Risk Legacy

Risk Legacy introduces a rare concept to boardgaming: campaign play. At its core, the game initially plays much like regular Risk with a few changes. Players control countries or regions on a world map, and through simple combat (with players rolling dice to determine who loses units in each battle) they try to eliminate all opponents from the game board or control a certain number of "red stars," also known as victory points (VPs).

What’s different is that Risk Legacy changes over time based on the outcome of each game and the choices made by players. In each game, players choose one of five factions; each faction has uniquely shaped pieces and, more importantly, different rules. At the start of the first game, each faction gains the ability to break one minor rule, such as moving troops at any time during your turn, rather than just at the end.

What makes this game unique is that when powers are chosen, players must select one of their faction’s two powers, affix that power’s sticker to their faction card, and then destroy the card with the other rule on it – and by destroy, the rules mean what they say: "If a card is DESTROYED, it is removed from the game permanently. Rip it up. Throw it in the trash." This key concept permeates the game. Some actions you take will affect the game temporarily, while others will affect it permanently. These changes might include boosting a country’s resources (for recruiting troops instead of the older "match three symbols" style of recruiting), adding bonuses or penalties to defending die rolls in countries, or adding permanent continent troop bonuses that may affect all players.

The rule book is also designed to change as the game progresses, with blank spaces on the pages for rules additions or changes. Entire sections of rules will not take effect until later in the game. The game box contains various sealed packages and compartments, each with a condition for opening. The rule book indicates that these contain rule additions, additional faction powers, and other surprises that should not be spoiled.

The winner of each of the first 15 games receives a "major bonus," such as founding a major city (which only they will be allowed to start in future games), deleting a permanent modifier from the board, destroying a country card (preventing it from providing any resources for troop recruitment in future games), changing a continent troop bonus, or naming a continent, which gives that player a troop bonus in future games. Players who didn’t win but were not eliminated are allowed to make minor changes to the world, such as founding a minor city or adding resources to a country.

Initial games take approximately 30-90 minutes to play, including a brief rules explanation and setup.