Resource & Political Risk Game Rules

Introduction

Welcome to the Resource & Political Risk Game! In this game, I’ll provide you with helpful rules to navigate the challenges presented to you. The goal is to guide you through understanding the game and making the best decisions along the way. Let’s jump right in!

1. Understanding the Game

The Resource & Political Risk Game is all about managing resources and dealing with the ever-changing political landscape. As you play, you’ll encounter various scenarios that require you to make decisions. These decisions will influence your resources and how well you navigate the game.

1.1 The Balance of Resources

In this game, you’ll need to carefully balance your resources. These resources include manpower, money, and materials. Each decision you make may have consequences for your resources, so it’s important to consider your options wisely.

1.1.1 Manpower

Your manpower represents the number of people you have available to work on different tasks. You’ll need to allocate your manpower effectively to accomplish your goals. Remember, the more manpower you use on one task, the fewer people you’ll have available for other tasks.

1.1.2 Money

Money is a crucial resource that you’ll need to manage carefully. It’s important to budget your money wisely and make strategic choices to ensure you have enough funds to support your activities. Be mindful of your spending and plan ahead to avoid financial setbacks.

1.1.3 Materials

Materials are essential for carrying out your plans. You’ll need to gather and allocate materials to complete various tasks successfully. Keep track of your material inventory and make sure you have enough to accomplish your goals without running out.

2. Navigating Political Risks

In addition to managing your resources, you’ll also need to navigate political risks. The political landscape can change rapidly, and you’ll have to adapt to these changes to succeed. Here’s what you need to know:

2.1 Understanding Political Risks

Political risks can arise from shifts in government policies, regulations, or even social unrest. These risks can impact your resources, operations, and overall strategy. It’s important to stay informed and be prepared to adjust your plans as needed.

2.2 Mitigating Political Risks

While it’s impossible to eliminate all political risks, there are steps you can take to mitigate their impact. Building strong relationships with key stakeholders, monitoring political developments, and having contingency plans in place can help you navigate these risks more effectively.

Conclusion

Now that you have a better understanding of the Resource & Political Risk Game, you’re ready to make strategic decisions and navigate the challenges ahead. Remember the importance of balancing your resources and staying adaptable in the face of political risks. Good luck, and have fun!

This is a version of the game from 1975 that adds new elements like resources and politics. It’s designed to be simple, but still interesting. Instead of just armies, there are three types of resources: food, oil, and player armies. Food and oil are represented by green and black armies, while player armies represent North and South America. The amount of food and oil each player has is kept hidden until they use or trade them. If there are more than 4 players, you can use other items like chips to represent oil and food units.

To set up the game, each player starts with a certain amount of oil and food, based on the number of players. You can see the amounts in the table below.

Player | Oil | Food

—————————-

2 | 7 | 2

3 | 7 | 2

4 | 6 | 2

5 | 5 | 2

6 | 4 | 2

Now, let’s go over the steps for each turn.

1. Food Produced:

When it comes to the production of green food units, Asia and Australia are the key players. To determine the number of food units produced in each territory, we consult the table on the right. The roll of a die determines the outcome, and the corresponding number of food units are allocated to the players.

Die Roll
Food Units Produced per Food Territory (Asia & Australia)

6	3
3-5	2
1-2	1 (draught)

2. Food Traded

Now comes the part where players openly discuss and engage in food trading. They can negotiate and make deals based on their political agreements.

3. Food Consumed

In order to sustain their operations, players must contribute 1 food unit (equivalent to 1 green army) for each of their territories that produce oil and armies. In cases where there is insufficient food to feed all their territories, players must choose which territories will go without.

When playing this game, you’ll find that it’s important to ration your resources wisely. Specifically, you cannot hoard food units in your territories; you must use them all before any territory can go hungry.

4. Armies & Oil Production

In each fed American territory (both north and south), you can produce three armies. In fed European and African territories, you can produce three oils, which act as black armies. However, territories that were not fed will not produce anything.

