how to win in the classic map

[The Yeti]

3. Never just keep armies on Siam like this player suggested. Always, always have army opportunities to attack. If you have siam, you better make sure you don't have either india or china. I find it hilarious to find players that have China + India + a fwe other asian countries but leave like 6 armies on Siam..

This strategy dictates the use of Aussie as a defencive bonus provider - then you attack from other locations using your extra troops. If you are following this strategy, to split your defence between China and India against however many other players is sheer folly. It makes it twice as easy to break your defence, and take out your bonus.

[fireedud]

if you are playing the classic map, first you must got aussie.
that is the main priority.
once you have aussie, put atleast 7 people in siam.
once you have aussie and atleast 7 people in siam, try to take brasil.
but make sure your bonus from aussie go's to siam each turn, until you have 15 people in siam.
once you have 15 people in siam and you own, aussie and brasil, work on eliminating people instead of taking countries...
that is probably the easiest way to win on classic....

if its an assassin game, take aussie and put 7 on siam. the do your best to stop everyone from gettin country bonuses, but exspecially your target from gettinr bonuses...
thats all folks

this is easily the worst strategy i've ever heard. this is how you REALLY win classic.

step 1: go for madagascar. if you don't have it, get it. even if it means fighting through 4 or 5 countries and takes as many turns, do it anyway. trust me, it's worth it.

step 2: drop on madagascar, then end turn. fortify as many as you can onto the island, but an make sure you have a way to attack out (prefereably south africa)

step 3: repear step 2, twice. (this means drop on maddy 3 times)

step 4: now you are ready to make your move. auto attack your way through africa, choosing your opponents at random. don't stop until you can't attack any more. if you have any other armies laying around on the map, now is the time to attack. show no mercy, attack to the last man! at the end of you turn, you should have a bunch of 1's on your territories.

step 5: congratulations! your opponents will now cower in fear at your take-no-prisoners attitude. they will shirk away from attack you for fear of retribution from your merciless armies, and will fight amongst themselves. enjoy this time to rebuild (this time on ontario. if you don't have ontario, follow step 1 guidelines for taking it)

step 6: wait until your enemies have killed each other off and 1 puny opponent is left. crush him with your massive canadian army (yeah i know it's an oxymoron), laughing all the way through his decimated armies

step 7. congratulations, you've just swept the board. be sure to put in lots of taunting and nasty remarks about your enemies' mothers in game chat, so that next time you play them they will fear your awesome power and unbeatable strategy even more!

step 8: celebrate! going into the gd forum and posting lots of threads about the quality of dice randomness, the abusive power of mods, and the stupidity of the new ratings sytem. this will make you very popular and cool.

I will try this on my next classic game.

[MOBAJOBG]

thats the worst stratagy ever unless your playing against noobs ..... any body with 2 sense would beat you in a sec.....

nono trust me i'm a major, i would know. this works BETTER against higher ranked players, as they have more to lose from your victory and noobs are often too stupid to realize they should fear you![/quote]


ok, i guess i see that strategy..... i understand the africa part, honestly its been used against me before and worked, but i dont understand why specifically ontario.... i think i see why the U.S. , but not why ontario.... [/quote]
Trust me when I say, this is a useless strategy. I'm sure bbqpenquin is just fooling around and not being serious.

[bbqpenguin]

thats the worst stratagy ever unless your playing against noobs ..... any body with 2 sense would beat you in a sec.....

nono trust me i'm a major, i would know. this works BETTER against higher ranked players, as they have more to lose from your victory and noobs are often too stupid to realize they should fear you!

ok, i guess i see that strategy..... i understand the africa part, honestly its been used against me before and worked, but i dont understand why specifically ontario.... i think i see why the U.S. , but not why ontario....

Trust me when I say, this is a useless strategy. I'm sure bbqpenquin is just fooling around and not being serious.[/quote]

moba, i'm appalled that you'd think i would give someone a bullshit strategy. i've used this same method countless times, and it's almost always panned out well for me. you've obviously never actually tried it to test out it's effectiveness. i recommend you try before you pass judgement!

