Yes!! I first saw this in Target a couple months ago and thought, wow that looks pretty cool. I didn't pick it up at the time, but last week it popped into my mind again, so I went back and picked it up. THIS is the kind of mass market game I enjoy! It reminds me, kind of, how I felt when I found Heroscape on the shelves at Walmart. It's funny with the name because choosing 'Risk' means they'll get more casual buyers even though it may mean the loss of some hardcore buyers, which of course means they made the right choice as the gain of casual buyers far outweighs the loss of hXc buyers by 100 to 1. I'm so glad you guys reviewed this, and even happier that it seems other hardcore gamers have given this a chance and seems to be pretty widely praised at this point in time. A win-win for all of us!
Rick Koeppen Great point. I think Risks main obstacle other than length of play is for us when we say "we are into board games , or war-games" people inevitably respond "like Monopoly or Risk?" And we say "no.. not like Risk..Ugh". But that shouldn't take away from what Risk is, a light wargame that is easy to play and uses dice to resolve combat. This has been done much better of course, but the hate Risk gets from table top gamers is because of non gamers reactions to our hobby, sort of unfair to the game considering it is where a lot of us started.
@DarkShadez Yes! There are levels of sophistication even among the simpler board games. Risk is not Monopoly. Axis & Allies is not Risk. In a world where most people consider Candy Land simple and Monopoly complex, Risk shouldn't be slammed as often as it is by "serious" gamers.
Sounds like a really nice game to introduce those of your friends who only play risk once in a while.. some of those you can convert into deeper games once they get a taste of it ;) Glad to see that these oldies get a face-lift every now and then to follow the trends.
Thanks for the review guys, I just ordered this, Like many others Risk is what started the hobby off for me, I like any improved variation of it even if just for nostalgia. I still buy Axis and Allies games for the same reason, sometimes it's fun to look back to when I was 13 and played these games with friends.
I'm after my first game, and I think I like it more than you do.. I really enjoyed it, there is a fair amount of stategic thinking and the battles are pretty cool IMO (and you can mitigate the dices luck by having different kind of troops and different amount of soldiers). I agree that more cards would be even more fun, but the amount that you get still gets you pretty busy. The reason I think that all the dice are the same color is because, depending on the kind of soldier/weapon and the amount that you attack with, the number of dice can change even in the same battle (for example, you have 1 siege weapon - that's 2 dice, and then you have 5 archers - that's 5 dice). Very fun game!
Tom, I think mean it could be the SIXTH game in the Gamemaster series, as there were already five: Axis & Allies, Broadsides & Boarding Parties, Shogun, Fortress America, and Conquest of the Empire.
James Cruz indeed. I probably won't get it. It doesn't have enough 'meat' yet. Though I did enjoy Risk Legacy and Starcraft Risk but this system would be fun if there is a certain 'tech progression' and you unlock faction specific decks etc as the game progresses.
I have enjoyed the RISK variants that I have played. Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition has been my favorite. I have yet to play Legacy. I just might pick RISK Europe up. RISK is a great game, especially as an introduction to wargames.
Sam's expression at Tom's verbal typo at the start, there... I don't think asymmetric sets of cards for each faction would be too much, as long as they're not radically different where you need to look up 'what does that mean?' part way through a game, that's hidden complexity which is usually fine with more mass market audiences. Honestly that they went with city powers is more surprising to me than if they'd have gone with asymmetric cards in a mass market title, and... More games like this from Hasbro would be fab - family weight games with mass market price points and which bring some of modern gaming to the market that don't know of games outside of traditional games and Monopoly, Life and Risk. That they're using IP like Risk (and if they use IP like Life or Monopoly for stuff) may make it harder for us to find, but... Honestly? It makes it easier to get into the hands of families who aren't aware of the world of modern games, we've got plenty of family weight games to choose from so I'm not concerned about that. It's likely to reach an audience that no amount of Target Exclusive deals and non-gaming specialty retailer distribution (i.e. hobby games in book stores) is going to be able to reach, no matter how good the games are, simply on name value... And that's a good thing for the hobby in the long run, since it gives more kids and adults the opportunity to realize they like board games, even if they're not yet buying hobby games or attending conventions or whatever. (But, man... Of all the mechanisms in modern gaming, they went with 'roundel but with a hand of cards instead of an actual roundel', with two options per card and a slight element of programming to that by having you place two cards instead of one to drive this? That's... That's a step or two more than I was expecting.)
