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G.I. Joe
Strategist
Posts:17
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| 18 May 2008 7:01 PM |
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This weekend, I played a 3 player game of RISK with some friends and if nothing else, learned a few things.
Right from the start, I was at a disadvantage, what with random starting spots. The board started out looking aomething like this.
Risk Map: Game-Night-1 --- Open Copy in Risk Map Editor
I was playing as blue and got stuck with 3 territories in Africa, 2 in SA, 2 in NA, and the rest scattered across the board. Red had all but 2 territories in North America, and the remaining 2 in SA. Green had all but 1 in Australia, and all but a couple in Asia. Europe was divided up with no clear owner, thus making it somewhat of a safe zone where no battles occured. Since Green took control of the Middle East, I faced a choice: fight the Middle East and hope for the best dice in the world, or make an African/Middle Eastern pact for a short time. I chose the pact, but sidestepped it to keep him from getting the 7 army bonus right away, since Red was exhausted from conquering NA. I went through Europe to get to Afghanistan. I won't blame the dice, but I used about half of my starting force (roughly 10 armies) to eliminate his bonus. I had to conquer 2 territories each defended with only 1 army to get to him. I ended up taking the first territory with no loss. Although the last territory successfully killed all of my troops. On the same move, I decided to take SA. I had no problem with this. I then pinned Central America. I ended my turn by re-fortifying Venezuela. Red could only take Kamchatka to get his Risk card. Green took 1 territory in Africa so I wouldn't get my bonus there. He then re-conquered Asia and fortified it strongly. Green put the pressure on me and said that I had to attack Red or else he would make a clean sweep of me. I left a small force in East Africa and Egypt. I then made a move into NA and eliminated a good amount of Red's force. At this point, Red had 3 cards but no set. Green turned his attention to Europe and easily took it with only 1 lost army. He also pinned NA in Greenland. A whole turn went through with little battle when it came back to Green. He was about to cash his cards when I told him to let me eliminate Red to take his cards, leaving me with 6, so I would have to cash a set, and let me have Greenland. A little casual conversation, unrelated to RISK then ensued and a couple of turns went by. When the battle came back on, something went wrong. I am sure that Greenland was part of the deal, yet Green had a different recollection, and he wasn;t about to give it up. My frces of 10 and 15 fought his force of 5 in Greenland. Again, I won;t blame the dice, but he defended and only lost 1 troop. I still owned Africa and SA so I ended my turn there. He then use his force of about 40 after his cashed cards in Middle East to power through Africa and SA with no combat from me (we play the defensive retreat version). He decided to try to end it on that turn by attacking every one of my territories in Africa and SA. I retreated back to Ceantral America wher I made my stand. His 30 to my 20. The battle ended with him having 28 and me having 0. Card values were high at this time and I had 4 cards, but no set. He defeated me the very next turn.
It was a good game but I feel a lot went wrong for me. Please offer your ideas for how I should've played and what I did wrong. Thanks.
~G.I. Joe~ |
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Great Alan
Diplomat
Posts:62
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| 18 May 2008 7:39 PM |
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green is using 'force diplomacy' to threaten you,but you shouldn't listen to him.As the Chinese quote said:[The conflict between the two benefit the third.]Your offensive to red just strength green.Even you take the cards of red,I doubt that do you have enough power to counter him.
When green threaten you like that,I suggest you use 'delay' tactic,say to him that you're considering the deal,but won't attack green at some time(until you successfully ally with red).Meanwhile,You should ally with red to counter green.red attack Asia from NA,you attack Asia from Africa.And you both can attack Asia through Ukraine from Europe.After weakening green and left green control only Australia.Then it's time for you turn against red.If you annihilate him,green will be defeated at the next! |
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Ehsan Honary
Site Admin
King
Posts:268
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| 19 May 2008 1:59 AM |
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That sounds like a really good game. I agree with Great Alan. I think Green has been very heavy handed in this game and has pushed you to the limit.
This a three player game after all. It's all about finding an ally to gang up against the third. However you will only succeed if you are the stronger in the alliance. This is exactly what Green is doing over and over again. Green gets you to do the hard work against Red while taking the profit for himself. In three player games you should just sport the strongest and create an alliance against him. It is natural to switch alliances, so make sure the wording of your contract is not long term. You both will understand this anyway.
