Take 2:
As our Risk board was cleared off since we last played and we
didn't take any pictures of it, we had to start over. Jasmine was
absent, so I played for her, managing to get the entirety of South
America and Africa for her (then having her squander it by putting all
her little soldierpeople in Madagascar, but never mind about that).
However, we didn't save the board again, so on to take 3.
Take 3:
We've
realized that Risk kinda takes forever to play, so you really have to
go out of your way to find time to play it right, which can be
inconvenient (hence our inability to finish a game even after this long
of a time). Our game will probably be similarly time-consuming so people
can play it seriously (bit of an oxymoron, serious gameplay...) and
really get into the strategy of it, because most of the board games I
know of that can be played quickly are simple mindless games, and we
don't want to make one of those.
I almost have all of Asia! I
put every one of my units in either Australia or Asia to start because I
didn't want to be spread too thin around the world, and it's much
easier to defend just one big connected corner of land than it is for
even two areas. I did jump into attacking a bit too quickly and lost the
Middle East to Nate's attack from Ukraine (which is also home to
Victoria's time-sharing cavalry) because of my improperly defended
border, but either way, it will be rectified soon
enough. All of us have a certain focus area; Jasmine has settled herself
into the Americas, Nate is
based in Europe, and Andy is limited to
Africa after I drove him out of Asia. It is a bit like 1984's
superstates, except that each of us would really like to end the war by
winning as quickly as possible instead of dragging it out.
So far, the only real
alliance we've had is mine and Jasmine's. We haven't had any coordinated
attacks yet, but we share a border at the Bering Strait (or did, at
least, before Nate invaded Alaska) and basically just don't attack each
other, targeting Nate instead, viewing him as more of a threat, as he
has more Risk experience than any of us. Andy barely has any units left
and isn't a very useful alliance prospect, so Nate is on his own
attacking us, though he's been almost holding his own.
It
does not seem likely we will return to Risk, as we our class time is
limited after multiple absences by one group member or another and would
like to move on to other games from which we can learn about different
aspects of gameplay-- though I think it's really just because the others
do not wish to face their
imminent eradication from the face of the Risk board.