Risk: Marvel Cinematic Universe Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Avengers Components
  • Avengers Components (continued)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Components
• Game Modes
• Skirmish (3 to 5 Players)
  • Object of the Game
  • Set Up
  • Game Play Overview
• Reinforcement
• Invasions and Battles
  • To Invade an Opposing Sector
  • Example Battle
  • Continuing an Invasion
• Maneuver
• Faction Cards
• Winning
• Battle for Manhattan (3 to 5 Players)
  • Object of the Game
  • Components Needed
  • Set Up (Battle for Manhattan)
  • Game Play Overview (Battle for Manhattan)
  • Reinforcement (Battle for Manhattan)
• Acquiring Allies
• Invade
  • Invading a Sector with a Resource
  • Invading the Helicarrier
  • Invade Continued: Invading a Sector with a Loki Token
  • Invading Sector_50 [Asgard]
  • Invading with Hulk
• Maneuver (Battle for Manhattan)
• Faction Cards (Battle for Manhattan)
• Winning (Battle for Manhattan)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Collector Game (2 to 5 Players)
  • Object of the Game
  • Components for Game Play
  • Set Up
  • Asset Cards and Set Cards
  • How to Play
  • Ending the Game

Components

Avengers Components

Each faction has a Hero Card, five single-unit pieces and three-unit pieces in its colour, three Allies, and Faction Cards. The factions are:

• Captain America (blue)
• Winter Soldier (black)
• Iron Man (yellow)
• Ultron (silver)
• Thor (red)

The rulebook's component page shows each faction's pieces, Hero Card, Faction Cards and Allies. The shared Avengers components are the Helicarrier, the Resource tokens, the Foundation Pieces and the Avengers Tower. The component page also lists the S.H.I.E.L.D. tokens (front side, Captain America) and the Hydra tokens (back side, Winter Soldier), and the Dark Elf token and Loki token (Thor).

Avengers Components (continued)

• Avengers Game Board: Risk: Marvel Cinematic Universe Edition includes a double-sided game board. One side is a digital display map of Manhattan and other important areas. Each region has a bonus associated with it, which will earn you extra Units to deploy if you control all the sectors in that region.
• Dice: Dice are used when attacking and defending sectors, to resolve battles. There are five 6-sided dice (three Attack and two Defense) and four 8-sided dice (two Attack and two Defense).
• Hulk: The Hulk Hero Card and figure are part of this edition.
• Units: Each player will control the Units of one faction. Each faction is represented by two different pieces, representing either 1 or 3 Units. Use the 3-Unit pieces to save space by representing three of your Units.
• Hero Card: Each faction has its own Hero Card. Use this to remind you of your Allies and Objective to win.
• Cards: There are 5 different decks of Faction Cards, as indicated by their card backs. Card decks should be separated by faction before playing.
• Allies: There are three Allies for each faction to use in Battle for Manhattan game mode, which can be gained by redeeming Faction Cards. These pieces will be deployed with your Units to give you tactical advantages in battle.

Guardians of the Galaxy Components

The reverse side of the Avengers game board is the Guardians of the Galaxy Game Board. The Guardians of the Galaxy components are:

• Guardians of the Galaxy Game Board
• Dice: Use five 6-sided dice and two 8-sided dice for this game.
• Set Cards: Six Set Cards.
• Asset Cards: 19 Asset cards, placed with their Set cards.
• Orb: One Orb.

Rules for the Guardians of the Galaxy Card Game can be found on pages 14-15 of the rulebook.

Game Modes

There are 3 different ways to play RISK: Marvel Cinematic Universe Edition:

1. Skirmish (3-5 Players): Introductory version of RISK: Avengers.
2. Battle for Manhattan (3-5 Players): Advanced version of RISK: Avengers including Individual Objectives, Allies, and Faction Cards, offering even more strategic options.
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Card Game (2-5 Players): Flip the game board over for an asset collection card game.

Skirmish (3 to 5 Players)

Skirmish mode is designed as an introductory version of RISK: Avengers game play. It is shorter and easier to learn, and it is recommended that you play this version until you are comfortable with the basic rules and mechanics of RISK. Once you have perfected your strategies, move on to the more challenging version of Battle for Manhattan.

