FORMATTED FOR 80-COLUMNS. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A REAL COMPUTER, USE YOUR PRINTER, OR A WORD PROCESSOR. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PRINTER OR A WORD PROCESSOR ... GET ONE! //======================================================================\\ // \\ // Enhancing the Game "Risk" \\ || || || by || || Redd Slaver || || || \\ A Presentation Of // \\ The Southwest Pirates' Guild // \\======================================================================// A RISK BACKGROUND: ================= The board game "Risk" has long been something of a classic among the hacker intelligentsia (and of course, cool people in general). Everybody enjoys the notion of taking over the entire world, at no personal risk to themselves. Risk succesfully captures the conquer-the-world spirit of most modern wargames, while avoiding the use of hexagon-printed boards, hordes of ambiguous counters, and a ridiculously complex rule structure. The battles Risk depicts seem to be set a long time ago. World War I would seem to be the latest possible time that Risk would seem to be a realistic depiction of warfare. Several computerized versions of Risk have also appeared, some as obvious clones (such as "COMPUTER RISK"), others with major modifications (such as "GLOBAL THERMONUCLAR WAR"). Some have even expanded and improved upon the original game. PROBLEMS WITH RISK: ================== Risk does suffer from a few flaws. It is, if you will, TOO simple to play. Therefore, I am outlining some simple rule changes that will mke the game more realistic, yet maintain its basic simplicity. I have listed some of Risk's main weaknesses below: 1) TRANSPORTATION. In the world of modern warfare, troops and such are shuttled around by plane, all over the world. As it stands, Risk allows one "troop move" at the end of a player's turn -- moving armies from one territory into one adjacent to it. This is, of course, patently ludicrous. Perhaps during Napoleon's reign, movement of armies was so restricted, but in a realistic, modern troop battle, troops are deployed where they are needed most, within hours. 2) SLOWNESS OF COMBAT. It is not uncommon, late in the game, to have combats in which each side has 30 or more armies involved. Risk's current limitation allows the attacker to roll up to three dice when attacking. The defender may roll up to two. Late in the game, this can mean fifteen minutes or more for a single combat. In a game with four or more players, this can get very boring very quickly. 3) ARCHAIC SETTING. Risk does not reflect the reality of modern warfare. Of course, if you WANT to conquer the world of the 1800's that's fine, but how much fun can ancient warfare be after 10000 simulations by SSI? 4) THE "PROLONGED DEATH" FACTOR. It is all to easy for one player, once he gains a slight advantage -- perhaps even just a single continent held -- to use this overwhelmingly against the others, who may be too busy bickering amongst themselves to mount an organized attack against him. Thus, once one player gains this significant advantage, the outcome of the game is largely a foregone conclusion. This is especially aided by Risk's ridiculous "instant deployment" feature: If you get, say, 15 armies on a particular term, it is perfectly legal to put thee al in one territory. Come ON! 150,000 soldiers don't just materialize out of Western Australia's population of bushmen. They have to be recruited (or shanghaied) out of a country's population, and trained, before they can be relied upon in combat. DEALING WITH THE PROBLEMS: ========================= So, once we've identified Risk's weak spots, what do we do about them? The transportation problem is perhaps the easiest to solve. There needs to be some sort of system for moving troops around more easily. The one I've come up with is listed below in the "Rules Modifications" section. You are, of course, encouraged to experiment and come up with your own if you wish, but the system below seems to work pretty well. The speed factor is a little more hairy. To get around it, I have divided combat into two types: Normal and Overrun attacks. The Normal attack is the kind you're used to already, although sped up a bit. The Overrun attack is more on a blitzkrieg, lightning warfare sort of maneuver. The attacker basically hurls all his forces at the defender, guns blazing. He has the advantage of speed, and often, numbers. The defender has the advantage that the attacker is running right into his guns. Thus, Overrun combat is quick and bloody, and the rules I have proposed below should reflect this well. The prolonged death factor is the trickiest of the problems. My solution adds realism, perhaps at the expense of a little more game time. I also believe that the problem of instant deployment has been solved. RULES MODIFICATIONS: =================== I. Transport Abolish the regular end-of-turn "troop move." Instead: Count up the number of territories the player owns and divide by two, rounding fractions up. This is how many armies the player may now move from any of his territories on the board to any other of his territories. The only limitation is he may not totally abandon a territory; he must leae at least one army there. Transport is done