Risk Legacy

This weekend the war continues.  The Risk Legacy board was last signed by a victorious Felix*  eight months ago after game seven.  Sadly, Bo, our Alaskan fisherman, has spent the subsequent months, well, fishing in Alaska and working on his boat, so we have been short of a quorum.  Since we have a limited window where I'm on winter break, and none of our players have an infant to distract them, we are going to try to get as many games in as possible over the next few weeks.   

*Felix has certainly enjoyed his eight month reign as self claimed title of Emperor.  He has gone from reluctant to commit to more than one game at a time of "risk" to perhaps our most excited player.

Risk Legacy is like risk, but with one large twist.   Actions in  a current game will cause permanent changes that alter future games.  For the first 15 games played, the map will be altered during and after each session.  The map will drawn upon, stickers will be added, and if a card is destroyed, it gets ripped up  never to be used again.  In addition, there are a number of hidden compartments in the game box that do not get opened until certain game conditions are met.  Once opened they have radical changes on the game play sometimes even mid-game.  It works best if you have the same group of players each time.  After 15 games you have your own custom earth to battle over.

It is not necessary to like Risk to like Risk Legacy.  Legacy has a number of advantages over its predecessor.

1.  It doesn't take forever.  Instead of having to conquer every territory in the world, you just need to get four victory points.  Games are playable in an hour in the beginning, a bit longer as the complexity increases .  There are also multiple paths to victory that were absent in the original.

2. Each person has a faction with a special power.  Additionally, individuals will have additional advantages based on games they previously won*.  Thus each player will have different abilities and they will change over time.

*If you win a game you get a reward, like naming a continent, which gives you a bonus in future games.   

3.  If the game is broken,  you can fix it.  One of the issues with Risk is that there are certain dominate strategies, like turtling in Australia.  Without getting into too much detail, there are ways to change this.  And if you break the game somewhere else in the process of fixing it, which you will, you can fix it again.  By the end of 15 games you should hopefully have a reasonable balanced board.   There is an interesting balance between taking actions that help you in the current game

4.  It is fun to customize a board.  For example, Bo is from Homer, and has thus renamed Alaska after his small hometown.  Neighboring but across the map lies Evil Homer, Homer's arch-nemesis.  Our map is filled with inside jokes and derivatives of Homer.

5.  From the presentation of the box, to the components  and rules, the game is spectacularly put together,  The designer put a lot of effort into providing a fully engaging experience.

6.  The hidden stuff is cool.  I mean really really cool.  It takes a one dimensional game and add many layers of depth and complexity.  If you wish to be spoiled, I'm happy to talk about it more detail.  I mean really really happy.  We unlocked some neat stuff in the last game before our break, and I can't wait to use it.

Happy World Conquering