Castle Risk is a version of the board game Risk that is played on a map of Europe. It is one of the first variants of Risk, first released as a stand-alone game in Europe by Parker Brothers in 1986; it later appeared on the reverse side of the standard Risk board in a combined version published in 1990. The game never officially was released in the United Kingdom. The Castle Risk map board was reused in another variant, published in 1999 as Risk: Edition Napoleon.

! Empire !! Territories !! Neighboring empires !! Neighboring independent territories !! Sea ports !! Landlocked !! Comments

|-style="background:#ffc;"

! Austrian

| (5): Trieste, Galicia, Vienna, Bohemia, Hungary

| (3): German, Ottoman, Russian || (1): Italy (Switzerland, Venice, Naples) || 1 || 4

| Only one sea port

|-style="background:#ccf;"

! British

| (5): London, Wales, Ireland, Yorkshire, Scotland

| (1): French || (1): Scandinavia (Norway) || 5 || 0

| Isolated, with few access points unless by sea

|-style="background:#fcf;"

! French

| (6): Paris, Gascony, Netherlands, Brittany, Marseille, Burgundy

| (2): British, German || (2): Italy (Switzerland, Venice); Spain (Barcelona) || 5 || 1

| Controls conventional access to Spain and Great Britain

|-style="background:#fdc;"

! German

| (5): Prussia, Berlin, Saxony, Rhine, Bavaria

| (3): Austrian, French, Russian || (2): Italy (Switzerland); Scandinavia (Denmark) || 3 || 2

| Three neighboring empires

|-style="background:#cff;"

! Ottoman

| (6): Turkey, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

| (2): Austrian, Russian || (1): Italy (Naples) || 3(+3) || 1

| Has best access to Black Sea and regular sea ports

|-style="background:#fcc;"

! Russian

| (6): Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Livonia, Smolensk, Ukraine, Poland

| (3): Austrian, German, Ottoman || (1): Scandinavia (Finland) || 2(+1) || 3

| Has access to Black Sea through Ukraine

|}

Rules

The rules of Castle Risk differ from original Risk in several respects. Each empire has a capital city (of the player's choosing) and once the capital is lost that player is out of the game. In addition, reinforcements are granted at the end of a turn instead of at the beginning (except in the case of the Reinforcements card). This makes fortifying the territory a player has just conquered much easier, but denies that player the opportunity to place the new troops in the best strategic position for the turn about to begin.

Castle Risk introduces specific person cards. The cards allow players to modify dice rolls (General and Marshall), to attack by sea instead of land (Admiral), place extra armies at the start of a turn (Reinforcements), force temporary non-aggression pacts (Diplomats), or to look at another player's cards, discarding one in the process (Spy).

Another new rule is the addition of "hidden armies", which are reinforcements that a player hides in a location of their choosing at the beginning of the game. They can be in any location, including an opponent's territory (except their own or an opponent's capital), which makes them very useful for launching a surprise attack. Hidden armies can only be withdrawn at the beginning of a players' turn and the player must have control of the territory at the start of their turn. Their power, when revealed, is based on the number of reinforcements cards that have already been played.

Editions

The original edition, published in 1986, included special plastic castle, banner, and Admiral's ship pieces. In addition, the 1986 edition had three white dice for attackers and two red dice for defenders;

  • Games #79

References

  • Official rules of Castle Risk (PDF file)