on an army-by-army basis. Each army moved may go anywhere. (Just because you moved one army from Peru to Brazil doesn't mean ALL the armies you move from Peru have to go to Brazil.) Example: Player X owns 6 territories: Alaska with 5 armies, Kamchatka with 3 armies, Greenland with 2 armies, and Iceland, Great Britain, and Northern Europe with one each. Owning six territories allows him to transport up to three of his armies. He can choose any three on the board, except the ones from Iceland, Great Britain, or Northern Europe. II. Deployment The extra armies that a player receives for owning all of a particular continent must originally be deployed IN THAT CONTINENT. They may, of course, be subsequently Transported. Furthermore, not all the extra armies may be deployed in the same territory of the continent. They must be at least as spread out as the following table indicates. (They may, of course, be even more spread out than this): # of extra Maximum deployed in armies received a single territory Continent per turn per turn --------- --------------- ------------------- Africa 3 2 Asia 7 3 Australia 2 1 Europe 5 2 North America 5 2 South America 2 1 This more accurately simulates the recruitment (and drafting) of armies from the general populace. III. Combat A. Normal Attacks Normal Attacks are identical to the original form of Risk attacks, except that the attacker is no longer limited to thre dice, nor is the defender limited to two. The attacker may use one less dice than the number of attacking armies he has, and the defender may use as many dice as he has defending armies. (This is just like the original Risk, except that the limits of three dice for the attacer and two for the defender have been removed). Neither attacker nor defender are OBLIGATED to roll that many dice, of course. This simply removes the limitations of the original game. In large combats, of course, using this rule requires having a LOT of dice. I personally recommend the "micro-dice" that are becoming so common all over the country now. These little six-siders measure between 1/8 and 1/4 inch on a side, and are usually available for the price of about 2 for 25 cents, although I've seen them as cheap as a nickel each and as expensive as three for a dollar. They're worth the effort of finding, though. Their small size makes it easy to drop 50 to 100 into a Risk box and think nothing of it. Don't forget to get 2 different colors so you can tell the attacker and defender apart. B. Overrun Attacks Overrun Attacks are quick ways to finish off an entrenched foe or generally play havoc with the enemy. Statistically and historically speaking, a large force will generally demolish a smaller force in combat, all other factors being equal. This rule makes large-scale attacks a bit more realistic, and allows a massively superior force to wipe out a lesser enemy with minimal losses to itself. When attacking, the attacker must specify whether he wishes to use an overrun attack. The attacker counts up the number of attacking armies and divides by five. The defender does likewise with his defending armies. This is the number of dice thy will roll. Round fractions up. (i.e. 5 armies = 1 die, but 6 armies = 2 dice). The attacker and defender roll their dice. The total of the attacker's dice is the number of armies the defender LOSES, and vice versa. The only exception is that the defender may never completely obliterate the attacker. If the attacker has, for example, 8 armies, and the defender rolls a total of 8 or more, the attacker loses only seven armies, and of course may not attack any more. EXAMPLE: Player A has 14 armies, attacking player B with 9. The attacker announces an overrun attack. A has fourteen armies, so is he rolls 3 dice. (14/5 = 2.8, round up to 3). The defender, with nine armies, rolls 2 dice. (9/5 = 1.8, round up to 2). The attacker's dice come up: 1, 4, 5; the defender's: 6, 3. Attacker's dice total 10, the defender's 9. Thus the defender loses 10 armies (all of them), and the attacker sustains a loss of 9. The attacker wins, but at a cost. EXCEPTION: In a rare case where the attacker destroys the defender but has only one army left (i.e. he cannot move into the new territory), then the defender gets one army back with which to occupy the territory, and the attack ends in a draw. And that's it. The preceding rule changes, if used, will make Risk a much more realistic, and possibly even slightly faster game. Enhanced Risk is not for everyone, of course. Many people will be perfectly happy with the original version, which is after all a great game. But for those of you who want to help bring Risk up-to-date, and move it a bit faster, then Enhanced Risk may just be what you're looking for. Enjoy! -- Redd Slaver 10/10/85 SWPG ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terrapin Station AE (505) 865-0883 pw = CICADA 24 hrs. Call Spartus Station AE (505) 822-8551 pw = TECH 24 hrs. 'em Fourth Reich BBS (505) 298-1705 (individual) 24 hrs. today! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (C) 1985 -- Redd Slaver -- The Southwest Pirates' Guild ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (> (>Terrorists Anselot The Slayer THERMO-NUC 27 Construction Project, Atom Bomb "The Journal Of Irreprodu