5. Armies & Oil Trades

During gameplay, you are encouraged to openly discuss and make trades with other players. This includes trading both oil and army units, as long as it aligns with your political agreements.

6. Nuclear Builds

7. Private Political Discussions

8. Public Political Announcements

Agreements made during gameplay will eventually expire, allowing for new agreements to be made.

9. Turn Sequence

The order of player turns in the Military Step is determined by the relative strength of each player’s armies. If there is a tie, the player with the most territories takes their turn first. If there is still a tie, a dice roll is used to determine the order.

For example, the player with the most armies takes turn #1, the player with the next most armies takes turn #2, and so on.

10. Alliance Military Step

Alliances also take their Military Step turns. The turn number for an Alliance is the lowest turn number among all of its allied players. Each player in the alliance takes their turn in their own player turn order. Every player completes their Military Step (placing armies, making attacks, and executing strategic moves) before the next player begins their turn.

11. Non-aligned Player Military Step

When it’s my turn in step 9, I get to take a Military Step. This is where I choose what actions I want to take with my military forces. But I have to wait for the other players to finish their Military Steps first.

Trading: Let’s Make a Deal!

When we play the game, we have the freedom to openly discuss and negotiate trades with each other. It’s like being in a marketplace, exchanging goods with our fellow players. We can trade anything we have – food, oil, and armies. And here’s the best part: trades don’t have to be equal! It’s totally up to us to decide how much of one resource we’re willing to exchange for another.

But that’s not all. When we make a trade, we don’t have to reveal all the details. It’s like a secret between the two of us. We can keep the quantities and specific resources hidden if we want.

And here’s another cool thing: no one can stop us from making trades. It’s our game, and we have the freedom to trade with whomever we please. So let’s get trading!

Building Armies

Now, let’s talk about building our armies. This is an important part of the game because armies give us power and protection. It’s like having our own little army of soldiers to defend our territory.

During the game, we can “promise” to produce more armies in exchange for food. It’s like saying, “Hey, if you give me some food now, I’ll give you an army later.” But remember, we have to keep our promises. If we make a trade and promise to produce armies, we have to deliver on that promise during the next army production step. So make sure you only promise what you can actually deliver.

So, let’s trade and build armies, and conquer this game together!

When we reach the Armies and Oil Produced step, we all get to create our very own armies in our chosen color. Each territory that produces armies for our federation will give us 3 armies, with some variations depending on trades. These armies can be used in different ways throughout the game, such as regular armies, insurgents, or even exchanged for nuclear weapons. But before we can do any of that, we need to make sure we have at least 3 regular armies produced.

It’s important to note that any armies we receive through trades won’t count toward the 3 army minimum, and we can’t exchange them for insurgents or nuclear weapons. Our army production is not a secret, as we are required to place our produced armies on the game board in front of us for everyone to see. Regular armies and insurgents are placed during our Military-army placement step, with regular armies going into our territories and insurgents finding a home in other players’ territories.

Oil

When I play Risk, I always make sure I have enough oil for both attacking and defending. You see, every time I launch an attack, I have to use up one of my black army units, which represents one oil unit. It doesn’t matter how many armies I’m attacking with; it always costs me one oil unit. Now, when it comes to defending, I have a choice. I can use one of my oil units to boost my defense, or I can go without using any oil and rely on the regular Risk rules.

• If I have only one army defending, the defender only gets to roll one die with a value of ‘1’.
• If I have two or more armies defending, then I get to roll two dice, both with a value of ‘2’.

Now let’s talk about movement and combat.

When it’s time for combat, I can use up to three attacking dice and up to two defending dice, just like in regular Risk. But here’s something extra:

Let’s say we have multiple territories and players.

