Risk: Halo Wars Collector's Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • Your Goal
  • Getting Started
  • On Your Turn
  • Winning
• Overview of Components
  • Contents
  • Dice
  • Game Board
  • Cards
  • Armies
  • Bases
  • Colonies
  • Achievements
  • Rewards
• How to Set Up Basic Training
  • Setting Up the Game Board
  • 3 Players
  • 4 Players
  • 5 Players
• How to Deploy Reinforcements
  • 1. Territories and Colonies
  • 2. Sector Bonus(es)
  • 3. Bases
  • 4. Cards
  • Deploying Units
• How to Attack
  • Attacking
  • Heroes
  • If the Defender Still Has Units in the Territory
  • If the Defender Has No More Units in the Territory
  • Eliminating Another Player
• Achievements & Rewards
  • How to Collect Achievements
  • Heroic Achievements
  • Legendary Achievements
  • Rewards (Command Room Only)
    • Heroic Rewards
    • Legendary Rewards
• Ending Your Turn
  • Maneuver Units
  • Draw a Card
• Team Play
  • Overview
  • Ownership of Territories
  • End of Turn Maneuver
  • Sector Bonus(es)
  • Transfer of Command
  • 4 Players: UNSC vs Covenant
  • 5 Players: UNSC vs Covenant vs Flood
• Command Room
  • Your Goal
  • Getting Started
  • Game Setup
  • Starting the Game
  • On Your Turn
  • Winning
  • World Conquest

Introduction

There are 3 ways to play RISK: Halo Wars:

• BASIC TRAINING: Introductory version of game play.
• COMMAND ROOM: A more advanced version of Basic Training (read COMMAND ROOM).
• WORLD CONQUEST: An updated version of classic RISK game play (read WORLD CONQUEST).

Your Goal

Be the first player (or team) to complete military Achievements and be in control of your base. Review the Achievements before you start play. (This is not about global domination.)

Getting Started

• Familiarize yourself with the game contents by reading the OVERVIEW OF COMPONENTS.
• Set up the board and all the pieces as shown in the HOW TO SET UP BASIC TRAINING section.
• Each player rolls a die. High roller chooses a faction. Players then, in descending die order, choose the remaining factions.

On Your Turn

1. At the start of every turn, you deploy reinforcements (read HOW TO DEPLOY REINFORCEMENTS).
2. Then you attack your enemies (read HOW TO ATTACK).
3. After you are finished attacking, collect one Achievement if you are eligible (read ACHIEVEMENTS & REWARDS).
4. Maneuver your armies and draw a card if eligible (read ENDING YOUR TURN).

Winning

The first faction to complete their Achievements and have control of their base wins the game.

Overview of Components

Contents

• Game board
• 7 Dice
• Deck of 42 Cards
• 2 UNSC Armies
• 2 Covenant Armies
• 1 Flood Army
• 5 Heroes
• 15 Colonies
• 5 Bases
• Parts sheet

Dice

You use the dice when attacking and defending territories. There are Attack Dice (black), Defense Dice (green), a Bonus Attack Die and a Bonus Defense Die.

Game Board

Arcadia is divided into 42 territories, which are grouped into sectors: Avalon (red), Pacifica (blue), Lemuria (green), Mu (yellow), Caledonia (purple) and Eire (orange).

Some territories are adjacent to each other, meaning they either share a border or have a sea-line connecting them.

Cards

There is one card for each territory on the board. Each card has the name and picture of the territory and 1 or 2 skulls.

Armies

Each player will control an army of one color.

• UNSC: Marine = 1 Unit; Scorpion Tank = 3 Units; Spartan = Hero.
• Covenant: Grunt = 1 Unit; Wraith = 3 Units; Arbiter = Hero.
• Flood: Infection Form = 1 Unit; Carrier Form = 3 Units; Juggernaut = Hero.

