Do you love Risk and are you looking for a similar board game? Look no further! This is a list of our favorite board game like Risk.
Quick Links
1. Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
- Covers all aspects of civilization
- Very balanced
You’re a leader of one of the great Ancient empires, and you’re building every facet of your civilization. This includes discovering technologies, electing leaders and setting up civic structures. So this game is like Risk in that you’re competing for world domination, but at the same time there’s a lot more going on.
And what’s great about this game is how well done it is. With all its different components, the game could easily have been imbalanced or overly complex, but it isn’t. That’s why this is our favorite 3 player board game and our favorite board game like Risk.
To conclude an analogy for the pc gamers out there: this game is like the board game equivalent of Age of Empires, Rome Total War or Civilization IV. So if you have any nostalgia for those pc games, you should get Through the Ages!
- Players: 2 - 4
- Duration: 120 minutes
- Most similar to Risk
- Game changes after each session
What’s a Legacy board game? We explain that in our breakdown of modern board game genres. Basically, it’s a game that’s played out over multiple sessions, and in which you permanently alter the game during each session. So you break components, change rules, and such things.
So too in Risk Legacy. Risk Legacy plays like Risk in every way, except that there’s five different factions that each have their own unique features. And these features can change each session.
Further, after a session a city may be founded or continent borders may be redrawn. It’s these changes to the game that make every session different and exciting.
So yeah, if you like Risk and you’re looking for a similar board game, Risk Legacy should be your first pick.
- Players: 3 - 5
- Duration: 60 minutes per session (15 sessions)
- World conflict
- Lots of strategy
- For 2 players
Twilight Struggle is a similar game to Risk in that it’s a war game about world domination. The difference is that this conflict in principle is cold. So it’s not (only) about military movements, but also about espionage, scientific discoveries, political influence and propaganda.
So Twilight struggle is similar to Risk in its goal but more nuanced in its means to achieve that goal.
We like Risk but we love Twilight struggle. And they complement each other because Risk is typically played in a group, whereas Twilight struggle can only be played with 2 players. It’s actually one of our favorite 2 player board games.
So if you’re looking for a game like Risk for 2 players, Twilight Struggle is your pick!
- Players: 2
- Duration: 120 - 180 minutes
- Most complex war game
- Game of Thrones theme
- Up to 6 players
This board game is like Risk in that you’re trying to control areas to dominate the map. But, it’s significantly more complex.
First, the movement mechanics are largely taken from Diplomacy. So that means that each round, all players simultaneously put down their movement orders face down. Then, the orders are revealed and resolved in turn order (this is different than in Diplomacy, because in this game turn order can matter).
Also, there’s political influence tracks that determine the turn order, who wins ties and how many actions player can use. Players get their position on this track through a simultaneous blind auction, in which each player bids a money amount blindly, and the positions are divided according to how much everyone has bid.
Then there’s also family cards, which players use during combat. Every family has their own unique cards, sometimes with powerful abilities. For example, Ser Gregor Clegane offers 3 attack strengths, and can kill off 3 enemy units if you win the combat (instead of letting them retreat).
And on the map there’s resources to be controlled. You need to keep up a supply line to keep up your army, with bigger armies needing bigger supply chains. And you need vacant land that you can use to levy taxes on, to get that money that you need to pay for political influence.
Further, there’s always a Wildling attack approaching that the players have to defend against together, much like the Barbarian attack in the Catan expansion.
So there’s a lot going on in this board game! But, that’s also why it’s so huge and epic. So if you like Risk and Game of Thrones, I’m sure you up to the task. Give it a go!
- Players: 3 - 6
- Duration: 120 - 240 minutes
- Classic board game
- Different movement rules than Risk
Like Risk, Diplomacy is an area control war game. But, unlike in Risk, players don’t take turns but instead all simultaneously write down their troop movements in secret. After this, everyone’s orders are revealed and resolved.
Because of the simultaneous and hidden movement orders, Diplomacy lends itself even better for back stabbing than Risk. That’s why in Diplomacy you can leave the table to coordinate your next moves with your allies (or only pretend to be doing this while you plan your betrayal).
This really is a hall of fame level strategy board game. So if you like Risk and you’ve never played Diplomacy before, you should absolutely give it a try!
- Players: 2 - 7
- Duration: 360 minutes
- WWII theme
- classic board game
Players can play one the Allied team as the USA, UK or USSR, or on the Axis team as Germany or Japan.
Just like Risk this game is played out on a world stage – but there’s many more troop types available than the generic army unit in Risk. There’s infantry, armored units, bombers, submarines, and more – all with their own unique abilities.
To be honest this game has gone out of style a little bit. But, since it’s a classic area control game, just like Risk, we thought people reading this list might still enjoy it.
- Players: 2 - 5 players
- Duration: 120 minutes
Bonus: Thematic Risk Games
- Very similar to Risk
We’d be remiss if in this list of board games like Risk, we didn’t list some of the thematic version of Risk:
- Risk: Marvel edition
- Risk: Lord of the Rings
- Risk: Star Wars
- Risk: Game of Thrones
- Risk: Europe edition
- Risk: Warhammer
- Risk: Rick and Morty
- Risk: Halo edition
Mechanically these games are similar to Risk, but they’re targeted at people that will enjoy their specific themes.
That's Our Games Like Risk
So these are all the games like Risk that we’re aware off.
You know any other games like Risk that we should put in this list? Just let us know through our contact form.