Components needed: Avengers side of the board, 6-sided dice, all 5 Faction Decks, and the Faction pieces (three-piece and one-piece versions of each faction). The Hero Cards, Helicarrier, Allies and all other components are left in the box for this mode.

Object of the Game

The first player to control 20 of the sectors wins the game.

Set Up

• Place the game board in the middle of the table with the Manhattan map facing up.
• Take out only the 6-sided dice.
• Shuffle all 5 of the Faction decks together. They will only be used for unit bonuses.
• Each player chooses a Faction. Take the plastic pieces associated with that character, but for this game you can leave the Hero Cards, Helicarrier, Allies and all other components in the box.
• Roll a die to see who will go first. Highest roller goes first. Play will continue clockwise.
• Starting with the first player, and taking turns in order, each player will place 3 Units in any unoccupied sector. Note: No sector can be controlled by more than one faction. Some players will control more sectors than others and this is okay.
• In a 4 or 5 player game, the 4th and 5th players each start with a card from the Faction Deck.

Game Play Overview

On your turn, you will take the following four actions:

1. Reinforce by deploying additional Units to bolster your Faction (Reinforcement p. 5).
2. Invade opposing sectors (Invasions and Battles p. 6-7).
3. Maneuver your Units (Maneuver p. 7).
4. Draw a Faction Card if eligible (Faction Cards p. 7).

Reinforcement

At the start of your turn, you will deploy additional Units to reinforce your sectors. The number of Units you can deploy is determined as follows:

1. Count up the number of sectors you control, and divide that number by 3, rounding down. For example, if you control 10 sectors, you divide 10 by 3 to get 3 Units to deploy. Note: You ALWAYS gain at least 3 Units each turn, so if this number is less than 3, round up to 3 Units.
2. Determine if you have any region bonuses. If you control every sector in a region, you earn the region bonus indicated on the map as additional Units. For example, if you control all 4 sectors that comprise the South Central Region, you get 4 bonus Units. The map shows the Central Region (7 sectors, bonus 10), the Southern Region (4 sectors, bonus 2), the South Central Region (4 sectors, bonus 4) and the Eastern Region (6 sectors, bonus 4).
3. Trade in Faction Cards for bonus Units. How you get Faction Cards is explained in the Faction Cards section on page 7. Faction cards have 1 or 2 Avenger symbols on them (ignore everything else on the cards for this game). If you have cards containing a total of 2 or more Avenger symbols you may choose to turn in some or all of them to deploy more Units. The number of Avenger symbols determines how many Units you get. You may turn a maximum of 10 Avenger symbols on any one turn. Refer to the Reinforcement Chart on the game board to see how many Units you get for a set of cards. Add these Units to your reinforcements pile from steps 1 and 2.

Reinforcement Chart (Avenger symbols to Units): 2 = 2 Units; 3 = 4; 4 = 7; 5 = 10; 6 = 13; 7 = 17; 8 = 21; 9 = 25; 10 = 30.

Example: 3 Avenger symbols = 4 Units.

Invasions and Battles

This is the main part of your turn, where you decide who and where to attack, in order to gain control of more sectors. You may invade sectors controlled by opponents that are adjacent to sectors you control. You may declare multiple invasions during your turn, but each invasion can only come from one of your sectors at a time. Declaring an invasion is always optional, so you can choose if and when to attack each turn.