In the game of empire conquest, a player who is on the offensive can choose to attack from multiple territories. What’s more, if there are other players who have formed an alliance with the attacking player, they can also contribute their armies to the attack, but only if the attacking player gives their permission. It’s possible to commit more than three armies to the attack. Once the attacking player, or any allied player, has made the decision to attack, they must spend one oil unit.

On the other side, the player who is defending their territory has the option to bring in additional armies from any neighboring territories as a means of protection. In addition, any players who have allied with the defending player can also contribute their armies, but only with the defending player’s permission.

So, here’s the situation: when I’m playing as the defender, or when anyone on my team is defending, we have a choice to make. We can either spend one of our oil units, or we can all agree not to spend any oil. It’s a tough call, but it’s important to consider our options carefully.

On the other hand, when I’m attacking, I get to decide which of my armies will take the losses in combat. It’s a big responsibility, but I’m up for the challenge. The defender, on the other hand, gets to choose which of their armies will take the losses. It’s all about strategy and making the right choices.

If the battle is over and the territory is now empty because the defending player’s armies and their allies’ armies are all gone, then the player or players who were part of the final attack get to move their armies into the territory. It’s like grabbing some extra land as a reward for a job well done.

Here’s an interesting twist: if I’m the attacker, and I want to, I can give permission to my other allies to also move their armies into the conquered territory. It’s all about teamwork and sharing the spoils of victory.

Oh, and one more thing: armies from players who aren’t on either team, the attacker or the defender, they don’t get to join in the battle. It’s just for the teams involved in the fight.

Now, let’s talk about capturing armies.

When you roll a ‘6’ and defeat an opponent’s roll of ‘1’, you capture their army, whether you were the attacker or defender. The only exception is if the defender chose not to use oil for defense. In that case, the capturing player takes the captured army and replaces it with one of their own during the next army production step.

Retreating

Right after an attack, players who have armies in the defending territory can choose to retreat those armies into any neighboring territories, as long as the attacking side still has at least 1 army remaining to advance. However, armies can only retreat into an allied player’s territory if that player gives them permission.

Strategic Movement

When it’s time for the Military step to end, I can make 5 strategic moves. These moves allow me to move my armies from one territory to another through connected territories. I have the freedom to choose where I want to go. These moves don’t just apply to my own territories. I can also move through my allies’ territories, as well as those of players who have surrendered and agreed to a non-aggression pact with me.

I can choose to end my strategic move in my own territory or in the territories of my allies or the surrendered player, as long as I have their permission.

Similarly, I can also use my strategic move to move the armies of any of my allies.

Insurgents

When you reach the stage of Military-army placement, if you have 4 or more new production armies, you have the option to put one of those armies in a territory that belongs to someone else, as long as they’re not your ally or someone you have a non-aggression pact with.

Once you’ve placed your insurgent army in a territory, it doesn’t have to immediately attack other armies. It can stay there, waiting for more insurgent armies to join, or choose to challenge ownership, attack within the territory, or even attack a neighboring territory later on. If your insurgent armies are the only ones left in a territory, they become regular armies and take control of the territory.

Army Stacking & Territory Ownership

Did you know that a territory in the game can have armies from more than one player? That’s pretty cool, right? These armies can move into the territory in different ways – strategic movement, retreat, or they could have been placed there as insurgents. And here’s a fun fact: when the armies move or are placed, the owning player gets the RISK card for that territory. They get to keep it for as long as they own the territory!

Now, let’s talk about challenging territory ownership. During a player’s Military-attack step, any player who has armies in a territory can challenge the current owner. When a challenge happens, one of two things can occur. First, if all players with armies in the territory agree on a new owner, the RISK card for that territory is given to the new owner. Second, if players cannot agree on a new owner, the challenger can announce a civil war attack. That’s when things really get interesting!

Allied Players & Non-Aggression Pacts: When I’m aligned with a current territory owner or have a non-aggression pact with them, I must agree with their decision. If not, I have to support the challenger’s choice if I’m aligned with them or have a non-aggression pact.

