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Ok, I'm just screwing around. Risk Express. Lets get to it.

Lets answer the questions first.

Q: Is this available in the USA?

A: No. From everything I have seen on the boards, Hasbro has stated it has no plans to release this game in the USA. It is currently available in the UK. I picked up 2x copies from Spirit Games for 9.99 pounds each, that comes to $19.89 USD each.

I only mention where I got them from because they did a fantastic job, and I had the games from the UK delivered to my home in Alabama in less than 5 days, which seems awful fast for overseas, so I can only recommend them.

Q: Knizia did a RISK Game?

A: Yup. And its good.

Lets get to the nitty gritty.

Risk Express is a dice game where you roll seven dice and then choose where you want to invade. There are 13 (ish) discs that represent regions of the world. (Not continents) 2-3 discs generally make up each continent, with the obvious exception of Australia. (Which is a nice nod to the original Risk)

The six sided dice have Soldiers on 3 sides, 1x, 2x, 3x soldiers respectively, Cannons, Generals and Horses on the other 3 sides.

Each disc has icons from the pips listed. Like so:


So lets say you rolled a lot of cannons. You place 2 cannons on the row (rows must be fully completed to place) on the Mexico disc. You then pick your remaining 5 dice up, and roll again. If you fail to roll a general, you would remove one die from your die pool (hand) and roll the remaining 4. You continue until you either complete the disc and capture the country, or fail, at which point you pass the dice to the player on the left.

The circular icons on the top right of the discs with the generals signifies if you decide to attack someone else's province, then you must roll one extra general, and he is treated as an extra row. So you *CAN* take each other's stuff and squabbles over continents break out.

The number on the disc signifies how many VP's its worth. If you happen to claim a whole continent, then noone can attack those discs anymore and you flip them over and get some bonus VP's that are shown on the back of the discs.

You play until all the discs are claimed, then you count the points. The end. Very simple. Too simple? No. Fun? Heck yeah.

I purchased this game after doing a bit of research and finally deciding to take the plunge to order from overseas. I am very happy that I did. This game is quite fun, and a really great filler. Additionally, the game "box" is also a dice-noise muffling dice-bowl and is quite sturdy. Its quite small and the discs (and the disc-shaped rules booklet) clip into the inside of the bowl-lid, which clips into the bowl and makes the game a testament to brilliant packaging and bit design.

This game can go in your backpack and go anywhere with you. I fully intend to play this one on trains, on long car trips, on trains, on the road, etc. You get the idea. This game is fun, easy to teach, and super-portable. I hope to stick a Tichu deck inside the bowl and create the ultimate carry around "just in case" combination for my bag I carry around for work.

Now, I will admit my tastes in games border on the whimsy, so I expected to be alone in my happiness with this game. I've played it at a couple game nights with some pretty serious ameritrash and heavy duty cube pushing eurogamers and they all liked it. Half the time people just wanted to watch us play. Its just one of "those" games. Then the people who are watching run off and go play themselves. Its happened multiple times. Also, the girlfriend has this squarely on her "I really like that game" list, which from her is...well...really high praise. I normally get "it was okay."

I cannot really go into the depth of strategy or the turn order etc. Its a pretty simple game, you roll some dice, you attack each other occasionally, and the whole game is over in 30 minutes. Its cheap (even with ordering overseas) and I ordered 2 with the intent of trading one copy away. The last time it was played, after playing a friend was upset that they couldn't purchase the game here in the USA. I sold him my extra copy on the spot for cost.

If you're looking for a super-approachable, non-evil game with lots of fun, and you don't mind a mildly mindless dicefest, then I highly encourage you to pick this one up. If you're looking for tech trees, 20000 cards or wooden cubes, stay away. But either way, if you're on the fence, this game is well worth the $20.

For what this game is, a sturdy, easy to teach, fun to play, hyper portable filler that is a good way to start or end an evening, I give it an 8/10.

PS Hasbro you're stupid for not releasing it here.