[FabledIntegral]

1. If it's a 1v1, no don't go for Aussie unless there are 0 neutrals there.
2. If it's escalating, no don't go for Aussie.
3. Never just keep armies on Siam like this player suggested. Always, always have army opportunities to attack. If you have siam, you better make sure you don't have either india or china. I find it hilarious to find players that have China + India + a fwe other asian countries but leave like 6 armies on Siam.
4. If it's a speed freestyle don't worry about aussie at all.

So basically if you're playing a vast minority of classic games, not any of those I mentioned above, Aussie is only a good spot if you have the drop for it. Easily the most overrated place in Risk.

1) Unless there's another continent where it makes sense to attack neutrals, then that's no a reason against Aussie per se.
2) Ditto for escalating
3) I understand the folly in fortifying such a small bonus with massive armies but that doesn't, in itself have anything to do with why Aussie not being a great place to start.
4) Well, as lame as freestyle is, I'm sure freestyle speed is worse, so what difference does it make.

So, basically, you failed to make a decent point. Thanks for coming though.

No, you're still wrong. As I pointed out, IF it's a 1v1. Therefore it's NOT beneficial to go for Aussie if there are neutrals. In a 1v1 game, you never go for bonuses, you always go for army counts, unless it's a very large map such as world 2.1, or a very small map such as doodle earth (where you can't get enough territories where it matters). Thus, on the first point, you are WRONG. It is not beneficial to waste armies on Aussie at all. 1v1 on classic map are determined in about 3-4 turns generally - thus, if you want to attack neutrals, be my guest. It's all about forcing your opponents into situations where THEY have to attack neutrals.

It's also not for escalating. You don't go for continents at all in escalating - thus you are wrong again.

I was commenting on HIS point for my #3 on him saying leave like 15 armies on Siam.

I really don't recall the reason I said speed freestyle .

[Soloman]

Either people here have the driest sense of humor I've ever encountered, or there is a disconnection from recognizing sarcasm and bitter irony in certain posts.

OK, somebody else said it first so I won't feel like such a dork for thinking the exact same thing.

roflao ditto

[Ditocoaf]

if you are playing the classic map, first you must got aussie.
that is the main priority.
once you have aussie, put atleast 7 people in siam.
once you have aussie and atleast 7 people in siam, try to take brasil.
but make sure your bonus from aussie go's to siam each turn, until you have 15 people in siam.
once you have 15 people in siam and you own, aussie and brasil, work on eliminating people instead of taking countries...
that is probably the easiest way to win on classic....

if its an assassin game, take aussie and put 7 on siam. the do your best to stop everyone from gettin country bonuses, but exspecially your target from gettinr bonuses...
thats all folks

I was a clueless new in a no-cards adjacent fog game, in fact the very first Classic game I ever played (never played risk), and I managed to beat a Lieutenant who was using this exact strategy. Of course, I was stuck with most of my armies in Asia, so there wasn't much else I could do. I ended up holding Asia before anything else, which required first breaking the stockpile on Siam. Luckily, the other players were too busy fighting in the west to notice.

[redpine]

If someone else takes oz, the remaining players owe it to themselves to remove all of that players other armies from the board.
Failure to do so will cost you dear.

Thanks, I´ll go for that strategy. I am playing terminator, and can´t fight oz, but righty now I´m the only player with a country bonus (SA, almost as good as having ozzy) and it looks like ti will remain that way for quite a few turns. As long as no-one else gets a secure footing soon, I will definitely win. If the ozzy guy gets a secure footing, he might win.

[army of nobunaga]

If you play 6 7 or 8 man esc. this is not going to win the game for you.

[Dauntless07]

if you are playing the classic map, first you must got aussie.
that is the main priority.
once you have aussie, put atleast 7 people in siam.
once you have aussie and atleast 7 people in siam, try to take brasil.
but make sure your bonus from aussie go's to siam each turn, until you have 15 people in siam.
once you have 15 people in siam and you own, aussie and brasil, work on eliminating people instead of taking countries...
that is probably the easiest way to win on classic....

if its an assassin game, take aussie and put 7 on siam. the do your best to stop everyone from gettin country bonuses, but exspecially your target from gettinr bonuses...
thats all folks

this is easily the worst strategy i've ever heard. this is how you REALLY win classic.

step 1: go for madagascar. if you don't have it, get it. even if it means fighting through 4 or 5 countries and takes as many turns, do it anyway. trust me, it's worth it.

