2024-10-08

Nautical-but-Nice Fast Risk, Streamlined

 Overjuiced version - Previous Rules Set - Medium on Risk math 

MBJp134

Introduction

I’m going to streamline the set-up, so that the whole board may be set up the same and players just choose which army they want, and kick of the game from there.

 

Set-Up

Deal out the 42 Risk cards into six piles. Each of the six colors of armies gets one pile. Place two armies on each card territory. Give each army a factory and a ship with three armies on it. For each army, choose a random card from that army’s pile of seven for the location of the factory and again for the coastline of the territory to put their ship. 

If the territory for the ship has coastline on more than one ocean, roll a die to pick one. If it has no coastline, pick again. 

For each army color, choose three random cards from their pile of seven cards and place three armies on the indicated territories.

Roll dice to determine which player goes first, each player chooses a color of army.

Shuffle the Risk cards and poker cards. Each player gets 2 Risk cards and one poker card to start.

Assign one or more poker suits to each allied army, i.e, hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades.

Players may move their factories, ships, and armies as desired.

The game is ready to begin. 

Joining and Leaving Mid-Game

If a player turns up late and wants to join the game, they pick an allied army to take over. They immediately draw two Risk cards and one poker card. 

If a player leaves the game, their army becomes an allied army. Any Risk and poker cards they have remain with the new allied army and may be seized by the first player who manages to play the allied army (by a poker win or if unchallenged--see below) or if the new allied army is completely defeated by another player.

Turn-by-Turn Play 

Reïnforcing at Start of Turn

At the start of every turn, including the first, a player gets:

  1. Territory bonus (divide number of territories by three, minimum of three)

  2. Continent bonuses

  3. 2 armies per factory (on the factory territory)

  4. Card turn-in (armies, factory, ship, with territory bonuses--see below)

Armies may be deployed to any territory held by the player, but may not be deployed directly to a ship--a ship may only pick up or drop off armies to a coastal territory within one boat length of the ship's location, during the player's turn.

Card Turn-in

A player gets either:

  1. Armies equal to two dice rolls

  2. A factory (to be placed at the end of turn)

  3. A ship with one die roll worth of armies on board to be placed in an ocean bordering one of the player's territories (if no territories have a coastline, no shipbuilding is allowed)

  4. ALONG WITH two armies for each card territory owned by player, on that territory

Mobilization Bonus at Start of Campaign

The first time a player is attacked during a turn, they may get a “mobilization bonus” on one or more of their territories immediately. Cut the Risk card deck and if they own the territory shown roll one die and place that many armies on the territory. The player also has the option of revealing one or more of the Risk cards they hold showing territories they possess and roll for armies on those as well. The card-cutting bonus goes for allied armies as well. If the cut shows a wild card, or the player holds wild cards (and they want to reveal them), the mobilization bonus may be placed at the attacked player's free choice (by the player rolling the defending dice in the case of an allied army).

End of Player Turn

  1. Draw a Risk card and a poker card (if territory taken)

  2. Place any factories purchased at start of turn

  3. Replace any and all captured army tokens with tokens of player's own color (see below)

  4. Make a single troop transfer of one or more armies through contiguous territory

  5. After their turn, a player may choose to play an allied army

If a player has more than five poker cards at the end of their turn, they must discard some to get their stash down to five.

Allowed Troop Transfers

Playing an Allied Army

If nobody challenges, a player just plays the allied army, otherwise the player must win a poker game, and their winning hand must contain at least one card in the suit of the allied army they wish to play (otherwise they just collect the winnings and their turn ends).

An allied army gets all of the same army bonuses as a player at the start and gets a troop transfer at the end.

Playing Poker

The active player and all players contesting them count out their "betting pots," or all the armies they stand to get at their next turns, including factory bonuses. At their next turn, the player uses this pot instead of normal reïnforcement bonuses (but still gets factory bonuses), and they use the pot as it is for any other poker games that happen before their next turn.

Any player may be the dealer. The game is five-card draw. Each player must take at least one poker card from their stash to play.

Red queens are always high.

Each player antes up one army, then the cards are dealt. The bet is to the active player (they start the betting). Each player may bet, check, call, fold, or raise. Each action is for only one army at a time.

Betting is where a player adds one army on top of the ante (if no bets have been made yet, i.e., the "live bet" is zero). Calling is where a player matches the "live bet" (which includes what other players may have made on top of the initial bet by the active player). Raising is where a player adds another army on top of the "live bet". Folding is where a player drops out of the hand, forfeiting their armies in the pot, and not showing their cards.

The betting round ends when all players have had the chance to bet, raise, or fold, and no one has raised the last bet.

Next, each player may discard and draw either from their remaining stash cards, if any, get cards from the dealer, or both.

Another betting round ensues, followed by the showdown. If all players but one have folded, the remaining player wins the pot. If a player has been called, they must show their hand first. All other players have the option of showing their cards, or mucking, i.e., folding without showing their cards.

