YOU PLAY NOW! Risk Legacy

NOTE: What's done can never be undone. This is the ominous message on the sticker that seals every game of Risk Legacy. It is a warning, but also a promise of an amazing experience.

When I was in high school, me and my friends used to play weekend long sessions of Risk. We would put together two boards and try to assault this double world. Invariably by Saturday night, I would lose and spend the rest of Sunday waiting for the game to end. I never played another game of Risk again... until I heard about Risk Legacy.

 

While the heart of the game is the same - use troops to conquer the world, that's where the resemblance ends. The troops are all different and unique - there are mechs and Mad Max-esque troops on dune buggies and even barbarians who ride badgers. These troops can be upgraded with abilities and advantages every time you play.

In fact, unlike most board games, Risk Legacy is meant to be played about 12 - 15 times to get the whole experience... which starts when everyone who plays signs the board. Write on a game board!? Sacrilege! Every time a game is played, the winner writes on the board. The player with the most signatures on the board gets advantages at the start of the next game.

 

 

The designer Rob Davieau had a brilliant realization that players bring history to the table and yet games never reflect this truth. Risk Legacy does. Winners and losers, grudges and rivalries all help form the game as player add permanent stickers to the board, change rules in the rule book, even tear up cards. Seeing a life-long gamer tear up a card is worth the price of admission alone.

 

 

 The greatest innovation is the ramping of the game. There are several envelopes that are not opened until certain game conditions are met - much like achievements in video games. Once these are opened, new rules are added, factions change and the game play morphs in unpredictable ways.

 

 Risk Legacy is a masterwork and no matter what your history with Risk has been in the past, should be played. All games should try to be like Risk Legacy, even if a little bit.

1-2 hours to play (per session)
66.97 on Amazon.com