first take the top RISK card from the draw pile. (no matter how many territories you've captured on your turn, you may only take one RISK card.) Your last step it to fortify your position, if you wish. finally, pass the dice.

Eliminating an opponent.

If during your turn you eliminate an opponent by defeating his or her last army ont the game board, you win any RISK cards that player has collected.
if Winning them gives you 6 or more cards, you must immediately trade in enough sets to reduce your hand to 4 or fewer cards, but once your hand is reduced to 4, 3, or 2 cards, you must stop trading.
But if winning gives you fewer than 6, you must wait until the beginning of your next turn to trade in a set.

note:
when you draw a card from the deck at the end of your turn (for having one a battle), it brings your total to 6, you must wait until your next turn to trade in.

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.

WINNING

The winner is the first player to eliminate every opponent by capturing all 42 territories on the board.

Return to the Top of the Page