Bases

Each player will have one base in one of their territories. Bases are important to hold. Bases cannot be moved during game play. The bases are the UNSC Firebase, the Covenant Command Center and the Flood Proto-Gravemind.

Colonies

Colonies will be placed on the board into different territories. If you control a territory that contains a colony, you control that colony. The number of colonies you control is added to the number of territories you control when deploying reinforcements and they are also important to attaining some Achievements.

Achievements

Achievements are military goals that players will try to attain.

Rewards

Rewards are linked to Achievements. Once attained, they give a bonus to your armies. Rewards are used only in the Command Room version of the game.

How to Set Up Basic Training

Set up the board as shown in the appropriate chart: (3 player, 4 player or 5 player). With 4 or 5 players, RISK: Halo Wars becomes a team game (read TEAM PLAY).

Setting Up the Game Board

1. Place all units designated by color, using the chart that corresponds to the number of players.
2. Place all 15 Colonies as designated by the chart.
3. Place the designated Achievements on the game board that correspond to the chart.
4. The first player places their Hero in one of their territories. Other players do the same in descending turn order based on their dice roll.

(In each chart, a numbered hexagon shows the amount of units, a factory symbol marks a colony, and a target symbol marks a base.)

3 Players

Turn Order:

1. Flood (Red)
2. UNSC (Green)
3. Covenant (Purple)

Covenant (Purple) player starts with one card.

Place Achievements:

• Heroic Achievements: Control 8 Colonies; Control Eire; Control Mu; Control Pacifica.
• Legendary Achievements: Take Over 10 Territories in 1 Turn; Control 2 Enemy Bases; Control 18 Territories; Control 2 Complete Sectors.

Achievements required for Victory: Any combination of 3 and control of your base at the end of your turn.

Place colonies in the following territories: Skerries, Academ, Pirth, Kintyre, Abaskun, Sarai, Petra, Kish, Persepolis, Carthage, Canopus, Rungholt, Poolesville, Birka, Dunwich.

4 Players

Turn Order:

1. UNSC (Green)
2. Covenant (Purple)
3. UNSC (Gold)
4. Covenant (Blue)

UNSC (Gold) and Covenant (Blue) players each start with one card.

Place Achievements:

• Heroic Achievements: Control Eire; Control Mu; Control Pacifica; Take Over 4 Colonies in 1 Turn.
• Legendary Achievements: Take Over 10 Territories in 1 Turn; Control 2 Enemy Bases; Control 18 Territories; Control 2 Complete Sectors.

Achievements required for Victory: UNSC Team - 4; Covenant Team - 4. Each team's bases must be under team control at the end of their turn.

Place colonies in the following territories: Skerries, Academ, Pirth, Kintyre, Abaskun, Sarai, Petra, Kish, Persepolis, Carthage, Canopus, Rungholt, Alpha, Birka, Dunwich.

5 Players

Turn Order:

1. Flood (Red)
2. UNSC (Green)
3. Covenant (Purple)
4. UNSC (Gold)
5. Covenant (Blue)

UNSC (Gold) and Covenant (Blue) players each start with one card.

Place Achievements:

• Heroic Achievements: Control 8 Colonies; Control Eire; Control Mu; Control Pacifica.
• Legendary Achievements: Take Over 10 Territories in 1 Turn; Control 2 Enemy Bases; Control 18 Territories; Control 2 Complete Sectors.

Achievements required for Victory: UNSC Team - 4; Covenant Team - 4; Flood - 3. Each team's base(s) must be under team control at the end of their turn.

Place colonies in the following territories: Skerries, Academ, Pirth, Kintyre, Abaskun, Sarai, Petra, Kish, Persepolis, Carthage, Magna, New Pompeii, Poolesville, Birka, Rungholt.

How to Deploy Reinforcements

The number of reinforcements you deploy at the start of your turn is the sum of the following:

1. The number of territories and colonies you control divided by 3, plus
2. Any sector bonus(es), plus
3. Number of bases you control, plus
4. Units gained from turning in cards

1. Territories and Colonies

Count the number of territories and colonies you control and divide this number by 3 (ignore any remainder). If this number is lower than 3, round it up to 3. Gather that many units and set them aside. These are your reinforcements.

