Discussing the Continents in Risk

In Risk, one of the key factors to achieving victory is controlling entire continents. The decision of which continent to conquer first is crucial. If you don’t start off on a strong foothold, it will be incredibly challenging to compete against players who hold more strategic positions.

Several factors come into play when deciding which continent to pursue. These include the number of players and the turn order.

Prioriteit bij het veroveren van continenten (1 betekent eerst veroveren)
1	2	3	4	5
3 spelers	Noord-Amerika	Australië	Zuid-Amerika	Afrika	Europa
4 spelers	Australië	Noord-Amerika	Zuid-Amerika	Afrika	Europa
5 spelers	Australië	Zuid-Amerika	Afrika	Noord-Amerika	Europa of Azië
5 spelers	Australië	Zuid-Amerika	Afrika	Noord-Amerika	Europa

Denk eraan dat deze suggesties slechts richtlijnen zijn. Het is nog steeds mogelijk om Risk te winnen als je vanuit een ander continent begint of een andere strategie volgt.

Laten we nu in detail kijken naar de verschillende continenten.

I want to point out that the suggestions I’m going to give you are just ideas. You can win the game no matter where you start from.

Now, let’s dive into the specifics of each continent.

Australia

Australia is an awesome and safe base, far away from most other players. It’s easy to conquer and defend. But at the same time, it’s a continent that multiple players will be fighting for in the early stages.

In games with 5 or 6 players, you can always expect 2 or 3 players to go for Australia, and this can lead to a quick loss or even elimination.

A few lucky or unlucky rolls of the dice can make the difference between winning and losing, and it can happen very early in the game.

But don’t think that means you should ignore Australia as your first continent. I recommend choosing an area there as your first country. That way, you can still go for it when you see that you can conquer the continent by placing armies there. Of course, this depends on how many armies the other players place there as well.

South America

South America is quite easy to conquer, as it has only 4 areas. It’s slightly more difficult to maintain control over it compared to Australia, due to its proximity to North America and Africa. Nevertheless, it remains relatively easy to defend because it only has two border areas.

Once a player manages to hold onto South America, it is advisable for them to launch attacks towards North America. On the other hand, if a player gains complete control of North America, it becomes nearly impossible to defend against them because they receive 8 armies per turn compared to the opponent’s 5.

Africa doesn’t pose much of a threat to South America, as it only receives an additional army per turn. Africa itself needs to be careful in guarding its borders against Europe and Asia.

Africa

So, conquering this continent may seem easy, but keeping control of it is a whole different story. North Africa is like a gateway for invasions, stretching from the Middle East through Southern Europe and North Africa all the way to Brazil.

As Africa, you have to defend yourself from three different continents on three different fronts. Yeah, it’s a tough job.

But hey, if you manage to hold on to Africa, you can expand your territory into the Middle East and then move up to Southern Europe. That’s the way to go.

Because Africa is right in the middle of everything, it’s constantly under threat. That’s why you gotta build strong defensive armies in the border areas and only attack when other players least expect it. Surprise!

North America

North America is an incredibly strong and powerful continent. Once you can hold it, you’ll receive a bonus of 5 armies per turn, even though it only has 3 border territories.

It’s really difficult for other players to attack North America once it has built up a strong defense. But if they manage to break through, it will take several turns for the player in North America to regain control of the continent.

The player in North America will almost always expand towards South America because their higher bonus allows them to easily overwhelm it with armies.

North America will also need to invade Europe and Asia to prevent those players from gaining control of their entire continent.

Even though South America may seem like an easy target, in the early stages of the game, this continent is actually one to be feared. If it doesn’t launch an attack, it becomes an easy victory for the North American player. So, the best strategy is to prevent the North American player from gaining complete control.

Europe

Europe, just like Asia, is a tough nut to crack when it comes to conquering, but it’s even harder to hold on to due to its location and numerous border regions. If you choose to go for Europe, you’ll need to be a savvy opportunist.

If you decide to conquer Europe, it’s crucial to do so as quickly as possible and use your bonus armies to defend it, as it will be constantly under threat afterwards. Europe is surrounded by 7 territories that can all launch attacks on it.

Both Southern and Eastern Europe receive the same extra support for defense.

As a European player, you must constantly keep an eye on the balance between the other players. Except for Australia, each one is just two territories away from you.

Asia

If you try to attack this continent right away, you might as well say it’s game over. Getting a whopping 7 extra armies every turn is just too powerful, and everyone else knows they can’t let you keep Asia.

While Australia has a small bonus, it’s a tiny continent that Asia has to worry about because Australia can only expand through Asia.

To the west, Africa can easily attack and hold the Middle East. In the northeast, there’s the formidable North America. And then there’s Europe, who will do everything in its power to stop Asia from becoming too strong.

Asia is often used to get cards. Most of the territories only have a few armies, so they’re easy targets for getting a card.