To Invade an Opposing Sector

1. Declare an invasion by choosing a sector you control from which to attack and an opposing defending sector you seek to conquer. The two sectors involved must be connected to each other either by shared border or a connection line. The attacking sector must have at least 2 Units in it. You can never leave a sector unoccupied, as 1 Unit must remain behind in the attacking sector to 'stand guard', retaining control of it. All other Units may be used in the invasion.
2. An invasion consists of a number of battles. First, choose how many Units from your attacking sector to commit to the battle. For each battle, 1, 2, or 3 Units may attack, and you will roll a die for each attacking Unit in the battle.
3. Then the defending player chooses how many Units to commit to defend. The defender may choose either 1 or 2 Units, even if there are more in the defending sector.
4. Once Units are committed to a battle, each player rolls a 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.
5. Players pair up the attack and defense dice in order from highest to lowest. Then, compare the pairs of attack and defense dice.
   • If the attack die is higher than the defense die, remove one defending Unit from the battle and return it to the reserves.
   • If the defense die is equal to or higher than the attack die, remove one attacking Unit from the battle and return it to the reserves (defender wins ties).
6. Continue by comparing second highest die on each side of the battle, again with the loser removing 1 Unit.
7. If there is no die to pair up with and compare, meaning you rolled more dice than your opponent, simply ignore those extra dice (with the lowest numbers).

Example Battle

Thor (7 Units) in Sector_12 declares an invasion on the Ultron-occupied Sector_13. Thor commits 3 Units to the first battle, while Ultron only has 2 Units to defend the sector. Thor rolls 3 dice, one for each attacking Unit, rolling 6, 4 and 1. Ultron rolls 2 dice to defend, rolling 5 and 4. Comparing highest die rolls for each side, Thor's 6 beats Ultron's 5, so Ultron removes 1 Unit. Then, comparing second highest rolls, both sides rolled a 4. The Ultron defender wins ties, and Thor removes 1 Unit. The third attack die is not used, since there is no defending die to compare.

Continuing an Invasion

If the defender still has Units in the sector being invaded, the attacker may continue the current invasion from the same sector by committing more Units to another battle, but can always choose to end an invasion after the first battle and declare another invasion elsewhere.

When the last defending Unit is defeated in an invasion, move the remaining attacking Units committed to the final battle into the defending sector. You may also move in additional Units from the attacking sector. So even though you can only attack with 3 Units at a time, you may move more than that into the defending sector. Remember that you must always leave 1 Unit behind in the sector that attacked, as no sector may ever be left unoccupied.

Example: Thor continues the attack with 3 more Units, and defeats the last Ultron Unit in Sector_13. All 3 attacking Units must move from Sector_12 to Sector_13. Thor decides to move 2 more Units to Sector_13 to join the 3 attackers, leaving 1 Unit behind to hold Sector_12.

Remember, you can declare as many invasions as you like on your turn, provided you have the Units available. Also, you can wage as many battles as you like during each invasion, or can stop after just one battle. The choice is up to you: play it safe, or risk it all in the name of domination!

If you manage to remove all of another player's Units from the map, that player is eliminated from the game. You collect that player's Faction Cards.

Maneuver

Once you have decided that you are done attacking, you may make one maneuver, to reinforce a key strategic position. To make a maneuver, take as many Units as you like from one sector you control and move them to one other connected sector.

Remember, you must leave at least 1 Unit in the first sector, and sectors are connected if you control all the sectors in between the two. You cannot maneuver through enemy sectors. This is not considered an attack, just a way to reinforce a strategic or vulnerable position.

Example: At the end of his turn, Thor wants to move more Units into Sector_32. He can take 2 Units from Sector_24, and maneuver them through Sector_31 and into Sector_32 since he controls all those sectors and they are connected.

Faction Cards

Faction Cards are an important and game-changing part of RISK: Marvel Cinematic Universe Edition strategy. If you successfully invaded and conquered at least one opposing sector, you draw the top card from the faction card deck. You can only draw one card, regardless of how many sectors you conquered.

Faction Cards may be traded in at the start of your turn to gain bonus Units to deploy (Reinforcement p. 5). Each card has either one or two Avenger symbols on it. When you trade in Faction Cards, simply discard them face-up to a separate pile beside the deck. Cards can be redeemed at the start of your turn for bonus Units based on the chart (see the Reinforcement Chart on page 5).

Winning

The first player to control 20 sectors on the map wins the game. For a longer or shorter game, adjust the number of sectors required to win.

Battle for Manhattan (3 to 5 Players)

Battle for Manhattan is an advanced version of RISK: Avengers. To play this game you must be familiar with the basic Risk gameplay. After you feel comfortable with Skirmish mode, you can incorporate the Battle for Manhattan rules.

