Risk versions--which ones are the good ones?

Not my goal, but that's a lovely way for me to head into dinner. These shrimp wraps taste should taste soooooooooooooooo much better with this liberal heaping of Schadenfreude sauce on the side. ;-P

I have your mailing address and will toss the game in the mail over the next week or so...

That's be sweet, but then the guilt will overwhelm me.

...

Nah, fuck guilt. Send me that game! (ps, you really do have the cheap shipping, eh?)

I cast my vote for Star Wars: Original Trilogy as well. The theme is great, and the three factions is a blast. The only real downside I see is that it plays best with 3 or 5, and not so well with other numbers.

jeb wrote:

(ps, you really do have the cheap shipping, eh?)

I can't use it that often [don't want to abuse the perq]; but, for something like shipping a gamemaster title or a box with 3 or 4 heavy-ass games in it, it's something I'll make use of.

Speaking of FedEx, you get that 1960/UtSotD yet? I realized after I packed and shipped that box, although I bubblewrapped *around* 'em and secured them from rattling about, I don't think I padded *between* those two games and 1960 weighs a damned ton for its size. I'm hoping that, since the boxes are the same dimensions, that everything arrived A-OK.

Dogmatix wrote:

Speaking of FedEx, you get that 1960/UtSotD yet? I realized after I packed and shipped that box, although I bubblewrapped *around* 'em and secured them from rattling about, I don't think I padded *between* those two games and 1960 weighs a damned ton for its size. I'm hoping that, since the boxes are the same dimensions, that everything arrived A-OK.

Didn't get it yesterday, but don't worry about it. I am in the player realm, not the collector realm, so I could really not care less about "dings" and "scuffs" or whatever. Are all the pieces there? Yes? Good. I worked out the value of my Magic deck a couple of years ago--it was almost $700. I riffle and bridge it unsleeved, I flip cards up off the table, etc. It makes some of the locals cry. I don't wreck the cards on purpose or anything, but come on, let's play here.

Don't worry about the game if you haven't sent it--we'll work another trade later and I'll score it then.

I picked up Risk: Star Wars Original Trilogy at Toys R Us for $20 yesterday--big clearance there now folks. MISE.

Have a game night coming up next week, we'll see if 3 or 5 show up, I may break this out.

Played it tonight (Original Trilogy) - 3-player game, three games in a row and we must have set some type of record.
The first two games ended on the Rebel players second turn (i.e the Empire & Huts only got one turn in), both times the Rebels went for the base just placed by the Empire and (incredibly) both times this first base picked up was the Emperor !!!
The first time was partly due to a few bad rolls by the Empire which let the Rebels steamroller over more planets than expected, but both times the Empire didn't want to make it look obvious by putting the base with the Deathstar first turn (in hindsight I would have played it safe if I was the Empire in either of those two games as you are disadvantaged at thestart of the game going last).
And then in the third game the Empire and Rebels were two busy matching each other in the initial troop placement (after the catastrophe of the first two games) that they didn't notice that the Hut player had placed on six Resource planets in setup, then made an excellent defensive formation around them, but still managed to have three big armies, AND managed to be close to four other Resource planets. And on his first turn and with some virtually unopposed dice rolling (luck was riding high on his shoulder) he managed to pick up the four planets !!!! Game Finished before the Empire player (me!) had gotten to play.

So my evening of Star Wars Risk consisted of three games where I had two turns and won one of the games ... that has to be one of my stranger gaming nights.

Southernman wrote:

Played it tonight (Original Trilogy) - 3-player game, three games in a row and we must have set some type of record.
The first two games ended on the Rebel players second turn (i.e the Empire & Huts only got one turn in), both times the Rebels went for the base just placed by the Empire and (incredibly) both times this first base picked up was the Emperor !!!
The first time was partly due to a few bad rolls by the Empire which let the Rebels steamroller over more planets than expected, but both times the Empire didn't want to make it look obvious by putting the base with the Deathstar first turn (in hindsight I would have played it safe if I was the Empire in either of those two games as you are disadvantaged at thestart of the game going last).
And then in the third game the Empire and Rebels were two busy matching each other in the initial troop placement (after the catastrophe of the first two games) that they didn't notice that the Hut player had placed on six Resource planets in setup, then made an excellent defensive formation around them, but still managed to have three big armies, AND managed to be close to four other Resource planets. And on his first turn and with some virtually unopposed dice rolling (luck was riding high on his shoulder) he managed to pick up the four planets !!!! Game Finished before the Empire player (me!) had gotten to play.

So my evening of Star Wars Risk consisted of three games where I had two turns and won one of the games ... that has to be one of my stranger gaming nights.

Man, thank goodness a Caylus player wasn't present. That amount of randomness would have just imploded his skull.

Strangely, this makes me like this game even more. Having only played vanilla Risk and bearing witness to countless Australian putsch slogs take hour after hour of grinding away through North America, followed by South America, Africa, and ending in the Middle East, maybe mix it up and end in Afghanistan--anything that can make Risk end in 6 minutes is a good thing.

These games were definitely abnormalities compared to other times we played - getting the emperor first two games in a row and not placing him with the Deathstar (wasn't me either time!) was certainly a bluff/gamble, as the Rebel player needs to move the Force meter pretty soon in the game to stop the Empire getting a stack of cards and destroying any base does that .... and the Rebels & Empire watching each other only during setup (guilty this time) and letting the Huts get a winning position at the start was just careless/stooopid.

It's a great game to play, and I'm starting to think that the 5-player option may be the best after a few plays now - with fewer troops per player you probably won't have the 'quick finish' scenario, plus with teams of two plus the Huts it is quite fun to try and make one person in a two-team to do something that you wanted but his partner didn't.

AND REMEMBER TO FOLLOW THE STARTING ORDER AS SPECIFIED IN THE RULES ..... otherwise it may be a very short game again.

TheDukester wrote:

Original Trilogy is the best I've played.

I never did play my copy of Black Ops, so I can't comment on its gameplay. I took my free promotional copy and sold it for $12,000 ... I'm planning on buying a new server for The Leading Boardgame Site.

Doubtless the poster of Jakob Fugger on your wall nods approvingly

jeb wrote:

dan daly wrote:

Star Wars Original Trilogy is very good. Risk 2210 is even better.

Really? You're the first person to advocate this? What's the skinny? Secret missions? Are there lasers or something? I really don't know.

Things I like about 2210:

1. The random devestated lands (at the start of the game 4 territories are made impassible) this makes for a different board each time and adds a lot to replayability. You have to reconsider your setup strategy based on the nuked territories.

2. Leaders- they add all sorts of Kewl Powerz with their cards while not being complex at all.

3. The variety of strategies you can pursue- go heavy on land, go for the water, go to the moon, lay low till the last turn then make a big push, and on and on. You can try out different things each time you play.

I like Star Wars: Original Trilogy a lot it's very good, but if you get beyond 3 players, it becomes a team game. For me that classic risk feeling does not compute with teams. Risk is about keeping your "friends" closer than your enemies, double and triple crosses, etc. Every man for himself. Risk 2210 does that. It just has more meat to it than any of the other variants that I've played without really being any more complex.

Played 2210 a few weeks ago with 3 guys who had played risk but never 2210. We were up and going in no time and had a blast.