In preparation for an upcoming game night I have been reading up on some of the games likely to be played.  And because it has been a while since I have played any of them I have been reading up on fresh (or old) strategies for dominating.

Risk is one of my favorite games and while lately I have taken a liking to the modern version, Risk 2210 A.D, I still enjoy the classic game without the extra complexity.  I have never really used the web to learn strategy and have always relied upon playing often and with different tactics, learning my particular strengths through repetition.  I have never excelled at Risk but I am learning that I spread my armies to thin, much to early in the game.  I tend to take advantage of, and have had luck with, investing my troops in the conquest of my neighbors, near the start of the game, or within the first few turns.  If things go well I will have amasses enough countries to bring in enough reinforcements to be able to hold what I have taken and perhaps even entrench a little before the next explosion through my new borders.  This tactic seems to do well until the game starts to conclude and one or two players have clearly started to rise up as the dominate forces in the world at which point I have either entrenched enough to survive their turns or my armies are mere fodder for the advancing troops.

Settlers of Catan is a game that has come up several times but I have yet to play.  From reading the Wikipedia page on the game it sounds intriguing.  I get the idea that playing it will be similar to making the computer game Civilization a multi player board game.  Not having ever played Settlers’ I don’t have any strategy to start from and the way it looks much of the game is chance regardless with resource production being controlled by a spin of the dice.  The real strategy in the game seems to be about where you locate your cities and build your roads to keep others out of your territory as you expand your range of control.  This game gets rave reviews from nearly everyone I know who plays it so I am somewhat excited to give it a try.

Nuclear War is another of my favorites and one that I have played countless times over the years.  Strategy might be just a kind way to say – use whatever means you have at your disposal to systematically destroy ever ounce of your opponents population.  You might have to wheel and deal a bit, or create an alliance to get rid of your pesky neighbor so you can focus on your real enemy at the table.  The game is simple for the most part with early propaganda, secret cards to steal population from your opponents, delivery systems to make sure your warheads leave a lasting impression.  There are some other cards, specials, that give you advantages in aggression and defense should you need them – and you will need them.  This is, or can be, a very fast played game once all the players get the hang of it and with the only real objective to destroy all other people in the world but yours it makes for some great entertainment.  In many cases it is hard to not destroy the entire world once you start launching your nuclear strikes, not from your strikes but from the all engaging retaliatory strikes that follow – sometimes just surviving once all out war starts is the hard part.

Illuminati is one of my favorite card games but I rarely get play it due to the time it takes to play a full game.  With the various expansion packs that go along with the non-collectors version of the game, not to be confused with the collectible card game Illuminati, there are plenty of organizations to build your network upon and the wide variety of connections and special powers that come with each as well as the Illuminati themselves make strategy a must.  I don’t need much help anymore building my networking and going on the offensive to accomplish my goals – I do prefer the ultimate destruction of the other Illuminati vs. playing for the specific goals, there is something more satisfying about wining by systematically picking your opponents networks apart piece by piece.

Munchkin is by far one of my favorite Steve Jackson games, just below Car Wars on the list of all time favorites – now if someone could just convince SJ Games that Car Wars was worthy of saving, upgrading and expanding…I digress, that is a topic for another day.  Munchkin in great in its pure form where you play a particular set and maybe an add-on or two.  The mechanics are simple and easy to master with much of the strategy being intertwined with fate and the draw of the cards.  Countless times have one or more of the players been gimped with unusable equipment, no race, no class, and a handful of excellent cards that just get rotated out while the character is assembled.  A few times we have doubled the amount of life available to extend play, particularly when we mix and match the different sets, just to get the true munchkin feel with some decked out character weilding a short sword, a photon torpedo launcher and protected by a tin foil hat and cute curly elf shoes.

Axis and Allies is probably my least favorite of the strategy games.  It is incessantly detailed and takes inordinate amounts of time to play even a single round, let alone the game.  I recall the last game I played was in 2004 at our annual camping trip and after much time spent in the setup I didn’t last more than three or four rounds before having my armies disintegrated or splintered enough that I could not recover.  Twelve hours or so later the game ended.  My irritation isn’t at AA itself, from everyone that plays I only hear that it is a great game but requires a pretty significant investment in time to learn how to play it effectively.  I certainly have not played enough to understand even the basics of the game, let alone any strategy to be adept at playing it well.

This list could not be complete without mentioning Fireball Island.  While actually a game that requires very little strategy unless you consider the decisions about which particular trail to use to minimize the potential of getting turned into charcoal a strategy.  I have played games that are very short with only a few fireballs getting used and games that have taken hours upon hours to get the talisman to the boat, each time with the players trading out who has control of it over the last ten spaces.  We tried Fireball Island as a drinking games once as well, drinking a shot each time the fireball was deployed, I don’t recommend it unless you idea of a great gaming night includes getting snookered as well.

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