RisiKo!
RisiKo! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Be the first to achieve your own secret objective.
Components
A game board depicting a world map divided into 42 territories, belonging to 6 continents. Every territory shows a Victory Score. This value is used only if you decide to use the new rules for the shortened-time game.
6 armies of different colors made up of small tanks (each worth one army) and flags (each worth 10 armies), 3 red dice and 3 blue dice.
A deck of "Territory" cards divided as follows:
- 42 cards, each depicting one of the territories present on the game board and the symbol of one of the three army branches (infantryman, cavalryman, cannon).
- 2 "Wild" cards, distinguishable from the others by the presence of the symbols of all the army branches and the absence of a map.
A deck of "Objective" cards, indicating the secret objectives that players must try to achieve.
Setup
- First, separate the "Territory" cards from the "Objective" cards.
- Each player rolls a die and whoever gets the highest score plays first, the others follow clockwise. In case of a tie, the players who obtained the same score roll again.
- Starting with the first player, players take turns choosing the color of the army they will use during the game.
- Each player has an initial supply made up as follows:
- 35 armies if playing with 3
- 30 armies if playing with 4
- 25 armies if playing with 5
- 20 armies if playing with 6
- These are the armies that will be placed in play at the start of the game. The remaining supply will serve as reinforcements.
- Whoever won the dice roll becomes the "Dealer" and is responsible for dealing, face down, one "Objective" card to each player, after having carefully shuffled the deck. The remaining cards must be placed back in the box.
- The dealer then takes the "Territory" deck, removes the two "Wild" cards, carefully shuffles the remaining 42 cards and deals them one at a time, starting with the player to their left and proceeding clockwise, until the cards run out.
- These cards indicate the territories owned by the players at the start of the game, territories which each player must now occupy with one of their own armies taken from their initial supply.
- Once the initial occupation of the territories received by chance is complete, players, starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, place 3 armies at a time, always taking them from their initial supply and placing them on the board to reinforce their own territories.
- Each player is free to place these three armies as they wish, even splitting them across multiple territories.
- This operation is repeated until each player's initial supply is exhausted, so during the last round fewer than 3 armies may be placed.
- Once this operation is complete, the dealer collects the cards back from the players, adds the two "Wild" cards, shuffles the deck thus formed and places it face down within reach.
- At this point the preliminary phase is complete. The first player begins the game.
How to Play
Each player's turn is divided into 3 phases.
First Phase: Reinforcements
This phase takes place from the very first turn of the game.
a) Each player, on their own turn (including the first), takes a number of armies of their own color equal to the number of territories they occupy on the board divided by 3 (rounded down).
Example: the player whose turn it is occupies 14 territories, so they are entitled to 4 armies (14:3 = 4.6, rounded down gives 4).
b) If a player occupies all the territories of one or more continents, they are entitled (every turn) to a certain number of additional armies, according to what is shown in the table (also reproduced on the game board). These armies are added to those provided for in the previous point.
- Australia (Oceania): 2 armies
- Europe: 5 armies
- South America: 2 armies
- North America: 5 armies
- Africa: 3 armies
- Asia: 7 armies
c) During the reinforcement phase the player whose turn it is is also entitled to play a set of three cards (for the ways of acquiring these cards, see a later chapter), thanks to which they can add further reinforcement armies. The valid combinations are those listed below:
- 3 cannons: 4 armies
- 3 infantrymen: 6 armies
- 3 cavalrymen: 8 armies
- one infantryman, one cannon and one cavalryman: 10 armies
- one "Wild" card plus two matching cards: 12 armies
Furthermore, if the player holds, in the combination, cards depicting territories they currently occupy, they receive 2 extra armies for each of these cards.
The supplementary armies obtained in this phase can be placed on the territories occupied by the player whose turn it is with no limit on their number, provided they are all placed before starting the combat phase.
Second Phase: Combat
Once reinforcements have been placed, the player whose turn it is may launch their attacks.
The player considers their position, the strength of their neighbors, their own secret objective, and decides whether and against whom to carry out one or more attacks.
THE PURPOSE OF AN ATTACK IS THE ELIMINATION OF ENEMY ARMIES FROM NEIGHBORING TERRITORIES TO ALLOW YOUR OWN ARMIES TO OCCUPY THE OPPONENT'S TERRITORIES.
The player is not obliged to attack on every turn of the game, but they must always leave at least one army garrisoning every territory in their possession. In other words, they cannot attack starting from a territory garrisoned by only one army.
There are two ways to attack an opponent's territory:
a) By land: if the territory from which the attack is launched borders the opponent's territory.
b) By sea: following the dashed line that connects, by sea, the two territories (the one the attack starts from and the one being attacked). Since the board represents a world map, it is possible to attack Kamchatka from Alaska and vice versa.
The battles take place as follows: the attacker announces aloud the name of the territory being attacked and the one the attack is launched from. If they omit to make this announcement before rolling the dice, the defender may request that the roll be repeated. The attacker rolls as many dice as the number of armies with which they have decided to attack (maximum 3).
Example: an attacker has 10 armies on a territory and attacks with 3 armies, rolling 3 dice, but if they had wished, they could also have attacked with only one or two, rolling a corresponding number of dice.
The defender, in turn, may roll a maximum of 3 dice, even if they have more than 3 armies defending the attacked territory. The defender must, however, declare with how many armies they intend to fight before the attacker has rolled the dice.
Once both players have rolled their dice, the results obtained are compared according to the following criterion:
- The die with the highest score obtained by the attacker is compared with the highest score of the defender.
- If the attacker's score is higher, the defender must remove one of their armies from the attacked territory (returning it to their supply). Otherwise, the attacker must withdraw one of their armies from the territory from which they launched the attack.
