The Walking Dead Risk Comic Edition Board Game

If you love Risk, and you are or are not a Walking Dead fan you will love this version! I bought this for my son-in-law who is both a Risk and a Walking Dead fan and he really enjoyed the variety from the original Risk game. I have never seen Walking Dead and I love this game!! After playing Risk for so long, you kind of get a feel for the strategies needed to win. This game was fun because the strategies are complex and different. Every time we play we have a lot of fun!! I only wish the zombies were not made of plastic, would be cool to have metal ones but not a big deal. The instructions look complex at first, but like any game once you've done a run through one time it all becomes clearer. I would say definitely get this if you are a Risk fan and even better if you are a Walking Dead fan!!

PROS/CONS: + Definitely feels like The Walking Dead. Fans will find recognize references + One of the most unique editions of Risk that I have played + Event cards add a good bit of flavor + Group cards and abilities add a feeling of choice and depth + Survival mode comes with a built-in game stopper in the form of a GAME OVER AFTER THIS ROUND card. Games can still last a pretty long time, however it prevents the dreaded 5-6 hour games that can come otherwise. = Luck is a bigger part of the Survival mode than any other edition of Risk. This can be a good thing for newcomers or more casual players, giving a more level playing field, but the game actually punishes you to some degree for getting a lead. - One group ability stands out as being very weak. Can be fixed with house rules (I suggest one in GAMEPLAY below). - There are only 2 types of army pieces--Soldier (1 army) and Truck (3 armies). Not a big deal, but I would have liked a 5 army piece, even though it would rarely be used in the Survival mode. SUMMARY: A very fine edition of Risk. I started out with the Halo: Wars edition, and I like this one better. One thing that I didn't find in the other reviews is that there are 2 play modes: Survival (2-4 players) and Conquest (3-5 players). GAME MODES: Conquest is similar to the more classical versions in that you aim to conquer the entire board and eliminate all other players, However it does retain some unique features in this edition, just not the neutral Zombie outbreaks. Survival is the one you'll read about in the reviews, and in this mode you will most likely lose to the Walkers, and the winner is then decided by adding up a score. THE HARDWARE The board is well designed--the only small complaint I have is that the part which is cut at the bottom doesn't quite line up right, and there is a small gap, but this may just be my board. There is one zone which offers a relatively weak bonus for little apparent reason, and the Prison zone in the center is very strong if it can be controlled. It's just one continent, no islands or easily defendable areas such as Australia on your classic map, however this is not boring like it may seem in theory. The pieces were mostly good. I did have a few zombies which were leaning too far forward, but thankfully the plastic is soft enough that I was able to just bend them back up, though you need to be careful not to break them at the feet if this happens. It also comes with cards and cardboard pieces such as grenades, watch towers, and ammo crates, and of course, 3 attack dice and 2 defense dice as well as the army pieces for 5 factions and a straightforward guide to show you how to play. GAMEPLAY There are 4 Survivor groups and 1 Walker group. The Walker group is only ever player controlled if you are playing Conquest, in which case there are no neutral factions. Each group is different on a strategic level, not just color, because they all have a unique ability: Rick's group allows you to maneuver at any point during your turn. Hershel's group decreases a survivor's chance to turn into a Walker from 50% to 34%. Prisoners' group lowers the defender's lowest die roll by 1 on your first attack each turn. Governor's group allows you to instantly take a territory whenever you roll triples while attacking and defeat at least one defender. Walker's group adds a Walker to your army whenever you defeat a defender that rolls a 1. This is about 13% chance on 3vs2 attacks. Rick's, Hershel's, and Prisoner's abilities are all very well balanced, useful almost every turn, and merely a matter of personal preference. However, Governor's group is extremely weak. It can be powerful if attacking a very strong territory, but it has less than a 1 in 216 chance of occurring every attack roll, and even when it does occur, it is not always helpful. You should fix this with house rules. I'm thinking something entirely different such as "Roll 3 dice at end of turn, if total is 15 or higher, gain an additional ammo crate." Also, the Walker's group (when played by a human player in Conquest) seems like it could be a little overpowered, but I need to experiment to see for sure, while Hershels' ability, as I understand it, seems to be very weak in Conquest mode specifically, however I'll have to see if there are still neutral outbreaks which will make this useful. Since most of you likely already know what Conquest is like from other editions, I'll focus on Survival. Survival mode gives about half the power to Walkers straight off, and the other half is divided amongst the players. Walkers are relatively easily defeated in combat, however they have a chance to turn your armies into Walkers, which then attack you. This leads to wildly varying chances, in which you could either have a strong army decimated because they all turn, or you could easily dispatch all the Walkers attacking you. Each turn there are somewhat random outbreaks in which the Walkers either reinforce Walker-controlled territories, or attack player-controlled territories. This means even your territories which have no hostile neighbor are not necessarily safe. My only problem is that outbreaks play a fairly large role in the tipping of power, so the more territories you control, the more likely you are to be punished with an outbreak. This makes it very difficult to get a lasting advantage, and some will interpret this as a bad thing, but I try to enjoy the ride and just hope the Walkers munch on my enemies next time. Then there are events, which sometimes make things happen (one territory loses an army and an adjacent players gains an army) or offer a reward if you manage to complete an objective. Half of these are very difficult and do not offer enough incentive, however this is okay because in that case you can just ignore them. Then you have your typical Reinforcement, Attack, and Maneuver phases, and can collect an ammo crate if you took a territory that turn. Ammo crates can be saved up and turned in for additional Reinforcements, or add to your score at the end of Survival. The game ends shortly after the Overrun card is drawn. The Overrun card is put into the bottom half of the deck to ensure the game lasts at least a certain number of turns, without going on for 5-6 hours like some older Risk games might. One reviewer noted that the fact that the players earlier in the round in which Overrun is drawn are at a disadvantage because they played as if the game would continue, while the future players will play hyper-aggressively, knowing the end is near. I'm not sure if this is such a big deal that it needs a House Rule, or if it's simply compensation for being one of the last players to go in the round, since having the first turn is definitely an advantage when it comes to claiming the best territories early on.