Civil War Attacks: Civil wars are resolved just like regular attacks, but there’s a twist. All the attacking and defending armies must be inside the civil war territory. At least one army from each side must initiate the attack from within the territory, and additional armies can join in from neighboring territories. Once all the armies are ready, the attack is resolved.

So, once an attack is over, you have the option to move your armies out of the civil war territory. When everyone has made their retreats, we all come together to talk about who gets to own the territory. You can check out the details about that in the previous section.

The Political Aspect

In the world of gaming, political rules take on a vital role in strengthening alliances. They act as a sort of glue, preventing allied players from turning on each other at the slightest chance, which tends to happen when the enemy players are still a force to be reckoned with.

If I’m being honest, this game has some serious historical inaccuracies that can really take away from the fun. And let me tell you, the oil rules can be a real pain. Once you run out of oil, you’re basically a sitting duck, just waiting to be overrun by your opponents.

Now, here’s where the political rules come into play, and they definitely spice things up. If you find yourself in a situation where you’re out of oil or armies, you have the option to surrender to the attacking players. But here’s the cool part – by doing so, you can negotiate a non-aggression pact and continue playing. Not only that, but the attacking players get to save their armies and gain control of the territories that were previously protected by your armies. Pretty neat, huh?

And get this: surrendering in the “first war” doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of the running. In fact, it’s not uncommon for a player who surrenders early on to still end up in second place by the end of the game. Talk about a comeback!

Let me emphasize that the political rules in this game are no joke. They are binding and they seriously amp up the playability factor. So if you’re looking to add an extra layer of strategy and excitement to your game, these rules are definitely worth considering.

When it comes to politics, agreements play a crucial role. They are the promises made by different parties, and once they’re put down on paper, they cannot be broken (unless there’s a surrender or a unilateral nonaggression pact). These agreements are made either during the Political Agreement step or right after an attack.

Now, it’s important to note that these agreements can have a duration of 2 to 5 game turns. They will end at the beginning of the Political Agreement step on the specified game turn. However, they must fall under the following restrictions:

Non-aggression Pacts

If you’re part of a non-aggression pact, you and your pact partner are not allowed to attack each other’s armies, including insurgents. You also cannot advance into each other’s territories after a combat situation. The ownership of territories at the start of an attack is off-limits. Even if another player allied to one of the non-aggression pact players decides to attack the other, the pact cannot be violated.

Conditional Non-aggression Packs

Have you heard of conditional non-aggression packs? They’re a special kind of agreement where players promise to trade food, oil, and/or army production during the Trade steps. These trades can be done at any exchange rate that is negotiated between the players.

When making these trades, players can specify if they want to trade units or a fraction of their total production. But here’s the catch: players must fulfill their promised trades, unless they don’t produce enough resources. In that case, if a player falls short on their end of the bargain, the other players in the pact can choose to end the non-aggression pact.

Unilateral Non-aggression Packs

Let me explain another type of agreement called unilateral non-aggression packs. These packs happen when a player who has been defeated surrenders to the victorious players. When the defeated player does this, they automatically leave any alliance they were a part of and make a new pact with their previously allied players.

Now, this unilateral non-aggression pact has an interesting twist. It’s recorded to end at the same time as the original alliance would have ended, even if that’s less than two game turns away. So, it’s not a forever kind of deal. It only lasts until the original alliance expiration date.

Unilateral non-aggression pacts are like regular non-aggression pacts, but there’s a catch. In a unilateral pact, any “friendly player” (not the “losing” player) has the power to break the pact whenever they want. And when one player breaks the pact, it’s broken for all “friendly players.” This means that the “losing” player can then join the alliance of the “winning” players right away.

Alliances

You have the ability to create or join alliances with other players at two specific times. The first is during the Political Announcement step, where you’re allowed to form or join a new alliance. The second opportunity is immediately after you’ve been attacked during the Military step. If you choose to create or join an alliance during the Military step, you will take your turn as part of your new alliance.

