World Domination

Every kid has a dream in life. Some want to be astronauts, yet others want to be the president of the USA. Me? Rule the world. That is what I did for my President's Day weekend. I beat everyone out at RISK! Here is the awesome story of the little army that could. Plus, it teaches us a lot about diplomacy:)

It was a game of six players that quickly turned into a game of 3 strong players, and 3 weak players. Weak = Me, Matt Haggard, and Tyler Russell. Strong = Rachel Moon, Steve Carr, and the team of Randi Tucker and Cali Dansie. The weak players were not rolling strong or had moved too quickly and got picked off. The strong players all had a continent, : Steve = Africa, Rachel = S. America, and the team = Australia. Weak = nothing. I had been trying for Europe, but was thwarted by Rachel who placed too many people on Ukraine (Ukraine was not weak this game) for me to attempt a take over. I was rolling horribly. I did not have that many armies, and fewer countries. I was falling behind.

A small sliver of sunshine came into the game when I saw that I was going to be able to turn in some cards and get twenty armies. Tyler was hanging on by the skin of his teeth, so I leaned over to him and told him to let me kill him. So he thinned out his players on Rachel, who then retaliated, making it easier for me to wipe Tyler off the board. After doing so, I got his cards and then I started my diplomacy.

The team of Cali and Randi had just been festering out in Australia. They had a huge army that no one player was going to be able to take down on their own. I had a set to turn in for something like 40 armies, but I also thought I was just going to lose. So I told everyone, if you do not attack me, I am going to turn in and kill Cali and Randi as much as possible. (I really thought I would just even the game and die). Now, my 40 armies would have never been enough to break into Australia, let alone wipe them out, but then something beautiful happened, all the other players decided they wanted to whittle down Cali and Randi as well. Mind you, they asked where I thought they should attack to help me out. I saw I had a chance. Steve took out a huge army in India. Matt shaved China down to almost nothing. Now all of a sudden, my 40 armies could easily take out the team! Victory was imminent. I went down and took out Australia and got some more cards. Now I was in charge! The little weak armies were now dominating. I also had 6 cards and two sets. But my turn was over.

Steve then tried to weaken Rachel on his turn, but didn't have enough armies to kill her off. When it was Matt's turn, he turned in a set and went about his "Madagascar" strategy.
Abandoning all RISK! logic, he plowed straight through Steve to Madagascar. (Notice how the red on the board was cut in half by yellow).

He effectively set Steve up for annihilation by Rachel, which followed right after. (Notice the large green army on Brazil).

I then turned in for 95 armies with my two sets. I set off on a trek all the way from Alaska to Ukraine via S. America and Africa, slowly whittling down Rachel. I then got her cards, which gave me another set. I now ruled all continents but Africa. I turned my fury on Matt and took over the world. (Look at all of the black on that board baby!)

My friends who played call me a worm. Somehow I manipulated by foes into doing my bidding because they thought me nothing but a fly on the wall. Let that be a lesson to all of you about underestimating your foes! Finish them off when you have a chance:)

P.S. I bet I never win again if I play with that same group:) Also, one of my agreements was that it would be a joint victory with Tyler. Congrats, Tyler! You can be my VP of the world.