Miami Dice #211: RISK: Europe

Tom Vasel and Sam Healey takes a look at this new and improved version of RISK from Hasbro!

00:00 - Introduction
01:31 - Game overview
08:23 - Final thoughts

[canadianturfsandwich]

Best Risk game ever. I was waiting for that kind of game to come out since I was young!

[RickKoeppen]

Yes!! I first saw this in Target a couple months ago and thought, wow that looks pretty cool. I didn't pick it up at the time, but last week it popped into my mind again, so I went back and picked it up. THIS is the kind of mass market game I enjoy! It reminds me, kind of, how I felt when I found Heroscape on the shelves at Walmart. It's funny with the name because choosing 'Risk' means they'll get more casual buyers even though it may mean the loss of some hardcore buyers, which of course means they made the right choice as the gain of casual buyers far outweighs the loss of hXc buyers by 100 to 1. I'm so glad you guys reviewed this, and even happier that it seems other hardcore gamers have given this a chance and seems to be pretty widely praised at this point in time. A win-win for all of us!

[onepingonly]

It feels like you like it more than you are willing to admit. 😃

[Enriqueguiones]

At last! A review for this GREAT game!! :D

[middleclasssolution]

Thanks for the review guys, I just ordered this, Like many others Risk is what started the hobby off for me, I like any improved variation of it even if just for nostalgia. I still buy Axis and Allies games for the same reason, sometimes it's fun to look back to when I was 13 and played these games with friends.

[suntzugames]

Sounds like a really nice game to introduce those of your friends who only play risk once in a while.. some of those you can convert into deeper games once they get a taste of it ;)
Glad to see that these oldies get a face-lift every now and then to follow the trends.

[zyishai]

I'm after my first game, and I think I like it more than you do.. I really enjoyed it, there is a fair amount of stategic thinking and the battles are pretty cool IMO (and you can mitigate the dices luck by having different kind of troops and different amount of soldiers).
I agree that more cards would be even more fun, but the amount that you get still gets you pretty busy.
The reason I think that all the dice are the same color is because, depending on the kind of soldier/weapon and the amount that you attack with, the number of dice can change even in the same battle (for example, you have 1 siege weapon - that's 2 dice, and then you have 5 archers - that's 5 dice).
Very fun game!

[KabukiKid]

Tom, I think mean it could be the SIXTH game in the Gamemaster series, as there were already five: Axis & Allies, Broadsides & Boarding Parties, Shogun, Fortress America, and Conquest of the Empire.

[mikedearing]

I like the classic Risk with a few house rules, territory limits, 12/ is already an official rule variant, the 2 extra armies you get for owning the territory of the cards used for new armies now are either a horse (5) cannon (10) or infantry (1). A bonus for most cannons...horses... Allowing a +/- 1 to a dice roll. Seems like several options exist for expanding some of the strategies, maximum units/territory would seem like the most influential, I'd pick a higher # than 12.

[Darthvegeta]

This seems a good basis for another Legacy game. It would definitely up the ante when based on this 'improved' game.

[Stephen-Fox]

Sam's expression at Tom's verbal typo at the start, there...

I don't think asymmetric sets of cards for each faction would be too much, as long as they're not radically different where you need to look up 'what does that mean?' part way through a game, that's hidden complexity which is usually fine with more mass market audiences. Honestly that they went with city powers is more surprising to me than if they'd have gone with asymmetric cards in a mass market title, and... More games like this from Hasbro would be fab - family weight games with mass market price points and which bring some of modern gaming to the market that don't know of games outside of traditional games and Monopoly, Life and Risk.

That they're using IP like Risk (and if they use IP like Life or Monopoly for stuff) may make it harder for us to find, but... Honestly? It makes it easier to get into the hands of families who aren't aware of the world of modern games, we've got plenty of family weight games to choose from so I'm not concerned about that. It's likely to reach an audience that no amount of Target Exclusive deals and non-gaming specialty retailer distribution (i.e. hobby games in book stores) is going to be able to reach, no matter how good the games are, simply on name value... And that's a good thing for the hobby in the long run, since it gives more kids and adults the opportunity to realize they like board games, even if they're not yet buying hobby games or attending conventions or whatever.

(But, man... Of all the mechanisms in modern gaming, they went with 'roundel but with a hand of cards instead of an actual roundel', with two options per card and a slight element of programming to that by having you place two cards instead of one to drive this? That's... That's a step or two more than I was expecting.)

[keldborg]

they are not Artilleri but Siege Weapons

[KevA]

Picked this up though I haven't played it yet. Sam's spot on when he says this would have been a big hit in the '80s Gamemaster days. Reminds me of that stuff a lot at first glance. Sometimes you just need to shoot stuff.

[warlordmacilvernock]

I have enjoyed the RISK variants that I have played. Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition has been my favorite.  I have yet to play Legacy.  I just might pick RISK Europe up.  RISK is a great game, especially as an introduction to wargames.

[rat]

Watching this inspires me to try and create rules for my Ikusa game that uses game mechanics from this

[syntaxerror]

Okay, So I got this game and read the rules multiple times. I've not played it but I'm puzzled on how the 2-3 player Mercenary Variant game works. I know you have to place a bid to control a Army but I don't understand is what happens to the surviving Army units that you took control of to conquer a territory? Do you keep them or return them to their Capitol/Bases? The rules do not specify.

[anthonygilbert]

I kept seeing that on Amazon and in Target and wondered if it was any better than Risk. Sounds like you guys prefer Star Wars Risk, but I think I'd give both a try if I had the chance.

[TheShapingSickness]

Played this a few days ago and it was really fun! I've played the Game of Thrones and Halo versions of Risk, and they take so long to finish and seem very badly balanced compared to this one. Really considering buying it.

[cadenlaptad]

Sam, nice musical improv there - made me chuckle! XD

[yutterh]

Im typing as i watch but at about 4:55 he says you have to leave one perosn behind. This is only true for the city lands, you can completely move all your troops off of any other land. Of course doing this you lose the supply line and you don't get the tax. but if you are retreatring or need everyone in your army to move into position to attack you can. This is helpful so you don't thin your forces out while marching across the map.

at about 9:45 he calls them scottish, they are vikings not a nitpick just informative. Also I started to imagine that they set the logs on fire and roll them at the opposition lol