Where to go from Risk?

[derfos]

My friends and I have been getting together to play Risk for years, but we sometimes want to change it up, and we were thinking of buying a new board game with a similar attitude (War, conquest, etc.), preferably based on a real map (world or continent, both fine). I've heard great things about Diplomacy and I see Axis and Allies everywhere, but I've never had the opportunity to play either. I was just wondering what the recommendation the playground would have for a game to try.

As a little added information, most of our risk games are very strategy based, with informal alliances formed and broken all the time, but almost always ending up as every man for himself. We have some people that have a hard time learning complex rules, so a game with a 50 page handbook wouldn't work for us. We also have a lot of history buffs in our games, so we would prefer something that is as historically accurate as possible (at least for the setting).

[mightymonarch]

I would very much recommend Axis and Allies. It's very strategy based and isn't inherently complicated. However, it can take a long time to finish a game. Like, one turn can take an hour or more. I would say 10 turns is about how long it takes for a game (at least the ones I play). A standard turn involves, in order, buying units (soldiers, boats, artillery...), combat movement, combat (decided on dice rolls) and placing of new units.

There are a few different versions of the game, Axis and Allies, (which encompasses the whole world and accommodates up to 6 players, I think), Axis and Allies: Pacific Theatre (up to 4 players) and Axis and Allies: European Theatre (4 players). The rules are the same throughout all versions. They can easily accommodate only 2 players, though. You would both take a side, that is, someone would the the Allies and the other would be the Axis.

[Eakin]

I would heartily recommend diplomacy. It has all the strategic intrigue and backstabbing you seem to enjoy without any of the randomness that makes me hate risk. It's a little on the complex side sure but hardly 50 pages of rules or anything.

If you want a less dramatic change there's also risk 2210 which is more an expansion pack than a fully new game. But any game where you can invade the moon gets my approval

[Ianuagonde]

I would recommend the Game Of Thrones. You need to conquer cities from your neighbours, while they are trying to do the same. Three units: the basic infantry, knights (with the strength of 2 inf) and ships. Commander cards can influence the outcome quite a bit, but you can't use the good ones all the time. You can also use your troops to gain influence, which can be spent on improving the turn order, allow larger armies to form etc. You really need to balance might with influence. There's plenty of room for treaties with other players. One last interesting twist is that everybody places orders at the same time, without knowing what orders the others are giving out.

It's based on the books by George Martin (very good books), but you don't have to read the books to enjoy the game. The kingdom is fictional, with a map the just happens to resemble Britain a lot. The rulebook is about 20 pages i.i.r.c., with about half of it clarifications of minor issues that might come up in play.

[Crispy Dave]

amassing an army and starting a land war in Asia would be the best alternative.

Or try our some other great board games boardgamegeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/) has some great reviews for all sorts of great board games.

[Airk]

I'm going to come down as NOT recommending Axis and Allies. It's fairly simple, yes, and it won't confuse you trying to learn it, but it's not fundamentally very well balanced, too random for me (Though that may not be a problem if you love Risk), and, as mentioned, it takes a painfully long time to play, a lot of which is spent doing nothing (Waiting for others) unless you're only playing with two players. It might not be a bad 'gateway game' to help you decide if you like more complicated "move units around a map" games though, because most "war games" these days make Axis and Allies look like checkers.

Diplomacy CAN be a lot of fun, but it's only very vaguely related to Risk and A&A; There's no random element (no dice!) other than what players add themselves. The entire game is built around, well, Diplomacy. You have a lot of quiet conversations with the other players, saying, "Sure, I'll support you into Trieste, but in exchange, you have to support me into Warsaw". Then you may or may not decide to actually support that person into Trieste, and he may or may not provide the support into Warsaw, or, indeed, anything of the sort. It leads to a lot of backstabbing, and whether this is the sort of thing you and your friends enjoy is really up to you to decide. If you have people who get angry when you gang up on them in Risk, Diplomacy is not for you. ;)

You might consider trying to branch out into a different genres instead - try Vinci (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/60/vinci) as a civilization/war game, or Race for the Galaxy (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28143/race-for-the-galaxy) as a card-based "abstract" conquest game, both of which I would rate at about the same level of complexity as Axis and Allies, and both of which I enjoy more. ;)

[Name_Here]

Well if you're willing to forgo the historically accurate part I recommend Small Worlds. It's pure fun while playing and there are enough variations in the species that you play so you'll never really get bored with the game.

