I'm only giving this board 6/10 because it's not what it could be. The artwork is great and I love the concept, but it's too easy to eliminate someone on your first turn before they even have a chance to take a turn. Because of this, the UFOs and other interesting board features become distractions from the main objective: eliminate someone ASAP so you can assimilate all of their territories.
The gameplay is excellent. The special board feature of castles adds an interesting twist to standard Risk without making the play feel too quirky. The special rules are summarized clearly on the board itself.
Graphics-wise, the board is beautiful, and only a semi-transparent overlay would improve its look. (Note: the overlay feature is not yet available to board designers, so I'll just have to look forward to a graphics update.)