Castle Risk
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| Players | 2–6 |
|---|---|
| Age range | 8+ |
| Setup time | 5–20 minutes |
| Playing time | 1–3 hours (player dependent) |
| Random chance | medium-dice, cards |
| Skills required | Tactics, Strategy, and Negotiation |
Castle Risk is a version of the board game Risk that is played on a map of Europe. It was first released as a stand-alone game by Parker Brothers in 1986 and later appeared on the reverse side of the board in an early 1990s version of the standard Risk game.
[edit] Map
The map is divided into six empires and three neutral areas. A player receives four troops per turn for each empire the player controls and six troops for controlling all the neutral areas. A common variation in play is to have each of the neutral regions worth two troops a turn. Empires:
- French Empire (Paris, Gascony, Netherlands, Brittany, Marseille, Burgundy)
- British Empire (London, Wales, Ireland, Yorkshire, Scotland)
- Russian Empire (Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Livonia, Smolensk, Ukraine, Poland)
- German Empire (Prussia, Berlin, Saxony, Rhine, Bavaria)
- Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece)
- Austrian Empire (Trieste, Galicia, Vienna, Bohemia, Hungary)
Neutral/independents:
- Italy (Switzerland, Venice, Rome, Naples)
- Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Portugal)
- Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland)
[edit] Rules
The rules of Castle Risk differ from original Risk in several respects. Each empire has a capital (of the player's choosing) and once the capital is lost that player is out of the game. In addition, reinforcements are granted at the end of a turn instead of at the beginning. This makes fortifying the territory you just conquered much easier, but denies you the opportunity to place your new troops in the best strategic position for the turn you are about to begin (but see the Reinforcements card below).
Castle Risk also has very different cards. Rather than only the standard reinforcement cards there are a wide assortment:
- Generals - +1 to the top attacking die
- Marshals - +1 to top defending die
- Admirals - may transport or attack with armies by sea
- Diplomats - impose a truce on another player for a turn
- Spy - look at and force the discard of one of an opponent's cards, or negate an enemy spy (causing both spies to be discarded).
- Reinforcements - gain more troops at the beginning of your turn - there are only a set number of these cards in play, and they are removed from the game when used (all others are reshuffled). The number of troops granted increases as more cards are used, similar to the increasing number of troops from sets in standard Risk.
Another intriguing rule is the addition of "hidden armies", which are reinforcements that a player hides in a location of their choosing at the beginning of the game. They can be in any location, including an opponent's territory, which makes them very useful for launching a surprise attack. Their power, when revealed, is based on the number of reinforcements cards that have already been played.
[edit] External links
- Castle Risk at BoardGameGeek
- Castle Risk collector information (dead link) with photos
- More Castle Risk collector information (dead link) with close up photos
- Official rules of Castle Risk (PDF file)