step 2: drop on madagascar, then end turn. fortify as many as you can onto the island, but an make sure you have a way to attack out (prefereably south africa)

step 3: repear step 2, twice. (this means drop on maddy 3 times)

step 4: now you are ready to make your move. auto attack your way through africa, choosing your opponents at random. don't stop until you can't attack any more. if you have any other armies laying around on the map, now is the time to attack. show no mercy, attack to the last man! at the end of you turn, you should have a bunch of 1's on your territories.

step 5: congratulations! your opponents will now cower in fear at your take-no-prisoners attitude. they will shirk away from attack you for fear of retribution from your merciless armies, and will fight amongst themselves. enjoy this time to rebuild (this time on ontario. if you don't have ontario, follow step 1 guidelines for taking it)

step 6: wait until your enemies have killed each other off and 1 puny opponent is left. crush him with your massive canadian army (yeah i know it's an oxymoron), laughing all the way through his decimated armies

step 7. congratulations, you've just swept the board. be sure to put in lots of taunting and nasty remarks about your enemies' mothers in game chat, so that next time you play them they will fear your awesome power and unbeatable strategy even more!

step 8: celebrate! going into the gd forum and posting lots of threads about the quality of dice randomness, the abusive power of mods, and the stupidity of the new ratings sytem. this will make you very popular and cool.

Well, I tried something like that. When playing the classic map, I once got the luckiest dice ever and captured all of NA, SA, and Europe on my first turn, but the other players did not panic and start fighting amongst themselves as you describe. When I asked why they were only attacking me they said, "We're not the ones who decided to attack every player on the board the first turn."

I was the first to die, it was just too easy for them with only 1 troop in each of my territories. So I believe your strategy is doomed to fail. Contrary, there is no easier way to lose than by pissing off everyone on the board only a few turns into the game.

I would always go for Africa, lol.

[Paddy The Cat]

problem is if your playing classic [in a non-escalating game] and you take aussie and keep all others out of bonuses, the other players will [wisely] team up against you. therefore, i find it best to stay in 2nd or third place, make it seem like your doing something to stop whoever is leading, and then when everyone else wastes their armies, clean up the board. now, if your playing against real smart people, they might not be so easy to manipulate. but if you are a good liar its still possible.

i mean seriously. no cards are either about drop and dice or getting the other players to behave the way you need.

[pickleofdoom]

How to win at classic:

1) Tick the "escalating cards" box in your game finder.
2) Gobble people up and take their spoils.
3) kill everybody.



I admit that there are alternative methods, but pickles enjoy gobbling people up.

[dwilhelmi]

In my experience in the actual board game, getting aussie will normally lead to a 2nd place finish. It really depends on how aggressive your opponents are - aussie has nowhere to expand to except asia, which is next to impossible to hold. If you are playing against conservative opponents, then eventually the other continents will be claimed by people, which will give them a greater bonus than yours. Being isolated to aussie, you will get fewer armies from country count as well. Unless your other opponents just decimate each other, the numbers will eventually lean towards the strongest of your opponents.

That being said, the dynamic may very well be different online. Also, a split strategy, using the aussie bonus to fuel an alternative front, also has great potential.

In the end, there is no one strategy that will always work in every game you play, so it is best to develop a few different strategies, and start the game in a fluid manner allowing you to adapt to your opponents.

[Nicholas1024]

I suggest rolling 6's. But seriously, if its an escalating spoils game, just get a bunch of little strongholds around the board (you know, 5-6 troop territories), and attack into easy ground once every turn for spoils. Once the spoil value is high enough, trade a group in, and try to eliminate your opponents one by one, using their spoils to continue your attack.

It's quite possible to go from worst to first in an escalating spoils game. In fact, I once went from one region with two armies to owning the whole board and winning in one turn! (Yeah, it was World 2.1, but close enough, right? Besides, the same strategy still applies.) I traded in 4 sets of spoils that round for over 300 armies.

[NOBODYIMPORTANT]

I'm thinking the best way to win ANY map is to track down the IP address, break into the house and destroy the computer.............MWAA HAA HAA HAA!

