We just finished game 15 of a risk campaign that featured a fairly steady group of people. From Game 1 there was massive 'Brain Manipulation' on all sides. "You could do this, then I'd do That", "2 turn Alliance if...", "there is something smarter you could do", "Don't forget about X's 7 coins" etc etc. The bloody table was like the U.N. We also seem to use our missiles on other player's turns more so than on our own. This is often part of a deal like "if you leave my bonus, I'll use my missiles to help you take down that territory over there".
We thought this was normal, but when we added a guest player to a game he was absolutely shocked. His gaming group apparently did almost no politic at all and let everyone make decisions without badgering. Our group considers the mind-fudging of our opponents to be an incredibly important feature of the game and we have yet to have any insane abuse of alliances or anything like that. And it is not as if 2 people powerplay the game; everyone is doing this, even people who are quite passive in other boardgsmes.
So basically, how involved are you in other player's turns? Do you actively try to nudge things in your favor OR do you let each player go it alone for the most part?
We thought this was normal, but when we added a guest player to a game he was absolutely shocked. His gaming group apparently did almost no politic at all and let everyone make decisions without badgering. Our group considers the mind-fudging of our opponents to be an incredibly important feature of the game and we have yet to have any insane abuse of alliances or anything like that. And it is not as if 2 people powerplay the game; everyone is doing this, even people who are quite passive in other boardgsmes.
So basically, how involved are you in other player's turns? Do you actively try to nudge things in your favor OR do you let each player go it alone for the most part?