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OPERATIONAL RISK MANEGMENT
By P.C. Atwell
Risk is a simple, yet complex, board game. In its basic structure, two to six players are competing through chance to achieve global domination. When one delves deeper into the board game, one finds many different tactics to use to one’s advantage physically on the board, psychologically in their individual opponent’s minds, and socially among all opponents playing the game.
It is never too early for one to begin implementing tactics on one’s opponents. In the Pre-game setup phase, placement of yourself and your armies is important to a good social and psychological start.
First, choose a color from the army selection that is subtle. Among the most noticeable colors are: red, black, yellow and pink. That leaves just three colors from the risk spectrum: brown, green and blue.
Be sure to assess one’s opponents’ personalities. A player who is usually loud and aggressive will most likely play their moves loud and aggressive. Timid people make timid players. With this in mind, body placement can also aid in one’s strategy. Placing oneself within line of sight of aggressive players means that they can see them and can see their presence at the board as a threat in the game. If one keeps out of sight of these players one may be more likely to avoid their wrath until later in the game.
Another tactic to apply during the Pre/early game phases is to keep one’s armies visually far from key opponents, but always a board move or two from the opponent’s forces.
Once the game moves into the early stages of game play it is time to start laying on more diverse strategies. The most effective strategies in this early stage are psychological and social in nature.
LAY LOW! Avoid large battles early on in game play. Not only will large battles tire an already weak force, but it is harder to recover from large encounters early in the game. If one draws much attention early on, they look like an aggressive opponent that will take the team work of many players to overcome. If this happens the “aggressive” player has little to no hope of succeeding as his opponents will move to eliminate any threats early on within the game.
Socially, one wants to look like a nice guy. Smile, Compliment, grab drinks for, do anything to make it look like you are not an aggressive threat. The more players like another player, the less likely they are to act aggressively towards.
Among the physical strategies one can implement is the early control of continents. An experienced player knows and understands the importance of gaining additional armies early on. Undisputed, the two best continents for one to control early on in the game are Australia and South America. They may not look like much by only offering two additional armies each turn, but those two armies each turn can add up quickly. The strategic locations of these continents are also extremely beneficial. Australia has one way in, and one way out. Although Australia’s only expansion point is into the continent of Asia, which is the most difficult continent to hold, one can easily divert towards Africa along the coast line. South America is second only to Australia, with two points of attack. This can spread one’s forces more thin, but also gives easy access into Africa and North America.
The final strategy that one should implement in the early stages of Risk is cashing in cards for the highest possible number of reinforcements. Extra reinforcements from a set of three cards can be extremely beneficial, and even turn the tides of battle. If one can hold onto a set of three and cause other players to turn in their cards for the smaller values, one can gain additional reinforcements to fortify one’s borders and prepare for attacks. One should always be conscience of other player’s cards.
Now the continents of South America and Australia have been claimed, borders are swelling with reinforcements and battles are becoming more intense. Same countries are changing owners every turn and borders look like trees swaying in a rampant wind. This is the heart of the game and every move will lead to either your total victory or a complete demise.
The strategies presented here are almost purely physically related to the game board. One should not completely abandon the previously established strategies, but merely shift to a more aggressive tactic. The first way to deal with opponents is to use misleading placement of forces and attacks. Misleading an opponent can cause them to leave weaknesses or “openings” in their defenses. Placing troops away from a much disputed border or attacking in another direction, can cause opponents think you are changing your front of attack to another opponent or direction of attack. The challenge to this tactic is learning an acceptable amount to fortify your borders from attack and still be able to draw attention to another front.
A common mistake made by amateur players is the rampage, attacking recklessly to obtain as much control of the game board as possible. This player then leaves their territories open to attacks by other players and is easily defeated. Over extending one’s boarders is the fastest way to loose the game. A more experienced player sees these opportunities and strikes swiftly. So how can one gain a territory advantage and not spread their forces thin? Easily, by “eating” the opponent’s defenses. “Eating” can be a slow process. The player’s goal is to conquer one or two territories each turn. Conquering one territory will allow the player to claim a much coveted Risk card to be used for reinforcements later in the game. Eating can also be used to simply wear down the number of armies and opponent has in a single country. This form of eating is often executed using multiple territories. For example; Blue player has 19 armies positioned on Brazil. Red player has 5 armies on Venezuela, 3 on Peru, and 11 on Argentina. Red player can attack with Venezuela and Peru to Brazil for the sole purpose to make it easier to capture Brazil from Argentina.