The best poker hand wins the pot.

If the active player wins, and their winning hand contains at least one card in the suit of the allied army they wanted to play, they may play that army, otherwise they just collect the pot and their turn ends.

The player who wins the pot converts the armies they won into their own color, and keeps them to use for their next turn or if they want to join another poker game before then.

How to Campaign

Normal battles are conducted as in normal Risk, i.e., the attacker rolls up to three dice, and the defender rolls up to two dice, ties going to the defender.

However, these battles can slow the game down considerably, especially when large armies are involved. One solution is to roll more dice and force both sides to commit more armies. This is done through two types of attacks: Committed Attacks and Flanking Attacks.

Committed Attacks

In a committed attack, the attacker commits some number of armies to the front line, from four up to eight, and must keep fighting, possibly sending in reïnforcements, if available, from the rear, until victory or all the front line armies are defeated. The attacker may increase this front line strength, but never decrease it. So long as the attacker maintains the front line troop strength, they get a plus-one bonus on any one of their dice and if they “totally defeat” the defender on any dice roll (the defender taking no armies) they capture one of the defender’s armies which is placed with the attacker’s reserve troops. If the attacker’s strength drops below the full strength value (initial or increased), they lose both of these bonuses. The defender must roll the full value minus one, or the full number of their armies if that’s all they have. Even if the attacker’s armies decrease, the defender always rolls the maximum (full values or max armies). 

There are only two possible outcomes for the attacker:

  1. They win and send in the committed troops and possibly more

  2. All the committed troops are destroyed and the attack ends

If a committed attack fails, the player may take no more action from the given territory for the rest of the turn. This also applied to naval battles.

Flanking Attacks

A flanking attack is similar to a committed attack except that the attacker commits two or more separate blocks of troops (initially of equal size), or "flanks," to the attack. Each flank attacks as a committed block, one after the other. A flank may be a territory or a ship.

If a flank’s front line is completely defeated, and the attacker cannot or does not wish to reïnforce it, that flanking territory or ship drops out of the battle and cannot take any action for the rest of the turn. The other flanks carry on the battle.

If the attacker wins, all committed armies from all flanks (but not captured armies--they remain behind) move into the captured territory and play continues. 

Ships

Movement

A ship moves one die roll worth of boat lengths on a cruise. If a cruise reaches a port of call (to pick up armies), or a landing, or a naval battle, and the embarkation, landing, or battle succeeds, the ship may go on another cruise, proceeding to the next action with another die roll. A player may take action with each of their ships at least once per turn.

Opposed Landings

An opposed landing is where one or more ships attack and try to take over a hostile territory with or without the assistance of the player's land-based forces. Multiple ships may attack the same territory in a flanking attack, otherwise one ship must mount the attack.

If the player being attacked has ships in the same ocean, that player may roll a die for one or all of these ships and if they can reach the ships doing the landing, they may attack it in a  naval battle (see below).

Naval Battles

Any one or more ships may come up alongside an enemy ship and mount a regular, committed, or flanking attack (if two or more ships). “Total defeats” on die rolls in a committed attack result in capture of defender sailors, as normal, but a “total defeat” on either side may sink either the attacking or defending ship. Both sides roll a die, and if the totally defeated ship gets the low roll, their ship sinks. If all sailors on the defending ship are defeated, the attacker boards the ship with all committed troops (or flanks, if applicable), or can let the ship sink. The captured ship is free to take action (embarkation, landings, further naval battles). 

Patrol

When a ship reaches a shoreline to make an opposed landing, if the defending player has ships in the same ocean, the defending player may roll a die for any or all of their ships in that ocean and if they can reach the enemy ship, they can engage it in a naval battle.

The separate oceans are, by the way, the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Arctic. The Mediterranean, Hudson Bay, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, and Davis Straight (Greenland) are part of the Atlantic. The Red Sea is connected to the Indian Ocean. Indonesia, New Guinea, and Siam are connected to both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Western Australia is connected only to the Indian Ocean, and Eastern Australia only to the Pacific. South Africa is connected to both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. Central America, Venezuela, and Argentina are connected to both the Atlantic and Pacific. Kamchatka and Alaska are connected to the Arctic and Pacific. Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, and Ukraine are connected to both the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans.

Sea Roving

If all of a player's land armies are destroyed, but they still have ships at sea, they may continue to play, effectively as a pirate. They cannot reinforce however, even from the winnings from a poker hand, since ships may only embark troops from a friendly land territory.

Pirates may attack other ships or attempt opposed landings. If successfully attacking enemy ships or shore territories in a committed attack, they may capture enemy troops to be added to their own crews.

If all of a pirate's ships are defeated at sea, or captured in an attempted landing, the player is out of the game and may choose to play a still-active allied army, if any.

If a pirate makes a successful landing and captures one or more territories, on their next turn they may reinforce that territory with the usual bonuses, including any poker winnings still held.


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