- In case of a tie, the defender always wins.
- If both have rolled more than one die, the attacker's second-highest score is compared with the defender's second-highest score, following the same procedure.
- If both have rolled 3 dice, the attacker's third-highest score is also compared with the defender's third-highest score, following the same procedure.
Scores are never added together; they are compared in descending order.
Example 1 — dice of the attacker vs. dice of the defender. Result: the attacker loses one army and the defender also loses one army.
Example 2 — dice of the attacker vs. dice of the defender. Result: the defender loses one army.
Example 3 — dice of the attacker vs. dice of the defender. Result: the attacker loses one army.
Example 4 — dice of the attacker vs. dice of the defender. Result: the defender loses one army and the attacker loses two.
The attacker may continue the battle and renew the challenge to the opponent as many times as they wish, until the destruction of the opponent's armies located on the territory of interest, or decide to suspend the attack. The player whose turn it is may launch as many attacks as they want, from a single territory or also from others in their possession, as long as they are able to keep at least two armies on the territories from which they want to launch the attack.
When the attacker destroys all the armies on an enemy territory, they must occupy it with the armies that took part in the last battle (i.e., the last roll of the dice).
If they wish, however, they may transport, starting from the territory from which they launched the attack, as many armies as they want. Furthermore, they may use the conquered territory as a base for a further attack.
At the end of their own turn, each player, if they have conquered one or more territories, draws one (only one) card from the deck.
There is no fixed order for launching attacks, so the player whose turn it is may challenge, one or more times, all of their opponents.
The turn ends when:
- the player whose turn it is decides to suspend their attacks and possibly take advantage of the moves of the other players, which may create favorable conditions for them as well.
- the player whose turn it is is no longer in a condition to launch any attack, having all their territories garrisoned by only one army.
Third Phase: Strategic Movement
On their own turn, each player may, whether or not they have launched an attack, move some or all of their armies from a territory under their control to another adjacent one, also under their control. They may make only one strategic movement of their choosing (each turn) and must always leave at least one army on the territory from which they moved. Once a player decides to carry out the strategic movement, they can no longer make attacks and their turn is considered concluded.
Elimination of a Player
When the attacker destroys the last army of the last territory of an opponent, they also seize that opponent's cards. The loser is then definitively eliminated from the game. This dramatic event (for the loser) cannot occur before the end of the fourth turn of play.
Secret Objectives
The moment a player has achieved the secret objective indicated on the card in their possession, the game ends with their victory.
End of Game and Time Attack Mode
Before starting to play you must decide whether you want to end the game the "traditional" way or whether you want to play the "TIME ATTACK" method.
If you decide to play the traditional way, the game will continue until one of the players has achieved the objective indicated on the "secret objective" card drawn at the start of the game.
If instead you decide to use the "TIME ATTACK" method, you must also decide whether you want to play with a time limit (in any case, when the time runs out you must complete the round so that everyone has been able to play the same number of turns) or based on the number of cards played.
During the game, the cards played to obtain reinforcements are placed in the discard pile. When the "Territories" deck runs out, the player who drew the last card must shuffle all the cards in the discard pile to form a new deck to draw from. This operation takes place regardless of the type of game ending you have decided to use, but if you decide to use the number of cards to determine the end of the game, then you must also decide how many times you want to repeat this operation (we suggest 2 times, but you are free to set the length of the game as you wish).
The moment the last card is drawn, after having reshuffled as many times as decided, the last round begins, which will end with the turn of the player who drew the last card.
At that point, if no one has yet achieved their own secret objective, victory goes to the player who controls the greatest number of Victory Points, adding up those of the territories under their control. In case of a tie, the player with the greatest number of armies in the field wins. In case of a further tie, an additional round is played, in which only the players still tied may play.
If you play with the "TIME ATTACK" method, after the deck has been reshuffled for the first time, the elimination of a player also determines the immediate end of the game. If this elimination does not result in victory by achieving the secret objective, the game moves to scoring.
Achieving the secret objective always ends the game, regardless of the type of ending chosen.
If you play with the "TIME ATTACK" rules, no player may ever hold more than 7 cards in hand.
Special Reinforcement Rule
To make the game even more dynamic, you can decide to use this optional rule, which can be adopted whether you decide to play with the traditional ending or the "TIME ATTACK" one.
During the reinforcement phase, add one army to those due to the player whose turn it is. In this way, for example, if the player were entitled to 4 armies, they would receive 5. The supplementary army is added even if a player is not entitled to receive any armies, because they are left with fewer than three territories.
Territory Values
Below are the territories in alphabetical order with their respective values. These values are also shown on the game board.
| Territory | Value | Territory | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | 4 | India | 3 |
| North Africa | 6 | Indonesia | 3 |
| South Africa | 3 | Iceland | 3 |
| East Africa | 5 | Yakutia | 3 |
| Alaska | 3 | Kamchatka | 5 |
| Alberta | 4 | Madagascar | 2 |
| Central America | 3 | Middle East | 6 |
| Argentina | 2 | Mongolia | 5 |
| Western Australia | 3 | New Guinea | 3 |
| Eastern Australia | 2 | Ontario | 6 |
| Brazil | 4 | Peru | 3 |
| China | 7 | Quebec | 3 |
| Chita | 4 | Scandinavia | 4 |
| Congo | 3 | Siam | 3 |
| Egypt | 4 | Siberia | 5 |
| Southern Europe | 6 | Western United States | 4 |
| Western Europe | 4 | Eastern United States | 4 |
| Northern Europe | 5 | Northwest Territory | 4 |
| Japan | 2 | Ukraine | 6 |
| Great Britain | 4 | Ural | 4 |
| Greenland | 4 | Venezuela | 3 |