History Main / RiskStyleMap

** ''[[http://conquerclub.com/ Conquer Club]]'' is the same, only Web-based (nothing to download, play from anywhere you can get at the Web).
* ''VideoGame/{{Warzone}}'', formerly known as ''Warlight'', another Risk-inspired web game with 2500+ maps. Tellingly, the original Risk map is here named "Small Earth".

* ''VideoGame/NorthAndSouth'' simply uses a map of the eastern United States, with players taking turns moving armies across the boundaries. Since the actual shapes of the states don't matter with this kind of map, some of them are very oddly drawn. To list just a few examples: West Virginia (which in RealLife wasn't granted independent statehood until 1863), New Jersey, and Maryland are all lumped together in one great blob (dubbed "New West Virginiarylandelajersey" in Daniel 'Kareshi' Brown's humorous {{Speedrun}} commentary); Missouri and Arkansas "lean", intruding upon the states to their west; Wisconsin is all but unrecognizable with the bulge at the top being given to of Michigan and its western edge rendered a diagonal line; Pennsylvania is a generic parallelogram, missing the extension on top and the eastern "nose"; Lakes Ontario and Erie are connected by a strait (and are drawn as one body of water in the NES version); Iowa's southeastern "arm" is missing; and Texas's southern border is completely wrong (it does bear some resemblance to Bell's proposal during the Compromise of 1850, but in 1861 it already had its modern-day boundaries).

* ''VideoGame/{{Warlight}}'', another Risk-inspired web game with 1500+ maps. Tellingly, the original Risk map is here named "Small Earth".

In most {{RTS}} games, from ''VideoGame/DuneII'' on, the single player component consists of a number of stand-alone scenarios linked together in a campaign. In recent years some games have eschewed this, using a world map much like the board game ''TabletopGame/{{Risk}}'' either to allow a measure of choice in what scenario the player wants to play or as "eye candy" for the [[TravelMontage in-story movements of their army]]. The map divides a countryside, country, world, or even ''galaxy'' into distinct political and/or cultural component groups, sometimes uniting small countries into a larger one, or dividing a large one into its components. It's often color coded to help denote larger groupings of states/countries or allies and enemies, and conquering all of one is often a game objective.

The player's armies are often represented on the map itself, and can be moved only to a contiguous country (unless the game allows for special "air" units or the like). If the game [[TurnBasedStrategyRealTimeCombat allows strategic combat as well]], a scenario where the individual units can be controlled starts, the nature of which usually is determined by the territory in question. In most cases only a few of the scenarios are pre-scripted, with the majority being skirmishes played against the computer.

** Hexmaps are probably more common, since nearly all board game wargames use them. Point-to-point is also fairly common. Table top war games often avert this, and use measuring tape for unit movement, as in "this unit can move four inches a turn."

* Every once and a while, Creator/GamesWorkshop, creator of [[TabletopGames Warhammer and the Lord of the Rings strategy game]] (and ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', but that is less relevant here) will release a new idea on how to do map-based campaigns. These systems never agree with one another, which just goes to show how volatile these "meta-games" can be. The latest ones (hex-based) just gives you a 3D map, some basic rules, and tells you that the rules are just an example and you can do it however you feel like.

** The ''Thrones and Patriots'' expansion added new civilizations to the grand campaign map but it still had much the same set of limited scenarios for each attack. However, the new campaigns that focus on a specific historical era (the conquests of UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat, the colonization of the New World, the UsefulNotes/NapoleonicWars, and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar) have many scripted scenarios for most if not all the territories on the map; for example, attacking Cuba as the US in the Cold War campaign starts a scripted scenario representing the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.

* ''VideoGame/RiseOfNations'' is an early example of a game that uses this trope, though it does not really feature any scripted missions.
** ''VideoGame/RiseOfLegends'', steampunk-fantasy themed sequel to the above, features both scripted and unscripted missions.
** ''Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots'', the expansion to ''Nations'', also featured scripted and unscripted missions.

** ''VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition'' is another Creator/{{Koei}} game that uses this.

* ''VideoGame/ShatteredUnion'' does this to the US.

** ''VideoGame/NobunagasAmbition'' is another {{Koei}} game that uses this.

* In Episode 2 of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', Strong Bad's overworld map from the previous installment is eaten by [[ExtremeOmnivore the King of Town]], so he uses the game board of a [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Risk-like game]] as a substitute. Appropriately, the episode centers around federating the breakaway "countries" of the other characters into Strong Badia. Toward the end of the game, there's a deluxe version of the game in the King of Town's castle, which has to be played to complete the episode. The objective of the board game is to get one particular character from one end of the map to the other, using the other characters to clear a path through the defenders.