Object of the Game

Each faction has a specific Objective to win. The first player to complete their objective wins the game. (Winning p. 13)

• Captain America: Control the Helicarrier and 5 Docking Sectors.
• Ultron: Eliminate Iron Man and control Sector_40 [Sokovia].
• Iron Man: Build and control the Avengers Tower in Sector_25 and control Sector_01 [Malibu].
• Winter Soldier: Eliminate Captain America and control Sector_30 [Washington D.C.].
• Thor: Find Loki's scepter and control Sector_50 [Asgard].

Components Needed

Battle for Manhattan uses the Avengers side of the board, all five sets of faction pieces, the Hulk figure, the Hero Cards for all six heroes (including Hulk), the Allies, the Faction Decks, 5 six-sided dice and 2 eight-sided dice, the Helicarrier, and the Avengers Tower with its Foundation Pieces and Resource tokens.

Helicarrier assembly is shown on the page as a series of pictorial steps (labelled A, B, C, D), which are not reproduced in text here.

Set Up (Battle for Manhattan)

Each player rolls a die; the highest roller gets first choice of faction. In descending order, each other player does the same. After you choose your faction, seat yourselves around the game board in turn order. Each player takes the Hero Card, Faction Card deck, Allies with bases, and Units associated with their faction. Place the Helicarrier near the game board.

Turn order and starting unit placement depend on the number of players. The rulebook gives a separate map diagram for each player count (3, 4 and 5 players); the sector-by-sector Unit placement is shown on those diagrams.

• 3 players: Turn order is Captain America, Winter Soldier, Iron Man.
• 4 players: Turn order is Captain America, Ultron, Iron Man, Winter Soldier. Captain America, Ultron and Iron Man start with 1 card. Winter Soldier starts with 2 cards.
• 5 players: Turn order is Captain America, Ultron, Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Thor. Captain America, Ultron and Iron Man start with 1 card. Winter Soldier and Thor start with 2 cards.

For every player count:

• Place 10 resource chips.
• Place 3 Dark Elves onto the game board.
• Place Hulk at the bottom of the Rage Meter.
• At the start of each game the Helicarrier is occupied by S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives. Place the operatives according to the chart on the page (S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra).

In a 5-player game only: after all Units are deployed, shuffle the Loki tokens. One of the tokens is hiding the scepter; the rest are illusions cast by Loki. Without looking, place them face-down (colored Loki face-up) on the board according to the set-up chart.

Game Play Overview (Battle for Manhattan)

On your turn, you will take the following actions:

1. Reinforce with additional Units (Reinforcement p. 10).
2. Acquire Allies (Acquiring Allies p. 11).
3. Invade opposing sectors (Invade p. 11).
4. Maneuver your Units (Maneuver p. 13).
5. Draw a Faction Card if eligible (Faction Cards p. 13).

Reinforcement (Battle for Manhattan)

Deployment for Battle for Manhattan works like it does in Skirmish (Reinforcement p. 5):

1. Count up the number of sectors you control, and divide that number by 3, rounding down.
2. Determine if you have any region bonuses.
3. Trade in Faction cards for bonus Units.
4. You may also turn in a single Faction card to collect an Ally to deploy with your Units. You can redeem for both Units and an Ally on the same turn, but the single card for an Ally card cannot be part of the set. You do NOT get bonus Units for redeeming a single card for an Ally (Acquiring Allies p. 11).

After totaling up reinforcement Units for your turn, you must deploy ALL reinforcement Units into sectors you control. You can choose to deploy all Units into one sector or spread them out across multiple sectors. If you activated an Ally, you can deploy it into any sector you control, independent of where you deploy Units.

Acquiring Allies

There are three Allies associated with each faction which can be deployed by redeeming a Faction Card (see the previous page). Each Ally brings its own unique advantage. Refer to your Hero Card for details. Allies grant combat bonuses for the Units in the sector with them when those Units are engaged in battle, but do not count as Units on their own. An Ally is removed from the board when all the Units in the sector with the Ally are defeated and the sector is conquered. You can never lose an Ally while attacking, but if used in an attack, and you conquer the defending sector, the Ally must move in to the conquered sector with the attacking Units.

