The Hayes family has been enjoying many epic global battles through the classic board game Risk. A wonderful game that is both easy to understand and play but also a strategic game as well. Of course it does also come down to the luck of the roll.

History

According to Wickiepedia (check spelling) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_(game) Risk is a strategy board game produced by Parker Brothers (now a division of Hasbro). Winning Moves also makes a classic 1959 version. It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde ("The Conquest of the World") in France. It was later bought by Parker Brothers and released in 1959 with some modifications to the rules as Risk: The Continental Game, then as Risk: The Game of Global Domination."

Currently there are 19 licensed versions of the game risk: Fifteen English versions, three French and one Brazilian

English releases
1.1 Risk
1.2 Castle Risk
1.3 Risk 40th Anniversary Edition
1.4 Risk: 2210 A.D.
1.5 Risk: the Lord of the Rings
1.6 Risk: the Lord of the Rings: Gondor & Mordor Expansion Set
1.7 Risk: Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition
1.8 Risk Godstorm
1.9 Risk: Star Wars: Clone Wars Edition
1.10 Risk: Star Wars Original Trilogy Edition
1.11 Risk: The Transformers Edition
1.12 Risk Junior: Narnia
1.13 Risk: Halo Wars
1.14 Risk Legacy
1.15 Risk: Metal Gear Solid

French releases
2.1 La Conquête du monde†
2.2 Risk: Édition Napoléon
2.3 Risk: Édition Napoléon: Extension Empire Ottoman

Brazilian releases
3.1 WAR

Game Time - Approximately 30 minutes
Players
3 - 6 ideal
2 with modified set and play

Game Objective

Occupy every territory on the board, and in doing so eliminate all the other players from the game.

Game Set Up - Easy

Deal out the 44 cards (excluding the jokers) to each player. One army is placed on each country represented by the cards. This is the only set up necessary to begin the game.
For a 2 player game there are modified starting rules which can involve a neutral 3rd army.

Keys to the Game

There are three phases to each turn:

Deploy your newly acquired troops
Attack your opponents
Redeploy your troops

Attack on your first turn to make sure you expand your country control quickly.
Try to control entire continents. This gets you additional armies at each turn.
As you can move your armies at the end of each turn - focus on reinforcing your counties on the borders of your continents. This will add safety as you are attacked by your opponents and make it harder for them to concur you.
My approach is to try and capture at least one new country on each turn. If you capture a country you get a country card. Collect 3 of one of the 3 figures (foot solder, horseman, cannon) and you get additional armies. As you play additional sets you get more armies.
The accumulation of armies is the key to winning. This gives you a huge advantage when attacking and when defending.

Why I Like It

The set up is relatively quick depending on which set up version you take.
There is some strategy to the game but also you can quickly learn how to play and jump in and play.
Play is simple although with strategy you can make it as complicated and in-depth as you want.
Actually teaches you a bit about geography.
Although a war game the pieces are benign enough that it isn't graphic. The battles are raged through throws of the dice.

Game Resources

Here are some other helpful resources

Risk - The Classic Board Game