Thoughts:

Play Agricola, Setters of Catan, or even Ticket to Ride instead of Risk.

I don't think anything was wrong with Brian's STRATEGY!  You had a well developed strategy, and I suppose Brain did too, and this is what I would expect out of Elemental.  I don't think you should feel ripped off and such a massive popped up soon, because that was GREAT strategy.  Wouldn't you do it if you were in the position?  If you didn't you would not be playing to win.

As in all games, Elemental you are going to play to win.  Even if you are small, there should still be some sort of strategy to get you back in the game, even if it is a small possibility, as long the rules are still followed.  For it will be the rules that determine the strategy (and CHEESE!) for the game.

Enjoy!

yea, Brian's strategy, of completing your kill upon Carl to take Carl's cards, was ... well ... a good strategy in Risk. Its perhaps more evident in 6 player games of Risk however.

You're wrong, the sheer volume of rolls in RISK cause the the "luck" to become a non-factor.  RISK is all about the decision made by the player.

games like candyland or snakes and ladders are what you're thinking about

Diplomacy is where it is really at.  One army per territory... no dice, just good diplomacy

The economics associated with "jiffy-pop" armies from risk are so ludicrous as to even give congress pause.  The cards add an element of strategy to blitzing other players, but detach it from reality to a very great extent.  Certainly the card collection rule was obviated by machine guns and explosive shell artillery, or WWI would have played out way differently. 

One thing I love is building units, and that just does not happen with "jiffy-pop" economics.  If you could suddenly darken the plains with an instant horde, they should all be raw recruits with at best marginal coordination and continuous logistics hits.  When thrown against an army of veteran troops with good leadership and solid logistics the only contribution hordes should provide is  to next year's crops, because they will be better fertilized with so much blood. 

Another advantage of veteran units is that they should be character farms, generating heroes when well tended.  One of the problems with Risk as a simulation is that troops are meaningless blocks of wood (or plastic for you newbies) that can be thrown away and regenerated instantly.  Good games reward care for good troops.

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.  Risk's only economy is based on how much land you control.  TO suggest that it should be a simulation is silly.

Well, if you want to play a true strategy board game, try "Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition" and its expansion "Shattered Empires"; it is the ultimate Risk killer.  You basically choose to play 1 of 14 unique races, conquer planets, establish trade pacts, build fleets consisting of numerous different ship types in space and armies on planets, research tech, deploy spies and sabateurs, form coalitions amongst players in the galactic senate and flex your political power to pass laws that denounce your opponents, and a hell of a lot more.  In Twilight Imperium, strategic planning rules supreme, and to keep things interesting there is a new, random board every game.  The interesting part is that the game is not exclusively warfare driven.  You can technically win the game without firing a shot, and very few players are ever completely erradicated from the game: instead, their empire generally declines and they end up stuck on their homeworld or some fortress world.

If you are in to high strategy, check out Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition.  Good luck getting 6-8 competent players together, though   Fortunately, I've always had enough hardcore gamers to get 10 hour, 8 player games together and a wife that enjoys strategy gaming as much as I do (she gives me hell in RL if I attack her, though).

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/197269

I remember playing a game of monopoly once and all I had on the board were the yellows and hotels on them and I won the game. I made it around the board everytime without landing once on the other players larger holdings. I'd hit tax or water works and electricity and community chest and chance and just never got hit by his major stuff and he landed on one of my yellows everytime around the board hahaha and his landings on chance or community chest would send him around the board closer to my yellow holdings too. It was one of those games where everyone just couldn't believe my SKILL hahah at rolling them die. Yes it takes skill to roll the correct numbers dontcha know? )

here here. Motion to the Speaker. I would wish to push article 22, which states that there will be no further comparison between Risk and 4x games, because it only leads to miscommunication. Now if you would turn to page 5, you will realize that most risk games of 5-6 players revolve solely around the cards.

Do I grant consension by the speaker? I believe we should vote on the Bill.

yea ... it sucks to lose a good-hero to the RNG though (Fall From Heaven), like dying at 95% or higher odds.