Troop stacking a legitimate strategy?

[krusher]

Been seeing lots of troop stacking in recent games especially in 8 man, FOG, Flat Rate, and Trench. The goal of risk to me has always been to take as much territory as you can and use up the troops gained to do the same round after round. This strategy served me well against like minded individuals but recently theres always 2-3 people holding out with huge stacks in the end who haven't expanded but yet have a far greater stack than I. The outcome is that one of them easily sweeps in and breaks all my bonuses since with all the expanding they are lightly guarded, that person usually does not win as the next round i take most of it back and he depletes most of his troops but like I said he is not the only one holding out usually the 3rd person left with a stack swoops both of us away and wins the game even though he hasn't done much the entire game in terms of eliminating or growing. So my question is this the new way to win games? let others do the work and swoop in when your one of the few left? Comment!

[DoomYoshi]

Been seeing lots of troop stacking in recent games especially in 8 man, FOG, Flat Rate, and Trench. The goal of risk to me has always been to take as much territory as you can and use up the troops gained to do the same round after round. This strategy served me well against like minded individuals but recently theres always 2-3 people holding out with huge stacks in the end who haven't expanded but yet have a far greater stack than I. The outcome is that one of them easily sweeps in and breaks all my bonuses since with all the expanding they are lightly guarded, that person usually does not win as the next round i take most of it back and he depletes most of his troops but like I said he is not the only one holding out usually the 3rd person left with a stack swoops both of us away and wins the game even though he hasn't done much the entire game in terms of eliminating or growing. So my question is this the new way to win games? let others do the work and swoop in when your one of the few left? Comment!

Yea, that strategy works if only 2 or 3 people are doing it. If you notice someone doing it, just block their card spot and it should give you enough of an advantage. Alternately, fog reveal

[JBlombier]

Biased poll, so I voted for the first option, which comes closest to my real opinion. My opinion is somewhere around "it can work if you use it at the right time" and "it's boring, but if it wins you the game, you should try it".

[Funkyterrance]

I've noticed some new "tactics" as of late, one of them stacking and I don't feel like Risk is the type of game where changing tactics to affect your opponents game really gives you any advantage since it's all about probability anyway. The only benefit I can see to stacking is the element of surprise as it's more difficult to predict the "1-2-3" of your opponent when he/she does it all in one turn as opposed to 3 or 2.

[krusher]

Biased poll, so I voted for the first option, which comes closest to my real opinion. My opinion is somewhere around "it can work if you use it at the right time" and "it's boring, but if it wins you the game, you should try it".

your chance of winning will probably increase but than again you wont be engaging and playing the game as you should... to me the most deserving player should win, I guess terminator game would encourage people to not stack but than we are faced with a whole different mess of problems.

[krusher]

I've noticed some new "tactics" as of late, one of them stacking and I don't feel like Risk is the type of game where changing tactics to affect your opponents game really gives you any advantage since it's all about probability anyway. The only benefit I can see to stacking is the element of surprise as it's more difficult to predict the "1-2-3" of your opponent when he/she does it all in one turn as opposed to 3 or 2.

the element of surprise is only a minor factor, you can predict based on logs who is stacking but how do you counter it? if everybody stacks the game is unplayable, and if you try to expand on the 2nd player, the 3rd player will take advantage of both your weakness and kill you both. I've lost many games because of that scenario.... maybe some form of slow expansion expansion stacking might do the job, i have to try, but i hate stacking and slow paced game so its a double edged sword.

[Funkyterrance]

the element of surprise is only a minor factor, you can predict based on logs who is stacking but how do you counter it? if everybody stacks the game is unplayable, and if you try to expand on the 2nd player, the 3rd player will take advantage of both your weakness and kill you both. I've lost many games because of that scenario.... maybe some form of slow expansion expansion stacking might do the job, i have to try, but i hate stacking and slow paced game so its a double edged sword.

Yeah, what I meant was not knowing about the stack but knowing what your opponent is going to do with the stack. Basically, you can be potentially more unpredictable if you storm on one turn than if you creep slowly over the course of several.

[Armandolas]

I believe it can work sometimes.
I dont think is the best option in Trench games, as u cant go far with that stack, and if u get really behind your enemy he will get a stack like yours in 2/3 rounds.
But sometimes you really have no option. If cannot cripple your self wasting precious troops in bonus fights, then you just have to be patient and wait for your chance.
I dont believe iits a winning formula, i thinks is just an alternative gamestyle that u sometimes must apply in order to keep hopes alive.

[Gabriel13]

If you don't want stacks to affect your games, then play esc games, where you can eliminate someone, get a huge card bonus, and then take them out in the end.

[IR1SH ACE]

If you don't want stacks to affect your games, then play esc games, where you can eliminate someone, get a huge card bonus, and then take them out in the end.

This.... +1

the reason i dont play flat/NS standard games, i hate slow ass stackin games that just become big stand off games for stupid amounts of rounds..

Esc & Trench are the way to go for Standard games... much more fun and less boring