Conquer Club

Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of Risk. In my younger days I used to think it was an excellent game, but after I was exposed to eurogames, its flaws become more evident. Now that I know better, I would say the game has the flaws of having player elimination, too much downtime, far too much luck, and overly dominant strategies (take Australia and hold). Despite this, I will always have a certain fondness for the game because of the enjoyable times I’ve had playing it.

Last night, I ran into an ad for a web site called conquerclub.com. While they never actually mention Risk (for legal reasons, I’m sure), let’s just say that they provide the ability to play a game very similar to Risk for free online. I think online play is a great match for Risk, because it mitigates key flaws in the game. I no longer mind player elimination since I don’t have to sit and watch, and I don’t mind the typical downtime for the same reason. In addition to this, they have different boards you can try and some rule variants that would be difficult to implement in a face-to-face game. Most games require you to move once per day (although if you don’t, your bonus armies will carry over to the next turn).

Last night I signed up for my first game, which differs from the regular game in two key ways: there is no set turn order, and the fog of war is enforced in the game. The lack of turn order is primarily to reduce wait time, but could still affect player strategy. My first thought is to wonder if players sometimes string two turns together (by moving at the end of one turn, and the beginning of the next) in order to blitzkrieg a position. Adding a fog of war, however, is something I expect will change the entire dynamic of the game. Not knowing the state of the rest of the map adds a huge uncertainty to any large-scale plans you might hope to carry out on your turn. Bottling yourself up in Australia is no longer nearly as attractive if it means you’re unaware of the world scene; and taking one country away from an opponent to prevent them from gaining a continent bonus is no longer obvious if you’re not sure who holds the other side of the continent. It adds a whole new reason to stage an attack – for information. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how this might add new life to the game.

In fact, just for fun I'm throwing down the electronic gauntlet - I have just created a new game (#1719311). Join if you dare. I'll see you on the battlefield.