Simple Weighted Risk Units Variant Rules.doc (1.17 MB) (Log in or Register to download.)
Simple variant rules that finally make the infantry, cavalry, and artillery have different capabilities and strengths. To play this variant you will need 5 four sided dice and 1 eight sided die in addition to the 5 six sided dice provided in the base game.
An "unsupported" unit type would occur when all units in a given battle are of the same type.
The "+1 to the highest die" bonus in the examples is applied to whatever die has the highest number showing. If a rolled d4 has a 4 and a rolled d6 has a 2, the bonus is added to the d4's result of 4 making it a result of 5. The bonus is not "tied" to the d6, it is applied to whatever die rolled has the highest value showing.
The addition of the d8 is to show the devastating effects of a combined arms attack...especially against a homogeneous defender. There is a synergy that occurs when combined arms are achieved in an attack that is absent when all of the elements are not present.
*************************************** Example 1
2 infantry and 1 cavalry attack 2 infantry:
The attacker would roll...
1d4 for each infantry
1d4 for the cavalry, & have a bonus of +1 to the highest die for being cavalry AND another +1 to the highest die because the defending units are all infantry and therefore "unsupported". So, to sum up, the attacker ends up rolling a total of 3d4 and adding 2 to the highest die.
the defender would roll 2d4 **************************************** Example 2
2 infantry and a cavalry attack 1 infantry and a cannon:
The attacker would roll...
1d4 for each infantry
1d4 for the cavalry, & get the normal +1 to the highest die cavalry bonus. However, since the defenders are not unsupported infantry, the additional +1 bonus is not given. So, to sum up, the attacker ends up rolling a total of 3d4 and adding 1 to the highest die.
The defender would roll...
1d4 for the infantry
1d6 for the cannon **************************************** Example 3
3 infantry attack 1 infantry and a cannon:
The attacker would roll...
1d4 for each infantry for a total of 3d4 and no bonuses.
The defender would roll...
1d4 for the infantry
1d6 for the cannon *************************************** Example 4
3 cavalry attack 1 infantry and a cannon:
The attacker would roll...
1d4 for each of the cavalry, & +1 for the highest die for cavalry
The defender would roll...
1d4 for the infantry
1d6 for the cannon, & a bonus of +1 to the highest die because the attacking cavalry are "unsupported" (all cavalry) *************************************** Example 5 (Combined Arms)
1 infantry, 1 cavalry, and 1 cannon attack 1 infantry and 1 cannon:
The attacker would roll...
1d4 for the infantry
1d6 for the cannon
1d8 for the cavalry (combined arms bonus) AND get a +1 to the highest die. (Note: if the defender were all of the same type, no matter what the type - all infantry or all cannons or all cavalry - there would be an additional +1 bonus to the highest die for the attacker.)
The defender would roll...
1d4 for the infantry
1d6 for the cannon **************************************
I hope that was helpful
An alternative to this variant is to simply use a d4 for infantry, a d6 for cavalry, and a d8 for artillery, adjust the purchase costs to 1 for infantry, 3 for cavalry, and 5 for artillery. No bonuses are added. Once purchased, units may not be broken down for change when they are eliminated. They are created as a particular type of unit and they are eliminated (so it hurts more to lose a costly unit than a cheap unit).
