Halo Legendary Edition

I now have this version of Risk in addition to the older Halo Wars version. Both are awesome.First of all, you should not buy this if you are not already familiar with the standard game of Risk and its rules. I feel like it could be much more confusing to learn all the original rules plus the extra rules this adds on top of it. You should also not buy this if you are not a Halo fan. It simply doesn't make sense. Half the fun of the game is recognizing various locations and unit models from the Halo universe. If you aren't familiar with that universe you'd be better served to get the standard Risk game (which is cheaper anyway). I wouldn't go buy a Kardashians Risk, for example, because I don't care about the Kardashians.Okay, so now we've established the target demographic. You are already a fan of Risk and Halo. You will really like this game. But the question is will you prefer this game or Halo Wars Risk? If you are an ultra-Halo-nerd like me, you can get both. Otherwise, I would say it depends on how much you are willing to bend the original rules of Risk.Halo Wars Risk has 3 races, Human (UNSC), Covenant, and Flood. It also adds the "hero" element to each team (Master Chief, Arbiter, etc), which gives you a slight edge on your dice rolls when your "hero" is in effect. But Halo Wars Risk has an identical map to the original Risk, except not. What I mean is, there is a perfect 1:1 mapping of the original Risk countries/continents/territories, but it has been completely restyled and rethemed to Halo. You would NEVER notice this if you weren't already a pretty big Risk nerd, since the continents to not resemble Earth's continents at all. Where it really reveals the similarities are the territory *borders*. In the south-east part of the game board, for example, you have a re-themed Australia, with only 3-4 territories and only one way in, worth an additional 2 units per turn when fully occupied. In the south-west is a re-themed South America, with 5-6 territories and two ways in (from North America and Africa), which is worth 3 additional units per turn. This ensures the well-thought-out and time-tested borders of the original Risk are preserved, without appearing to be the same game board.Now this Halo Legendary version keeps the "hero" and "base" elements of Halo Wars Risk along with the same 3 races of game pieces, but it completely scraps those traditional borders and territory layout. There are two physical game boards, each with two sides. You can mix and match these depending on how many people are playing and how you want to play. You can play a pretty quick one-on-one game by only using one game board. These are still pretty fun and help reduce your playtime from 3-5 hours to about an hour, for when you just don't have until 3am to play a game. Two connect the two small boards, this version adds "mobile teleporter" pieces. At the beginning of the game, players can each place one set of matched-number teleporters between any two territories. This can make each game different and change the dynamic of where everyone can attack and be attacked from.If you flip the two small game boards over, you have a different map that is intended to be connected horizontally, for a very long game board which is supposed to be reminiscent of an actual Halo ringworld. This is quite fun as well, but requires a very big table or a lot of floor space, and preferably at least 4 players.Then there are some other game dynamics, such as the territory cards. Traditionally, you keep these until you are ready to trade them in for units. In Halo Legendary Risk, you can still do this, or you can trade the cards instead for various bonus features depending on what it says on the card. There are also mission cards ranked by Halo-style difficulty (Easy, Heroic, Legendary). You can use these or not, again depending on how close you want to stick to traditional Risk rules.The game pieces and dice (black and green) are pretty cool. UNSC humans have Marines (1 unit), Scorpion Tanks (3 units) and a Spartan as their hero. Covenant gets Grunts (1 unit), Wraith (3 units) and Elite/Arbiter as their hero. Flood has the small flood spore (1 unit), Flood Carrier (3 units) and for the hero, the giant flood brute monster thingy I only really recognize from some levels in the actual Halo Wars game.Other than that, it's Risk. Roll dice, attack armies, capture territories. A fun, classic game, updated for all the Halo nerds out there.

The board, there are 2 boards in truth. One has anvil, the other hammer. They both contain the ring map on the back which is a complete board and thankfully it is not one giant long map for space saving. The map is well detailed and contains many routes and there are almost no choke points as found in some risk games.The pieces, there are 3 factions and 5 colors. The units come in a 1 and 3 count unit. There is one flood, two covenant and two humans. The pieces for the flood are 1st the little infection form(1) those little guys who come in swarms, and the carrier(3) the guys who explode when shot down. The covenant come with grunts(1) and the wraith covenant tank(3). The humans come with marines(1) and the scorpion human tank(3). There are also heroes much as in other risk games and they act in a semi similair fashion. The flood is the thrasher, that giant mammoth form of the flood evolution tree. The covenant is the Arbiter who is a disgraced Elite. The humans of course have a spartan who resembles Master Chief. There is a base for every color as well which is used in play. Flood proto-gravemind. Covenant command center. Human firebase.The big difference for this risk is the campaign cards. They are your mission cards and differ by having difficulty levels based on the halo game, easy, heroic, legendary. The game has 4 basic modes which youll understand when you get it and is easy to set up and fun to play. The games we have usually run about 1-3 hours and are ended if they get to heated(Because Im winning :P)Overall great buy into the risk franchise and halo fans are sure to be pleased. The only downside in my opinion is I wish there was a 5 piece. The addition of the 2 player maps helps with unit limits and allows you to build without running out of pieces.

Item arrived as promised. What's the main thing that makes one risk game different from another? The board right. This version of risk comes with three different maps including the option to connect them. It's like several risk games for the price of one. There's a whole lot of replay value here. If you like Halo, it's all that much better. Another great element to this game is the two player option for the smaller maps. These games can be as quick as 45 minutes. We've also played three player death matches on those smaller maps and it works just fine. My only complaint is that they were stingy with the game pieces. There are not enough faction cards when play with five people. The plastic figurines are LAME and there aren't enough of them. I won a game last night on the largest map (The Halo Ring) and I ran out of pieces to cover all my territories. So that brings my rating down to a four. Other than that this game is a total win.

So I bought this for my boyfriend who is 19. I have played the regular game risk with some of my friends a couple months ago and it was kinda fun. He is in love with this version. Granted he is older..I think it would be fun for anyone over 12 or someone who plays halo games on Xbox. Very long game though, takes over 5 hours to play and finish, but totally good for those snowy or rainy days. Would totally recommend. Also it was alot more expensive at Barnes and noble than it was on Jere. Glad I checked to see they had it here. Great deal.

Bought as a gift, recipient loved it. We’re veteran Risk players and were able to jump right in. The inclusion of portals, team specific benefit cards, and a 5 ft. (😱) map are nice additions to the game.Overall, we continue to enjoy the game. One thing that I didn’t care for was the lack of territory cards to randomize initial territory control. Players take turns choosing territories, thus creating pockets of strength. While honestly more realistic and bringing with it an added layer of strategy, I prefer the old way. That being said, the game is still great.