This post explicitly talks about some late-game aspects of Risk Legacy that some people may wish to keep unspoiled. They are: “after all nine minor cities have been founded”, “a player signs the board twice”, “a player has been eliminated”, “three missiles are fired on the same turn”, “Do Not Open. Ever.”

It had been quite some time since we had convened for beer and mayhem. Schedules, you know? The logistics of five people finding a common night is what can most accurately be described as a nightmare. But we did it: we picked over meetings and events and birthdays and found a time that worked for everyone.

Of course, conditions weren’t ideal. Justin had recently had surgery and was technically still on bedrest: he powered through but couldn’t have any beer, what with the narcotics in his system and all. Matt had to be up early for a radio interview at the start of Buffalo Beer Week, and I had to (had to) be up early for, um, something that might rhyme with “few mybone.”

The Beer

The theme for this week, I decided, was “leftover beer.” We never drink every bottle that’s brought, and I’m not about to use Risk as a sneaky beer acquisition scheme, so my basement had amassed quite a collection of bottles over the six months we’ve been doing this. To supplement it I brought a growler of In A Van, our Buffalo Beer Week collaboration with Flying Bison.

Then I realized we had Old Rasputin, Raison D’Etre and others, plus an 8.75% abv Belgian Double IPA. And three of us were on low or no beer for the night. We wound up not even finishing the growler.

All this beer left to drink!

In A Van

Alex had said he was excited to try this beer. I handed him the growler: he poured it and took a sip. He made a face. What? Was it infected? The growler had been sitting in my fridge for three nights: maybe it hadn’t been sealed properly and lost some carbonation. Was-

Then he smiled and said he loved it. He had been messing with me. Jerk.

Matt liked it as well. He said it was fruity, with a good hop/yeast balance. Apparently he can tell when a beer has a high abv because the hairs on his head stand up.

We discussed the Mosaic hops used: some liked them, others didn’t. They seem similar in style if not character to the Belma hops we used in Dirk Prowess last year: aggressive, demanding your attention The Chouffe yeast does quite a lot to mellow them out, however.

Raison D’Etre

Felicia opened a bottle I had brought for “A beer that took you by surprise” because she hadn’t had it before. Her reaction was the same as mine: it doesn’t taste very raisin-y. It had definitely oxidized since I bought it, making me fear the Southern Tier Live and Hop Sun bottles we had forgotten about will be absolutely undrinkable.

Then she solidified her place as the Blendmistress:

Raison D’Etre/In A Van

What an interesting idea. I’ve blended some before, but I wouldn’t have thought of this. I think it brings out more of the character of the D’Etre, similar to a drop of water in whiskey. It also accentuates the winey oxidation, however. I don’t think I’d have it again, but I’m glad I tried it.

Matt said that he liked it, as the hops still came through, but it had a little more malt than he’d like.

Peach Bread

It’s worth noting that Felicia brought a loaf of peach bread from Wegmans and it was delicious.

The Game (11/15)

Starting positions and factions:

• Dan: Die Mechaniker, East Haverbrook (Western United States)
• Felicia: Imperial Balkania, Irkutsk
• Alex: Khan Industries,  La Ciudad de Fuego (Argentina)
• Matt: Saharan Republic, South Africa
• Justin: Mutants, Indonesia

We’re more spread out than we’ve been in previous games. As such, we start slowly: I expanded throughout all of North America, Alex through South America, Matt Africa. Felicia slowly crept southward and Justin expanded throughout Australia to meet her.

Justin said he was “pulling a Conley” and pointed out I would be getting an eight troop bonus for controlling North America. “Pulling a Conley” is, of course, pointing out how far ahead someone is and rallying the others to take them down. I dig it, man. Totally fair. Nobody heeded his warnings, mostly because I had placed enough troops in Central America to deter Alex and Felicia would have to expand into Creepytown, losing two troops in the process.

I took my eight troop bonus and fortified my borders. I thought the soft barrier of Creepytown’s two troop loss (for entering a major city) would be enough to keep her away, especially with Justin approaching from the south, and I tried to open diplomatic talks with Alex.

Alex and I prepare to rumble

Alex said it was nothing against me and handed me the defensive dice. North America was being invaded. I objected; I sputtered; diplomacy! He pointed out that both of his wins had come from taking over North America from the south. I couldn’t find a fault in his strategy; I just wished it wasn’t me being attacked

One quick roll of the dice, and two losses for Alex, stopped that plan in its tracks.