Note: An Ally does not represent a Unit in its own right and must always move with Units in an invasion. When the last Unit in a sector is removed the Ally must also be removed, and it can only be replaced on the board by turning in another Faction Card during deployment.

Invade

All rules are the same as in Skirmish (Invade on p. 11) with the following additions:

Invading a Sector with a Resource

When any player except Iron Man conquers the sector, nothing happens. Iron Man must conquer a sector with a resource to collect the resource. As he collects them he is able to build the Avengers Tower in the following order:

• 2 resource chips = Foundation_01
• 4 resource chips (total) = Foundation_02
• 6 resource chips (total) = Avengers Tower

Note: The foundation and tower do not all have to be built in a single turn.

Invading the Helicarrier

The Helicarrier can only be invaded through the sectors with Docking Stations. To declare an invasion, you must have control of at least one Sector with a Docking Station and attack with your Units from there. The Helicarrier must be invaded through the access point.

The Helicarrier starts under the control of S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives who will roll 8-sided defense die. Any opposing player may roll for these units. If they are defeated, they are removed from the board... UNLESS it is Winter Soldier who defeats them. For each S.H.I.E.L.D. operative Winter Soldier defeats in a battle, roll 1 die. If the result is a 4+, flip the S.H.I.E.L.D. operative over to reveal a Hydra sleeper agent. Winter Soldier may then move the Hydra agent into his invading army as an extra unit.

The Helicarrier can be used for invasions once it is entirely controlled by one player. The invading Units must attack from the access point, and can invade any sector with a Docking Station.

Invade Continued: Invading a Sector with a Loki Token

These sectors are magically enhanced; taking them won't be easy. The defensive players who control the sectors with a Loki token may replace a 6-sided die with an 8-sided die for each defending unit engaged in a battle.

When any player except Thor conquers the sector, the token remains. When Thor conquers a sector with one of these, he reveals the image on the other side. If it is an illusion, the game continues. The token is taken off the board and returned to the box. If Thor reveals the scepter and if he already controls Sector_50 [Asgard], the game is over and he wins.

Invading Sector_50 [Asgard]

The Dark Elves have invaded Asgard. To win, Thor must remove them from his home world. The Dark Elves will roll 8-sided defense die. Any opposing player may roll for these units.

Invading with Hulk

The Incredible Hulk is the most powerful character in the game and can join the fight for any Faction.

With every sector conquered, move Hulk one space up on the Rage Meter. If he reaches the top on your turn, get ready to smash. Take Hulk's Hero Card to remind you of his powers and move Hulk into one of your sectors with at least 2 Units. You must attack with him immediately. Until the end of your turn, Hulk travels with the conquering Units.

At the end of your turn, return a calmed down Hulk to the bottom of the Rage Meter.

For each battle, you may:

• Use up to 2 eight-sided dice.
• Add 1 to your highest die roll.
• Re-roll all ones.

Maneuver (Battle for Manhattan)

Like in Skirmish mode, once you have decided that you are done attacking, you may make one maneuver, to reinforce a key strategic position. Some Faction Cards may allow you to make an extra maneuver or maneuver through opponent's sectors. In addition, you may also move any or all Allies in one sector to another connected sector.

Faction Cards (Battle for Manhattan)

If you successfully invaded and conquered at least one opposing sector, you draw the top card from your Faction Card deck. Each card has 3 options for how to play it:

1. Turn in single cards for the one-time power on the card. To use a Faction Card's special power, simply follow the instructions on the card and discard it. You may play as many cards as you want on each turn.
2. Turn in cards for bonus Units. Faction Cards may be traded in during Reinforcement to gain bonus Units to deploy (Reinforcement p. 10).
3. Turn in a card to gain an Ally. A single Faction Card may be traded in to gain the Ally depicted, to be deployed during reinforcement (Acquiring Allies p. 11).

