Domination Risk
Object Of The Game
To conquer the world by occupying every territory on the board,
thus eliminating all your opponents.
Setup
Unlike most games, Risk demands careful planning before you
actually start to play. This Initial Army Placement sets the stage
for the battles you'll fight later on.
Initial Army Placement consists of these steps:
Select a color and, depending on the number of players, count out the
“armies” you’ll need to start the game.
If 2 are playing, see instructions on Two Player Risk
If 3 are playing, each player counts out 35 Infantry.
If 4 are playing, each player counts out 30 Infantry.
If 5 are playing, each player counts out 25 Infantry.
If 6 are playing, each player counts out 20 Infantry.
Roll one die. Whoever rolls the highest number takes one Infantry piece
from his or her pile and places it onto any territory on the board, thus
claiming that territory.
Starting to the left of the first player, everyone in turn places one army
onto any unoccupied territory. Continue until all 42 territories have
been claimed.
After all 42 territories are claimed, each player in turn places one
additional army onto any territory he or she already occupies. Continue
in this way until everyone has run out of armies. There is no limit to the
number of armies you may place onto a single territory.
To complete game SETUP:
5. Shuffle the pack of RISK cards (remove the Mission cards) and place it,
face down, by the side of the board. This pack forms the draw pile. This is done automatically by the game and you will be handed cards when necessary.
6. Whoever placed the first army takes the first turn.
PLAYING
On your turn, try to capture territories by defeating your opponents’
armies. But be careful: Winning battles will depend on careful planning,
quick decisions and bold moves. You’ll have to place your forces wisely,
attack at just the right time and fortify your defenses against all enemies.
Each of your turns consists of three steps, in this order:
1. Getting and placing new armies;
2. Attacking, if you choose to, by rolling the dice;
3. Fortifying your position.
GETTING AND PLACING NEW ARMIES
At the beginning of each turn, calculate how many new armies you’ll add
to your territories based on . . .
1. The number of territories you occupy;
2. The value of the continents you control;
3. The value of the matched sets of RISK cards you trade in;
4. The specific territory pictured on a traded-in card.
The above 4 steps is automatically calculated by the game and it will display how many armies you can place for that turn.
Territories. At the beginning of every turn (including your first), count the
number of territories you currently occupy, then divide the total by three
(ignore any fraction). The answer is the number of armies you receive. Place
the new armies on any territory you already occupy.
Example: 11 territories = 3 armies
14 territories = 4 armies
17 territories = 5 armies
You will always receive at least 3 armies on a turn, even if you occupy fewer
than 9 territories.
Continents. In addition, at the beginning of your turn you will receive
armies for each continent you control. (To control a continent, you must
occupy all its territories at the start of your turn.) To find the exact number
of armies you’ll receive for each continent, look at the chart in the lower
left-hand corner of the game board.
RISK CARDS
Earning Cards. At the end of any turn in which you have captured at
least one territory, you will earn one (and only one) RISK card. You are
trying to collect sets of 3 cards in any of the following combinations:
If you have collected a set of 3 RISK cards, you may turn them in at the
beginning of your next turn, or you may wait. But if you have 5 or 6 cards at
the beginning of your turn, you must trade in at least one set, and may
trade in a second set if you have one.
Trading In Cards for Armies. At the beginning of subsequent turns,
you may trade in matched sets of cards and take additional armies based on
the total number of sets anyone has traded in so far. The game will show you the value of the next set to be traded in.
The first set traded in - 4 armies
The second set traded in - 6 armies
The third set traded in - 8 armies
The fourth set traded in - 10 armies
The fifth set traded in - 12 armies
The sixth set traded in - 15 armies
After the sixth set has been traded in, each additional set is worth 5 more
armies. Example: If you trade in the seventh set, you get 20 armies; if you
trade in the eighth, you get 25 armies, and so on. “First” and “second” set,
etc., refer to sets traded in by anyone during the game. Thus, if you trade in
the third set in the game, you receive 8 armies, even if it’s the first set you
have traded in.
Occupied territories. If any of the 3 cards you trade in shows the picture of
a territory you occupy, you receive 2 extra armies. You must place both
those armies onto that particular territory.