• Green controls a total of 13 territories and colonies at the start of his turn. 13 divided by 3 is 4. Green deploys 4 units.
• Blue controls 5 territories and no colonies at the start of his turn. 5 divided by 3 is 1. However, you never deploy fewer than 3 units, so Blue deploys 3 units.

2. Sector Bonus(es)

If you control every territory within the sector, then you control the sector. The chart next to the sector shows how many units you deploy. Add these units to the reinforcement pile from step 1.

Sector bonuses as printed beside each sector on the board: Avalon 2, Lemuria 3, Caledonia 2, Eire 5, Mu 5, Pacifica 7.

• If you control Lemuria you deploy 3 bonus units.
• Purple controls Avalon. In addition to the units deployed from territories and colonies, Purple also deploys 2 units for controlling Avalon.
• Yellow controls Mu and Lemuria. In addition to the units deployed from territories and colonies, Yellow deploys 8 units for controlling these 2 sectors (5 for Mu and 3 for Lemuria).

3. Bases

Gather one unit for every base you control, including your own (1 base = 1 unit). Add these units to the reinforcement pile from steps 1 and 2.

4. Cards

How you get cards is explained in the ENDING YOUR TURN section.

Cards have one or two skulls. If you have cards containing a total of 2 or more skulls you may choose to turn in some or all of them to deploy more units. The number of skulls determines how many units you get. You may turn in 2 to 10 skulls. Refer to the chart on the board to see how many units you get for a set of cards. Add these units to the reinforcement pile from steps 1, 2 and 3.

The territories on the cards are irrelevant when deploying reinforcements.

Skulls	Units
2	2
3	4
4	7
5	10
6	13
7	17
8	21
9	25
10	30

Green has 3 cards containing a total of 4 skulls at the start of his turn. He turns in all 3 cards (4 skulls) to deploy 7 reinforcements.

Deploying Units

After assembling your reinforcement units, deploy ALL of them into territories that you control. You can choose to put all of these units into one territory or spread them out across your territories.

How to Attack

Attacking

On your turn, you can attack adjacent enemy territories in an attempt to take them over. Attacking is optional.

1. Choose one of your territories that contains at least 2 units. Select 1 unit to "stay behind" and guard your territory. The remaining unit(s) can attack the enemy territory.
2. The defender chooses how many units will defend - 1 or 2 units.
3. Each side rolls 1 die for each unit in the battle. This means the attacker rolls 1, 2 or 3 dice and the defender rolls 1 or 2 dice.
4. Both sides put their dice in order from highest to lowest. Compare your highest die to your opponent's highest die. The higher number wins, and the defender wins ties.
5. The loser removes a unit from the territory.
6. Compare your second highest die. The loser removes one unit.
7. If there is no die to compare yours to, meaning you rolled 1 or 2 more dice than your opponent, then ignore that die/dice.

Examples:

• Gold has 3 units in Pirth and wants to attack Slane. He sends 2 units into Slane. He cannot send all 3 since one unit must stay behind. Blue is defending Slane and has 3 units. He can only send 2 out to battle.
• Red has 10 units in Skerries and sends 3 units to attack Slane. (Red cannot send more than this, since a maximum of 3 units can attack at a time.) Blue defends with 2 units. Red rolls three dice, one for each attacking unit, and Blue defends with 2 dice. Red's highest die, a 6, is higher than Blue's highest die, a 5. Blue removes a defending unit. Blue and Red's second-highest dice are a tie. Since defenders win ties, Red removes an attacking unit. Red's last die, a 3, is not used since there is no defending die to compare it to.

Heroes

Heroes possess elite skills in both attack and defense that can turn the tide of battle; however, they do not represent a unit in their own right. Heroes must always move with a unit.