Picked this up though I haven't played it yet. Sam's spot on when he says this would have been a big hit in the '80s Gamemaster days. Reminds me of that stuff a lot at first glance. Sometimes you just need to shoot stuff.
I like the classic Risk with a few house rules, territory limits,12/ is already an official rule variant, the 2 extra armies you get for owning the territory of the cards used for new armies now are either a horse (5) cannon (10) or infantry (1). A bonus for most cannons...horses... Allowing a +/- 1 to a dice roll. Seems like several options exist for expanding some of the strategies, maximum units/territory would seem like the most influential, I'd pick a higher # than 12.
Played this a few days ago and it was really fun! I've played the Game of Thrones and Halo versions of Risk, and they take so long to finish and seem very badly balanced compared to this one. Really considering buying it.
So for anyone wondering. I bought it and it's been a blast. Another thing that I love about this game is that the setup doesn't take one hour. Matches can be fast or long, it depends on how much players cooperate against a single enemy and so on.
I kept seeing that on Amazon and in Target and wondered if it was any better than Risk. Sounds like you guys prefer Star Wars Risk, but I think I'd give both a try if I had the chance.
I guess this just bugs me as a historian, but I don't get why someone makes a game about medieval Europe and than totally anachronistically chooses to put Berlin on the map as the representative city of what is today Germany. Take Frankfurt, Nürnberg, Vienna, or even Magdeburg, whatever. Berlin is just not important until the Rise of Brandenburg-Prussia in the 17th century. If you put Berlin on the map as a major city, you can as well call Constantinople Istanbul. The game looks fun though apart from that ;)
Dice tower should review Risk 2210 which is my personal favorite Risk. For numerous reasons.... 1) Four tiles get nuked at the start of every game. They become unusable and impassible. About half the time it has no impact but the other half it makes the strategy of the board completely different.We once had a game where by blind luck it wiped out three of the passes into Asia so Asia suddenly became manageable and a hugely important stronghold. 2) The whole General/commander/space base aspect. 3 ) The Command Cards/Energy System where you need the right commander to play them and they have some very strategic uses. 4) You can go to the moon! 5) You can launch orbital nukes! Still a lot of dice rolling and luck in that aspect, but all the extras makes it a version of Risk truly worth owning.
Okay, So I got this game and read the rules multiple times. I've not played it but I'm puzzled on how the 2-3 player Mercenary Variant game works. I know you have to place a bid to control a Army but I don't understand is what happens to the surviving Army units that you took control of to conquer a territory? Do you keep them or return them to their Capitol/Bases? The rules do not specify.
The mercenary is just another player. But you bid for control of that player. So the units behave in the same way. Say if you won control during this round, then all the territories you won with the mercenary army belong to the mercenary.
The game seems mildly amusing... perhaps after purchasing Scythe and Mare Nostrum, I'd consider buying it. Sounds like a good "take that" family game. Good review.
Im typing as i watch but at about 4:55 he says you have to leave one perosn behind. This is only true for the city lands, you can completely move all your troops off of any other land. Of course doing this you lose the supply line and you don't get the tax. but if you are retreatring or need everyone in your army to move into position to attack you can. This is helpful so you don't thin your forces out while marching across the map. at about 9:45 he calls them scottish, they are vikings not a nitpick just informative. Also I started to imagine that they set the logs on fire and roll them at the opposition lol
I was amused by Tom saying this would be a good family style wargame. That's true to a point, but this game can be MEAN. I've played Risk Europe with experienced gamers and it was intense. Lots of table politics, shifting alliances, and backstabbing. I love games like that, but it would have made my children cry. I guess if you're playing with your family then you just tone it down a bit. Anyway, I wanted to let folks know that this can be a kickass cutthroat game with the right group. The playtime is fantastic as well, coming in at about 90 minutes or so. I'm very happy I own it.
