The complete rules of a match: how a turn flows, how armies are calculated, and every special
rule (capitals, fog, firestorms, portals, pacts) that a lobby can switch on.
Most numbers here are the default ruleset — many are lobby-configurable. See
Match Settings for what a host can change, and what's locked in
Ranked. Combat has its own page: Combat & Dice.
Everyone starts with the same pool of armies, scaled to the player count and map size. On a
standard 42-territory map:
| Players |
Starting armies |
| 2 |
40 |
| 3 |
35 |
| 4 |
30 |
| 5 |
25 |
| 6+ |
20 |
On larger or smaller maps this scales automatically (roughly one army per territory you'll
own, plus a buffer).
How territories and armies are placed depends on the Troop Placement setting:
- Auto — territories are dealt out and all your armies are scattered randomly. The game
jumps straight into play. (Default.)
- Semi-Auto — territories are dealt out, but you place your armies one at a time. It's
"blind" — a reveal screen shows everyone's placement at the end.
- Manual — classic Risk: players take turns claiming unclaimed territories (1 army
each), then place the rest openly on territories they own.
Each turn moves through three phases in order:
- Receive your new armies (see Reinforcements) and place them on
territories you own.
- Trade in card sets for bonus armies here, if you have a valid set. See Cards.
- Attack adjacent (or portal/lane-connected) enemy territories with the dice. Attack as often
as you like.
- Conquer a territory and you advance armies into it. Capture at least one territory this
turn and you'll draw a card when the turn ends.
- Full mechanics: Combat & Dice.
- Make one army move between two connected territories you own, to shore up a border or
mass for next turn. Then your turn ends.
The round number ticks up each time play wraps back to the first player. A few rules
(like Capital Mode) key off the round number.
At the start of your Reinforce phase you receive:
base + continent bonuses + capital bonus
- Base = your territory count ÷ 3 (rounded down), with a minimum of 3.
So 9 or fewer territories still gives 3; 30 territories gives 10.
- Continent bonuses — for each group you own completely, add its
bonus.
- Capital bonus — in Capital Conquest mode, +2 per capital you own.
Plus any bonus armies from trading in cards that turn.
On the first turn of Auto/Semi-Auto games, continent bonuses are withheld — your starting
territories were handed out randomly, not earned. They kick in from your next turn.
Territories are organized into groups (continents). Owning every territory in a group
pays its bonus armies every turn, for as long as you hold it. Group bonuses are set per
map (commonly around +2, but map-makers choose). Completing and defending a continent is the
core engine of a strong position.
- A firestorm territory inside a group is skipped — you can still "own" the group even
though one member is permanently on fire.
Capitals only matter when the win condition is Capital Conquest.
- Choosing capitals: right after setup there's a Capital Selection phase. Each player
clicks one of their own territories to make it their capital; it gains +3 armies. The
game won't start until every player has a capital (auto-assigned to your strongest territory
if you don't pick one).
- Capital Mode activates in round 3. The first two rounds are a grace period to build up;
from round 3 on, the "capture all capitals" win condition is live and a banner announces it.
- Capitals are stronger: they reinforce +2 armies/turn each, and they defend with 3
dice instead of 2.
- Capitals never catch fire — firestorms won't be placed on a capital.
- A counter shows 🏰 Capitals X / Y, where Y is the total on the map and X is the most held
by any single player/team.
See Win Conditions for how to actually win this way.
Optional (off by default). With fog on, you can only see:
- Territories you own, and
- Territories directly adjacent to one you own.
Everything else is hidden. Portals and firestorms are always visible to everyone, so
you can plan around them. Fog changes what you see — it doesn't change combat math.
Optional (off by default; default count 8 online). Before armies are placed, a number of
territories are set permanently ablaze. Firestorm territories are dead zones:
- Owned by no one, and removed from the deal.
- Cannot be attacked, reinforced, or claimed.
- Skipped when checking if you own a whole continent (so they don't block group bonuses).
- Never placed on a capital, and never placed in a way that would split the map into
disconnected islands.
They're terrain hazards that reshape the map and force new routes.
Both let distant territories reach each other.
Shipping lanes are connections drawn into a map by its creator. A lane simply makes two
territories count as adjacent — you can attack or fortify across it like any border. They're
permanent (part of the map).
Portals are an optional, dynamic teleport network:
- Portals sit on random territories. Any two open portals are connected to each other —
you can attack or fortify between them no matter how far apart they are on the map. (It's an
all-to-all network, not paired.)
- Off — no portals. (Default.)
- Fixed — portals stay put; every portal flips open↔closed at the start of each round.
- Random — portals open, then close and relocate to new spots over the following rounds.
- Portals are always visible (they pierce fog).
- Portal Chaos (optional): when you attack through an open portal, there's a chance the
attack is redirected to a different random open portal — chaos!
Optional (off by default). A pact is a non-aggression agreement between two players.
- Forming one: open another player's panel and send a pact offer; they accept or
decline. Offers stay valid for 2 minutes.
- Private: pact offers, acceptances, and breaks are shown only to the two players
involved — never broadcast to the table.
- Not a wall: a pact is a social agreement. The game does not stop you from attacking
a pacted ally — and attacking one does not automatically break the pact (or count against
your "pacts broken" record). Breaking a pact is a deliberate choice.
- Bots don't honor pacts, and when any player is converted to a bot, all their pacts break.
- In Teams mode, you genuinely cannot attack a teammate — that's a hard rule, separate
from pacts.
Pacts are a tool for buying time, ganging up on the leader, or setting up a betrayal. (There's
even an achievement for breaking one.)
A lobby picks one of two ways to win:
Be the last player — or last team — still holding territory. You don't need every tile on
the map; you need to be the only side left alive. (This is the default win condition.)
Own every capital on the map (all of them held by you, or by your team). This win is only
checked from round 3 onward. Note that last-player-standing still wins a Capital Conquest
game too — so eliminating everyone is always a valid path.
A player is eliminated the moment they hold zero territories. Eliminated players are
skipped in the turn order. Take an opponent's last territory and you inherit their entire
hand of cards — which can be a windfall, but may force you to trade immediately if
it puts you over the 5-card limit.
See also: Combat & Dice · Cards · Match Settings