[WorldCup4James]

I think Australia is the best to take early in the game, but in my opinion taking SA after that is difficult because you end up deploying troops at different regions. I think the best thing is to keep your troops centralized and try to take Asia, because if you try and only have Australia you´ll get overrun by the big players who have North America, Africa, etc. Take Siam, India, and China. Then, be sure to secure Moscow, Dubai, and Magadan. Work slowly, capture them 1 at a time, and then slowly take the inner Asian territories. Do NOT be aggressive, capture the entire Asia only when you can cash spoils, and be sure that when you capture Asia you can maintain your borders for a turn. Obviously if Asia is controlled and isn´t a wasteland of armies then you´re doomed in Australia.

[RedFlyingGolf]

thanks for the tips
i usually try to take one of the small countries
if not i stock up and go from there

[stahrgazer]

I would always go for Africa, lol.

Hahaha, Africa's about the hardest region to defend for the number of troops you get, and once you get it, you have very few interior regions to reinforce to the front lines.

Which strategy works best really does depend on drop and what the other players are doing.

If you happen to take Oceania, then that can give you some extra troops to assault elsewhere. If you're cleared out of other areas, you could be a sitting duck while whoever takes North America (+5 troops and only 3 defense points but lots of interior regions to reinforce to front lines) eventually swoops in on you. If you corner yourself in Oceania, you have nowhere to go. If you strive to take Africa, you have to defend on so many borders you're unlikely to keep the zone; not only could you be considered "too dangerous" to SA and Europe, you're in the way of their expansion.

Remember for games where lots of regions are feasible: small bonuses can be compensated for by sweeping through single defense regions for "region count advantage" - 15 regions for five troops vs. the opponent's 11 regions for three troops.

[KoE_Sirius]

I would always go for Africa, lol.

Hahaha, Africa's about the hardest region to defend for the number of troops you get, and once you get it, you have very few interior regions to reinforce to the front lines.

Which strategy works best really does depend on drop and what the other players are doing.

If you happen to take Oceania, then that can give you some extra troops to assault elsewhere. If you're cleared out of other areas, you could be a sitting duck while whoever takes North America (+5 troops and only 3 defense points but lots of interior regions to reinforce to front lines) eventually swoops in on you. If you corner yourself in Oceania, you have nowhere to go. If you strive to take Africa, you have to defend on so many borders you're unlikely to keep the zone; not only could you be considered "too dangerous" to SA and Europe, you're in the way of their expansion.

Remember for games where lots of regions are feasible: small bonuses can be compensated for by sweeping through single defense regions for "region count advantage" - 15 regions for five troops vs. the opponent's 11 regions for three troops.

Yeah go for USA it only has 3 borders.Its well easy to keep.

[stahrgazer]

Yeah go for USA it only has 3 borders.Its well easy to keep.

Assuming the drop allows, this really is a viable strategy.

[Bruceswar]

Yeah go for USA it only has 3 borders.Its well easy to keep.

Assuming the drop allows, this really is a viable strategy.

FAIL! Really his post was a joke about yours and you failed to see it.

[KoE_Sirius]

Yeah go for USA it only has 3 borders.Its well easy to keep.

Assuming the drop allows, this really is a viable strategy.

FAIL! Really his post was a joke about yours and you failed to see it.

I know.My talents are wasted here.

[stahrgazer]

FAIL! Really his post was a joke about yours and you failed to see it.

FAIL! I did see it. It's still a viable strategy, depending on the drop and number of players.

At least, it can be more viable than taking Africa, and it's easier to defend. The real problem is, that +5 makes a bigger target than Africa's +3

[Bruceswar]

FAIL! Really his post was a joke about yours and you failed to see it.

FAIL! I did see it. It's still a viable strategy, depending on the drop and number of players.

At least, it can be more viable than taking Africa, and it's easier to defend. The real problem is, that +5 makes a bigger target than Africa's +3

If you really think that holding NA is a good strategy please for the love of god stop writing strategy guides. Rant over.

[stahrgazer]

If you really think that holding NA is a good strategy please for the love of god stop writing strategy guides. Rant over.

Well, Bruce, since I'm not the only one who has the opinion (that NA can make a better focus than Africa), and since some of those who held that opinion are better on Classic than you are, I think I'll just keep plugging away. Thanks for the opinion, though.