Risk Legacy game #4 – Caleb wins!

If you hate knowing the end of the story before you even begin, then I apologize for the title of this post. But I’m so excited to report that our 10 year old Caleb won our latest game of Risk Legacy that I just had to put it in the title.

Now, on to the fun…

After a few weeks of scout camps and weekends away, my boys and I were finally able to get Risk Legacy back to the table last night.

As a refresher, the victors from our first 3 games have gone in birth order – though not by any planning on our part – Dad, Trevor, and Jaden. And although I’ve tried to help Caleb get in a win by trying to work together, he always turns the tables and attacks me. (Always fun to go after dad.) I had even told Trevor and Jaden that since this game will live on, we need to make sure Caleb wins a game and gets a chance to sign the board.

But what happened last night didn’t occur because of “letting him win”.

As much as Caleb planned what faction he’d pick to play the roll of the dice left him choosing his faction and starting location last. The only saving grace for him was that because he had yet to win a game, he’d start with a victory point token while the rest of us would start with a missile token. As a reminder, each Headquarters (HQ) you control is also a victory point – so Caleb would start with 2 victory points – half way to victory already.

The game/battle begins
Jaden got to pick first and chose the Enclave of the Bear faction and placed his HQ in Eastern Australia. Trevor selected next and picked the Die Mechaniker faction and started again in South Africa but this time it was in a city he had founded previously – Shelvax. I then chose the Saharan Republic faction and started in Limonada in Central America – the first major city founded in our game. Caleb was left with 2 factions to choose from and picked Khan Industries and started in Iceland.

Jaden took his time coming out of Australia and slowing growing into Asia while the rest of us battled elsewhere.

On his first turn, Trevor placed a Mercenary scar in his HQ territory – giving him an additional troop in that territory at the end of every turn. He then quickly took control of the Africa continent/region for even more troops on following turns.

And even though I was once again planning to work with Caleb to move in on his older brothers, Caleb turns and takes me out of Greenland just so I wouldn’t take control of North America for extra troops. So right from the start again I was asking if he really wanted to win because we could team up and take out the others. So much for that plan.

And before you know it, Caleb gets spread thin and Trevor comes from below and takes out his HQ which bumps Caleb down to just 1 victory point and Trevor up to 2.

Battles rage on
Like in most games of Risk, region bonuses are battled fiercely. There’s also plenty of temporary alliances being called out to go after whoever is in the apparent lead – trying to get folks to gang up.

After taking Caleb’s HQ, on his next turn Trevor turned in a number of resource cards to get a ton of troops and took over Borganzii (South America region named by Jaden after his victory last time). But I wasn’t interested in seeing Trevor get even more troops every turn by controlling 2 regions, so I had to fight South and move in on him to take control of the region. Not that I was sad to do so. 🙂

Meanwhile Caleb fought back in Iceland and took his HQ back from Trevor – getting him back to 2 VP and 3 resource cards. With 4 resource cards he could simply buy another VP and get close to winning.

Trevor was then getting attacked on both sides – from me on the West and Jaden on the East – and didn’t know which way to attack out. He tried to make a deal with Caleb to go after Jaden, but Caleb declined.

Soon Trevor’s down to 6 countries, Caleb’s down to 7, Jaden is one territory shy of controlling Asia, and I had control of 1 region and am just shy of controlling 2 more.

Trevor tried to battle back into North Africa, but instead ended up losing 6 troops and called off the attack. While he looked pretty dejected, he wasn’t about to give up.

Then I made my move into South Africa and took Trevor’s HQ!

I was then in control of 2 territories with mercenaries and was very happy with my prospects and could see my way to victory. After all, if Caleb wasn’t intent on winning, then I might as well go for the gold.

Home Stretch and Victory

Caleb then knocked Trevor out of Western Europe and even though he now controlled Europe, he was spread very thin. Jaden tried to knock Trevor out of the one territory Jaden needed for control of Asia, but just couldn’t roll well enough. On Trevor’s turn he simply built up his forces in one territory for defense and didn’t attack anywhere.

I then unleashed my forces on Trevor’s remaining spots in Africa and whittled him down to just one territory left – almost knocking him out of the game. But he had enough troops in his remaining territory that I figured I didn’t need to press on.

After all, I now had 4 resources cards and on my next turn would turn them in for a victory point. Then I’d also get a ton of forces since I controlled so many territories, cities, and continents/regions that I could move in on Caleb’s HQ for the final victory!

Of course, things don’t always go as hoped…

In a sudden twist of fate, Caleb turned the tables. Even though he only had a couple troops in Iceland at his HQ, he controlled the region and got extra troops. But first he turned in 4 resource cards, and gained his 3rd victory point.

Then his used his special faction ability to move his HQ to an adjacent territory he controlled – Greenland. (I might add that this was an ability I added to that faction when I was knocked out during game #2.)

He also used his other faction ability to add an additional troop to his HQ territory.

With all those troops, he set his sights and stormed through North America to take out my lightly guarded HQ in Central America and win the game!

What a move!

I was quite surprised.

Although I shouldn’t be surprised because he’s quite the astute gamer.

I’ve also never been so happy to lose a game. It was a legitimate victory and he got a big high-five from me, the defeated.

He ever so proudly took the pen and signed his name to the game board as Victor #4!

Opening another packet – Sweet!

With the end of the game also came the chance to open another secret packet!

But first, Caleb chose to found a major city in Iceland and called it, of all things, John.

For “holding on” Trevor and Jaden both chose to found minor cities: Trevor founded a city he called Kyle in the Middle East (the only territory he controlled at the end) while Jaden founded Belgizhaar in Yakutsk. With those final 2 minor cities being founded we got to open the thickest visible packet inside the Risk Legacy box lid – the one once all 9 minor cities are founded.

And what a great packet it was!

– Minor SPOILER ALERT –
There’s been a spot on the board where the resource cards go that simply says “Events”. So we knew something cool was eventually coming. Well, this packet has it. A stack of new cards now come into play. The new cards introduced include Draft cards, Event cards, new Scar cards, and Evolution cards with new starting rules!

While we won’t go into details of these cards, we definitely want to mention the function of Evolution cards. The 3 Evolution cards each had stickers on them that get placed in the rule book and change the rules of play. These first 3 rule changes in this packet affect the start of each game. So from here on out the game will begin in a new way.

Cool stuff!
– End SPOILER –

Wow. I know that was a long write up and a lot to read. And it sure isn’t as fun reading about a game as it is playing it. But it if sounds like fun to you, then go grab a copy of Risk Legacy for your family or friends!

Too bad I’m heading off on another business trip this week, because we’re all excited to play again.

Everyone has won once.

Now it’s everyone for themselves.

Game on!