Risk 2210

I picked up Risk 2210 because the game Risk always seemed to be on the shelf of every childhood friend. I wanted a war game that was not quite as simple as basic Risk yet not as complex as many on my shelf. Risk 2210 does fit that niche.

What I really like is that Risk 2210 does include rules for using the board for the basic game as well as the variant so it saves some shelf space.

There are some significant changes. The first set of changes I want to talk about is the revamp of turn structure. A big difference is that there are only 5 turns. In the basic game there was a slow back and forth that could last an entire night. This decrease to 5 turns pushes strategy to the forefront and prevents “wait until someone trades in cards for a large enough army.” Also coupled with the turn limit is the bidding for turn order. Highest bidder picks first and so on. Essentially you could have last play on one turn followed by first play on the next granting you one turn to expand and a second to reinforce. Again this opens up to more strategy. Do you push to go first or allow yourself to go last and await another player to reveal their strategy?

The bidding explained before is done with the commodity of the game: energy. Energy is aquired by territories held. Budgetting your energy wisely is going to be a big factor. It buys turn order, commanders and command cards, and is used to activate command cards. The addition of the energy economy really changes up the game for the better.

The next thing to talk about is the addition of commanders. There are 5, Land, Sea, Lunar, Diplomatic, or Nuclear. The sea and lunar commanders allow you to invade sea or moon territories (commanders do not need to be in on the invasion just on the board). Those commanders and the land commander allow you to roll an 8 sided die for attack or defense into or on their territory type if they are present in the attack. The nuclear commander always rolls an 8 sided die. Now where you keep your commanders becomes a bit of strategy. Protect them at the rear or use them in your attack/defense plan?

Another change is the removal of the usual cards. Now each of these commanders has their own card set you can purchase from. The nuclear command cards are the most destructive but don’t discount the others; in particular the diplomatic commander. A cease fire card can really mess with another player’s invasion plans. Only 4 random card draws can be purchased per turn. Another random card is obtained after invading 3 enemy territories.

There are significant changes to the map. Notably the sea and lunar territories mentioned before. Sea territories open new routes of invasion into continents. Both the sea and lunar territories are left unclaimed at the beginning of the game so whoever expands into them can do so without combat. This makes obtaining these commanders desirable as they provide easy initial expansion. As usual holding a set of territories provides a bonus of units and energy.

All in all I recommend getting this game if you like Risk but are looking for something updated in terms of strategy.