Note: On a single turn, you may receive no more than 2 extra armies above
and beyond those you receive for the matched sets of cards you trade in.
Hints: No matter how many armies you receive at the start of your turn,
deploy them carefully-either to prepare for an attack or to defend against
one. It is good military strategy to move your armies to the front, heavily
fortifying territories that border enemy territories.
ATTACKING
After placing your armies at the beginning of your turn, decide if you wish
to attack at this time. The object of an attack is to capture a territory by
defeating all the opposing armies already on it. The battle is fought by a roll
of the dice. Study the board for a moment. Do you want to attack?
If you choose not to attack, pass the dice to the player on your left. You
may still fortify your position, if you wish (see page 10).
If you choose to attack, you must follow these rules:
You may only attack a territory that’s adjacent (touching) to one of your
own, or connected to it by a dashed line. Examples: Greenland may
attack the Northwest Territory, Ontario, Quebec and Iceland. North
Africa may attack Egypt, Western Europe and Brazil. At the western and
eastern edges of the board, Alaska is considered adjacent to, and may
attack, Kamchatka.
You must always have at least two armies in the territory you’re
attacking from.
You may continue attacking one territory until you have eliminated all
armies on it, or you may shift your attack from one territory to another,
attacking each as often as you like and attacking as many territories as
you like during one turn.
TO Attack. First announce both the territory you’re attacking and the one
you’re attacking from. Then roll the dice against the opponent who
occupies the opposing territory.
Before rolling, both you and your opponent must announce the number
of dice you intend to roll, and you both must roll at the same time.
You, the attacker, will roll 1,2 or 3 red dice: You must have at least one
more army in your territory than the number of dice you roll. Hint: The
more dice you roll, the greater your odds of winning. Yet the more dice
you roll, the more armies you may lose, or be required to move into a
captured territory.
The defender will roll either 1 or 2 white dice: To roll 2 dice, he or she
must have at least 2 armies on the territory under attack. Hint: The more
dice the defender rolls, the greater his or her odds of winning-but the
more armies he or she may lose.
To Decide a Battle. Compare the highest die each of you rolled. If yours
(the attacker’s) is higher, the defender loses one army from the territory
under attack. But if the defender’s die is higher than yours, you lose one
army from the territory you attacked from; put it back in your clear plastic
box. If each of you rolled more than one die, now compare the two
next-highest dice and repeat the process.
Notes:
In case of a tie, the defender always wins.
The attacker can never lose more than 2 armies on a single roll.
Capturing territories. As soon as you defeat the last opposing army on
a territory, you capture that territory and must occupy it immediately. To
do so, move in at least as many armies as the number of dice you rolled in
your last battle. Remember: In most cases, moving as many armies as you
can to the front is advantageous, because armies left behind can’t help
you when you are attacking. Also remember you must always leave at least
one army behind on the territory you attacked from. During the game,
every territory must always be occupied by at least one army.
Ending your attack. You may end your attack(s) at any time. If you have
captured at least one territory, you will be awarded 1 Risk card.
Your last step is to fortify your position, if
you wish (see below).
Eliminating an opponent. If during your turn you eliminate an
opponent by defeating his or her last army on the game board, you win any
RISK cards that player has collected.
If winning them gives you 6 or more cards, you must immediately trade
in enough sets to reduce your hand to 4 or fewer cards, but once your
hand is reduced to 4,3, or 2 cards, you must stop trading.
But if winning them gives you fewer than 6, you must wait until the
beginning of your next turn to trade in a set.
Note: When you draw a card from the deck at the end of your turn (for
having won a battle), if this brings your total to 6, you must wait until
your next turn to trade in.
FORTIFYING YOUR POSITION
No matter what you’ve done on your turn, you may, if you wish, end your
turn by fortifying your position. You are not required to win a battle or even
to try an attack to do so. Some players refer to this as the “free move.”
To fortify your position, move as many armies as you’d like from one (and
only one) of your territories into one (and only one) of your adjacent
territories. Remember to move troops towards borders where they can help
in an attack!
In moving your armies from one territory to another, you must leave at least
one army behind.
WINNING
The winner is the first player to eliminate every opponent by capturing all
territories on the map.