‘Risk: Warhammer 40,000’ Board Game Review
It’s fair to say that Risk isn’t a game we play often in our house, although I do have a fond memory of the first time I played it around thirty years ago; back then it was the first “truly impressive” game that I had played, and the plastic soldiers and cannons along with the huge board and artful cards had me in awe compared to the chess and draught pieces that I was used to at the time. Risk, to me, felt like very serious business. Of course, we’re not here to talk about the regular Risk of the 1980s though – we’re here to talk about Risk: Warhammer 40,000.
This is a relatively new variant that was released in 2020, and as you might expect it takes place in the Warhammer universe and features characters and units that will be familiar to any fan of the Games Workshop IP. I’d suggest that my memories of childhood Risk are important here, because around the same as I was playing classic Risk, I was also definitely aspiring towards playing full-blown Games Workshop games of the time such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda and Space Hulk. For clarity, at eight or nine years old, I could never have done that because of the complexity of the rules – but I could, clearly, play Risk.
The reason I mention this is because I think that Risk: Warhammer 40,000 probably sits in a very particular niche, and whilst you’ll soon read why that niche isn’t for me (as a relatively experienced gamer and an adult) it would very much have been a game I would love to have experienced during my formative years as a young gamer. Risk: Warhammer 40,000 has all of the gritty, grimy artwork, and in particular the plastic miniatures that bring the Games Workshop world to life. The board, also, represents the Warhammer 40,000 universe really well – it’s clean, crisp and well designed, yet it features all of the “interesting” keywords that will get young players invested.
Risk: Warhammer 40,000 is a three to five-player game in which each player chooses one of the five factions available – these include Space Marines, Chaos, Eldar, Orks and some kind Machine Cult who I don’t recognise from my 1990’s-era Warhammer 40,000 knowledge. Each one comes with a leader who can be added to the board in the form of a token, and each conveys a benefit to their troops – including adding defence or attack modifiers, or creating a “last stand” mechanic where a last remaining unit holds fast for one additional combat loss. It’s a shame that the game didn’t include a higher quality or even unique miniature for each leader, but to be honest, the Eldar and Ork leaders are fairly generic – being called “Magus” and “Warboss” respectively, rather than being named heroes.
That aside, most of Risk: Warhammer 40,000 is standard Risk in terms of how it plays. The one difference that I don’t recall from the original game is the concept of Minor and Major Objectives. These cards (four of each are drawn from larger decks) are placed beside the board and can be won on a first come, first-served basis. When a player claims one, they can then take a matching reward from a pile of – you guessed it – Minor and Major rewards. Major rewards also act as the end game trigger, with the first player to secure three objectives being the winner in the “regular” game. A second option, the Total Domination variant, tasks players with completing the same three objectives, but they must then wipe the other players from the face of the map.
On that note, Risk: Warhammer 40,000 has the same key issues as Risk always had, which is that of player elimination. Players can be eliminated in Risk: Warhammer 40,000 relatively early, and for the fifth player in a five-player game, that may even happen before their first turn. It’s fairly unlikely that this will happen, but because reinforcing (which is when you receive new units) is linked to how much territory you control, a fourth or fifth player can find themselves in a fairly terrible position from the first turn, which cannot be recovered despite being dealt one or two territory cards (which bolster reinforcement value.) I have tested house rules where players later in turn order literally start with more units on the board and it does help – there are many such house rules to be found online.
Having said that, and coming back to what I said earlier about who this game is for, Risk: Warhammer 40,000 is unlikely to attract the kind of hardcore, focused gamer that would seek to eradicate the opposition in such a way as to spoil the game, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that those classic flaws remain. Risk: Warhammer 40,000 offers a fairly straightforward reskin of the original, and I have to say that the missed opportunity here is the lack of use of the Warhammer 40,000 license. Reducing the Ork hordes to a “plus one to attack” ability (for example) seems like a real shame, and it would have been nice to see the way units reinforce being linked to an in-game mechanic such as bases, or even for the territory cards to matter beyond simply offering reinforcements.
If you were considering buying Risk for a younger player who might have a future interest in the Games Workshop universe, or if you have a young player in the house who is already immersed in the IP but perhaps isn’t ready to dive into some of the more complex games that GW produce, then Risk: Warhammer 40,000 might well be a good option. It’s a super simple version of Risk that makes good visual use of the IP, but fails somewhat to layer in the more interesting aspects that come with it. That simplicity is both the strength and weakness of Risk: Warhammer 40,000 because it limits the audience to younger players, but at the same time, makes it more accessible and enjoyable for them as well.
*** 3/5 if you are an older or more experienced gamer, or ***½ 3.5/5 if you are in the target audience.
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