* In Episode 2 of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', Strong Bad's overworld map from the previous installment is eaten by TheKingOfTown, so he uses the game board of a [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Risk-like game]] as a substitute. Appropriately, the episode centers around federating the breakaway "countries" of the other characters to Strong Badia. Toward the end of the game, there's a deluxe version of the game in the King of Town's castle, which has to be played to complete the episode. The objective of the board game is to get one particular character from one end of the map to the other, using the other characters to clear a path through the defenders.

* Strategy games by Creator/ParadoxInteractive ''are'' this trope - most notably ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis'', ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'', and ''VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun''. Most of the games made by Paradox in-house use the Clausewitz Engine, which essentially appears to be a Risk style map (though it is sort of on steroids, what with the hundreds of provinces). The games themselves are merely different mechanics built around the map. While all games that have been produced so far have used maps based on real areas of the world, several mods have proved that it can be used for fantasy worlds (including ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'') as well. Previous Engines also pretty much did this as well, and several other games they publish use different engines which feature risk style maps.

* ''VideoGame/EmpireAtWar'' uses the core ''concept'' of a RiskStyleMap, but the visual is a set of planets, rather than an actual RiskStyleMap. One of the single-player modes for ''StarWarsBattlefront 2'' works similarly.

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] actually uses a Risk board to outline his takeover plan of ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' (after a quick tutorial by BoardJames) The actual plan is a ZergRush, so he apparently took the tactical depth from invasions in that game too.

* ''VideoGame/Warlight'', another Risk-inspired web game with 1500+ maps. Tellingly, the original Risk map is here named "Small Earth".

* The Weapon Master mode in ''[[VideoGame/SoulSeries SoulCalibur 2]]''. Yes, in a FightingGame. Any battles generated on the map were played out as a match or series of matches. Advantages and disadvantages were granted by equipment and leveling up. Similar modes appear in later games of the series. The arcade version of SCII even had a stripped-down version called Conquest, in which the saved characters of other players of the same arcade machine would be encountered as {{NPC}}s. This mode was inspired by the excellent Edge Master mode in Soul Edge/Blade for the PS1, which also has a Risk-like map.

* The ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' games feature a variation of this: the campaign map served only to generate troops and battles to use them in. Actual battle occur when two opposing forces meet on the map, and there is no base-building involved.

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* The Weapon Master mode in ''[[SoulSeries SoulCalibur 2]]''. Yes, in a FightingGame. Any battles generated on the map were played out as a match or series of matches. Advantages and disadvantages were granted by equipment and leveling up. Similar modes appear in later games of the series. The arcade version of SCII even had a stripped-down version called Conquest, in which the saved characters of other players of the same arcade machine would be encountered as {{NPC}}s. This mode was inspired by the excellent Edge Master mode in Soul Edge/Blade for the PS1, which also has a Risk-like map.

* Strategy games by ParadoxInteractive ''are'' this trope - most notably EuropaUniversalis, HeartsOfIron, and [[VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun Victoria]]. Most of the games made by paradox in house use the Clausewitz Engine, which essentially appears to be a Risk style map (though it is sort of on steroids, what with the hundreds of provinces). The games themselves are merely different mechanics built around the map. While all games that have been produced so far have used maps based on real areas of the world, several mods have proved that it can be used for fantasy worlds (including ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'') as well. Previous Engines also pretty much did this as well, and several other games they publish use different engines which feature risk style maps.

* ''VideoGame/NorthAndSouth'' simply uses a map of the eastern United States, with players taking turns moving armies across the boundaries. Since the actual shapes of the states don't matter with this kind of map, some of them are very oddly drawn. To list just a few examples: West Virginia (which in RealLife wasn't granted independent statehood until 1863), New Jersey, and Maryland are all lumped together in one great blob; Missouri and Arkansas "lean", intruding upon the states to their west; Wisconsin is all but unrecognizable with the bulge at the top being given to of Michigan and its western edge rendered a diagonal line; Pennsylvania is a generic parallelogram, missing the extension on top and the eastern "nose"; Lakes Ontario and Erie are connected by a strait (and are drawn as one body of water in the NES version); Iowa's southeastern "arm" is missing; and Texas's southern border is completely wrong (it does bear some resemblance to Bell's proposal during the Compromise of 1850, but in 1861 it already had its modern-day boundaries).

* ''Imperialism'', where the world (or at least Europe and North Africa) is divided into provinces, similar to {{Diplomacy}}.

