Risk - Balance of Power

There's a new version of Risk in Europa (sorry US players, it won't arrive here until next year due to the current craptastic economy).

It's specifically designed as a two player version of Risk that takes only 20-90 minutes (that wasn't a typo), has different map scenarios, objectives, multiple levels of play, and a small footprint.

I'm working on obtaining a reasonably priced version now. If I get it before anyone else here does I'll write up a quick review. A review was just posted at BGG if you want to read more about it.

Rob Daviau had hinted that they were cooking up a nice 2p version of Risk. Freakin' EXCELLENT!

That sounds pretty cool. A shame it's not coming here sooner. But hey! At least we're getting Halo Risk!

Do all the army cards come with text like "You have been sniped by someone off the map. Noob."?

mrmarcus wrote:

Do all the army cards come with text like "You have been sniped by someone off the map. Noob."?

Yeah, I think there's some sort of "tea bagging" rule thrown in too

LOL

www.thestrategicconquest.com/gallery/

Halo Wars = RTS

Halo 1,2,3 = FPS

But I feel your pain.. Actually I felt it in the PC version of Call of Duty 4 where the hackers have cheats turned up to 11 so that those of us who want to play a real game get instasniped by someone across the map and through 38 solid objects.

Console games seem to have a lot less of the cheats a rollin these days. Teabagers.. well... they are everywhere.

My Balance of Power should be shipping tomorrow. Shipping ended up costing nearly as much as the game itself.

What is the name of the new risk?

moofrank wrote:

What is the name of the new risk?

If you are asking about the two player version it is

Risk: Balance of Power

that halo risk looks like they just...turned the world upside down.

lj1983 wrote:

that halo risk looks like they just...turned the world upside down.

Wow. To their credit, though, it IS a bit different. I don't see a connection between North America and Asia. Besides that, it looks EXACTLY the same as an upside-down RISK map.

Aarontu wrote:

lj1983 wrote:

that halo risk looks like they just...turned the world upside down.

Wow. To their credit, though, it IS a bit different. I don't see a connection between North America and Asia. Besides that, it looks EXACTLY the same as an upside-down RISK map.

As I had commented before, in the death of Ameritrash vote trashdome fiasco, Halo Wars has more of a Black Ops look because the map is darker, and has futuristic looking minis in bright colors (similar to the Black Ops color contrast), with the nearly identical if not identical objectives.

There are 5 leaders in this version though and those don't correlate to the Black Ops / Revised units... They aren't replacements for the capital cities either as those already have way cooler mini replacements. I'm not sure what they are used for.

I asked Rob D if he had worked on the game and he hadn't. He was under the impression that it was a retheme only. The link to Halo Wars is a good retheme IMO.

Mr MOTO wrote:

I asked Rob D if he had worked on the game and he hadn't. He was under the impression that it was a retheme only. The link to Halo Wars is a good retheme IMO.

It may sound like I have Risk on the brain, but it's only because the releases and news are hitting now.



Check out the high res video. It appears that they are going Nexus Ops style translucent with all the bits... Nice.

I had a thought about the 5 leaders... If Rob is right and it is just a really sweet retheme of Risk: Revised / Black Ops I'm going to take a stab at what the leaders might be used for... I'm going to guess that they are figure replacements for airfields. In Revised Risk, airfields give advantages to troops in the same territory and all adjacent territories... Replace 'airfield' with 'leader' and the v shaped airfield cardboard token with a unique leader sculpt and there you go! It makes sense that leaders would inspire troops near them, as it makes sense that air support would do so.

Just a guess, but I think it might be it. I consider it a welcome addition and the leaders stand out bigtime compared to the other figures.

More random thoughts... If these are translucent and the colors are anywhere close to Nexus Ops, I could see some cool variants of both games with some bits from both.

I hope this game is more than just a straight re-theme of Black Ops. With the three different factions they have an opportunity to make another cool 3 or 5 player wargame of SW:OT quality.


-Will

These days, Risk is like Clue, a brand name that can be easily slapped onto any variant theme with minor changes. Some of those variations might be better than the original, but the overall effect cheapens the name.

I want Risk: Springfield, so my legions of Homers can crush all the Barts.