If your Hero is present in an attacking territory, you may engage your Hero in battle. You must declare that your Hero is "IN" prior to rolling your dice. If you do, you will gain a +1 Bonus to your highest attack die. The +1 Bonus also applies when a Hero is present in a defending territory.

If your Hero is attacking or defending and your highest roll loses, your Hero is removed from the board with one unit. At the end of the current player's turn all removed Heroes are re-deployed to any territory controlled by their corresponding army.

If the Defender Still Has Units in the Territory

You may attack again if you like and are able, either between the same territories or between new ones.

If the Defender Has No More Units in the Territory

Move the attacking units into the territory. You may also move in additional units from the attacking territory. So even though you can only attack with 3 units, you can move more than that into a conquered territory. Remember you must leave at least one unit behind - no territory can ever be abandoned.

Red attacks Blue's 1 defending unit in Slane from Skerries, sending in 3 units. Red wins the battle and moves his 3 attacking units into Slane. He then moves 5 additional units from Skerries into Slane. He must leave at least 1 unit behind.

Eliminating Another Player

You eliminate another player if you defeat his last unit on the board. This player is now out of the game. As a reward, you get all of that player's cards (if he has any). Add these to your hand. Leave the defeated player's base on the board.

Achievements & Rewards

How to Collect Achievements

After you finish attacking, look at the Achievements that are face-up on the board. If you have completed one of these during your turn, you may take that Achievement and place it in front of you. Do not put a new Achievement on the board. As the game goes on, fewer Achievements will be available.

If you are eligible for more than one Achievement on your turn, you choose one - a player can only collect one Achievement on a turn.

Once an Achievement is taken, it does not change hands unless a player is eliminated. If you eliminate another player, you take that player's Achievements in addition to any cards that player has.

Heroic Achievements

• Control Mu: Control all 7 territories in Mu.
• Control Eire: Control all 9 territories in Eire.
• Control Pacifica: Control all 12 territories in Pacifica.
• Control 8 Colonies (one player): Control at least 8 colonies. In team play, colonies are not combined between teammates.
• Control an Enemy Base: Control at least 1 enemy base. You do not need to be in control of your own base.
• Take Over 4 Colonies in 1 Turn: Take control of 4 colonies in one turn, that you did not control at the start of the turn.

Legendary Achievements

• Take Over 10 Territories in 1 Turn: Take over at least 10 territories that you did not control at the start of your turn.
• Control 2 Enemy Bases: Control at least 2 enemy bases. You do not need to be in control of your own base.
• Control 18 Territories (one player): Control at least 18 territories. In team play, territories are not combined between teammates.
• Control 2 Complete Sectors: Control every territory on 2 different sectors.
• Take Over an Entire Sector in 1 Turn: Take control of a sector where you did not control any territory at the start of the turn.
• Control 11 Colonies (one player): Control at least 11 colonies. In team play, colonies are not combined between teammates.

Rewards (Command Room Only)

In the Command Room version of this game, collecting an Achievement lets you also collect the Reward on top of it.

If you eliminate a player you do not get that player's Rewards. Those are eliminated with the player.

Heroic Rewards

• Cannon: Take the Cannon token and immediately place it onto any territory you control. As long as you have your Cannon, you add 1 to your highest die roll for any battle waged in that territory or any adjacent territory. This works on attack and defense. If you lose control of the territory containing the Cannon, then the Cannon is destroyed (but you keep the Achievement that it came with). Two Cannons cannot be combined in one territory. (When a Hero is present in a territory with a Cannon add 2 to your highest die roll.)
• Guaranteed Card: Take one guaranteed card at the end of each turn, beginning with the turn that you've earned the Reward. You can still only take one card per turn.
• Starting Maneuver: After deploying your reinforcements at the start of your turn, you may take a starting maneuver (read MANEUVER UNITS).
• Additional Maneuver: Take an additional unit maneuver at the end of each turn, beginning with the turn that you've earned the Reward.