* ''{{Risk}}'', obviously, as the TropeNamer. In addition, quite probably the majority of strategy games, as well as a goodly number of non-strategy ones. The examples are too numerous to list fully: {{Diplomacy}} (possibly the UrExample), {{Axis and Allies}}, TabletopGame/{{Civilization}}...

** ''NobunagasAmbition'' is another {{Koei}} game that uses this.
* Some ladder ranking systems for online games function sort of like this, with players signed up for different sides, and battles occurring wherever they overlapped. ''TotalAnnihilation'' used a system called “Boneyard”, and ''World War II Online'' even has the entire European theatre being contested in months long recreations of the entire war!

* ''EndWar'' uses this, as well, for both its World War III single-player game and the Theatre of War online version - all of the points on the map represent different maps and scenarios for play, with some territories being Capitals (controlling all three grants immediate victory, and each requires 3 victories, first in Assault, then in Conquest, then in Siege, to take), some territories being Bases (that grant Air Support and Force Recon to engagements within range, and can be Raided to remove these benefits for two turns), and the rest being standard Conquest maps.

* ''DuneII'' itself had a map of this kind, but it was almost purely cosmetic; the same scenarios occurred in the same order regardless of which territories the player chose. Only the layout of buildable rock changed depending on the player's choice.

** One of the game's sequels, ''EmperorBattleForDune'', did this more conventionally.
* ''RiseOfNations'' is an early example of a game that uses this trope, though it does not really feature any scripted missions.
** ''RiseOfLegends'', steampunk-fantasy themed sequel to the above, features both scripted and unscripted missions.

* ''Castles II: Siege and Conquest'', a kingdom-building strategy strategy game, with an RTS-like combat mode, employed a Risk-style map of "Bretagne". It is a rough contemporary of ''Dune 2''.
* ''LordOfTheRings - The Battle for Middle Earth'' has this in the first game's single-player campaign, and something even more Risk-like in the sequels "War of the Ring" mode.

* ''UniverseAtWar: Earth Assault'' features both kinds of campaigns. In the linear story mode, the risk-style world map only fills the role of a briefing room until the last leg, but there is an option to play this kind of free-form game on it.

* ''SevenKingdoms'' has a randomly generated variant. The missions are also randomly generated, but oddly redone every time you restart a mission, so the map only represents general progress (and some events are simply beyond your control). Especially as you can't fail in the sense of losing territory, you'll just restart the mission.
* ''{{Stronghold}}'' features a map identical to that of England and Wales (or [[AnachronismStew Germany in its current borders]]) though the name of the country is never stated. The map is divided into counties, each a different color depending on who controls it. The player cannot choose where to go next however, it is only used to show the player's progress.

* ''The Battle For Middle Earth II'' had a conquest mode that also made use of a Risk-style map (of Middle Earth).

* ''EmpireEarth III'' has this as well on its Campaign mode.
* ''{{Imperialism}}'', where the world (or at least Europe and North Africa) is divided into provinces, similar to {{Diplomacy}}.
* ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'' has this, as multiple battles can take place at once.

* The Risk derivative massively-multiplayer online game GoCrossCampus used such maps like its ancestor. It also added in ways to teleport units from one territory to another.

* ''StarWars: EmpireAtWar'' uses the core ''concept'' of a RiskStyleMap, but the visual is a set of planets, rather than an actual RiskStyleMap. One of the single-player modes for ''StarWarsBattlefront 2'' works similarly.

* ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'' featured a campaign map, which didn't even start to correspond with the actual scenarios played. In fact, it was merely a decoration, usable even in custom campaigns.

* ''VideoGame/NorthAndSouth'' simply uses a map of the eastern United States with modern state boundaries. Since the actual shapes of the states don't matter with this kind of map, some of them are very oddly drawn. To list just a few examples: West Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland are all lumped together in one great blob; Missouri and Arkansas "lean", intruding upon the states to their west; Wisconsin is all but unrecognizable with the bulge at the top being given to of Michigan and its western edge rendered a diagonal line; Pennsylvania is a generic parallelogram, missing the extension on top and the eastern "nose"; Lakes Ontario and Erie are connected by a strait (and are drawn as one body of water in the NES version); Iowa's southeastern "arm" is missing; and Texas's southern border is completely wrong (it does bear some resemblance to Bell's proposal during the Compromise of 1850, but in 1861 when the war started it had its modern-day boundaries).

* The second ExpansionPack for ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: DawnOfWar'', ''Dark Crusade'', featured this kind of campaign mode instead of the traditional linear campaigns in ''Dawn Of War'' and ''Winter Assault'' . The final expansion (''Soulstorm'') also had a campaign structured like this (though it was handled in a more unwieldly manner).