Q&A for How to Win at the Game Risk

Risk is a game that combines chance and skill, so while there’s no guarantee you can win every time, you can increase your odds significantly by using strategy to your advantage. For example, you’re more likely to win if you secure armies early on and make frequent preemptive attacks.

Axis and Allies, Diplomacy, Kemet, and Small World are all strategy board games similar to Risk.

In general, whoever rolls more dice has a higher chance of winning a battle. In the long run, attackers usually have the advantage as long as they have multiple armies. The larger the battle, the greater the advantage for the attacker.

Don't try and defend Indonesia. Take Siam instead, and focus your troops there as that is the only way in and out of Australia. If the enemy can somehow beat that natural "choke poi," they will be greatly weakened and won't have even started on the actual continent of Australia

If you have enough armies, try to fight your way at least into NA and Europe, maybe SA and Africa if you can, to deny him those bonuses. Fighting ASAP is your only option. If you plop down your 5 armies per turn in Siam while he collects whatever he gets for controlling everything else, it'll only be a few turns before he can attack your stronghold with overwhelming numerical advantage.

That's an interesting question, and it's not the easiest to answer. Let's say if you have a sort of line of weak territories going through Asia near Australia, capture North America, get troops next turn go through Alaska, into Kamchatka and fight your way down Asia, or if you have a long line of troops on weak but useless territories try and get a few easy territories around Kamchatka or wherever you are, then redeploy down to near Australia.

If there are no other threats, direct extra resources to the adjacent territory and dwindle him down without taking the spot. Also try to get extra troops (cards, or continent bonuses).

Try to start in a country with as few entrances as possible (Australia or South America) as this will let you build up large forces without being attacked as much. Remember to take at least one country per turn so that you get your resource card to cash in later for more troops. Move only 3 or 4 troops onto it for best defense without over-committing unless you are trying to take the whole region. Having 3 troops on every country you own is a very effective way to defend, as you will get the max defense dice even after losing 1 troop. If you are playing missions, focus on completing these as fast as you can, as the longer the game goes, the more likely the other players will complete theirs.

It depends on which continents you own and which benefits your cards give you.

If you are trying to double troops to hit him, chances are that you may have more than he does. This will make it risky and give him a lower chance for capturing your territory. Since you typically want two times the force that the enemy has, he is attacking you with less so you have the clear advantage. Just weather the storm and hit the weakened border (if this was your plan). If you feel like doing so, you can turn this into a serious advantage by asking things of him (before your turn ends) our else you will make him lose his continent bonus, eradicate his 1 troops territories, etc.

Start by securing Australia, and reinforce the entry point every turn, because Australia has only 1 entry point.

As a general rule, yes. Unless your opponent outnumbers you significantly, you should attack with bonus troops. When placing them, choose strategically and use them to deny more troops to your opponents. For example, if you have a weak border near a weak/weakened enemy border, you could place the troops there and attack. This would potentially give you more land (3=1 more troop per turn), and reduce your enemy's land.

Apply pressure to the rest of their territories. If they are consolidating heavily in one or two spots, push against their weaker flanks and force them to engage you.

Target Central America and take South America. This gives you bonus income at the front lines, a major advantage.

Start from Alaska or Central America if you want to take over North America slowly over time with smaller attacks. If you want a quick and dirty takeover, go for Greenland, and focus all of your troops on attacking the next three territories.

It's good to exchange those troops in a classic risk game where you might be low on infantry, (classic risk when all territories are 42, need to be captured for victory,) and in defending they are good, in attacking a little less so, because you will often have to trade them in for infantry, if you lose any soldier/s.

Making an alliance with a strong opponent may not be the best idea because he/she might turn on you at any point. But it has its pros too. The ally might assist you, giving you a chance to get stronger.

If they are a regular member of your play group, get a feel for when they go for the backstab, and preempt them by a turn or two. Better yet, use them as cannon fodder and keep them weak, thus never able to effectively rise up against you. Once they have outlived their usefulness, they can be swept aside along with whatever opponent they were facing off against.

Count the number of units each person has; whoever has the most is the winner. If there is a tie, have those players count the number of territories they each have; whoever has the most is the winner. If there is another tie, count the number of cards they have; whoever has the most is the winner.

Each player rolls 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.

Australia or South America becasue they are both easly defendable and will allow you to get 2 or 3 bonus troops early on.

Risk is a game of numbers, so infantry represents one soldier, cavalry represents three soldiers, and artillery represents five soldiers.

It is not wise to do that. When you capture North America very early in the game you'll probably lose most of your troops, because most of them will be spread very thinly. Even if you have a semi-strong border, very early in the game it won't be much of a defense. With North America having so many entrances, it will be very easy for someone to stockpile their pieces on a single territory and eliminate most of your armies.

No, that would go against the rules of the game and would be considered cheating.

If you take over a territory, you get a risk card. These are used to gain exta troops on a turn when you use the cards. Depending on the stars a card has, the more troops you can get on the turn. You can also use multiple cards. On the boardin the bottom left corner, there should be a chart showing you the stars for troops, depending on which risk set you have.

It depends. South America is a good place to start as there are not many territories and is quite safe if you already has Africa. Europe is also good because it gives you a good amount of extra troops if you get the whole continent. Asia is also good for lots of extra troops, but is hard to take over because of the size, and it is probably better to take it over when you have multiple continents.

South Africa is a good territory because it can attack quite a few other place, but Africa itself isn't necessarily the best continent for extra troops.

Go for places in Europe because you can attack many other territories and Europe gives you a nice amount of extra troops if the whole continent is taken.

There is no real best territory to start out with. If you are a player who likes to feel safe, the Eastern Australia is a good bet as it cannot be attacked from many places, but if you like to be able to attack many people, a territory in Asia or Europe is good.

When attacking, the maximum you can attack with is three, and the maximum for defending is two. Roll the dice, and use every biggest number. For example, if it is three attacking versus two defending, and it is six, four and two vs five and five, the six beats the five, but the four lose to the other five. The two counts as nothing in this situation because it is the lowest of the attackers and there can't be three defenders. If there were two attackers and two defenders, both attackers and defenders play their scores.