Looks like a fun game, but nothing like the original, very complicated for my 10 year old nephews.

I own the original RISK and have played it countless times, as well as the 2210 AD version (the one with the moon) and the LOTR version (which is fantastic). By and far, and a consensus between my friends, is that The Walking Dead version is the best. It adds an aura of unpredictability with random zombie outbreaks you MUST contend with before continuing turns. It really is a game about surviving the apocalypse while simultaneously dealing with other groups trying to do the same thing. The original RISK can grow stagnant, and you add new rules to spice things up. The LOTR version is fun, but still kind of the same old, same old. We know for a fact that in our circles, TWD version will be used the most, if not exclusively, from now on.

I really like this version of RISK. However... The instructions are terrible. Instructions: Does not tell you what are strategic locations. I'm assuming "The Circles" are them. Does not explain if you can reinforce a location after a walker outbreak or not. Has no guidance on how Prison Group ability is to be used. I assume single use per turn on attack only, when the player deems to use it. There is also no unit count... So you have no idea how many trucks, people and walkers you should have. Grenades: The most useless and hard to get item in the game. Can only be used once and only on 1 dice. Would have been better to have 2 sided grenades indicating 2 uses... 2 Grenades for side 1 and 1 grenade for side 2. You can use both grenades on 2 die or use 1 grenade for 1 die, then turn the card over signalling you have 1 grenade remaining. Walkers: Cool idea but not a threat. House rules are better then the standard rules. Double walkers from 3 to 6 on level 4 outbreak. Reinforcements: The old risk rule of X divided by 3 rounded down is still in play. However, with this game featuring WAY less units for play... It needs revision. 3 units till 10 territories are captured then X Divided by 2 rounding down. Even X divided by 3 rounded up is acceptable. With these tweaks, the game is really good. I look forward to more versions of RISK to come.

I received a used game with stuff wrapped in cling film (?!!) and a falling-apart box.

I'm a huge fan of both The Walking Dead and the game of RISK, so ordering this game was kind of a no-brainer. I currently own 4 different versions of RISK, and this one is by far my favorite. I love the way the map is set up and all of the game pieces are brightly colored and of good quality. Overall, very cool set up. The way the game is played is very similar to several of the other versions of RISK that I have lying around, but has a few twists that make winning quite a bit more difficult than the traditional versions. Attacking and defending has always been a RISK, but The Walking Dead version makes that RISK much greater by adding walkers into the mix. If you die, you must roll again to see if you come back as a walker or simply just die. Although you are given an advantage when rolling against walkers, it is easy to be taken over during outbreaks, which occur every turn and increase with each round. Unlike the traditional versions of risk, protecting the borders of your territories simply isn't enough. Your borders may protect you against other survivors (other players), but are no match for the outbreak cards, which can place walkers in any territory on the map (in other words, right in the middle of your guarded territory). I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes to play RISK and is a fan of The Walking Dead, but I do believe the twists in this game would also be attractive to someone who isn't the biggest fan of zombies. Just adds a different dynamic to game and allows people who aren't the best strategists to still have a chance to win.

I've played most of the variants of Risk out there and this one combines accessibility and quick play along with a very different experience very well. it's fast, but truly a new kind of Risk game. The Zombies are a great curveball to gameplay, as are the event cards, and the play time is very manageable for those of us with limited free time. if you're curious about this game, I recommend getting it while prices are still low (before it goes the way of the Star Wars Original Trilogy Risk).