Legendary Rewards

• Cannon: This Cannon works the same as the Heroic Reward Cannon.
• 2 Units: Add an additional two units each turn when deploying reinforcements.
• Attack Die: Take the bonus attack die. When attacking, you now roll the bonus attack die in addition to the normal black dice. After rolling, replace the lowest black die with the bonus attack die (unless the bonus attack die is the lowest) and re-order the dice as necessary.
• Defense Die: Take the bonus defense die. When defending, you now roll the bonus defense die in addition to the normal green dice. After rolling, replace the lowest green die with the bonus defense die (unless the bonus defense die is the lowest) and re-order the dice as necessary.

Ending Your Turn

At the end of your turn, you do two things:

• Maneuver Units.
• Draw a Card (maybe).

Maneuver Units

Maneuvering units is optional.

Take as many units as you'd like from ONE of your territories and move them to ONE other connected territory. (Remember to leave at least one unit behind - you cannot abandon a territory.)

Territories are "connected" if all of the territories in between are also controlled by you. You cannot pass through enemy territories.

This is not an attack; it is simply a movement from one of your territories to another in order to protect your front line or to get into position for your next turn.

Example: At the end of your turn, you can maneuver units from Iona through Kintyre and into Avaris since you control all of these territories. Since you only went through your own territories, Iona and Avaris are "connected".

Draw a Card

If you conquered at least 1 enemy territory on your turn, then you get 1 card. Draw it off the top of the deck and add it to your hand. It doesn't matter if you conquered 1 territory or 40 territories, you only get 1 card.

If you collect an Achievement, you cannot draw a card on that turn.

If there are no more cards in the deck, shuffle the discard pile to make a new deck.

Team Play

Overview

With 4 or 5 players, RISK: Halo Wars becomes a team game - UNSC and Covenant players win or lose as a team, not as individuals. The Flood plays on their own.

Ownership of Territories

Although the armies work together, they set up on their own territories and may not share territories. You CANNOT attack your teammate. However, during the game you may be able to take over command of territories controlled by your teammate (read TRANSFER OF COMMAND).

End of Turn Maneuver

You may count all territories controlled by your faction as "connected" when maneuvering units. However, when maneuvering units through your teammate's territories, you must end your maneuver on a territory that YOU control.

Sector Bonus(es)

When an entire sector is controlled by one team, that sector qualifies for corresponding Achievements; however, in order to collect the sector unit bonus(es), the sector must be controlled entirely by an individual player.

Transfer of Command

After placing reinforcements at the beginning of your turn you may ask your teammate if you can take over command of one of his territories. There are certain restrictions to this:

• Your teammate must agree to give you command.
• You may only take command of one territory per turn.
• The territory must have exactly one unit on it.

If there is a territory with only one unit on it and your teammate agrees to give up command of it, then you may replace that one unit with one unit of your own color. Return the replaced unit to its reserves. You now have command of the territory. This is useful in team play to keep from being blocked by a teammate as well as acquiring sector bonus(es).

4 Players: UNSC vs Covenant

Turn Order: After determining teammates and choosing factions each player rolls one die. Whoever rolls highest secures the first turn. The higher roll of the opposing teammates goes second (roll off if there is a tie). Teammates CANNOT go in successive turn order unless a player is eliminated later in the game.

Starting Units: Each player starts with 25 units.

Starting Cards: Third and fourth players start with one card each.

Winning the game: Victory is rewarded to the first Team to complete any 4 Achievements and have their teams' bases under team control at the end of their turn. The Achievements may be completed by any combination between the teammates, as long as they add up to 4. If a teammate is eliminated, only the base of the remaining player needs to be under control, combined with 4 Achievements for victory.

5 Players: UNSC vs Covenant vs Flood

Turn Order: When playing with 5 players the Flood always goes first. Determine who will play as the Flood and who will be teammates. Next, choose factions for the remaining 4 players. Whoever rolls highest secures the second turn. The higher roll of the opposing teammates goes third (roll off if there is a tie). Teammates CANNOT go in successive turn order unless a player is eliminated later in the game.

