by nightwalker
Yesterday we concluded a particualry brutal game of Risk. We where 3 players and we played with the zombies, tech-commander and factions in the mix.Toby drew the free militia. They get 4 picks of commanders, no space stations but get extra mods in the area of their commanders. I drew Primus Oceanus, which could draw 2 naval command cards and choose one when drawing from that deck while Bjorn got silicon knights so he could purchase discarded cards.
With this group we usually draw the regions we start in. First though all devastated areas where in Asia, Africa and Europe which would have made Africa and South America easy to hold if it hadn't been for a huge zombie presence in a whopping 5 territories. Africa had one infected zone, USA had two and I believe there was one in S. America and one in Asia.
First round went horrible for me. I bid 0 of my starting 4 energy while Tobias bid 2 and Bjorn bid 1. I was last and Toby drew zombie hunger as his first zombie card. I had my Land Commander in Southern Africa and a horde of 7 zombies descended on my force there (I believe I had 5 troops there). Everyone got eaten, thus sparing Tobys force in the adjacent territory (Where HIS land commander as well as his tech commander was).
Toby wanted Australia but Bjorn had a hefty chunk of troops there as well. Both Toby and Bjorn invested in tech commanders at the start, which I never did. Toby went for the water-territories betwen Australia and Africa and then moved them down to the water-territory closest to Asia.
Bjorn had a clear goal based on his faction: Going to the moon. He easily took one colony there but didnt do much else. He had much more energy than us though.
My goal was easy too: Going to the naval areas. I managed to draw one hidden energy card, but when I played it Toby played mind control on me! This was pretty annoying since I figured I was last, but he pointed out that if I got the energy I would have more than him and outbid him for turn order next turn.
I managed to claim most of the water areas at the west part of the map, and got the card that suggested I had dabbled in zombie-technology which meant they no longer got +1 against me.
Next turn I bid nothing again, but I believe Toby went first and Bjorn went last, since Bjorn bid nothing. Toby drew a land contagion and managed to draw the very area where my naval commander, space station and 5 troops stood (the ONLY area where I had any kind of momentum!). But I waved them goodbye and shot the scientist who had claimed we paid a "somewhat heavy price" for understanding the zombies better.
Bjorn wanted to oust me from the yellow naval areas. I tried to play a stealth mod card, but once again I was targeted with a mind control card. That tech commander sure is a nuisance!
Bjorn managed to solidify himself on the moon and take it all, as well as playing a moon energy card getting a LOT of energy. However I FINALLY managed to get my hidden energy this turn and thus getting more energy than him.
I believe for the third turn I had 9 energy, Bjorn had 7 and Toby had 3. I bid 8 while Bjorn bid 5 and toby bid 1.
I went first and got quite a lot of energy. I bought nuclear technology and managed to rocket-strike Bjorns lunar commander which killed him. I also boxed in Tobias with an attack of a zombie horde.
I also convinced Tobias that he should attack Bjorn on the moon. This was due to me losing access to the moon by losing my space station and there being too many zombie-areas between me and other space stations.
Tobias managed decently and between me rocketstriking away a territory at one place and Toby taking several areas bjorn lost the moon. He still had some naval territories though.
However through zombies I lost two other naval areas so I only had two left. The moon was heavily contested and Bjorn and Toby still eyed each other suspiciously in australia. No one could hold Africa and S. America due to zombie presence and Europe and N. America seemed very little action.
Bjorn as a last action managed to land a rocket strike on an area where I had my naval- and land commander and 3 mods. He rolled a 5 so killed everyone there and took a space station I controlled. I think I had by now lost my naval commander every turn.
During the last turn the contagion spread to the moon as well as one of the sea areas I controlled. Toby and Bjorn now realized I had gone from being last to pretty much being the biggest threat. They managed to take everything but 1 naval colony from me but, both with troops AND zombie cards (The zombies really hated me this game, and the contagions just kept on spreading) but still fighting a bitter war for the moon, which no one seemed to win.
However this turn I managed to break the australian hold of Bjorn and sending my naval and nuclear commander out into the red naval area. I managed to use an assasin bomb to kill Bjorns naval commander and took many naval areas from him. I also yet again killed his lunar commander. However this left me with 0 energy.
As things stood before the 5th turn there were a LOT of zombies and a LOT of contagion-zones. There were a huge amount of areas with only 1 mod and even some with no mods at all. No one controlled anything on the moon and I controlled 1 naval colony but 15 territories.
I had 1 energy for the last turn (Which I overlooked so thought I only had 0 for the bidding) while Bjorn had about 6 and Toby 2. However they left the last turn for me while Bjorn was first. He managed to get most of the moon but didnt do much else.
Toby took quite a few areas on the ground and almost almost took entire Sajon (Green colony) on the moon, but at the last area Bjorn played stealth mods so the moon was still uncontested.
In my turn Toby counted and said that If i Took 3 areas from him I would probably win.
I had some energy from my income, and managed to get colony influence for my naval commander. I also had 2(!) assemble mods cards for naval areas. So I gathered a LOT of troops, and managed to take assasinate Bjorns naval commander again, and take 2 naval areas and entire north america (Which was frighteningly close to failing due to Toby rolling very good). I even bought a land commander in N. america just for the d8.
And so it was concluded that I won, and quite alot. It was a very fun game but as we looked on the map we had to admit it was the most ravaged game-board we had ever seen in risk 2210. I think it was 8 contagion-zones, one on the moon and one in a naval territory. Also almost ALL commanders died EACH turn and there where very little troops left on the board, and since we at one point drew a LOT of zombie hoards the zombie-presence was huge everywhere, which perhaps meant my victory might have been hollow.
A few points about the game and expansions we realized:
- Tech Commander seems very tactical and is quite fun. He probably replaces the diplomat for a slot.
- The zombie-expansion is hilarious, but random. We think it works great for 3 players as it serves as an additional faction, which might be needed with 3 players. Also all of the players love zombies as a concept and the tech commander had some fun additions from this expansion. We also play the cbt-protection card in the tech-deck as it can provide immunity to contagions as well.
- Factions where very fun, though they might fluctuate in balance. We did not see a balance-problem with free militia but thought silicon-knights felt underpowered in comparision to primus oceanus and free militia.
Also we realize how much we love risk2210 and for our group it is the definitive risk-variant. We have yet to try the Antarctica-expansion though which I have printed and we are also pretty excited about the other factions.