I like Axis and Allies it's a fun game and I heavily recommend it.

[Player_Zero]

I would recommend just playing poker.

If you have the patience to play Risk regularly I'm sure you'd find poker quite stimulating.

[Gruffard]

I never liked Axis and Allies since the starting config and the first two turns are aways the same if you want to win on that side.

+1 vote for Diplomacy and Race for the Galaxy.

Other note, a fun conquest game that has a lot of variance is Twilight Imperium, but be forwarned it basically combines Settlers of Catan, Risk and some basic RTS tech tree ideas into one game. But since the map is a bunch of tiles you and your friends set up, and each race has different (but not unbalanced) race stats/abilities and starting ships/tech, it can lead to endless combinations. But a game is like 1.5-2 hours for a full game once your skilled and familiar with the rules to be not looking up stuff all the time, but there is a short version that takes less time.

[Shades of Gray]

Take the game to the real world and establish empires that likes of which the world has never seen. Friends will become enemies while you crush the free world under your heel.

That or Diplomacy.

[Zen Monkey]

I personally don't recommend Diplomacy unless you're sure everyone can understand that it's a game. I've seen people take the lies and backstabbing poorly.

Try Axis and Allies or Settlers of Catan. Both are good at keeping everyone useful and involved through most of the game. It's no fun to get eliminated early and then just sit around watching the others for very long.

[AtwasAwamps]

Obviously, the next step takes your Risk to the most challenging world of all..

Cybertron.

Transformers Risk FTW!

[Falgorn]

Today, I played the old game Kingmaker. It's basically about the War of the Roses, and you take control of lords and their armies, trying to control all of England. My supervisor, the one who introduced me to the game, said it's out of print, but I bet you could snag it on Ebay.

[fknm]

Nexus Ops may be perfect. It's like Risk, but better, IMO.

Alternatively, if you can find a copy of it, Amoeba Wars would fit the bill perfectly.

[derfos]

I would recommend just playing poker.

If you have the patience to play Risk regularly I'm sure you'd find poker quite stimulating.

I also play poker regularly (I just came back from a game). I think Diplomacy might work because we are all pretty into the backstabbing thing. I just hope everyone gets the rules (from what I've seen, support chains might get a little complicated). Plus it's different enough from risk that it won't feel like the same game. I'll also look into some of the other games mentioned.

[Jokasti]

Settlers of Catan.

[Brewdude]

Seriously, for your crew, Risk 2210.

Fortress America is too hard too win for the eastern block.

Settlers of Catan isn't bloody enough.

Twilight Imperium might be up your alley.

But for serious Risk players, who are ok with knocking people out of a game early and have them have nothing to do for hours till the final two guys smack it out?

Find an old copy of Avalon Hill's Titan. You can download Colossus (look it up on google), which is a freeware game based on it to see if you like it.

[pjackson]

Britannia might suit you.

[Calsan]

Might I suggest Smallworld, it's nice and quick, but not to quick. you could play for a few hours. It has a bit of fantasy but not overbearingly so. And plenty of diffrent tactics, depending on the race/special ability combination.

Or if you like random boards, Runewars, lots of fun tactics.

[Eldan]

Obviously, you need to go all the way now.

No, not real wars. That's too simple.

The Campaign for North Africa. Where players hire officers who are also players, just to handle their supplies.

http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic287764.jpg

[Hawriel]

Shogun The game that the first total war PC game is based off of.

Civilization The table top game. Yep it was a table top game befor a PC game.

[Airk]

Nexus Ops may be perfect. It's like Risk, but better, IMO.

Alternatively, if you can find a copy of it, Amoeba Wars would fit the bill perfectly.

Nexus ops! That was the third game I was trying to remember. Very cool one. Strongly recommended!