Ah, Risk.  What better way could someone spend three to seven hours?  How much blood, sweat, and tears have fallen over the map of the world as the combatants struggle against one another?  Not enough, probably.  In fact, you should go play it right now.  Or, read this stuff:

Noted Risk Maneuvers:

Aboriginal Pocket - Staple of the game of Risk.  Conquer Australia and fortify either Indonesia or Siam.  (Easy to perform)

African Shield - Conquest and hold plan of Africa, in which one conquers the continent Africa, then creates a “shield” by conquering and fortifying Brazil, Western Europe, Southern Europe, and Middle East.  (Moderately difficult to perform)

Alexander’s Expansion - Conquer the whole of another empire and then scoop up all of their cards.  Just like Alexander the Great did to the Persians.  ('Course he wasted a lot of his troops on an invasion of India...)

European Stronghold - Holding the whole of Europe.  The best way to do this I’ve seen is to fortify each   (Rather difficult to perform)

Expeditionary Force - While still holding your defenses, launch a massive army to go forth in glorious conquest.  My personal
favorite is to launch a force from a mass in Siam and to have it wonder around until it conquers another continent (usually North or South America).

False Front - Conquer a territory, then move back all but one army to a larger fortified territory.  Useful when breaking up large numbers of armies in an enemy army as they conquer the façade.  Also useful in pitting two enemies against one another.

Incan Stronghold - Conquer South America and hold via bottle-necks with Central America and North Africa.  (Mildly difficult to perform)

Monroe Doctrine  -  Conquest of the whole of North America and South America.  By holding these territories and continents, one can receive ample troops.  Important bottlenecks are Greenland/Iceland, Bering Strait, Brazil/Western Sahara.  (Mildly difficult to perform)

Provinean Defense - Conquer Ukraine and Middle East, the choke-point in the middle of the map.  An “Easterly” Provinean Defense guards against Asia, while a “Westerly” Provinean Defense keeps Europe and Africa at bay.  (And yep, that’s right, it’s named after me.)

Roving Horde - Hannibal’s favorite.  Lump all of your soldiers on a single territory and move once a turn (enough to gain a card).  This is a good way to hold onto your life if you are nearly doomed or looking for a good place to set up an empire.  He held off the Romans for years on end deeply behind enemy lines and without communication or supply via this method.

Southern Belt - Conquer South America and Africa, using key gaps.  For an Extended Southern Belt, add Australia via India and Middle East.  (Moderately difficult to perform, but if you do, hey, you’ve got almost half the world!)

Ural-Balkan-Atlas Line - A fortification when invading the Old World via the New World.  Having Ukraine, Southern Europe, and Western Sahara provides for domination of Europe and a pretty nice defense of South America.  Remember Sun Tzu and make sure your defenses are strong and even.


Have your own maneuvers?  Send me an e-mail and I'll add them!