If I’ve already had my turn and it’s the alliance’s turn now, I go right after the current player or alliance finishes their Military turn. But if I’ve already taken my turn, I don’t get another one. I can only be in one alliance at a time. Alliances give us some pretty cool perks, though:

• No Fighting: When I’m allied with other players, we all promise not to attack each other during the whole alliance.
• Military Stuff: Alliances (and the players in them) get to do their Military Steps before players who aren’t in alliances.
• Teamwork: If I’m in an alliance, my allies and I can team up to attack and defend together. We can even move our armies together after a battle and capture territories together.

Allied Strategic Moves:

You know what’s really cool about being in an alliance? I can freely move through my buddies’ territories and even use their armies to get where I need to go. It’s like having a secret passcode that lets me navigate the whole map with ease. How awesome is that?

Conditional Surrenders

When playing the game, if things aren’t going my way and I find myself on the losing side, I have the option to surrender to the winning player or their alliance. This can happen at any point during the Military step. When I surrender, I can offer things like territory, reducing my armies, giving up my stockpiles of oil and food, and even promise to provide future resources and support to the winning players in exchange for a non-aggression pact.

If I surrender to an alliance, it’s important to note that my surrender must be accepted by all the players in that alliance. If even one player doesn’t agree, the surrender cannot happen.

Here are some things to keep in mind about surrenders:

• When I surrender, I have to leave any alliance I was a part of. I then make a non-aggression pact with my former allies, promising not to attack them.

When you surrender in the game, something interesting happens. You make a deal with the players who beat you. This deal is called a non-aggression pact. It means they promise not to attack you. But, it can also include some other things.

For example, they might ask you for food, oil, or armies. If you promise these things, it becomes a conditional non-aggression pact. This means they will only keep their promise if you give them what they asked for.

There are a few options for what you can give them. First, you can give them your extra food and oil units. You can also give them any territories that you own. Or, you can choose to destroy some of your armies. For every four armies you destroy, one of the victorious players will get one army. They can either place this new army with their production or put it directly on the board if they have already placed their production.

Sometimes, surrendering can be unconditional. This means you don’t make any deals or promises. You just give up and let the other players do whatever they want.

If you’re playing a game and you want to surrender to other players during the Military step, you can do so at any time. However, it’s important to note that your surrender must be accepted by the other players.

Here’s how the surrender procedure works:

• First, you need to quit any alliance you may be a part of and establish a non-aggression pact with your previous allies. This pact is one-sided and ensures that you won’t attack them.
• Next, you need to form a conditional non-aggression pact with all the players who have emerged victorious. In this pact, you promise to give them a portion of your food, oil, and army production for the next 2 game turns. This contribution will be divided equally among the victorious players during the Trade step.
• Finally, you need to hand over a portion of your food and oil stockpile units to the victorious players. The distribution of these resources can be either equally divided among all victorious players or distributed as they see fit.

When a player surrenders in the game, several things happen. First, any new armies they were supposed to place are divided equally among all the winning players, or however they decide to split them. Secondly, any armies the surrendering player had in territories that they don’t own are eliminated. Finally, the winning players take turns claiming territories until they have taken control of a certain percentage of the surrendering player’s territories. During this process, both the surrendering and winning players can move their armies between territories as needed.

When I surrender in the game, I have to decrease the number of armies in each of my territories. Let’s say I have 3 armies in one territory, then I have to reduce it to 2 armies. I round down when making these reductions. But here’s the twist – for every 4 army unit reductions I make, the victorious player gets to build 1 army. They can decide which player gets that army, either by negotiating or by using a die roll. The army can either be placed with their new production or immediately on the board if they’ve already taken their production. It’s a way to keep the game balanced and ensure that the victorious player doesn’t have too much of an advantage.

