My First Risk Experience

    Ok today I decided to head out to the nearest toy shop and grab a copy of Risk. I've always heard amazing stories of games lasting hours on end and friends becoming foes over, what seemed from an outside perspective as petty. I gathered a few willing chums along with a substantial supply of beer to last the duration and unknowingly prepared myself for the most intense four and a half hours of hardcore boardgaming action that I've experienced in my naive nineteen yearlong life.
    We spent a good hour just attempting to play the game correctly, frequently referring to the manual in confusion, I'm pretty sure that we didn't start the way we were meant to although we carried on anyway. In case you haven't played Risk before the main objective is to dominate over your enemies to conquer the various divided sections of the globe, using 'troops' to attack and defend your territories, whilst strategically attempting to read opponents' moves and plan your route to victory. The version we had had an alternative method of winning in which a player has to achieve three main objectives, for example 'Control 11 cities' or 'Control 2 enemy capitals', although I'm not actually sure whether this is the same in traditional Risk. 
    From our understanding we each rolled the dice to decide who gets first pick over which territory to place their capitals in, again I'm not sure if this was right but after an hour of deciphering the manual we just wanted to get invading so we cracked on. I placed my base in South Africa, a pretty central position, which in hindsight was a bad move... 

    We each began slowly expanding our empires throughout the globe watching each others movements, I started creating hypothetical situations in my head in which I ripped through Asia and South/North America around into Europe before launching my final assault on the somewhat 'tucked away' Australia....unfortunately reality had other plans. 
    Driven by a lust for power and a new found hatred for my friends turned enemies, I began taking Africa...Central through to East and North, whilst sending a troop or two to sit on Egypt and Madagascar. Things were going fairly smoothly up to this point, I'd managed to comfortably settle myself in my continent, picking up a troop bonus card along the way, I was feeling pretty optimistic, I'd even managed to slip a few compliments to Jack who was building up his territories in Australia about the size of his army in an attempt to create an early alliance, "Pretty big army you got there Jack..."
"Cheers Tom, your's is pretty impressive too."
"Thanks very much..."

    However without me realising the Brazilians had managed to blitz through America and were over in Greenland putting their feet up and tucking into a plate of freshly grilled whale steaks, getting ready to skip over to Iceland. It's probably worth mentioning that the more territories that are in your possession the more troops you recruit on your turns, which turns Risk into a game where having momentum helps. Australia was somehow starting to look pretty crammed with troops as well, however I wasn't worried, as after all I assumed they were on my side... 
    Out of nowhere the Brazilian's had flown across the South Atlantic and were arrogantly setting up their deck chairs on the coast of my North Africa. War had begun. At the same time the Japanese had begun a tiny invasion on China, trying to force back the Australians into Indonesia whilst the Russians were sitting, waiting impartially trying not to piss anyone off.
    I realised that I had to defend myself or risk being trapped in my own continent. The attack and defend system in Risk works like this, the attacking player rolls the same amount dice equivalent to the amount of troops he/she's using to attack (a maximum of three), the defending side does the same (although with a maximum of 2), the highest rolls on each the attacking and defending dice compare, the lowest loses and thus a troop from the defeated team is discarded, as with the other two remaining dices as well (or so we played it). I was annihilated humiliatingly and my fears became reality as my board space became smaller. Again, due to my lack of attention the Russians had snuck through into Southern Europe and were poised for a hefty attack on my Egypt, I was heavily outnumbered and prepared for the worst. They attacked, rolling three dice each showing decent scoring numbers but I struck back with a six roll on my single dice. This happened consecutively for about three turns, each time my single troop marker fighting off the Europeans, overcoming the odds and surviving, it was a one marker army, so I named that particular marker Rambo.
    Meanwhile Asia was becoming swarmed with black and green markers, South and North America were covered in red and yet I was stuck in Africa just trying to keep hold of my borders...then my empire began to crumble. The Brazilians had once again turned their greedy eyes to my shores and were back in the north, Rambo valiantly fought off another attack from the Europeans until he was eventually defeated. 

    I here faced two options, I could flee into the Middle East with the few troops I had left or create a defiant final stand in Madagascar, I chose the latter (mainly because I was running out of beer and we had reached the 4 hour mark so I started to feel pretty reckless). The Australians who i previously thought allies had dropped a few troops into South Africa, now splitting my army, I slipped Jack a look of disgust and disappointment. The original Europeans and Japanese had now been totally wiped out and were now occupied by the Americans. Black and red troops now dominated the board and I had to sit and watch on my little island as they closed in around me. In a desperate attempt I tried dropping a few bonus troops into the heart of Australia, however I was knocked aside by superior numbers.
    I think again luck was on my side for a turn or two and I defended Madagascar from the reds, however inevitably I was eventually out rolled and was forced to leave the game. Shortly after the reds and blacks settled on a truce and the game was ended, the board split it two. 

    I'm not sure how we managed to play for four and a half hours without realising but we did and surprisingly my enthusiasm didn't begin to dwindle as much as it would with other boardgames, even video games. On a more academic note thinking about the articles I've looked at recently, I'd say the Movement Impetus/pacing aspect of Risk was pretty much spot on, players are constantly forced to make significant decisions as the state of play is constantly changing, I think this is actually the strongest part about the game, along with the intense competition and conflict factors.
    This was my first go at Risk and it most probably won't be my last and I think whenever I here or see the word 'Madagascar' (or Rambo) I'll be reminded of my feeble efforts of global domination....

Here's a link to Jack's blog if you want his version of events... http://jstal.blogspot.com/