The final variation of this tactic is most commonly used by players who are in a tight situation and cannot afford to expand their borders. The player captures a territory each turn, but instead of trying to occupy the territory and hold onto it, he withdraws his forces back to his original location. This allows the player to collect risk cards for reinforcement and also keeps the player under the radar of other players.
Now the game has been going for a while. Maybe a player has been eliminated. Cards sets are now being turned in for huge amounts and players are becoming bolder in their actions or more defiant towards their opponents attacks. This is the last stage of the game.
In this stage players are going to be looking for large expansion. The player’s goal is to achieve victory and to achieve victory they must have the largest playing force on the board. They will focus on taking over more continents for themselves. The most likely of which will be; North America, South America and Africa. Europe can also be a focus but not usually until a player is confident enough and already established in another continent. The most common tactic in these situations is to act as a thorn in a player’s side. Do not let them have control of an entire continent at the beginning of their turn. Instead, a player’s goal is to take one of the territories associated with that continent so that the other player does not receive additional reinforcements for that continent.
It is also good to continue to fly under the radar. When two opponents get into a heated struggle build forces nearby. When they have exhausted their ability to fight is the best time to attack. Focusing on the weakest player is one’s best option. Not only will it yield the path of least resistance, but if one eliminates the weak player, they will receive the defeated players Risk cards and possibly be able to turn in the cards for additional reinforcements which will allow the player to continue his attack against the second opponent who was weakened in the attack. It is important that one does not neglect other critical borders they control and not to spread their forces thins. Also if the opponents’ attention is drawn to your own build up of forces on their border it may spoil one’s opportunity for victory.
Making your force build up visually small can help a player avoid the attention of other players. Turning large units on their sides or mixing them with smaller unit markers can be one way of minimizing the visual size of one’s armies. Larger territories are easier to hide large numbers because of the area of space one can spread the armies. This can be extremely difficult to do on the continent of Europe because most of the territories are small.
Again awareness of an opponent’s number of Risk cards will be emphasized. At this point in the game the redemption value of sets of cards are high. A player turning such a set of cards here can almost always upset any player’s hope for success. Be conscience of the number of cards. If one severely damages a player about to turn in a set, that player has just brought himself to the attention of his opponent. The opponent will seek revenge, and once they have reclaimed their original territories, will demonstrate their ability to conquer the aggressor. If one has overextended their borders in an unsuccessful attempt to eliminate this player, it is fatal.
Do not neglect natural borders on the game board. Coastlines are good to limit the number of attackers to one’s forces and provide more territories in which one can attack into. Finally, PLAN YOUR ATTACKS. A well planned attack optimizes on maximum expansion with minimum expenditure.
When one’s force is strong enough, and believes that victory is all but theirs, they will seek to win the game officially. The best way to ensure victory is not to conquer continents one at a time. If one focuses on continental conquering for victory he leaves his opponents the opportunity to regroup on other continents. The best way is to conquer opponents one at a time. Total opponent victory ensures that the number of opponents that can threaten the player is at a minimum. Conquering opponents also yields the spoils of the conquered opponents Risk cards. If that puts the player’s hand at five or more cards, then the player immediately turns in their cards for additional reinforcements.
There are a couple other things to keep in mind while playing a competitive game of Risk. Border Territories should always be watched. Are one’s opponents slowly building their territories around one’s own? How would one respond to this? Keep promises. If one breaks an alliance with another opponent, that opponent will always be cautious of one’s moves from then on and may be inclined to disbelief at one’s motives. A good attack ratio for any player are three armies for every two armies of their opponent and the best being a ratio of 4:2. Finally, be flexible with one’s strategies. One can easily find themselves in a hopeless situation by sticking to a strategy that is yielding no results. With flexibility, one must keep in mind that other players have their own strategies and will try anything to set up other players into their own plan for victory.
Finally, a strategic theory that has recently been developed is the “walk away” tactic. This theory plays off of the much noted rule that if something is out of site, it is out of mind. Much like one places their reinforcements “visually” far from enemies, if one makes himself “unseen” at the table (but still active in the game and not causing any delays) then in theory their opponents will not be able to attack that player.
Using these strategies one is not guaranteed victory. Despite all one can do to ensure victory, it is still based on luck. The best strategy that one can use in any phase of a game is to play to win.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_(game)
http://www.helium.com/channels/186-Board-Games/knowledge/67870-risk
Copyright 2008 P.C. Atwell
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