Starting Units: Flood starts with 30 units. UNSC and Covenant teammates start with 20 units each.

Starting Cards: Fourth and fifth players start with one card each.

Drawing Cards: Flood takes 2 CARDS at the end of each turn if at least one territory was conquered. Additionally if the "Guaranteed Card" Reward is attained by the Flood, that becomes 2 Cards as well. UNSC & Covenant teams take only one card when eligible to take a card.

Winning the game: Team victory is rewarded to the first Team to complete any 4 Achievements and have their bases under team control at the end of their turn. Flood victory is rewarded when any 3 Achievements are completed while having control of their base at the end of their turn.

Command Room

Your Goal

Be the first player (or team) to complete military Achievements and be in control of your base.

Getting Started

Familiarize yourself with the materials by reading the OVERVIEW OF COMPONENTS section.

Familiarize yourself with the rules in BASIC TRAINING. Playing a game of BASIC TRAINING will make this game easier to play.

Game Setup

Place Colonies: Draw 15 random territory cards and place one colony on each territory. Reshuffle all the cards.

Place Achievements: Shuffle all the Achievements and randomly place 4 Heroic and 4 Legendary, face up on the board. Return the remaining 4 to the box.

Place Rewards: Shuffle all the Reward tokens. Place one Heroic Reward face down on each Heroic Achievement. Place one Legendary Reward face down on each Legendary Achievement.

Count Units: Count starting units, according to the number of players.

• 3 PLAYERS: 30 Units per player
• 4 PLAYERS: 25 Units per player
• 5 PLAYERS: UNSC & Covenant 20 Units per player and the Flood starts with 30 Units.

Place Bases:

• 3 PLAYERS: Each player rolls one die. Whoever rolls highest takes control of their first territory by taking their base and one of their starting units and placing them onto an empty territory. Play then passes clockwise. The next player then places a base and unit into an empty territory, claiming that territory and so on.
• 4 & 5 PLAYERS: (See TEAM PLAY for turn order)

Claim Remaining Territories: When it gets back to the starting player, that player now puts a starting unit into an empty territory and play continues clockwise. Eventually, all 42 territories will be claimed. (Some players may control one more territory than others.)

Reinforce Territories:

• 3 & 4 PLAYERS: The next player reinforces a territory by placing one starting unit into a territory controlled by that player. Reinforcing continues clockwise until everyone's starting units have been placed.
• 5 PLAYERS: UNSC & Covenant team players reinforce territories with one unit per turn and The Flood player reinforces territories with 2 units per turn, until everyone's starting units have been placed.

Place Heroes: The starting player now places his Hero onto a territory in his control. Remaining players place their Heroes clockwise until everyone's Heroes have been placed.

Starting the Game

• In 4 Player games the third and fourth players start with one card.
• In 5 Player games the fourth and fifth players start with one card.

On Your Turn

1. At the start of every turn, you deploy reinforcements (see HOW TO DEPLOY REINFORCEMENTS).
2. Then you attack your enemies (see HOW TO ATTACK).
3. After you finish attacking, if eligible, you may collect one Achievement (see ACHIEVEMENTS & REWARDS).
4. Maneuver your units and draw a card, if eligible (see ENDING YOUR TURN).

Winning

• 3 PLAYERS: Complete 3 Achievements and control your base at the end of your turn.
• 4 PLAYERS: Team completes 4 Achievements and controls both team bases at the end of their turn.
• 5 PLAYERS: Team completes 4 Achievements and controls both team bases at the end of their turn OR the Flood completes 3 Achievements and controls his base at the end of his turn.

World Conquest

To play an updated version of the classic RISK game of Global Domination, do not stop when one player/team completes 3 Achievements. Instead play until one player/team controls all of the territories. That player/team is the winner.