Risk is no Diplomacy, so no allowed alliances whatswhoever. Atleast that's the way we play since ages and like this it has always gone over well. If you want backstabbing, there is GoT the boardgame etc..
The game specifically mentions diplomacy and backstabbing as key elements of the game. Even the back cover of the box says, "Diplomacy, alliances, and backstabbing are inevitable." You can play without this, of course, but it wouldn't be nearly as interesting or balanced. The game depends on the players to provide balance via diplomacy, since the map itself is very imbalanced by design.
Interesting info, thank you, because in the original Risks it never did. Neither in the box nor in the rules :) Thanks for the hint anyway. Will have to try Europe with alliances then.
Classic Risk stands the test of time for its simplicity and basic strategy which gives it a very wide appeal. If I could teach my mom to play it and not get frustrated over complex turn mechanisms and actions that indie niche games have, it's a 10/10 lol.
Card play is like Concordia, play your cards and get them back after you've played them all. Very different to Risk in general, save for Star Wars Risk card play. I might have to pick this up.
There are some mistakes on that map. The most noticeable is on Venice. Venice could actually been named as Dalmatia. In fact the city of Venice is outside that territory. It's somewhere on the coast between Lombardy and Bavaria.
This game looks pretty cool and there only one thing that bothers me, some of the territory's to me are just absurdly large like the north Scandinavian territory's, Budapest, Turkey, and that one place in Spain and France
my question is how many times and when can you use those city tokens. like if i'm not mistaken berlin allows you to expand and then maneuver too. so do i get to expand and maneuver every single time as long as i have berlin? can i use that token both times during a round? how does it work? please help me out guys.
Yes you can use the power so long as you hold the city. Rome retains its value of two crowns throughout the game so the other cities also retain their power.
Guys remember risk Europe has risen tutorial and how they turned off the comments I think that’s because everyone hates green now and they got tired of hearing it
Risk is one of those odd games. A lot of people really liked it the first time they played it. Later they were exposed to other war games and quickly grew to dislike or hate Risk. This looks a lot better than classic Risk but I don't think I would want to own it.
The "King's Orders Cards" are ridiculous since I'm the King playing the game and don't need cards to give me permission to move, tax, spend. The game is Axis & Allies in the Middle Ages. A&A and Chess don't have Order Cards stealing fun, freedom of choice, and slowing down the game.
I think this review would be totally different if the exact same game had been published by Days of Wonder, Fantasy Flight, Stonemaier, or another big publisher. Tom and Sam, I feel you both would have had derisive comments about how this game was just fancy Risk, and you expected more. How much of your positivity comes from this simply being a mass-market Hasbro game that kind of surprised you, rather than a game that you can wholeheartedly recommend as a top contender?
First of all, what Derek said... Secondly, if this had been nothing but a dressed up Risk variant, I would've happily (that is to say, dutifully) trounced all over it as such, no matter who published it. That being said, I think we both (kind of) expected it to be that, and it wasn't. It actually has some neat mechanics in it that are much more than just fancied-up Risk. As others here have already said, it would be a near perfect tool in introducing your Risk-playing friends to some mechanisms that are a bit more modern and fresh.
Well, I'm not being critical of the review overall. I quite enjoyed it. I think you mentioned exactly what I'm getting at--expectation deficit. If this had been from a reputable publisher, you would have expected more and been disappointed. From Hasbro with the Risk name, you expected nothing and were pleasantly surprised. My point is that in the former case, the game would be reviewed more negatively than this one, even if it were a superior game overall, just because of the power of expectation.
There is one fhing that pisses me off about this game. The map! I'd much rather they either stuck to the specific time in history and be accurate about it or just transfer the mechanics to a fantasy setting.
