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Used in Risk Board Game and in Real Life

You might have been introduced to Risk board game and played a few times with your friends. You liked it so much that you decided to look further for more information on how to play, where to play and how to improve your game. This article attempts to give you a head start on the Top 5 online Risk games, the Top 5 Risk board game variants and the Top 5 books to read to improve your game.

There always comes a time when you want to influence others. You may need to use a variety of psychological tactics depending on the situation and the person you are dealing with. In this article, a number of scenarios are presented and for each a course of action is suggested. Remember, what matters is always the end game. If you want someone to do something for you, you need to keep focusing on the outcome. You need to make it easier for the other person to make the right choice, the choice that you desire. Here are a number of scenarios and solutions to help you get what you want.

Negotiation is one of the most important skills that one may need to use to resolve different types of conflicts. Negotiation is applicable to everyone as you should know the tricks of the trade if you want to succeed. The ability to negitiate effectivly in Risk game is also critical.

What I have found, as probably the most important element, is the concept of BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). Basically, you always need to have something, so that you can walk away from a deal. By having an alternative, you will feel stronger psychologically. People can see this confidence and will act accordingly in a negotiation. In contrast, if you think you don't have an alternative, you may portray yourself as a desperate negotiator which the other party may easily spot and exploit.

I have often seen that players can be confused about the differences between tactics and strategy. So, here is a short summary of the differences.

Strategy is timeless. It is literally immutable. The success of  The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Special Edition is a confirmation that strategies written thousands of years ago are still applicable today to a wide variety of competitive environments. Strategy is there to help you to get to your main objective.

Tactics depend on the environment. Tactics are specifically created to support the main strategy. They are the specific means to get you to the end. Historically, new technologies have always affected tactics.

The right strategy makes tactics work better. On the other hand, if your strategy is wrong from the outset, no matter which clever tactics you use, you are inevitably doomed. Tactics without a good strategy are a waste of resources.

When you are involved in a competition such as a game, would you focus on tactics or strategy? Or would you focus on diplomacy instead? Or maybe a combination of them all. How would you improve your game while playing Risk? Which one do you think is more effective?

In my book, I emphasized greatly on the importance of diplomacy. In fact, it seems that a lot is driven by this concept. In this article, I provide an example in the space industry and show you how far diplomacy can take you.

It is sometimes desired to have allies in Risk. Having an ally has many benefits. You will have one less enemy to deal with. In addition, your ally is likely to fight with your enemies reducing their power even further. You may also get him to help you on strategies and initiate a campaign together as part of a global plan.

All in all this sounds great. However, as always there is a catch. The most fundamental problem is that there can only be one winner. As a result, you and your ally will inevitably need to face each other at some point in the game. Therefore, alliances are short term solutions. An alliance is there to benefit the two parties for a while and when the circumstances have changed, the alliance is terminated, expired or broken.

There are many times that you may be confronted with a situation that you like to instantly discover if someone is trying to deceive you. Is there a way to know for certain? Well, it turns out that there is indeed a technique you can use to know if someone is bluffing.

Divide and Conquer is perhaps one of the most famous strategies to gain power. On the outset everyone seems to understand it. Numerous examples in history show that this strategy is indeed effective.

Robert Greene described this strategy beautifully: 

"Never be intimidated by enemy's appearance. Instead, look at the parts that make up the whole. By separating the parts sowing dissension and division, you can bring down even the most formidable foe. When you have troubles or enemies, turn a large problem into small eminently defeatable parts." 

This strategy can be applied to many different situations.

Ever wondered what a winning Risk player does irrespective of culture or nationality. The joy of winning is great. Players simply want to tell the whole world how wonderful they are. Amazingly enough technology has made that, literally, possible.

Over the years that I have played Risk, one undisputable addiction was to get to the moment of winning. The feeling was simply great. In games that I had to compete with 5 other players, coming as a winner certainly made me feel more special (whether I was or not is a different matter altogether).

I could see the envy in their eyes, but since they were beaten in a fair game, I could feel a sense of respect. If I managed to win against a number of players repeatedly, then respect simply went up and up. Of course, there always came a time when I had to give up the throne and quit while I was ahead.

When a player won Risk, the feeling of joy and the subsequent chat for the next couple of weeks (with teasing to the nth degree) was simply fantastic.