Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Expansions

So there are apparently four expansions out there for the game in what is known as the "Frontline" series. I did not know about this until very recently. As it turns out, they were never sold in any retail stores or new online, but rather were only made as promotions at game stores and prizes at tournaments. As a result, the actual expansions are pretty rare and expensive. I would love to get my hands on them and try them out, but so far I have only been able to find incompletely versions of them on Ebay for way more than I'm willing to pay. If anybody out there has ever played with them or owns them, let me know... I am very interested in knowing what you thought! I will discuss each one briefly just based on what I have read about them.

Season One - Mars
The fist one is an entirely new board that represents Mars. Actually, the image on the board was supposedly taken from real satellite footage, which is pretty cool. The board, from what I can tell, is meant to be played on instead of the regular Earth one, not just as an addition. I have a feeling this would change the game quite a bit and not feel like an expansion so much as a completely different game. Anyway, the territories are all quite intermingled together, making it difficult to use the typical strategy of guarding your few borders while leaving your center thin. I'm interested in playing on it, but it's not the most intriguing of the expansions.

Season Two - Tech Commander 
This one is my personal favorite. It simply adds a new commander and his own set of cards, while leaving all the other aspects of the game alone. After looking at descriptions of all the tech command cards, I must say I am dying to try this guy out. They seem fun and strategic to say the least. The commander himself does not roll with an 8-sided die, but does defend with one, just like the Diplomat.

Season Three - Factions
This one lets you be more directly in control of your own game and really capitalize on a specific strategy. At the beginning, you choose a faction to be affiliated with, and that faction allows you special perks or bonuses that are completely different from the ones your opponents will be getting with their faction of choice. I like this idea and while it does change the game significantly, it probably wouldn't feel like playing a completely different one entirely.

Season Four - Invasion of the Giant Amoebas 
This one, in my opinion, does not sound very fun. It may be interesting for one or two games, but I think it would only be a distracting nuisance as opposed to a strategic change. Basically, there are Amoebas that will come into the game and wreak havoc on all players in some way, shape, or form. The way this happens is by a set of event cards. I'm not sure how they get played or if there is ANY strategy involved at all. It may just be something to keep players on their toes and make the game more crazy and entertaining for those who like that sort of thing.

So, if you've played any of these let me know. Also, I am aware that it is possible to replicate these expansions at home using templates found online. If you have done that, I want to know about it. If you want to do that, try it out and please tell me how it goes. Till next time!

9 comments:

  1. Lane,

    I've actually been compiling all the expansions (official and unofficial)

    Checkout:
    http://risk2210.net/expansions

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  2. The tech commander is the best of the expansion sets. we play with it every time. We also play with the incasion of the Giant aomebas. The mebes are the most frustrating aspect of the game. They randomly come down and torture you. It seems like whenever you finally get control of a big continent, the moon or the water, that they come and take it away.
    The tech cards are the best. They can allow you to stop cards from being played against you, take a look at someone elses cards, change tern order, bring extra units into a battle, recycle useless cards, and enhance dice rolls against an opponent. I have the mars board but have only played with the board twice. I have the factions as well but have only played with them once. I have been playing this game religously every monday night since the game 1st came out in 2001. It is far and away the best and most flexible game ever developed. We have also designed many new cards for the game. We have utilized all of the blank cards that are given plus we have added about 6 per deck. Avalon hill will not supply you with extra blank cards so every couple of years or so the group of five of us has bought a new game and we take the blank cards out of them and start up new. If you are curious as to the cards we have developed just ask and I will post them.

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    Replies
    1. Hey dude, I am very curious about the custom cards you have created. Its been a few months but if you get this please post them for all to see.

      Also I agree that the Tech Commander expansion is awesome, played with it once. I am in the process of trying to print or make my own MARS expansion board, not prepared to pay huge prices online so I will either make it or have it made privately.

      Dwayne

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    2. We play Risk 2210 with friends about once a month.
      What would be the easiest way to buy / print / get the expansion decks and commanders?
      It seems that insurgencygaming.com is not in business any longer. :(
      Will you please be so kind to reply to my private email - newgeemail@gmail.com?

      Delete
  3. Also we play with an un-official expansion . Antartica, which can be purchased on line on ebay, for a pretty low price. This is far and away the best after market expansion to the game. It makes it possible to connect South America with Africa in Lesoto and it connects to the south pacific as well. It was really well thought out and ads a new rinkle to the game.

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  4. Wow...I'm surprised to see a blog about this game still going! I have a group of friends that have been playing 2210 off and on for years. We've played, and even modified, several of the expansions you listed. I took the time to print out the Antarctic Map and cards...and even made some modifications to it to make it play better. We've also played the Tech Commander. We've played Commanders 2.0 and Relics. We made some modifications to the Factions and even made up one or two of our own. We've even played the Arctic Map. Lots of fun with all of these. We haven't, however played on any alternate maps (Mars, etc.) or the Amoebas. I've been playing DRisk (Risk for Droid) a lot...always using the 2210 map, and would love to find 2210 to play electronically.

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  5. There are a tonne of Risk 2210 ad expansions available from Insurgency Gaming. I'd that there's at least a dozen or more, and then there's other boards like Battle for America (basically a futuristic US board) and the Moon 2.0 which is meant to replace the rather drab base moon board that comes with the original Risk 2210 game. Anyway you can check them out at www.insurgencygaming.com.

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    Replies
    1. Seems like they are out of business. Not responding to my calls and emails and not sending me my order.
      Is there any other way to get the expansion cards and commanders?
      Can you please kindly reply to my private email - newgeemail@gmail.com?

      Thank you!

      Delete
  6. I worked at a LGS in 2004 and demoed the Frontline expansions. I have all four and they've seen many plays.

    Mars:
    This is a fun map with some neat features. It mixes up the game a bit without having too major an impact on play. It's cool to play on Mars (everybody loves Mars), but the nostalgic Earth Map helped connect this game to basic Risk.

    The Tech Commander:
    This is awesome, but possibly overpowered. This was intended for playtest, so there are 4 copies of cards that there should only be 1 or 2 copies (presumably they dumped in extra copies to ensure they saw play so the players could give feedback). This is probably also why each player starts with a Tech Commander in play, rather than having to buy it.

    Factions:
    Very fun, but you should really have the first 2 seasons to play. For one, some factions begin with the Tech Commander in play. Also Primus Oceanus is weak on Earth, but stronger on Mars because there are areas with better access to multiple bodies of water.
    The Silicon Knights are extremely strong in groups where players are allowed to hold continents and collect large piles of energy. This is magnified if you are playing with the Major Command Card promos.

    Amoebas:
    These are a little bit brutal and random, but good fun.

    It's a real shame these were never produced, if for no other reason because the production values of the demo copies are low. :(

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