by Chad McCoy
I keep hearing about how Risk isn’t a wargame because it doesn’t simulate anything about war (terrain, different units, etc), and that gameplay is all about the roll of the dice. As a fan of Risk, I thought to myself, surely there are a few tweaks that can be made to the rules to accommodate those wanting a more elaborate gaming experience.So I sat down, and in the course of the next hour, (and with the help of Mike Ricotta’s ideas - http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/4478/7-ways-to-make-risk-a...), I came up with some variation ideas that require the addition of a number of colored plastic chips which you can get at any education supply store, the gray chips from Axis & Allies, 6 ships from Castle Risk (each painted in a player’s color), 6 capitals from Revised Risk (each painted in a player’s color), 30 cities from Revised Risk, and 6 of the golden generals from the standard Risk game (one for each player).
Beginning with Aaron Kulkis’ explanation of why Risk is not a wargame (http://130.16.233.72.static.reverse.ltdomains.com/geeklist/5...), I set out to answer him point by point:
1. Risk is not a wargame because it has no “concept of differing qualities of forces.”
I think this is a very valid point. Rather than the cavalry and cannons in Risk having different strengths and abilities and costs, they simply represent more of the same. So why don’t we change this?
Variant Aspect #1: Varying Forces
Cavalry
Compared to infantry, cavalry should be able to move quicker and farther in the same turn, as well as be more maneuverable. With that in mind, here are 6 new rules designed to transform cavalry in RISK into something which better resembles mounted troops.
Cavalry Value
Remember that in Risk, the cavalry is worth 5 infantry. So let’s keep that value, but rather than have it equal to 5 infantry, let’s allow it to represent a cavalry detachment of 5 horsemen. When a cavalry piece is placed on the board, it should have 4 gray chips underneath it to begin with. Each chip represents 1 horseman, with the cavalry miniature itself representing the 5th horseman.
a) Sustaining Hits - If a cavalry piece sustains a hit (or two), then 1 (or 2) chips are removed. Once the detachment is down to its final unit (with no chips remaining), one more hit will remove the cavalry piece from the board. Important: cavalry units do not disintegrate into infantry when suffering losses as happens in standard Risk – they remain cavalry units, albeit with less maneuverability than before.
b) Attacking - A cavalry detachment (a single miniature piece) is considered a single indivisible unit as far as attacking goes – it cannot attack without having at least one other unit (infantry, cannon, or another cavalry) in the same territory. A single cavalry piece cannot leave a territory to reinforce another territory if it would leave that first territory empty. Cavalry combat resolution is the same as in standard Risk. The advantage of the cavalry is not an increased assault ability, but in its improved unit maneuverability.
c) Regrouping - Partial cavalry detachments in the same territory can consolidate their forces by rearranging the number of gray chips between them. For example, if one detachment of 3 (one miniature with 2 chips) meets up with a detachment of 2 (one miniature with 1 chip), you can create a new single detachment of 5 by removing the “2 detachment” from the board and adding 2 chips to the “3 detachment.” This regrouping can be done at any time on your turn.
d) Fortifying – the final phase of a turn in Risk is the fortify phase, where in the standard game you are permitted to move as many armies as you like from one (and only one) of your territories into one (and only one) of your adjacent territories. In this variant, cavalry detachments are permitted to ignore the “one and only one” rule. You may move as many cavalry detachments as you wish into any number of your adjacent territories. The only restriction is that each detachment can move only 1 territory, plus an additional territory per number of chips remaining. So a full detachment of 5 can move up to 5 territories away when fortifying. An injured detachment of 3 moves slower and therefore can only move up to 3 territories away. (By the way, in this variant, infantry can fortify by moving only 1 territory away – no exceptions. Infantry are slower than cavalry, and therefore should advance much more slowly.)
e) Invade – in standard Risk, units attack other units in adjacent territories, they never actually move into enemy-controlled territory. In this variant, cavalry – and only cavalry - have a special ability to actually move into enemy-controlled territory. (Cavalry cannot use their special movement of 1 territory plus 1 territory per chip when invading. They can only move into 1 adjacent territory.) This invasion prevents the original occupying army from claiming the territory when collecting reinforcements and continent bonuses at the beginning of their turn. This move must be performed during the battle phase of a player’s turn, not during the fortification phase. Any number of cavalry may invade in this manner, but the invading player cannot attack on this turn. If the original occupying force has cavalry in that territory, though, then an invasion cannot take place.
