04-10-2015, 05:06 AM
Risk
It starts with a roll of weighted dice.
High roller gets to strike first—
a huge advantage when
aggression usually wins the day.
Next, we choose colours:
I always pick yellow.
I find it least conspicuous;
you can hide your little yellow men
all kinds of places
before they even come looking for you.
You’re dead if you wanna to be red.
You only gotta have a handful
of little red men in Central America
before they go spilling into the gulf
and you stick out
like a smashed thumb the size of a Cohiba.
Anyway, if you ask me
the colour shouldn’t matter, provided you play hard.
The best trick is don’t forget
who’s holding the cards.
Even when they're weak and seemingly scattered,
they may be a big, big problem later.
You’ll need to take them out completely
if you want the spoils—
so find a solution.
If you’re playing with a trusted friend,
remember he’ll turn too
when it’s rendered down to him or you.
So never take his word.
He’ll remind you it’s only a game,
right before the Coup de grace,
but this is not the time for nostalgia.
Finally:
Protect the board!
Nail it to ground if you must.
You never know when some sore loser
with little green men is gonna flip it upside-down,
toppling all your little plastic dreams
of domination.
*** “It is doubtful whether our soldiers would be maintained if there were not pacific people at home who like to fancy themselves soldiers. War, like other dramatic spectacles, might possibly cease for want of a “public”“ – George Eliot from Mill on the Floss
It starts with a roll of weighted dice.
High roller gets to strike first—
a huge advantage when
aggression usually wins the day.
Next, we choose colours:
I always pick yellow.
I find it least conspicuous;
you can hide your little yellow men
all kinds of places
before they even come looking for you.
You’re dead if you wanna to be red.
You only gotta have a handful
of little red men in Central America
before they go spilling into the gulf
and you stick out
like a smashed thumb the size of a Cohiba.
Anyway, if you ask me
the colour shouldn’t matter, provided you play hard.
The best trick is don’t forget
who’s holding the cards.
Even when they're weak and seemingly scattered,
they may be a big, big problem later.
You’ll need to take them out completely
if you want the spoils—
so find a solution.
If you’re playing with a trusted friend,
remember he’ll turn too
when it’s rendered down to him or you.
So never take his word.
He’ll remind you it’s only a game,
right before the Coup de grace,
but this is not the time for nostalgia.
Finally:
Protect the board!
Nail it to ground if you must.
You never know when some sore loser
with little green men is gonna flip it upside-down,
toppling all your little plastic dreams
of domination.
*** “It is doubtful whether our soldiers would be maintained if there were not pacific people at home who like to fancy themselves soldiers. War, like other dramatic spectacles, might possibly cease for want of a “public”“ – George Eliot from Mill on the Floss