Winning (Battle for Manhattan)

• Captain America: Control Helicarrier and 5 Docking Stations. On the board are 9 Docking Stations for the mobile Helicarrier. Captain America must control 5 of them and all 3 sections of the Helicarrier to win. Note: the Docking Station in Sector_25 will no longer be accessible once Iron Man completes phase 2 of his objective.
• Ultron: Eliminate Iron Man and control Sector_40 [Sokovia]. Ultron does not have to deal the death blow, if Iron Man loses his last Unit and Ultron already controls Sector_40 [Sokovia] Ultron wins immediately.
• Iron Man: Build and control the Avengers Tower and control Sector_01 [Malibu]. At the end of Iron Man's turn, if he collects at least 2 resources he will place one of two Foundation pieces detailing Sector_25. NOTE: He doesn't need to control Sector_25 to place the Foundation piece. The third time he collects 2 resources, he may place the Avengers Tower on the board. He now must control Sector 25 and Sector_01 [Malibu] to win.
• Winter Soldier: Eliminate Captain America and control Sector_30 [Washington D.C.]. Winter Soldier does not have to personally eliminate Captain America. If Captain America loses his last unit and Winter Soldier already controls Sector_30 [Washington D.C.] Winter Soldier wins immediately.
• Thor: Find Loki's scepter and control Sector_50 [Asgard]. There will be 8 Loki tokens on the board. One will be hiding the scepter and the rest will be illusions. Thor must conquer a territory with a token to be able to look underneath to see what it is hiding. He wins once he finds the scepter and gains control of Sector_50 [Asgard].

Guardians of the Galaxy Collector Game (2 to 5 Players)

Object of the Game

Be the player with the highest point total when all Asset Cards have been successfully collected.

Components for Game Play

• Game board
• Set cards
• Asset cards
• Six-sided dice
• Eight-sided dice
• Orb

Set Up

Place the 6 Set cards and the corresponding 19 Asset cards face-up on the Galaxy map. Choose a start player at random.

Asset Cards and Set Cards

Each Asset card shows its name, a character or item image, the set name, the card value, and the rolls required to claim it. A claimed Asset card shows an additional roll for an already claimed card. Each Set card shows the set name, the set value bonus, the set bonus power, and the orb.

How to Play

1. Roll all 7 dice. In order to select an Asset Card to collect, you must be able to completely match one row of target numbers shown on the card with your initial dice roll. This may be an unclaimed card or one already controlled by your opponent.
2. Select a card by placing it in the staging area with your dice next to the matching row on the card you wish to collect. You do not have to claim rows in order. 1-2-3 rows do not have to match exactly, but can equal or exceed the value listed. For example, a roll of 2, 2, and 3 can be used to match 6+ in 1-2-3s. To collect a card already claimed by another player, you must also match the additional circled target number of 6.
3. After placing dice next to one row, roll the remaining dice. You may only match one row with each dice roll. Continue to roll and try to match another row on that same Asset. If you succeed, continue placing dice and rolling the remainders in this manner until you have matched all rows. Whenever you fail to match a row, remove one unplaced die and set it aside. Continue rolling with the remaining dice until you have matched all rows or it becomes clear that you cannot match all rows. If you failed to match all rows on a card, end your turn. Pass all 7 dice to the next player and return the card to its appropriate spot.
4. If you match all of the rows of a card, you may collect it. Place the card in front of you. If you can collect ALL Assets in a Set, you now control the entire Set. Take the Set Card from the game board. Three bonuses come from controlling a Set:
   1. Each Set has a power that you may use for the rest of the game.
   2. No one may attempt to claim any of the Assets in that Set from you.
   3. When scoring, use the higher Set point value instead of the sum of the individual card values.
5. When the Morag Set is collected, the player brings the Set card and the Orb into play on his side of the table. After this, each time an Asset Card is successfully stolen from the opponent who controls the Orb, the active player gets one additional roll with all the dice to try and get 3-of-a-kind. If they do, they also gain control of the Orb and bring it to their side of the table.

Ending the Game

When the last Asset card is collected from the game board, each player gets one last opportunity to steal an Asset. Then, players tally the values of his or her Assets. Remember to use the higher Set value instead of the values on each individual asset if you conquered an entire set. The player who controls the Orb at the end of the game gets an additional 5 points. The player with the most points wins!