220 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
220 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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FORMATTED FOR 80-COLUMNS. IF YOU
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DON'T HAVE A REAL COMPUTER, USE YOUR
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PRINTER, OR A WORD PROCESSOR.
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IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PRINTER OR A
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WORD PROCESSOR ... GET ONE!
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//======================================================================\\
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// \\
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// Enhancing the Game "Risk" \\
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|| by ||
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|| Redd Slaver ||
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\\ A Presentation Of //
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\\ The Southwest Pirates' Guild //
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\\======================================================================//
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A RISK BACKGROUND:
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=================
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The board game "Risk" has long been something of a classic among the hacker
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intelligentsia (and of course, cool people in general). Everybody enjoys the
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notion of taking over the entire world, at no personal risk to themselves.
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Risk succesfully captures the conquer-the-world spirit of most modern wargames,
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while avoiding the use of hexagon-printed boards, hordes of ambiguous counters,
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and a ridiculously complex rule structure.
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The battles Risk depicts seem to be set a long time ago. World War I would
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seem to be the latest possible time that Risk would seem to be a realistic
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depiction of warfare.
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Several computerized versions of Risk have also appeared, some as obvious
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clones (such as "COMPUTER RISK"), others with major modifications (such as
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"GLOBAL THERMONUCLAR WAR"). Some have even expanded and improved upon the
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original game.
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PROBLEMS WITH RISK:
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==================
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Risk does suffer from a few flaws. It is, if you will, TOO simple to play.
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Therefore, I am outlining some simple rule changes that will mke the game more
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realistic, yet maintain its basic simplicity.
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I have listed some of Risk's main weaknesses below:
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1) TRANSPORTATION. In the world of modern warfare, troops and such
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are shuttled around by plane, all over the world. As it stands, Risk
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allows one "troop move" at the end of a player's turn -- moving
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armies from one territory into one adjacent to it.
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This is, of course, patently ludicrous. Perhaps during Napoleon's
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reign, movement of armies was so restricted, but in a realistic,
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modern troop battle, troops are deployed where they are needed most,
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within hours.
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2) SLOWNESS OF COMBAT. It is not uncommon, late in the game, to have
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combats in which each side has 30 or more armies involved. Risk's
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current limitation allows the attacker to roll up to three dice when
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attacking. The defender may roll up to two. Late in the game, this
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can mean fifteen minutes or more for a single combat. In a game with
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four or more players, this can get very boring very quickly.
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3) ARCHAIC SETTING. Risk does not reflect the reality of modern
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warfare. Of course, if you WANT to conquer the world of the 1800's
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that's fine, but how much fun can ancient warfare be after 10000
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simulations by SSI?
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4) THE "PROLONGED DEATH" FACTOR. It is all to easy for one player,
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once he gains a slight advantage -- perhaps even just a single
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continent held -- to use this overwhelmingly against the others, who
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may be too busy bickering amongst themselves to mount an organized
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attack against him. Thus, once one player gains this significant
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advantage, the outcome of the game is largely a foregone conclusion.
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This is especially aided by Risk's ridiculous "instant deployment"
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feature: If you get, say, 15 armies on a particular term, it is
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perfectly legal to put thee al in one territory.
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Come ON! 150,000 soldiers don't just materialize out of Western
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Australia's population of bushmen. They have to be recruited (or
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shanghaied) out of a country's population, and trained, before they
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can be relied upon in combat.
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DEALING WITH THE PROBLEMS:
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=========================
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So, once we've identified Risk's weak spots, what do we do about them?
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The transportation problem is perhaps the easiest to solve. There needs
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to be some sort of system for moving troops around more easily. The one I've
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come up with is listed below in the "Rules Modifications" section. You are, of
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course, encouraged to experiment and come up with your own if you wish, but the
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system below seems to work pretty well.
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The speed factor is a little more hairy. To get around it, I have divided
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combat into two types: Normal and Overrun attacks. The Normal attack is the
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kind you're used to already, although sped up a bit. The Overrun attack is
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more on a blitzkrieg, lightning warfare sort of maneuver. The attacker
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basically hurls all his forces at the defender, guns blazing. He has the
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advantage of speed, and often, numbers. The defender has the advantage that
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the attacker is running right into his guns. Thus, Overrun combat is quick
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and bloody, and the rules I have proposed below should reflect this well.
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The prolonged death factor is the trickiest of the problems. My solution
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adds realism, perhaps at the expense of a little more game time. I also
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believe that the problem of instant deployment has been solved.
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RULES MODIFICATIONS:
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===================
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I. Transport
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Abolish the regular end-of-turn "troop move." Instead:
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Count up the number of territories the player owns and divide by two,
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rounding fractions up. This is how many armies the player may now move
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from any of his territories on the board to any other of his territories.
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The only limitation is he may not totally abandon a territory; he must
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leae at least one army there.
