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Europe has always fascinated me in Risk. It seems that every player I have ever played agianst steers clear from this very influential continent.

im just wondering if anyone has any strategies for starting out in european countries and maintaining your strength. it just seems that when ever i base myself in europe I find myself fighting wars on many fronts and also i find i lag behind other players who are gaining far greater reinforcements thought controlling south america, africa, australia.

my friend who is a skilled player of risk said to me that he almost always starts in the southern hemisphere and works his way up. Does anyone have any pointers in succeding in basing your game around europe????

I agree with what Dragonflame has said about the alliance with Africa being the best option - which is explained in similar detail in the 'Total Diplomacy' book. Although Risk tactics are universal, these are typically my strategies for 5-6 players games of Mission Risk.

I love Europe as well, and I've worked on getting better at managing it as I believe that all really good players need to be tactically flexible depending on where their troops are located. I think another thing is that if you are up against amateur players or regular players that flock to Australia and South America, then Europe is often overlooked because it's in the middle and most out of reach of those 2 continents.

The central nature of Europe as well as the high 5-army bonus is why it's worth going for. It depends on the situation of the board (which is likely to be in your favor), and the quality of the players you're up against. The only catch with Asia and North America being next to you is that the bigger continents are harder to get if you fall short. Africa would be the easiest move into the Southern Hemisphere but it's also in the firing line and prone to attacks from both the east and west sides. Here is my main strategy:

The real issue with Europe in big player games is timing, in both attacks and timing your first 2 card cash-ins. Obviously the best strategy is to work it up slowly, maintain high numbers of armies in each and make your move after waiting a few turns for a higher cash-in bonus.

The next issue is progression. The first thing is to secure a triangle and then a connected square. Why? To avoid the separation your of armies. If you have a line of 3 and someone takes out the centre territory, naturally you lose the ability to move your armies between them. Any square involving Northern Europe is powerful but the most deceptive and best square to have is Scandinavia, Western Europe, Northern Europe and Great Britain.

http://www.totaldiplomacy.com/Portals/0/users/Cal%27s%20Army/RiskMaps/Europe-Strategy.jpg

It doesn't look that powerful, does it. However this is a brilliant set-up for a number of reasons:

1. Having Western Europe secured is vital in making a treaty with Africa early on, because it directly affects North Africa and can't be attacked by non-Europe territories. Africa might see that as having defused a potential threat, which will prevent him from having to fight from both South America AND Europe.

2. In contrast, Southern Europe is affected by North Africa, Egypt and Middle East, so steering clear of it lessens the chance of being seen as a threat by Africa or being attacked from Asia.

3. Each of the 3 remaining territories (Iceland, Southern Europe and Ukraine) can be attacked from 2 diiferent territories which increases the chance of getting through to that territory when they only have 1-2 defending.

4. Urkaine is visually the most massive territory on the board, so building up your armies in the smaller territories makes you look like less of a threat to the other players.

The trick is not going for the whole continent too early and then not having enough armies to defend it until your next turn. Having an outlet somewhere else on the board (i.e. top of Asia) can help you get easy cards without having to cause too much damage or spread your territories too much.

From there, you need to take over Iceland so you can move your armies from Great Britain into the stronger territories and then cash your cards in the next turn for a complete take over. Aim to cash in your cards after everyone else has and preferably in a round where no-one can cash-in to stop you.

Another alternative is to take over Ukraine as well before you cash-in, which allows you to shift armies from Scandinavia and may provoke get some potentially weak attacks from Asia. This should dwindle their attacking strength the following turn if they tried to attack you, but the only way this would work is if your opponents have low cards and couldn't cash-in for the extra armies - which may of may not be possible.

I'm yet to try this one out properly but I'd appreciate any feedback.