No battle may take place in an invaded territory until the invaded player’s turn, when the invaded player may choose to battle the invaders. (Invaded players may use the units in the invaded territory to attack the invaders, or they can be used to attack other adjacent enemy territories instead, but not both on the same turn.) Standard combat rules apply.
During battle, if the invader chooses to, he can retreat to an adjacent friendly territory (moving 1 territory plus 1 territory per chip). If the invaded player chooses to retreat, he must move his units to an adjacent friendly territory. If the invaded player’s force is reduced to one unit (one cavalry miniature, one infantry, or one cannon miniature), he must automatically retreat to an adjacent friendly territory. If no adjacent friendly territories can be reached, then the final unit is cut off and automatically destroyed.
If not attacked on the invaded player’s turn, cavalry detachments may leave this territory and advance deeper into enemy territory (moving 1 territory space only), or they may retreat back into a friendly adjacent territory using their special movement rules, provided the first territory they move into is friendly.
Note: On their turn, invaded players do not have to attack the invaders. They may choose to allow the invaders to remain in the contested territory, and will just lose the ability to claim this territory during the reinforcement phase of the turn. However, on the next turn of the invader, the invader is then free to attack. After the invaded player’s turn, the territory can be attacked on any subsequent turn by either player, but the invading player can only send in cavalry units.
f) Reinforcing during Battle – cavalry units in distant territories can move during a battle if they are designated as reinforcements for the current battle. They must move at their maximum speed (1 territory plus 1 territory per chip) in the shortest possible route toward (and eventually into) the player’s own territory that is participating in the current battle. Battle reinforcements cannot begin moving until after the first skirmish (after both players have each rolled a die and adjusted their armies for losses). Then, either or both players may commit reinforcing cavalry detachments by designating such units and moving them toward the battle. If the cavalry cannot reach a player’s territory that is involved in the battle, then they must move as close as possible, and continue moving in between each skirmish.
Cannons
Cannon Value
In standard Risk, a cannon is worth 10 infantry. Let’s keep that value, but rather than have it equal to 10 infantry, let’s allow it to represent a cannon along with a squad of 9 infantry to operate/transport it.
Compared to infantry, a cannon should be able to inflict far greater damage, and over a greater distance. With that in mind, here are 5 new rules designed to transform cannon in RISK into something which better resembles heavy artillery:
a) Cannons fire one extra die (per cannon) in combat.
b) When attacking an invader in its own territory, roll two extra dice per cannon.
c) A cannon may fire into an adjacent territory as usual, or it may use its special ability to fire across that adjacent territory (if it is a friendly territory) and into another adjacent territory beyond, rolling one 1 die for this ability. This special ability can be used once (per cannon) per turn.
d) Cannons were heavy and moved slowly, requiring time to be set up to fire, so when fortifying at the end of a turn, a cannon only moves “half a territory.” In other words, it moves onto the border of a territory and becomes unusable on the next turn for attacking or defending. During the fortification phase of the next turn, it moves into the next adjacent territory. Aim the cannon at the territory it is heading into. If the targeted territory is conquered before the cannon can move into it, it is captured by the new force, who will remove it and replace it with one of their own.
e) When a cannon suffers even one loss in battle, it loses its special abilities and is removed from the game, replaced by 9 infantry. (If it suffers 2 hits, it is removed and replaced by only 8 infantry.)
Infantry
The only change to the infantry is that it can only move 1 territory at a time when fortifying.
2. In Risk, there is “no concept of easily-defended / hard-to-defend terrain.”
I think this is another very valid point. A heavily-wooded area certainly provides more cover than an open field does, while at the same time is more of a hindrance to maneuverability. In looking at the Risk game board however, it doesn’t appear that this level of detail is going to be possible to add to the game, because we’re dealing with a map of territories that is just too large to properly represent these different topographies.
For example, the eastern United States territory depicted in the game is greatly diverse in real life. While there are forests, there are also mountains, hills, marshes, and cities. Same goes for the Western United States. Yes, we could characterize the Western US as an open desert or plains area, but that would do injustice to the mountains and cities that are also there in great abundance.
So what can we do? Well, what if we were to factor in the extreme cold climates of the northern territories, which is pretty consistent regardless of the territory?
