isk 2210 throws the classic board game Risk into a far future populated with giant robots, superhuman commanders, offshore sea bases and moon colonies. In the process, it adds tremendous strategic depth to the game while retaining its fundamental core.
In the original Risk, players controlled armies scattered around the globe. Conquering countries netted command cards, which could then be traded in for additional armies. It was a simplistic game prone to sudden reversals of fortune as armies that had been holed up in Madagascar suddenly exploded back onto the battlefield thanks to a sudden infusion of troops from command card trades. Unexpected and sometimes unrealistic explosions of power are still a part of Risk 2210, much to the chagrin of classic wargamers. But the nature of those reversals is very different.
The differences are apparent from the game's beginning, when four nations are randomly nuked off the face of the earth and become unavailable. After the nukes comes army placement, which is similar to that of the original Risk game: each player places "machines of destruction" on one of 40-odd nations in the 2210 era. Each turn players get additional MODs based on the number of countries they control, and bonuses for any continents they rule.
Players also have up to five commanders: land, sea, space, nuclear and diplomat. Each allows players to draw cards from corresponding command decks, which in turn provide for sudden influxes as troops as well as missile strikes, assassinations and other acts of war. Certain actions—such as colonizing sea or moon bases—require their corresponding commanders.
In a change from the original, controlled lands earn players energy units as well as MODs. Energy is used to buy commanders, as well powerful space stations and always-useful command cards. It is also used to determine initiative. Each turn begins with an energy bid—those who spend the most energy go first, those who spend the least go last.
Combat is resolved in the same manner as in Risk: attackers roll one to three dice, depending on how many armies they invade with. Defenders roll one to two dice. Those who roll highest win, destroying the opposing army. Traditionally, the game used six-sided dice; in the new game players can attack with their commanders, which use eight-sided dice.
A reinvention without risk
The original Risk was a good game for 12-year-olds, the sort of thing kids could haul out on rainy summer Saturdays. Aside from a few Risk maxims—don't get bottled up in Australia, never try to take Asia—it was a simple and predictably unpredictable game that was easy to outgrow.
While Risk 2210 shares the same basic mechanics as its predecessor, it's a far more complex game. Battlefield strategy still takes a back seat to luck—this isn't a wargame—but the new elements, particularly the command cards and the idea of bidding for initiative, keep things compellingly cutthroat. Players are presented with myriad ways of winning the game—do they buy a space commander and shoot for the moon? Or do they pick up a sea commander and seize the off-shore colonies? Or do they ignore all that in favor of a traditional land campaign backed up by very nontraditional nuclear weapons? The answers vary from game to game, and often from turn to turn.
The command cards offer plenty of scheming opportunities. Some simply provide additional armies, but the really cool ones can wipe out half of any invading legion, decimate entire continents and provide sudden surges of energy. They force players to always consider what cards others are holding, while debating whether or not to buy cards of their own. The initiative bidding process is a minor conflict in and of itself, as players debate the advantages of going first against the ability to buy more toys.
The game goes out of its way to be backward-compatible—it's possible to play a traditional game of Risk with the new version. It's a nice touch, but it does mean that it spends pages explaining how to play the original game instead of expanding up on the 2210 instructions. FAQs are available online, but not on Avalon Hill's Web site, which doesn't even mention the game. Instead, finding them requires a quick search on Google. The Web site is disappointing, but that's a flaw in support, not the game itself.
Overall, Risk 2210 maxs out the possibilities of its predecessor, while offering enough scheming and backstabbing opportunities to insure itself a readyplace in any geek's game closet.
Avalon Hill was responsible for publishing some great games over the years, but it teetered on the edge of extinction before being acquired by Hasbro. It's nice to see new games coming out with the AH logo on them, especially when they're as good as this one.
— Kenneth
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