Appearance: Risk 2210 comes with five primary coloured armies and a pair of game boards. The game board are solid and the cards provided, while smaller than normal sized cards are of average (to slightly thin) stock, so nothing major to complain about. The major issue with the game boards is the rather horrible colour scheme chosen for the main world board – could they have found any more revolting colours?

Other than that, the art work on the cards are adequate, the pieces cute and functional and the pieces all come with bags which is a plus. No insert, but in this case, it would probably just get in the way.

Rules / Ease of Learning: If you have ever played Risk before, picking up Risk 2210 will be quite fast. A few new rules complicate matters which are covered here, but the basic rules of placing armies on regional locations and rolling dice when choosing combat still hold true.

New game play elements include Commanders. There are 5 type of commanders – Land, Sea, Nuclear, Diplomacy and Space commanders. Commanders provide a few advantages – you can purchase Command cards if you have a commander of that type; you can move your armies into the specific controlled regions (for Sea and Space Commanders) and finally, Commanders can roll the d8 for defense all the time and attack depending on their type. Since most combat is undertaken via d6’s with the winner having the higher roll, this can make Commanders an effective advantage in battle.
In addition to this, the Lunar board can only be accessed via Lunar Base stations. These stations provide additional defense die’s and armies in their location, adding another interesting feature.

Energy comes as a third feature. Energy is how turn order (via an auction mechanism) is chosen as well as how additional Command cards and Commanders are purchased. Furthermore, you will need Energy as well to play Command cards.

Lastly, Command Cards have been updated. Now, they can provide a host of advantages – from moving Commanders to new positions as a surprise attack to new troop reinforcements and ‘death from above’ cards. They add a surprising twist to the battles and can make things quite interesting at times.
Risk 2210 AD comes with a turn counter, forcing each game to last a maximum of 5 turns only. In addition, the original game can be played from the Risk board provided.

Gameplay: Set-up of Risk 2210 AD does take longer than the original base game with multiple decks of cards available as well as the need to separate additional counters and placement of characters. Also, the inclusion of ‘waste lands’ make the game slightly different each game.

Otherwise, actual combat as mentioned is the same and so is movement. Additional strategic options are available though including the use of energy, the use of command cards, the silent auction of energy for turn order and the use of the lunar base.

We now come to the biggest issue I have with the game – the incredible amount of ‘swings’ in the game. Because gameplay is limited to 5 rounds, each turn a player receives dictates that they receive a large number of reinforcements. Coupled with the additional energy cards and the potential reinforcements from Command Cards, a large number of armies are in play each turn. This can make breaking through choke-points quite easy, especially with the introduction of even more bridging locations through marine bases.

All this means is that in each turn, you can expect to win and lose a lot of ground as players can over-extend themselves and take ground. Worst, Command cards can make a rout very effective, potentially taking a player half out of the game with a series of bad rolls and a concentration of forces by another player.

Conclusion: Risk 2210 AD does deliver on its promise of a faster game. With multiple avenues to any location with marine bases and the additional lunar bases, it’s impossible (and silly) to turtle in any one location. The 5 turn maximum system forces a new type of play from the traditional game. On the other hand, the huge swings in forces and battle makes the game feel much less strategic in some other ways – there’s very little players can do (unless they are lucky enough to draw the right Command cards) to stop another player coming in for a romp. Risk 2210 will appeal to some gamers but not all. For myself, I’m still looking for something to scratch my strategic war game itch. (Posted on 11/22/08)