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Transport is done on an army-by-army basis. Each army moved may go
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anywhere. (Just because you moved one army from Peru to Brazil doesn't
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mean ALL the armies you move from Peru have to go to Brazil.)
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Example: Player X owns 6 territories: Alaska with 5 armies, Kamchatka
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with 3 armies, Greenland with 2 armies, and Iceland, Great Britain, and
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Northern Europe with one each. Owning six territories allows him to
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transport up to three of his armies. He can choose any three on the
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board, except the ones from Iceland, Great Britain, or Northern Europe.
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II. Deployment
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The extra armies that a player receives for owning all of a particular
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continent must originally be deployed IN THAT CONTINENT. They may, of
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course, be subsequently Transported. Furthermore, not all the extra
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armies may be deployed in the same territory of the continent. They must
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be at least as spread out as the following table indicates. (They may,
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of course, be even more spread out than this):
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# of extra Maximum deployed in
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armies received a single territory
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Continent per turn per turn
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--------- --------------- -------------------
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Africa 3 2
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Asia 7 3
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Australia 2 1
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Europe 5 2
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North America 5 2
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South America 2 1
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This more accurately simulates the recruitment (and drafting) of armies
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from the general populace.
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III. Combat
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A. Normal Attacks
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Normal Attacks are identical to the original form of Risk attacks,
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except that the attacker is no longer limited to thre dice, nor is
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the defender limited to two. The attacker may use one less dice
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than the number of attacking armies he has, and the defender may use
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as many dice as he has defending armies. (This is just like the
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original Risk, except that the limits of three dice for the attacer
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and two for the defender have been removed). Neither attacker nor
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defender are OBLIGATED to roll that many dice, of course. This
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simply removes the limitations of the original game.
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In large combats, of course, using this rule requires having a LOT
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of dice. I personally recommend the "micro-dice" that are becoming
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so common all over the country now. These little six-siders measure
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between 1/8 and 1/4 inch on a side, and are usually available for the
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price of about 2 for 25 cents, although I've seen them as cheap as
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a nickel each and as expensive as three for a dollar. They're worth
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the effort of finding, though. Their small size makes it easy to
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drop 50 to 100 into a Risk box and think nothing of it. Don't forget
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to get 2 different colors so you can tell the attacker and defender
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apart.
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B. Overrun Attacks
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Overrun Attacks are quick ways to finish off an entrenched foe or
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generally play havoc with the enemy. Statistically and historically
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speaking, a large force will generally demolish a smaller force in
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combat, all other factors being equal. This rule makes large-scale
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attacks a bit more realistic, and allows a massively superior force
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to wipe out a lesser enemy with minimal losses to itself.
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When attacking, the attacker must specify whether he wishes to use
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an overrun attack.
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The attacker counts up the number of attacking armies and divides
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by five. The defender does likewise with his defending armies. This
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is the number of dice thy will roll. Round fractions up.
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(i.e. 5 armies = 1 die, but 6 armies = 2 dice). The attacker and
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defender roll their dice. The total of the attacker's dice is the
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number of armies the defender LOSES, and vice versa. The only
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exception is that the defender may never completely obliterate the
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attacker. If the attacker has, for example, 8 armies, and the
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defender rolls a total of 8 or more, the attacker loses only seven
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armies, and of course may not attack any more.
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EXAMPLE: Player A has 14 armies, attacking player B with 9. The
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attacker announces an overrun attack. A has fourteen armies, so
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is he rolls 3 dice. (14/5 = 2.8, round up to 3). The defender, with
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nine armies, rolls 2 dice. (9/5 = 1.8, round up to 2). The
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attacker's dice come up: 1, 4, 5; the defender's: 6, 3. Attacker's
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dice total 10, the defender's 9. Thus the defender loses 10 armies
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(all of them), and the attacker sustains a loss of 9. The attacker
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wins, but at a cost.
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EXCEPTION: In a rare case where the attacker destroys the defender
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but has only one army left (i.e. he cannot move into the new
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territory), then the defender gets one army back with which to occupy
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the territory, and the attack ends in a draw.
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And that's it. The preceding rule changes, if used, will make Risk a much
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more realistic, and possibly even slightly faster game.
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Enhanced Risk is not for everyone, of course. Many people will be perfectly
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happy with the original version, which is after all a great game. But for
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those of you who want to help bring Risk up-to-date, and move it a bit faster,
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then Enhanced Risk may just be what you're looking for.
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Enjoy!
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-- Redd Slaver 10/10/85
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SWPG
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Terrapin Station AE (505) 865-0883 pw = CICADA 24 hrs. Call
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Spartus Station AE (505) 822-8551 pw = TECH 24 hrs. 'em
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Fourth Reich BBS (505) 298-1705 (individual) 24 hrs. today!
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(C) 1985 -- Redd Slaver -- The Southwest Pirates' Guild
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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(>
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(>Terrorists Anselot The Slayer
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THERMO-NUC 27 Construction Project, Atom Bomb "The Journal Of Irreprodu
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