Trench sounds fun!
Also, adding nukes to Risk is awesome. Do this quite frequently in real life risk with family. We use .22 shells for nukes and 9mm shells for ICBMS. Nukes can only hit within a territory that you are connected to and within a continent, ICBM's can hit anywhere. We also use different "blast radius" for nukes and ICBMs (meaning territories affected in a reducing cascade of damage.)
So, to expand on this - you declare the country you are nuking/icbm. Once declared, you roll 1 dice - even means you launch successfully, odd means the bomb was a dud and doesn't go off or goes harmlessly into the sea (think North Korea failed missile tests). As an added twist, if you roll a 1, the bomb detonates in your territory - meaning nuke/icbm placement is a strategy in and of itself.
Nukes have a blast radius that does not cross continents, so only territories within the continent of the target region are affected by the "fallout". The direct territory loses the number of the "launch" dice roll in troops and any directly attached, in-continent territories lose the dice roll minus 2.
ICBM's have a pre-determined blast radius size, with three separators for damage, with the "bullseye" being the dice roll +5 lost, the secondary being the dice roll +3 lost, and the tertiary territories being the dice roll +1 lost. ICBM's will affect any territories within the blast radius, regardless of continent or sea.
Nukes cost 15 armies and ICBM's cost 20 armies. Armies can be traded in from any way that a player can get 20 troops - they can trade in troops from their already placed troops, trade in troops from the turn bonus, or a combination of the two. There must always be at least 1 troop in each owned territory. They come at a high cost, with a high risk, and potentially do a lot of damage.
Nukes and ICBM's can be captured also, if the defending army(ies) is/are defeated. Nukes and ICBM's do not count as an army, and have no defensive capabilities, also affecting placement strategy.
The last game family and I played like this there were 4 icbms "bought". 2 failed to launch (effectively costing 20 "lives" each) 1 exploded in territory (the player lost their 20 troop cost plus I think 9 additional armies) and 1 hit, killing upwards of 32 armies. There was a group of these lives we kept in the bottom corner of the map, to illustrate the cost and "human factor" of using weapons of mass destruction, which I think would also be a neat addition to a nuclear game - keeping track of nukes/icbms bought, successful launches, unsuccessful launches, and catastrophe's where the nuke exploded in territory (Chernobyl-like). I happened to be the first player to buy a nuke, and failed to launch. The "human factor" of losing 20 armies for nothing prompted me to never buy a nuke again, and I ended up winning the game. It becomes a mind game you play with yourself, as well as the other players, and adds a whole new level to Risk. Something I think definitely should be added as a gametype.
Trench sounds fun!
Also, adding nukes to Risk is awesome. Do this quite frequently in real life risk with family. We use .22 shells for nukes and 9mm shells for ICBMS. Nukes can only hit within a territory that you are connected to and within a continent, ICBM's can hit anywhere. We also use different "blast radius" for nukes and ICBMs (meaning territories affected in a reducing cascade of damage.)
So, to expand on this - you declare the country you are nuking/icbm. Once declared, you roll 1 dice - even means you launch successfully, odd means the bomb was a dud and doesn't go off or goes harmlessly into the sea (think North Korea failed missile tests). As an added twist, if you roll a 1, the bomb detonates in your territory - meaning nuke/icbm placement is a strategy in and of itself.
Nukes have a blast radius that does not cross continents, so only territories within the continent of the target region are affected by the "fallout". The direct territory loses the number of the "launch" dice roll in troops and any directly attached, in-continent territories lose the dice roll minus 2.
ICBM's have a pre-determined blast radius size, with three separators for damage, with the "bullseye" being the dice roll +5 lost, the secondary being the dice roll +3 lost, and the tertiary territories being the dice roll +1 lost. ICBM's will affect any territories within the blast radius, regardless of continent or sea.
Nukes cost 15 armies and ICBM's cost 20 armies. Armies can be traded in from any way that a player can get 20 troops - they can trade in troops from their already placed troops, trade in troops from the turn bonus, or a combination of the two. There must always be at least 1 troop in each owned territory. They come at a high cost, with a high risk, and potentially do a lot of damage.
Nukes and ICBM's can be captured also, if the defending army(ies) is/are defeated. Nukes and ICBM's do not count as an army, and have no defensive capabilities, also affecting placement strategy.
The last game family and I played like this there were 4 icbms "bought". 2 failed to launch (effectively costing 20 "lives" each) 1 exploded in territory (the player lost their 20 troop cost plus I think 9 additional armies) and 1 hit, killing upwards of 32 armies. There was a group of these lives we kept in the bottom corner of the map, to illustrate the cost and "human factor" of using weapons of mass destruction, which I think would also be a neat addition to a nuclear game - keeping track of nukes/icbms bought, successful launches, unsuccessful launches, and catastrophe's where the nuke exploded in territory (Chernobyl-like). I happened to be the first player to buy a nuke, and failed to launch. The "human factor" of losing 20 armies for nothing prompted me to never buy a nuke again, and I ended up winning the game. It becomes a mind game you play with yourself, as well as the other players, and adds a whole new level to Risk. Something I think definitely should be added as a gametype.