Before we start playing, we need to decide on a specific time when nuclear weapons will become available. This is usually about half an hour before we plan to finish the game.

During the first step of building nuclear weapons, we can start building them as soon as the agreed-upon time arrives.

Before we can exchange production armies for nuclear weapons, we need to build three regular armies. Army trades cannot be counted as part of the three-army minimum or be exchanged for nuclear weapons.

If we want to capture nuclear weapons, we have to destroy all enemy armies in the territory that holds the weapons.

We also have ICBMs, which are a type of nuclear weapon.

Let’s talk about ICBMs, or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. These powerful weapons can be built in any number. Whenever a player exchanges their production army for a different army, they get two ICBMs, represented by black armies. The player can then choose to place these ICBMs in any of their territories. And here’s the interesting part – ICBMs have an unlimited range, meaning they can travel as far as needed, and they cannot be intercepted or stopped.

Now, when it comes to using these ICBMs, things get intense. During any player’s Military step, the owner of the ICBMs can decide to “launch” them. Once launched, there’s no turning back – no discussions or negotiations are allowed. The targeted territory is about to witness some serious destruction. But here’s a twist – the owner of the targeted territory gets a chance to fight back. They can choose to launch any ICBMs from that territory, and if they do, they need to keep those launched ICBMs aside for now. Then, the original ICBM hits the targeted territory, wiping out all armies and any nuclear weapons that haven’t been launched yet.

So, here’s the deal. The ICBM, also known as the black army, gets deployed on a territory, effectively obliterating it. It’s like a big nuclear bomb that not only wipes out the territory but also prevents any armies or weapons from going through or being created there. Once the dust settles from the ICBM’s impact, any other ICBMs launched during the attack are dealt with in the same way.

If thirteen territories end up getting destroyed by these ICBMs, that’s it – game over. Nobody wins.

Tactical

Now, let’s talk about tactical nuclear weapons. You can build as many of these as you want. Whenever you exchange armies, you get four of these fancy green armies. Instead of keeping those exchanged armies, you put them back in the box and place the tactical weapons on one of your territories. When enemy armies try to attack that particular territory, you can launch one of those tactical weapons to wipe out one attacking army. It’s like a little surprise for them, courtesy of your sneaky tactics.

I want to talk to you about tactical weapons and their role in the game. You see, when a tactical weapon is launched, it goes back in its box. It doesn’t cause any permanent damage to the territory. Unlike other weapons, tactical nuclear weapons move like armies.

Let’s Talk About Optional Nuclear Weapons

There’s another type of nuclear weapon in the game that’s more historically accurate. Here’s how it works:

• On the turn when nuclear weapons become available, only the player with the most territories that produce armies can make them. They are limited to making 2 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), and they have to exchange 1 army to do so. However, they can only make these weapons if they already have 3 or more armies. Once made, the nuclear weapons can be placed in any territory with the player’s armies, but they can only be launched against neighboring territories.

The Use of ICBMs in the Game

In the game, players have the opportunity to use Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) to gain an advantage over their opponents. Let me explain how ICBMs work and when you can use them.

On the next turn, the player with the second-highest number of armies can also produce ICBMs. However, the first player has the advantage of being able to produce 4 ICBMs by spending 2 armies, while the second player can only produce 2 ICBMs by spending 1 army. It’s important to note that players can only produce nuclear weapons if they already have 3 or more armies. Once produced, these ICBMs are placed on the game board along with the armies and can only be launched against neighboring territories.

On the following turn, the regular rules for using nuclear weapons apply. This means that players must take into account the consequences of using ICBMs and the potential effects on the game. It’s a double-edged sword that can both elevate and regenerate the response from other players.

If you’re looking for an advantage in the game, using ICBMs can be a strategic move. However, it’s important to understand the rules and implications before deciding to launch them. By following these guidelines, you’ll have a better understanding of when and how to use ICBMs to your advantage.