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Basic
Strategy
The
official rulebook gives three basic
strategy tips for the classic rules:
- First,
players should control entire continents
to get the bonus reinforcement armies.
- Second,
players should watch their borders
for build-ups of armies that could
imply an upcoming attack.
- Third,
players should build up armies on
their own borders for better defence.
 Holding
continents is the most common way
to increase reinforcements. Players
often attempt to gain control of Australia
early in the game, since Australia
is the only continent that can be
successfully defended by heavily fortifying
one country (either Siam or Indonesia).
Generally, continents with fewer borders
are easier to defend as they possess
fewer points that can be attacked
by other players. South America has
2 access points, North America and
Africa each have 3, Europe has 4,
and Asia has 5.
Generally,
it is thought advisable to hold Risk
cards until they can be turned in
for maximum reinforcements. This is
especially true earlier on in game
play, because extra armies make a
greater difference in the beginning
of the game. Eliminating a weak player
who holds a large number of Risk cards
is also a good strategy, since players
who eliminate their opponents get
possession of their opponents' Risk
cards. In this case, trading in Risk
cards earlier may help acquire the
necessary troops. If the conquering
player has five or more Risk cards
after taking the cards of another
player, the cards must be immediately
turned in for reinforcements until
the player has less than five cards
and then may continue attacking.
"Turtling" is a defensive
strategy where a player who feels
vulnerable tries to become too expensive
to be removed while remaining a threat
to harass other players. The objective
of this strategy is not to be defeated.
A player using this strategy might
remain in the game all the way to
later stages and then mount an attack
on the weakest player and start a
chain elimination to remove one player
after another to win the game.  The
player who uses this strategy is called
a Turtle. The term was popularised
in Real-time Strategy games where
a player creates a defensive perimeter
or a “Turtle Shell” around
the base of operations. Solutions
to counteract this strategy using
cooperation have been proposed by
Ehsan Honary.
Alliances
The
rules of Risk do not endorse or prohibit
alliances or truces. Thus players
often form unofficial treaties for
various reasons, such as safeguarding
themselves from attacks on one border
while they concentrate their forces
elsewhere, or eliminating a player
who has grown too strong. Because
these agreements are not enforceable
by the rules, these agreements are
often broken. Alliance making/breaking
can be one of the most important elements
of the game, and it adds human interaction
to a decidedly probabilistic game.
See
also: See also: Basics,
Rule
Variations &
Dice
Probabilities
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