Articles
Risk and the dice
2026/01/25
For this session, I had planned to play Olympos, a nice little strategy game with the Greek gods, but Kiet absolutely insisted on playing Risk again, one of my oldest games. Risk is really not complicated: a world map, armies, territories, and dice to fight.
Since Nguyen immediately proposed an alliance to Kiet, I felt compelled to do the same with Xoai. Being the shrewd strategist I am, I positioned my first units to threaten Kiet and Nguyen's territories, who, in response, with the immense joy of a crushing victory over me in mind, positioned their troops opposite me.
I should have warned them, but no matter, the lesson will be all the more impactful. :)
Because, of course, while they danced on the corpses of my armies fallen in battle, they completely neglected Xoai, who devoured both Americas on the very first turn (a bonus of 7 armies per turn). I couldn't hold Oceania against Kiet's entire army, but I held Africa well and occupied Europe.
It only took a few turns for Xoai's unstoppable green armies to sweep across the world.
This led to a little strategy lesson, especially for Nguyen, who tends to fight until his last troop, leaving his territories very weak when his opponents take their turns.
Kiet quickly grasped the game's limitations: the dice. Risk is a game of chance. Not entirely, but it remains important in all conflicts. I think we won't be playing again anytime soon.
So we had time for a game of No Thanks and Jungle Speed (which Xoai also won; it was his day).
Since Nguyen immediately proposed an alliance to Kiet, I felt compelled to do the same with Xoai. Being the shrewd strategist I am, I positioned my first units to threaten Kiet and Nguyen's territories, who, in response, with the immense joy of a crushing victory over me in mind, positioned their troops opposite me.
I should have warned them, but no matter, the lesson will be all the more impactful. :)
Because, of course, while they danced on the corpses of my armies fallen in battle, they completely neglected Xoai, who devoured both Americas on the very first turn (a bonus of 7 armies per turn). I couldn't hold Oceania against Kiet's entire army, but I held Africa well and occupied Europe.
It only took a few turns for Xoai's unstoppable green armies to sweep across the world.
This led to a little strategy lesson, especially for Nguyen, who tends to fight until his last troop, leaving his territories very weak when his opponents take their turns.
Kiet quickly grasped the game's limitations: the dice. Risk is a game of chance. Not entirely, but it remains important in all conflicts. I think we won't be playing again anytime soon.
So we had time for a game of No Thanks and Jungle Speed (which Xoai also won; it was his day).