Variant Aspect #2: Arctic Territories
If you look at the Risk game board, you will see that there is a line of longitude (east/west) on many versions which separates most of Alaska, Northwest Territory, and Greenland in North America; and Siberia, Yakutsk, and Kamchatka in Asia, so let’s designate these 6 regions as Arctic territories. Here are 5 rules that will make these territories different:
a) Attrition - due to the extreme cold in these climates, you suffer 1 loss in each of these territories at the end of your battle phase, before you receive your reinforcements (this may result in empty territories – these can be conquered by simply moving troops in.)
b) Hampered Cavalry - cavalry lose their special abilities here, and are considered to be the equal of infantry, although they retain their force rating.
c) Hampered Cannons – the movement if cannons in Arctic territories grinds almost to a halt. When moving into an Arctic territory, cannons are placed on the border as usual and move into the Arctic territory on the next turn. However, movement into further Arctic territories (or even out of them) must follow the following sequence: After having decided to move the cannon, place it on its side during the fortification phase. (It is unavailable in combat during this time, whether for attacking or defending) On the fortification phase of the next turn, stand it back upright and move it onto the border, aimed at the territory you are moving it into. On the fortification phase of the next turn, move it into the selected territory. If that territory is no longer friendly, that player captures the cannon.
d) Losses of attackers in Arctic territories are doubled.
e) Attackers can only fight with a maximum of 2 dice in Arctic territories (plus any cannons).
3. In Risk, “Force Production is based not on population centers or industrial centers, but ONLY on holding ENTIRE continents.”
Well, I think that is not entirely true, as you do receive reinforcements for every 3 territories you control, which means it is loosely based on populations centers, but I don’t think that it goes far enough.
Revised Risk adds cities, which I think is an excellent idea, but I would go one step farther by allowing players to build their own cities rather than having them placed randomly on the board during the setup phase.
Variant Aspect #3: Cities
a) Cities cost 15 reinforcements, and you can have a maximum of 5 cities in the game
b) Cities can be placed in any territory you control, and as many in 1 territory as you wish
c) Cities will provide 5 reinforcements every turn you control it.
d) A city in a territory which gets conquered becomes controlled by the enemy, who now receives the 5 bonus reinforcements.
4. In Risk, there are no “special units which can do special things.”
Already we have added the special abilities of the cavalry and infantry, but let’s add some leaders with some special abilities of their own:
Variant Aspect #4: Generals
First, paint the base of each golden cavalry piece so that there is one to match every color in the game.
a) During setup of the game, place the General in any of your territories after the last troop has been placed and before the first player’s turn.
b) The territory which contains a General gets to add 1 to the highest die roll attacking and defending, or can re-roll 1 die.
c) As a mounted troop, the General shares in the special abilities of the cavalry with two exceptions – i) he always moves up to 5 territories, even in Arctic territories, and ii) he can attack on his own, leaving a territory empty if he wishes.
d) When a general dies, you can promote a new general during the beginning of your turn, he costs 5 reinforcements and must start in your HQ (see HQ below) – if you don’t get 5 reinforcements on your turn, you cannot get a new general. If you have no HQ, then he must start on the territory you have with the most troops - if there’s a tie, pick one from among the territories which qualify.
Variant Aspect #5: Headquarters
As in standard Revised Risk rules, during setup players take control of their first territory by taking their capital and one of their starting troops and placing them both onto an empty territory.
a) In standard Risk, if you are successful in conquering a territory, you receive a reinforcement card. In this variant, the army which conquered the territory receives an intelligence report in the form of a colored plastic chip. You get to select which unit gets to carry the chip, just place it underneath the unit. Now, take a reinforcement card and place it facedown in front of you, sideways and place another chip of the same color on it. You cannot add the card to your hand until the unit returns to your HQ with its intelligence report.
If the unit is destroyed before it can return to HQ, the card is returned to the bottom of the deck. If the unit is a cannon and through a loss in battle becomes 8 or 9 infantry, then one of the infantry must be chosen to take the intelligence report. He cannot pass it off to any other unit during battle. If the battle is won, he can fortify into another territory and at that point hand it off to a stronger unit. The report can continue to be handed off during fortification phases, and one unit can carry multiple reports.
b) if the territory in which your HQ is located is conquered, the conquering player takes all reinforcement cards in the hand of that player and then destroys the HQ. You cannot receive any more reinforcement cards unless you build a new HQ.
c) to build a new HQ, you must have a territory with a force of at least 10 troops, and that territory must contain your General. To build the new HQ, you must do so during the reinforcement phase of your turn. Place the new HQ in the new territory.
5. The reinforcement cards in Risk are ridiculous. “Hitler found a cannon to go with the horse and the infantryman - so the magic army genie just gave him 16,000,000 new men and equipment to field them.”
Speaking of reinforcement cards, let’s make reinforcing a little less abstract.
