RISK Legacy IX

This report of our latest RISK Legacy game won't be easy because loads of things happened.

First starting positions : Kobe was the one who started in Egypt with the Khan Industries (+1 to all dice when attacking HQ/Each turn 1 extra troop in each of your HQ's), Hannes in China with the Enclave of the Bear (Defender has -1 on the lower defense die in the first territory you attack each turn), I in Indonesia with the Saharan Republic (At the start of each turn you can move your HQ to an adjacent territory you control/You can maneuver at any point during your turn), Tarek with the Aliens in Brazil (When recruiting +2 troops if you control Alien Island +1 troop for each ruin you control/You do not lose troops when expanding into empty cities/Personal mission : controlling every city on the board earns you 2 red star tokens) and Leander in his customary Great Britain with Die Mechaniker (Not affected by ammo shortage scars when defending/Starting HQ is always treated as fortified when defending/Add 1 to your resource total when turning in cards/Lose 2 extra troops when expanding into empty cities).
No one is interested anymore in the Imperial Balkania (Expanding in a city territory allows you to take a resource card/expanding into +4 territories allows you to take a territory card) due to the massive disadvantage it has : You cannot have more than 2 resource cards, which must be put face up in front of you.

Important where the use of some new draw cards, especially those of Leander (if your HQ is taken you can destroy it) and Hannes (no missiles in attacks involving him).

Kobe, who still has to win his first game, was playing very carefully and never had more than 4 territories under his control at the same time. The playing careful tactic did not help him this time.
Hannes made a pact with me for the Asia/Australia border and expanded into Asia
I took Australia and Madagascar but left Alien Island unoccupied due to the Biohazard scar (loose one troop every turn)
Tarek took South America and North Africa (which logically should have been taken by Kobe, because now Tarek could take it for free (Alien advantage).
Leander expanded (as usual) into Europe, which cost him quite some troops due to his disadvantage (-2 extra troops when taking a city).

Hannes bypassed Kobe to take North Africa away from Tarek. I took Western United States (with the World capitol Trumpistan (+5 population)) and large parts of North America. Leander expanded a bit more in Europe and Asia.

Hannes destroyed the Aliens (but they were allowed to return to the board). I had 8 resources and used them to take Leander's HQ (which he destroyed himself because he had the Bomb specialist draft card), after which I advanced to take away South America from Hannes. Tarek returned on the board in Alien Island (in the middle of my forces there). Leander expanded a bit more and took the last one-coin resource card. This allowed the player with the most territories to take a red star token (which was me).

Kobe, in a strange maneuver, destroyed 80% of his army trying to take away North Africa from me (leaving the way open for me to take him on later on). Hannes expanded a bit in Asia, and I destroyed Kobe (taking his 6 resources and adding 2 for my own conquest) and put some extra troops on the 2 HQ's I controlled. Tarek took away the Western United States + Trumpistan from me (which was not so bad, because I had a lot of resources). Leander used his 8 resources (+ his advantage of 1 extra resource) and went on to North Africa and Brazil after that.

Tarek (who was bored I presume) took action when Leander used one of his missiles in this fight, to use his 2 missiles on the same throw, triggering the opening of a new box.
- As the 'Bringer of Nuclear Fire' (permanently marked on the Aliens faction card) from now on the Aliens receive 2 extra missiles if the Mutants ar also playing.
- Tarek (as he was the one to play the third missile) could chose where he placed the Fallout zone mark (North Africa where Leander was attacking from). The territory card for North Africa was destroyed and removed from the game.
- All the armies and HQ's (none) in the Fallout territory where taken out of the game, and every territory connected to the fallout territory by land lost 1d6 troops (I threw a 6 for Egypt, losing all troops there).
- Starting next game, there will be a mutant faction, who want revenge, especially against the Bringer of Nuclear Fire (the Aliens). The advantages of the Mutants : When attacking the bringer of nuclear fire, they may re-roll 1's on all attack dice until they are no longer 1's. Bio-hazard and mercenary scar effects are reversed for them. They don't lose troops in the fallout territory or from mutant event cards. Personal mission : controlling all bio-hazard territories and the fallout territory earns them 1 red star token;
- After the devastation of the nuclear attack, the other factions begin researching alternative weapons. From this research, comes Missile Powers. These powers can be activated by discarding a missile. Each faction with an empty brown slot will get one missile power
Recon : Activate before you would draw a coin card. You may take any one face up territory card instead
Bad Intel : Activate at the start of another player's turn. Deny that player one continent bonus, your choice
Rally : Activate at the start of your turn. Place 2 troops in every HQ you control
EMP : Activate before a combat roll. Dice rolled for combat in that territory can't be modified for the rest of the turn
Interference : Activate as a player draws a resource card. That card cannot be drawn. The player can draw any other eligible card
- Whenever a faction expands into, or conquers, the fallout territory, it immediately loses half its troops (round up). This does not affect troops you are sending into battle while fighting for the territory, only the troops you eventually send into the territory when/if you conquer it.
- You cannot place troops into nor maneuver troops through the fallout territory. Remove 1 troop from the fallout territory at the end of your turn if you control it. Mutants are unaffected by the fallout territory rules, and should treat it like a bio-hazard territory
- New event cards :
Fallout (x3) : Roll 1 die for each territory connected to the fallout territory by land and remove that many troops from it
Agent of Chaos (x3) : If no human faction has a continent bonus, the mutant faction collects one red star token
The Mutants Evolve (x2) : What evolves on the mutants : their bodies or their brains? The mutant player chooses and scratches off his choice. Keep this card in the game box. Once both mutants evolve cards have been scratched, scratch off the box on the mutant faction card that matches the code to reveal the mutant's evolved power.

During the game (hard to remember when exactly as they were event cards) three Die Humans event cards were played by Tarek. In this event he may choose a minor city and place a ruin mark over this city. That city is gone, all troops and HQ's are removed. He did this first with Kobe's city of Petropolis in Madagascar, then to my city of Kuala Baldur in Indonesia (destroying my HQ, the asshole), and finally to Leander's city of Molenbeek in Western Europe.

To round up, Leander's attack was stopped (thanks to Tarek), but he ended by expanding 2 troops into the unoccupied Egypt territory with Kobe's HQ. Kobe put all his remaining troops on East Africa to put a buffer between Egypt and Madagascar (with the only concentration of troops that I had left). Hannes destroyed nearly all my other troops and massed his armies on his HQ in China, because that was the last remaining HQ I needed to win (after I took Egypt).

I played a different game though. Having 4 single resource card I exchanged them for a red token (I now had 2 red tokens and Tarek's HQ in Brazil) and exchanged the other 4 resources for some extra troops. Starting from Madagascar I first took out Kobe in East Africa and than took Egypt without much trouble, winning the game for the second time.

This was certainly a very eventful and long game.

The guys in the picture? One of them ruined 3 cities, nuked a territory and wiped 30+ Troops of the board with a single decision, the other one for a very short time believed he had 30+ troops.

The score :
- Leander : 4 wins
- Tarek : 2 wins
- Wim : 2 wins
- Hannes : 1 win
- Kobe : 0 wins

Next game will be somewhere in August, as our agenda's will be hard to match in July.