by Fat Tony
Warning!: the following session report contains spoilers for the following packets:All 9 minor cities placed
Player signs the winner’s section twice
Player eliminated
3+ missiles used on the same combat roll
If you choose to read further, I’m assuming you’ve opened all of these packets, so nothing has been hidden. You’ve officially been warned.
Previously on Earth #11844: a bunchof stuffhappened.
After an unplanned six-month hiatus, our group finally got back together for two more games. This was pretty much our last chance to do so before the holidays, and fortunately it worked out. Although some of us had a lot more fun than others (keep reading), we definitely closed out the year with a flourish: every player in our group now has at least one win, Khan Industries’ improbable winning streak was broken, and we opened up a new packet. All three of these made for a memorable afternoon/evening and gave our group a jolt as we head into the back half of The War To Name The World.
We should have known what sort of day we were in for when Matt arrived bearing these:
Game #7:
Matt chooses Imperial Balkania and starts in Eastern Australia
Tony chooses Saharan Republic and starts in Afghanistan
Zak chooses Khan Industries and starts in Siberia
Gretchen chooses Die Mechaniker and starts in Northwest Territory
Jeremy chooses Enclave Of The Bear and starts in Peru
Jeremy won the game. End of report.
*Sigh* Okay, fine. This game will be forever remembered as The Game Where The Fallout Scar Was Placed, and it happened when Zak attacked me in Afghanistan. Zak and I each played a missile, and Matt played one basically just so we could open the packet. Everyone’s jaw hit the ground when I produced the Mutant faction, and then we all died laughing and issued variants of the phrase “Holy shit!” as the rest of the packet’s contents were revealed and put into play. Matt chose to place the Fallout sticker on Afghanistan, causing that territory to be ruined forever and reducing my forces to a smoldering husk. I only lasted another few rounds, and to add insult to injury, I didn’t even get to place a comeback power on my faction card because it already had one...that was placed by me, the last time I played them. Sonofabitch.
Meanwhile, Jeremy had quietly acquired enough resource cards to purchase his third Red Star, and all eyes were now on North America, where Gretchen was spread a bit thin. Matt and Jeremy both made concerted efforts to take her HQ: Zak had put most of his efforts into trying to take me out and had kind of forgotten to try to win the game. On two successive turns, Jeremy launched unsuccessful attacks, but was repelled by Die Mechaniker’s fortified HQ ability. (This was the first time this ability had really come into play: that thing is nasty.) Matt eventually attacked and failed, but whittled Gretchen’s defenses down enough that Jeremy was able to finish her off on his turn and earn his fourth Red Star for his first win. As a reward, he named North America “Wal’Murica”. Heh.
Game #8:
Matt chooses Die Mechaniker and starts in Scandinavia
Tony chooses Mutants and starts in China
Zak chooses Imperial Balkania and starts in Peru
Gretchen chooses Khan Industries and starts in Central America
Jeremy chooses Saharan Republic and starts in Eastern Australia
This game got off to a promising start before it even began, with Gretchen and Zak beginning the game practically right next to each other. (This also prevented me from starting in Ellaopolis where I might actually be able to take advantage of the Biohazard scar there. I did the next best thing and started near the Fallout, but more on that later.) They got into it right away, leaving both of them pretty weakened. This gave Matt an opportunity, having survived a showdown with Jeremy in the Middle East in what may have been our biggest battle in a game to date. He was able to swoop in and take three HQs in one turn - Zak’s, Gretchen’s and mine. For his reward, Matt honored his wife by re-naming Africa “Deidretopia (Aww...)”. (That’s its full legal name.)
Here’s a terribly blurry picture of our board after eight games. I’m planning to take a better picture and share it later, but this will give you an idea.
(Note: the fortification on Gumdrop City in the Middle East has been depleted.)
Random observations:
*Win count: Matt 3, Tony 2, and one apiece for Jeremy, Zak and Gretchen. By faction: Khan Industries 5, Die Mechaniker 2, Enclave Of The Bear 1, and zero for everyone else.
*After being the "punching bag" faction for so long, Imperial Balkania got a much-needed boost by becoming The Bringer Of Nuclear Fire. There was a debate over how to pronounce “Balkania”, but as far as I’m concerned we should just start referring to them by their new bad-ass title.
*For now at least, it’s hard to imagine the Mutants not getting picked in every game, and as long as that holds true someone will probably be picking The Bringer Of Nuclear Fire. I was a little surprised that, for our first game with six factions to choose from, Enclave Of The Bear was the odd one out. That faction has become a bit of a favorite in our group.
*I’m not prepared to call Saharan Republic our new “cursed” faction yet, since they’ve only really had two terrible games, and both times I was playing them. Their starting ability/comeback power combo is potentially very powerful, but has also proven to be very tricky to use successfully.
*All six continents have now been renamed, so it’ll be interesting to see what the winners choose for their endgame rewards now. After what happened to Ellaopolis in Game 4, no one has been in a hurry to place another Major City, but that could change.
*Speaking of Ellaopolis: my main motivation for winning again (other that pure, satisfying revenge) has been to cancel the Biohazard scar there. However, now if I do that it would severely weaken the Mutants, since there are no other Biohazards in play and it doesn’t look like there will be anytime soon.
*One final note on Ellaopolis: the Biohazard did not deter Gretchen from occupying Western United States in both games. I admired this greatly, and placed a coin on the Western US card to reward future such bravery.
*As the Mutants, I successfully completed the mission on their Faction card to earn a Red Star. However, I missed the rule where Mutants treat the Fallout territory as a Biohazard, meaning I missed out on earning some troops. There’s no way this could have swayed the outcome, but we’ll remember next time.
*Resource card update: India is now worth 6 coins, Peru us worth 4, and we have several worth 3.
*As much as I have a reputation of being overly protective of my games, it was actually Gretchen who audibly winced when I ripped up the Afghanistan card.
*I can’t help but wonder how the people who are going to a lot of trouble to make their copies of Risk Legacy “resettable” are going to deal with the scratch-off components associated with the Mutants.
Finally, some closing thoughts. I personally bore the brunt of the damage from the “3+ missiles” packet, and I won’t lie to you: at the time, it really freakin’ sucked. I’d even go so far as to say that, once I was effectively out of the game, it was some of the least fun I’ve had playing a game in years. But now that it’s all said and done, I don’t mind and actually think it may have been worth it. If this was any other game, or if Risk Legacy had an option to be “reset”, then this would have been just another crazy thing that happened in a board game. But it’s FOREVER, and we have no idea what ramifications it will have down the road. Think also about the other time I was hosed by the Biohazard on Ellaopolis. Ever since it happened, I’ve been trying to manage another win so I could cancel it. Now I’m actually thinking about keeping a Biohazard on the Major City I placed because I don’t want to weaken the Mutants. Who could have predicted that?
I can live with the occasional frustration. This game is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can't wait to play again.
If you'd like to comment on this report but want to discuss packets our group hasn't opened yet, please either be as vague as possible or use spoiler tags. For reference, our group has yet to open the following:
World Capital about to go on the board
Someone is about to place 30+ troops and has a missile
German Bonus cards (all 3 Biohazard Scars have been placed)
Do Not Open. Ever.