How to Play Risk: Board Setup, Rules, Strategy, & More

Risk is a fun board game where players try to conquer continents and wipe out their opponent's armies. To set up the game, lay out the board, which features 6 continents divided into 42 countries. Then, each player chooses a color for their army. There are 3 unique units that make up an army and represent different numbers of troops. Each infantry piece counts as 1 troop, each cavalry piece counts as 5 troops, and each artillery cannon represents 10 troops. If you're playing with 2 players, each player starts with 40 troops. Subtract 5 troops from each player's starting army for each additional player. Once each player has received their starting troops, everyone rolls a die. The player with the highest roll gets to place 1 of their troops on the board first on one of the unoccupied spaces. Then, players take turns clockwise placing 1 troop at a time. Players can't place more than 1 troop in a space until every space on the board is occupied with at least 1 troop. Once everyone has placed all of their troops, shuffle the Risk cards and place them in a pile on the side of the board. Then, each player rolls a die and the player that rolls the highest number goes first. On a player's turn, they count the number of occupied territories they control and divide that number by 3. This is the number of troops the players can place on the board. They may place them in any space they occupy to make their army bigger. Once the new troops are added, the active player can either pass, move, or choose a territory to attack. To move, the player moves any number of troops from one territory to an adjacent territory they already occupy. You can only move once a turn and can do it before or after you attack. To attack, the player must declare which territory they’re attacking and with which set of troops. You can only attack territories that border a space you occupy, and you can only use the army in the bordering space to attack. The attacking player can attack with 2, 3, or greater than 4 troops, and can receive up to 3 attacking dice. The defending player can defend with any number of troops, but can only receive up to 2 defending dice. The attacking player rolls dice equal to the number of attacking troops minus 1, and the defending player rolls dice equal to the number of defending troops. Match the attacker’s highest number die with the defender’s highest number die. Repeat this process with the next highest set of die if the attacker is using 2 attacking die. Ignore the lowest die if the attacker is using 3 attacking die. If the defender uses two troops, and the attacker only uses two troops, take the defender’s highest number of the two. If the attacking player wins both rolls, remove two of the defender’s troops. If the defender runs out of troops in a territory, the attacking player then moves into the territory. Then, they can move any remaining troops from the space they attacked from into that new territory. If the defending player wins a roll or there’s a tie, the attacking player removes one of their troops for each roll the defender wins, or for a tie. At the end of the turn, if an attacking player successfully occupies a new territory, they draw a card from the Risk pile. If you get 3 Risk cards with the same troop on it, 3 Risk cards with 1 of each troop type, or 2 Risk cards with a wildcard, you can trade them in for additional armies. You get 4 troops for your first set, and 2 additional troops for every subsequent set (until you get to 6 sets, at which point you get 15 troops). Play continues counterclockwise until one player remains and they successfully occupy the entire world. To learn about Risk cards, alternate rules, and game strategies, read on!