How is it possible to invade moon territories in Risk 2210?

Question

The rules state that units already on the moon can not be used to invade other lunar territories. So how is it possible to settle territories on the moon (other than the 3 that contain landing sites)? Obviously, the units used would have to travel from land to the moon via space stations, but at what stage in a person's turn would this occur? Also, even if a person can do this, how is it possible to settle the territory called Rhaeticus, which is 2 territories away from any lunar landing site? My husband and I have been trying to work this out for days.

Also, when invading unoccupied territories, is it possible to move into several territories consecutively on a single turn? For example, is it possible to move several units into one water (or moon or land) colony, then move some of those into the next one, and then some of those into the next one all in the same turn? Or would this have to be done over 3 turns (if possible)? The rules don't say either way.

Thanks!

Answer 1

First, I think your problem is predicated on a misunderstanding of the rules.  Units that are on the moon _can_ be used to invade other lunar territories, but they cannot invade Earth territories (except with the Invade Earth card from the Space Commander deck).

From page 8 of the instuctions (http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/Ri...

"Invading lunar territories is similar to invading land territories with the following exception: you must have a Space Commander to invade into or out of Lunar Territories.  If you do not have a Space Commander, no units may invade into these territories nor may any units already in Lunar territories invade other Lunar territories.  However, units in a territory without a Space Commander may still defend as normal.  

Note that the Space Commander does not need to be in the same territory as the invading units, nor does he even need to be on the Moon.  He need only be in play.  If your Space Commander dies mid-turn. then no units on the moon may invade for the remainder of your turn.  You may, however, still use these units to fortify your position"

Basically, the Space Commander functions like the Naval Commander to serve as the key that allows your troops to traverse the territories, but does not need to be part of the invading force itself.  Invasion of the moon functions just like invasion of Earth territories, except that there are "landing points" on the moon.  Effectively, those landing points could be considered as adjacent territories to any player's space station... so units on the space station territory may invade to those spaces.  The key is that it is a one-way trip, so units on the moon cannot return to Earth via a space station -- once on the moon, you stay there unless you have an "Invade Earth" card.  

As to invading several territories in a single turn, it is just like invading any empty territory on Earth or in the Water.  If there is no opposition, no dice are rolled, and one must merely follow the occupation rules (i.e. leaving at least one unit in the territory when invading another.)  Taking over the moon early in the game is a very viable strategy, as it requires the other players to also invest in the Space Commander and dedicate troops to a Lunar invasion if they want to fight for Lunar Territories.  Since there are only three access points to the moon, it can make entry especially defensible (similar to Papua New Guinea in classic Risk), and the bonuses for holding Lunar territory sets are generous as compared to their land counterparts.  The only downside to being the solo player on the moon is that the Rocket Strike Moon and other random devastation items for the moon are more attractive to the other players that do not have a lunar interest, and would not stand to lose any troops by using such a card.

When invading multiple territories, players are only limited by the number of units in their army -- so if a player started an invasion into empty territories with 5 armies, that player could potentially take 4 territories (leaving one army on the first, and then continuing in a line, leaving one army on each taken territory).  It is worth noting that taking empty territories does not count for the bonus card and energy chip for taking 3 contested territories -- one must actually fight someone to get those bonuses.

I hope this helps clarify the issues you have with the game.  I hope you enjoy it, I find it a rather good implementation of Risk, and an improvement over the original in terms of tactics as well as time (usually a 3 hour game for 4-5 players).