Risk 2016 Retrofit : A Classic Enters Modern Wargames

(Credit to Hasbro)

Written by Ed Carter, Staff Writer

Risk 2016 retrofit version

Hasbro Games

2-5 players

Global domination wargame, dice rolling, card playing, miniatures

A True Classic

If you took a poll and asked most of us war gamers, what was your first wargame, most of us would say Risk.  This game dominated so much of my free time in High School that my original copy is completely worn out.  As I became more involved in gaming and saw many other games that involved more strategies and complexity, I drifted away from Risk.  Recently I revisited it, and the 2016 Retrofit has made some changes to make it more interesting.  With actual miniatures instead of Roman Numeral counters, an easier board to differentiate the continents, and some new ways to play, Risk has entered the modern wargame era.

Ruling The World requires planning: Game Set up

As stated, the Retrofit version includes two new versions of Risk, secret mission and Capital Risk.  The setup is similar to Classic Risk, but the changes are explained later. The game board is divided into 42 individual territories. The territories are colored, based on what continents they derive from. There are cards for each territory and 2 wild cards. Remove the 2 wild cards and shuffle the territory cards into a face down pile.

Place out the board and then each player selects a box of colored miniatures representing their army. There are 3 types of units in the game; soldiers represent one army; cavalry equals five and cannons equals ten. Based on the player count, count out the designated number of soldiers. Deal out all of the territory cards. Each player places one soldier in the designated territory. Starting with the first player, place your remaining soldiers in any of your territories.  Gather up the cards, add the 2 wild cards and shuffle them again into a face down pile. Place the attack and defense dice out and the first player takes their turn.

The mechanics of War: Taking a turn

A player will perform 3 actions on their turn in this order; Receive new troops, Attack opposing territories, Maneuver units. At the start of their turn, players receive new units based on the number of territories they control, any continents they have, and any card sets they turn in.  First count up the number of territories and divide by 3, rounding up.  Receive additional armies for the continents they control, and finally consult the rulebook for the number of armies based on card sets.  Card sets are traded in when the player has either, 3 or the same unit symbol, one of each, or two and a wild card.  In addition the player receives 2 armies for any matching territories in their card set. These units must be placed in the corresponding territory indicated on the card.

After receiving and placing troops, the active player can attack any adjacent territory. To attack, move units into the territory and determine how many dice to roll. Attacks are made with 1-3 troops; rolling one attack die per troop. The defender rolls either 1 or 2 defense dice per troop in the territory.  Both players roll simultaneously and then compare. The highest number wins and ties go to the defender.  Any defeated troops are removed by one per successful attack. If the defender is defeated the attacker moves units into the conquered territory.  They must always leave at least one troop in the territory they moved from to stand guard.  The active player continues to make as many attacks as they want even at the same territory.  The active player can make as many attacks to any adjacent territory as they want to.

Once the player has made all of their desired attacks, they can select one of their territories to move troops from to another that is either adjacent or in a direct line with no enemies in the path.  This allows a player to reinforce their borders and fortify their occupied territories. The next player takes their turn and the game continues until one player has dominated the entire world and is the winner.

Revising the classic: New modes of play

The Retrofit version introduced the secret mission options and Capital Risk.  To use the secret missions, select one player as the General, who takes all of the secret mission cards, removing any for colored troops not used in the game.  They shuffle the active missions and deal one to each player face down. This is the winning objective for that player to win, they do need to conquer the whole board, just their secret mission. Any unused missions are returned to the box. The player who completes their mission first wins the game.  This introduces secret objectives, found in other modern games like Twilight imperium, Dead of Winter and Nemesis.

In Capital Risk, select one of your beginning territories then take the matching territory card.  Place it face down in front of you; this is your headquarters.  If another player attacks your headquarters, you give them the card.  The game continues until one player has taken each other players headquarters while still controlling their own.

These two new versions, in addition to the board and components upgrades, bring Risk into modern gaming.  Most modern wargames use miniatures now and adding them to Risk increases its table presence dramatically.  The troops are nowhere near the quality and detail of Lords of Hellas or Kemet, but definitely a welcome upgrade, similar to those in Conquest of the Empire.

At the core. It’s still Risk, but I think as an introductory game for people who want to explore war games, it’s a great starting point.  Risk is simple to learn but is difficult to master and that’s where the appeal still comes from.  Like every wargame, no game is ever the same, and while players try to use tried and true strategies, the best players learn to adapt to the randomness of the dice and starting territories. I find the Retrofit version to be worth adding to my collection not just for nostalgia but as a good simple wargame.

Until next time, keep moving those meeples and happy gaming!

 

Lynn Makes

Hi, I’m Lynn, and I Make.
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