Felicia headed towards Justin in Australia. Conflict would come soon. Matt expanded in Africa, biding his time.

I had tried a truce with Alex. He had rebuked my offers and attacked me. Very well. I would bring the war to him.

I have a hard time not doing my best Willem Dafoe impersonation and yelling, “There was a firefiiight!“ during these sorts of battles. We traded losses for a while; then he lost two; then I two. Eventually my larger troop number won out and I entered South America. He had thinned my troops enough to prevent any additional advancement, however.

An event! Control the People, giving me five troops in a city for having the highest population. My East Haverbrook capital only had one troop in it, so they went there.

We had found a taste for bloodshed, apparently, as Felicia attacked Justin in NikeTown (Southeast Asia). He used a missile to stop a loss. The next roll, another missile. He only had one left. The next roll, his third missile. I understood it, though: stop her enough to go on the offensive himself, and since he would be attacking the Bringer of Nuclear Fire he could reroll all 1s.

After reinforcements from Alex and Matt, that is exactly what he did. NikeTown was retaken.

Another event: Fallout. All territories adjacent to the fallout zone (Siberia) lose 1d6 troops. The only occupied territory was Felicia’s Irkutsk HQ. She rolled: a six. She lost all troops in her HQ and was down to one troop total.

I continued my offensive against Alex, attacking Peru. He used a missile but ultimately I took him out. His remaining two territories were too well fortified for me to risk it this turn.

Event: Eternal Darkness, which gave -1 to all troop bonuses via cards. As it was an Unstable Orbit card (caused by us opening the Do Not Open packet) it would stay on the board until replaced by another Unstable Orbit event card.

Felicia, in a last ditch effort, attacked Justin and took him out of iPadlandia (China).

Another event: it’s eventpalooza up in here. Join the Cause, which gave me +3 troops in cities for having the highest population. I put one in Wenchport (Alberta) and the other two in East Haverbrook.

Alex, literally backed into a corner, reinforced Ciudad and ended his turn.

Matt strikes!

His Saharan Republic troops attacked Brazil from Burg. He took Alex out… and handed me the dice! He was heading north rather than eliminating Alex. We went back and forth before I rolled two sixes: my faction’s ability meant he couldn’t attack that territory any more that turn. Even though it was unfortunate for him he acknowledged that it was cool, since we hadn’t seen that ability used before.

Justin, meanwhile, retook iPadlandia. He headed into Irkutsk and then Siberia, the fallout territory. Felicia was eliminated, at least for now.

The Great Southern Cold War

On my turn Matt spent a missile to use his power to deny me my +5 continent bonus. The nerve! With only a four troop addition he successfully had stopped me from attacking him. I put the troops into my South American territories and then reinforced further from my troops in Haverbrook.

Felicia reentered the game in Iceland. She was very, very clear that she had no beef with me. We’d see, I thought. I had more pressing matters in South America at the moment.

Alex reinforced La Ciudad de Fuego and, in a thick Spanish accent, urged us not to attack him. I tried to get him to talk that way for the rest of the night.

While Justin was in the bathroom, Matt leaned in conspiratorially. While the three of us squabble in South America, he said, Justin was going to take over the world. We were giving him the victory.

He put his plan into action on his turn, taking Justin out of India. He then reinforced back into Brazil.

Wow.

South America was stacked. There was going to be a bloodbath there soon.

Event: Endless Rains, which replaced the Eternal Darkness event. End of turn reinforcements could only be between adjacent territories, instead of contiguously controlled ones.

Justin traded in four cards for a red star. He expanded through the uninhabited territories in western Asia and eastern Europe, entering the biohazard scarred Southern Europe, and announced that this gave him another red star.

Oh. Oh no. I realized what he had done, what we had allowed him to do.

Victory is four VPs. He controlled two HQs, one each. One from turning in cards. One for the biohazard.

While we butted heads in South America he waltzed to a bloodless victory. The people of the world simply opened the gates, welcoming in their new mutant overlords like a fingerprint scanner on a phone that totally won’t be used for nefarious purposes.*

I must say, it was a little anticlimactic to not have the triple threat match in South America. C’est la vie.

As his victory reward he named Europe. It is now known as Healthcarelandia.

We’ve made plans to meet again in two weeks, so those of you jonesing for more Risk won’t have to wait long.

Damn Justin.

* I mean, maybe? I say that tongue in cheek, as I wait in line for said phone with the fingerprint scanner that I will use. So I’m dumb, but I acknowledge it, I guess.