Great strategic board. You risk getting locked out of games from late turn order or poor initial territory allocation but if you give it several tries you will definitey have some interesting games.
anything that rewards aggressive play is a plus for risk - too many games reward stock-piling and no taking of initiative. haven't played this enough, but do want to play it more often.
The real trick is figuring out how to win and avoid dying! Attrition levels are high. The board is unforgiving for those accustomed to the luxury of easy reinforcements. The game is usually decided very quickly.
Easy decisions are rare. Brutal decisions involving huge risks are the norm. I love it.
One of my favorite maps. Read BlackDog's review below. It's quick, and rewards aggressive play. While it's no more unbalanced than the most played map on the site, it can play unbalanced because it requires a different approach than most maps, but a lot of players don't get that at first, and screw up. It's really a 9, but I'm giving it a 10 to make up for some of the BS reviews below.
And, like any game with capitals, you can be eliminated early if you take a capital. Maybe don't do that if you can't hold it?
Nice graphically but other than that not much to the board. It's a little to easy to be eliminated after only one turn let alone right off the bat. Everything to do with seat position and less to do with real stratergy.
During play-testing of this map I generally didn't get it and thought that the game mechanics were lousy. In hindsight, this was a classic case of disliking a map that I didn't understand. After playing a couple more games, I think I get it, and I like it.
Game-play is fast and scrappy, with limited resources and army logistics dominating decision making. Like other reviewers note, starting position is important, but show me a map where it isn't!
My initial impression is that this map is markedly different and fresh. I will update my review once I have played a couple more games.
Nice looking map but lacks in game play. Needs a minimum turn reinforcement. Games get stale when you can't attack because you have no men and no way to horde more.
Fast and fun board. Great use of factories and capitals. For a board that everyone predicted would be too hard to build (because of how vertical it was), this one ended up being a good board. End game can come very quick.
Quick games. No bonus application seemed wonky at first. A little unbalanced some would say with certain sides of the board, but it's not the case. I've won from both sides, it's all about timing.
Fun little board, but games tend to be a little one sided. One person gets a dramatically better starting position than the rest and landslides from there. Have yet to see a balanced game.
Worst game I saw was one where I won in my very first turn. Others all took a capital, I was going last. I knocked out one guy who left only 5 defending his capital, then used the +5 elimination bonus to kill the next guy, and so on.
It's a good board, good balance, interesting game play, but if you know where to linger, you can win every-time, and once a player gets an edge, there is no stopping them!