As mentioned, delay tactic is good. You can also borrow from jujitsu. The essence of the sport is to reflect back what came to you using it's own force. So when Green says "go and attack Red, otherwise I will have you", you can say exactly the same thing to Green: "Go and attack Red (from Kamchatka or whatever), or I will only attack you from now on". In fact it is easier for you to say this because he has already threatened you. You now, in the eyes of others, have all the reasons to threaten back. Say it and mean it, and I assure you he will either back off or starts to get seriously worried. Remember, in Risk every player is vulnerable pretty much at all times. It's about how much you can hide your vulnerability that gets you through. Show the world that he is vulnerable and all those threats will disappear in the thin air.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your game. Keep us posted of others. |
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Ehsan Honary
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Great Alan
Diplomat
Posts:62
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| 19 May 2008 8:37 PM |
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| You can watch [Learn strategy from ZiZhi TongJian(The Chinese Book)] this article and read Story 1,you will find that how the weak organize the alliance to beat the strong. |
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Mr Strategist
Strategist
Posts:29
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| 20 May 2008 12:43 AM |
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| Interesting game. Here is my two cents: you if you are going for Africa and SA, you should never let NA to become too strong. Once that happens, you are doomed. The best way to achieve this is by getting others to fight Red, at it is suggested by others. So yes, the solution lies in getting Green to attack Red. Easier said than done though. GG |
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Great Alan
Diplomat
Posts:62
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| 21 May 2008 1:02 AM |
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Hey,Mr Strategist,did you realize the situation in his game?The green have already controlled Asia and Australia with strong force.Now you call blue to attack red,isn't it equlavent to weaken the resistance against the powerful green which is already enough to overwhelm both players?
When the strong green exist,how red become so strong and even threaten blue?That is not make sense.But getting green to attack red is a good diplomatic strategy(that depend on green's decision).While blue ally with red to counter the powerful green,blue can take advantage of both player's strife and concentrate more powerful army.
Well,let me speak more about 'delay'.In the history of Roman Republic,the famous general Julius Caesar ever used such tactic.When the barbarian tribe marched pass Swiss,which was the terrtories of Roman Republic,it requested the governor Caesar the way to pass.Caesar planned to block them,but he need much time to prepare the defense.He tell that tribe to giving him 30 days to consider.After 30 days' passed,he sternly declined the request of let them pass.The tribe attacked then,but was easily repelled.
So such 'delay' tactic was even happened in the military history. |
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Mr Strategist
Strategist
Posts:29
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| 21 May 2008 2:10 AM |
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Well, what I really meant is that if I am blue, I want red and green to be engaged in war. I don't care who attacks who, as long as they fight each other and not me. So, if green is the most powerful I get red to attack green, if red is most powerful, i get green to attack him and so on.
Nice story on delay tactic, but I can't see how it relates to this game we are talking about. |
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G.I. Joe
Strategist
Posts:17
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| 21 May 2008 5:55 PM |
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Thanks for all of the input on this. I like what Great Alan said about the delay tactic. I understand what you mean, and it really does make sense, but in this game, green was fairly inexperienced and was getting impatient. I am quite sure that he was getting power hungry and probably would have followed through with his threat quite quickly.
Ehsan Honary, I like your aggressive idea to turn the threat around on him, but I don't think it could've possibly been taken seriously due to my small force compared to his quite large force. I thought about trying to make a pact with red to try to gang up against him, but red was pinned by green in Alaska, so red would've been getting only 3 armies, plus my 8 armies, compared to green's 15 armies. the numbers were really against us. I chose my path based on our game night. For each game we play, the person who gets first gets 4 points, second gets 2, third gets 1 and if we have a fourth, they get 0. I figured I would try to help my game night score.
As for letting green and red fight, Mr Strategist, this actually could've worked out. I think my best bet would've been to tell green, "I will let you have red and his cards, but in return, you let me have Middle East." I can't see why he would turn down this offer, since I get one lousy territory while he gets a player's cards and a continent. Then I would move through Europe and conquer it. This would leave me with only 4 borders, yet 10 armies coming in for a continental bonus each turn, plus 5 for a territorial bonus. That would've been enough to defend myself and launch a campaign against green. I would love to hear some ideas on this strategy.
Thanks for all of the ideas!
~G.I. Joe~ |
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Pxer
Strategist
Posts:14
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| 05 Jul 2008 8:28 PM |
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Considering your season format, I think you may have made the correct decision tonight to play for second place considering the great strength of green. If winning was your goal, I think you hit the nail on the head about getting the middle east and only having to defend four borders for 3 continents in your last post. You probably still would have had to get quite lucky with the dice, but you increase your odds of winning if you can get green to immediately pounce on red with little resistance while taking minimal casualties yourself. You'd have to convince him that the strenght of red's cards and north america was better than his possible Asia bonus, however, and considering he is fairly inexperienced, maybe this would have worked. |
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