Forum

I was playing Risk online the other day and I ended up in this situation. I was playing as Red and was trying to get Africa. But earlier, the dice let me down and I lost badly so in the map I look weaker than others.

I had 3 cards, Yellow had 1 card, Black had 3 cards Green had 2 cards. I was lucky and I had a set so I could cash it the next turn.

Since I had cards I could reinforce my position and come to balance myself back. But they also had cards and I had many choices.

I could cash in and attack Yellow. I thought if Yellow gets both continents, we are doomed. Then I thought I will be sacrificing myself for others. So maybe I shouldn’t do this. If I tried to get Africa, then they could easily get it back from me in the next turn and I will end up with nothing.

I didnt want to attack Europe either, it just didnt make sense. Another choice was to stay still and do nothing, but then they would all grow and become more powerful as I didn’t have a continent. So in short I was stuck.

Eventually I decided to attack Yellow and at least get Brazil and weaken him slightly. I cashed my cards and attacked, but lost most of my armies due to bad dice again!! I ended up in a very weak position. I was attacked by Black in the next turn and lost. He then got my cards and started a chain until he won the game. Even Yellow was surprised. I think Yellow didn’t win because of my attack. I made him slightly weaker and he also lost the chance to have my cards. I decided the fate of the game, but I didn’t want to lose. What would you have done if you were in my place.

Risk Map: Afirca-game-1 --- Open Copy in Risk Map Editor

At the point of critical decision how many armies dod you get if you cashed your cards? It really depends on this, since you seem to be quite weak.

In any case, it seems that your best option is to sit tight. It is good to be worried about the future but only  so far that your own presence is not under question.

You see, if you are going to become very weak, there is absolutely no point for you to become a hero and save the world. You are doomed by definition.

Instead what you do is to hang around. The other guys may suddenly start to invade each other. As long as you don't look like the next weakest player to conquer, they may leave you alone. At this stage of the game, preserved armies are far more critical than the continent bonuses. So don't worry about Africa, just get out of their way.

So if I was in your position, and I was getting a fair bit of armies, I will place them at the bottom of Africa and do nothing. Just making sure that I get my cards. I will stay powerful and wont give them any incentives by becoming valuable.

My moves after that depends on the attacks of the other players. I may decide to attack one of the weakest players and get his cards and go from there.

(This Risk Map Editor seems to be fun to use ..., I should give it a try...)

First of all, bad dice damn us all.  Given the same situation with better dice rolls, your position should be better.  But should you expect this?  I think not, you need to have in your mind a contingency plan for when things go wrong.  In my mind, attacking South America in the hopes that is will go well when you are striking against a large force is basically like playing craps and hoping you win.  You want to put the odds in your favor.  Unless you can get at least a 2:1 advantage in your favor (since attacking dice rolls tend to come out even over the long haul), I wouldn't go for Brazil.  If you do get Brazil, you need reinforce back to Africa or keep pushing until he no longer has North America either so you can repel his counterattack a little easier.  

Since defeating him isn't likely and you may not want to or are not able to stack at least a 2:1 advantage against him, I would consider attacking another opponent and crippling them (not the best idea here), turtling and staying put (go to Madagascar) or better yet, mass your troops and escape to a remote corner of the board.  Stick around and see what happens and maybe you cna join the fun later in the game once you've picked yourself back up.