Variant Aspect #6: Reinforcement Cards
Rather than simply having this be a matching card mini-game, let’s greatly reduce the number of reinforcement so this has less impact on the game, and have the cards represent an intelligence report which troops out in the field have brought back to HQ. After receiving three confirmed reports (three sets of cards), you can act on this intelligence, which gives you 5 resource points which you can use in several ways:
a) During the reinforcement phase, and due to superior field intelligence, you can arrange your troops in a superior position on the battlefield – you receive 5 troop reinforcements to place wherever you’d like, (5 infantry or a single cavalry) as well as getting to disadvantage an enemy’s position by removing 5 troops from an opposing player (or divide the 5 troops among multiple players). - You cannot wipe out a territory this way and leave it empty, you must leave 1 troop remaining.
b) Optionally, you can receive a cannon to be placed into a territory you control that has a city
c) Or, you can add the 5 resource points to your other reinforcement points from controlling cities, territories, and continents in order to build a new city or recruit additional troops.
Variant Aspect #7: Navy
Finally, let’s make use of all that ocean by at least giving a nod to the naval aspect of war.
a) You can’t use sea lanes without a navy. To use a sea lane, place a unit on that line. This is now a naval unit. It cannot be moved from this line.
b) If you have a naval unit on a sea lane, you can move troops over this line.
c) Attackers cannot invade over a sea lane without a navy of their own, on their side of the line.
d) Two different powers can have navies on the same sea lane without requiring them to battle. However, if you wish to invade the other power, you must first resolve the naval battle. Attacker can roll 1 die if only 1 ship remains (unlike land battles). Naval units cannot be turned into army units later. Once a naval unit, always a naval unit.
Let’s also use the troop transport aspect of Castle Risk:
a) Troop Transports – to move large amounts of troops around the globe: during the fortification phase, load your ship from any coastal territory by moving as many troops as you wish (but leaving at least 1 behind) into the ship, then move it into the adjacent ocean – it cannot attack on the same turn it enters the ocean or on the same turn that it moves into a new ocean territory
b) On the next turn, it can use its troops in an attack on another coastal territory in that ocean, or can be unloaded into a friendly coastal territory (or can stay where it is)
c) ships with no cannon on board are considered to be unarmed and troop transports only – as a result, if it enters an ocean territory that is already occupied by an armed ship, it must immediately attempt to outrun it (due to being loaded down with cannon, the armed ship is heavier and therefore slower) – each side rolls one die, if the armed ship’s roll is higher, the unarmed ship is sunk with all hands. If the unarmed ship’s die roll is higher, it escapes and cannot be harmed – on next turn it can sail into a harbor (coastal territory) or the next adjacent ocean territory. (empty ships cannot be attacked)
Ships can also be warships if they are outfitted with at least 1 cannon.
a) Warships can attack another ship in the same ocean, or it can move into another adjacent ocean (or it can stay where it is if there is no other ship present)
b) Any enemy warship entering the same ocean must do battle with the warship; each ship rolls 1 die per cannon on board; cannons take all hits; once all cannon are destroyed (it only takes one hit to destroy a cannon and reduce it to 9 infantry), all troops and ship are destroyed; any attacking warship can choose to break off the attack and retreat to the previous adjacent ocean space from which it came
c) Generals can board ships and use their special ability to increase the value of a die roll or to re-roll one die.
Conclusion
I think that the resulting complexity of these rules creates something that, while not a deep wargame by any stretch, certainly creates a more respectable “game of war” for those wanting something a little more substantial out of the standard game of Risk.
I also came to two other conclusions:
1) Castle Risk does an admirable job of improving on classic Risk. It has a rudimentary navy, leaders, is mission-based (take out the enemy’s castle, rather than eliminating every soldier), and the cards act as dice modifiers with a diplomacy element.
2) I believe that Classic Risk has become a classic due to its simplicity. While I came up with some more complex rules to simulate terrain, leaders, variable units, etc, I also added 8 pages of rules in doing so. Ultimately what I created bears almost no resemblance to the classic game, and could be a stand-alone game itself.
I think that complex wargames have their place, but that there is also a place for the simple elegance of Risk, as well. It’s this simplicity, so much maligned by wargamers, that is perhaps its greatest strength.
For another game that is just as simple as Risk, I would recommend Battue: Storm of the Horse Lords. Or, for those looking for a bit more complexity to vanilla Risk, I would recommend Castle Risk, Risk 2210, Power, or Fortress America.
So whether you prefer your wargames complex and ultra realistic, or simple and tending toward the abstract, I say, “play whatever you derive enjoyment from, and game on!”