[TurinTurambar]

Alrighty, so after a lengthy and late game of RISK Saturday night (which my 12yr-old son won again ), Mike and I stayed up till about 3am designing the basics of how to play RISK with a SpaceEmpires flavor. The idea was basically that it should truely be a game of RISK and that the mechanics and layout should remain the same. Everyone who loves the game loves it for a certain reason, and preservation of these reasons is necessary to ensure universal appeal. (No pun intended)

ALPHA PHASE: MECHANICS AND LAYOUT
1. The continents are replaced with "Systems." There are 6 Systems; one replacing each continent. The point value for System Occupation mirrors that of the original game.

• a.)North America = Bizzet
• b.)South America = Obotron
• c.)Europe = Fwandrei
• d.)Africa = Ibsunk
• e.)Asia = Pantrissa
• f.)Australia = Hwansul

2. The territories are replaced with "Planets." The number of Planets in each System is determined by the number of territories that were in each original continent.

3. The crossing points and connecting borders denoted with dashed lines on the original board are replaced with "Warp Points." There are as many Warp Points connecting each System as there were crossing-lines originally. (Well... sort of... a few less actually, but it preserves the original positioning mostly.)

4. There is a card for each of the 42 planets. The card has the name and a picture of the planet, and one of three designs (yet to be determined). The original had Soldier/Cavalry/Cannon; we're thinking Satellite/Ship/Starbase. These are the cards you "turn in" for reinforcements. There are 3 Wildcards.

5. Space Empires Variations:

• a.) Movement. There is no "sweeping." Ships and fleets move one space per turn period. There are movement modifiers; see b.) and e.)-1.)
• b.) Asteroids. Each System has one Asteroid field. A maintained “Garrison” of 3 ships at this asteroid field provides one additional ship at the reinforcement phase. Additionally, the Pantrissa(Asia) and Fwandrei(Europe) Systems have an extra field each. Holding this position grants you +1 movement in that system.
• c.) Garrisons. At the beginning of the reinforcement phase, you have the option of foregoing one unit of reinforcement to “garrison” two Planets currently held. This places a marker on the Planet and allows you to move all ships away and still maintain possession of the Planet. Additionally, this gives the planet the ability to roll dice as if it were one Ship in the event of an attack. Also, a Planet is the only position where the classic “tie goes to the defender” rule applies; in space combat a tie is a tie.
• d.) Homeworlds. The first card you lay down to place your ships at the beginning of the game is your Homeworld. (You’re going to want to look at your cards carefully before you start laying them down.) It is automatically a “3-garrisoned” Planet. It counts as three Ships in a defensive situation. Losing your Homeworld has no bearing on the outcome of the game. (Yet. We could have done a lot more with this, but it was getting awfully complicated. Keep reading and you’ll see how Racial Traits are going to screw it up even more…)
• e.) Racial Traits (Optional). RISK in several variations had “mission cards.” We have created six “racial trait” cards. Keep in mind, this is the Alpha Phase; we hemmed and hawed over these for 2 hours and they’re not perfectly balanced yet.
  
  1.) Propulsion Expert. - +1 movement at all times in all systems. This player cannot use the modifying asteroid fields to get +2.
  2.) Defensive Tactician. - +1 to every die-roll when defending a planet. Wins tied die-rolls in space combat.
  3.) Berzerker – Re-rolls all offensive 1’s on the attack dice. Cannot roll a 1 period, and yes that 1 could become a 6. Does not win tied rolls when defending a planet. This guy is always on the attack.
  4.) Hardy Industrialist. – Instead of a divisor of 3 for base reinforcement according to planet total, this player’s divisor is 2. Additionally, this player turns in cards at one bracket higher than other players. This seems awfully powerful, but we did the math and it works…
  5.) Psychic. – Any 6 roll on attack or defense gives this player the chance to roll for Ship Capture. A 5or6-roll converts one Ship to his side of the battle. The 6 he rolled still counts in the combat too.
  6.) Homeworld. – All of this player’s Planets are garrisoned as Homeworlds and are worth 3 Ships in defense. The player does not have to spend reinforcements to “garrison” his planets.

BETA PHASE: CONSTRUCTION AND A TEST GAME

Stay tuned for pictures and details!

[img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif[/img] Turin [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon42.gif[/img]