Stratego in Brief

Both players have an army of 40 pieces, including a flag. The object of the game is to capture your opponent’s flag. Before play starts, the players deploy their troops in secret. Stratego is a game of attack and defence in which suspense and surprise are important elements. 

Object of Stratego

The object of the game is to capture your opponents flag.

Preparing Stratego for Play

The pieces are set up on the four rows nearest to each player, one pieces to each square, with the backs of the pieces facing the opponent. The two central rows (with the small lakes) stay empty; the players are not allowed to deploy any pieces here. On the playing pieces you will see the illustration of their rank and a number. This number depicts the value of the rank. The Marshal is the highest rank and therefore has a number 10, the General has number 9, the spy has number 1 and so on. Only the bombs and the flag have no number, because they have a special role. Setting up is an important part of the game; victory or defeat can depend on it. A few tips are given at the end of these rules.

To set up your pieces in the Vassal module, click the button corresponding to your color on the toolbar. Your piece tray will be displayed. Select the unit to set up. Click Mask to hide all of your pieces. (Masked pieces will show a small image of their face to their owners, but the other player will see a blank piece.) Then drag the selected piece to the place on the map where you want it to start. Continue until all your pieces are on the map and the tray is empty.

Note: You can select multiple pieces in the tray by dragging a box around them.

Stratego Pieces 

The following denotes the types of piece, the rank of each piece and how many of each piece are in each army; 

Playing Stratego

• ‘Red’ begins. 
• A turn consists of either moving a piece or attacking an opponent’s piece.
  
• Pieces are moved one square at a time either forwards, backwards, the right or to the left. (The Scout is an exception to this rule. Scouts (2) can move across any number of vacant squares forwards, backwards or sideways. The cannot, however, jump over their own or enemy pieces. They cannot jump over the lakes. They are the only playing pieces that can attack over a long distance.)
• No more than one piece may stand on a square; there is no jumping and no diagonal movement.
• The two lakes in the middle of the board may not be entered or crossed.
• Pieces may be moved backwards and forwards between two squares a maximum of five times, after which the player who initiated the sequence must vary.
• The flag and bombs can never be moved.
• Your pieces are hidden from the opposing player and vice versa. You can Peek at any piece you own to see its rank. Right-click on the tile and choose Peek and the face of the piece will be displayed. Only you can see a piece you are Peeking at. The Peek will remain in view to you until you select another piece or click elsewhere on the map.

Attacking

• A piece, other than a bomb or a flag, may attack an opponent’s piece that stands immediately in front of, behind, or to the right or left of it.
• The action involves picking up the attacking piece, tapping the piece attacked and declaring the rank (or the number) of the attacker. The attacked player must then disclose the rank of the piece attacked. (To display the face of a piece, right-click on the piece and choose Flip. Choose Flip again to hide the piece face.)
• The lower-ranking piece is removed from the board. (To remove a piece from the board, right-click on the piece and choose Capture.) If the attacker wins, the piece occupies the square vacated by the captured piece; if the defender wins, there is no movement.
• If both pieces are equal rank, both are removed. (Each owner must click Capture on their piece.)
• Attacking is always optional!
• A scout can attack from any distance provided the squares between itself and the attacked piece are vacant.

The Ranks Power

• A Marshal (10) defeats a General (9) and all lower ranks.
• A General (9) defeats a Colonel (8) and all lower ranks, and so on to the spy (1) which is the lowest rank.
  Any piece that attacks a bomb, other than a Miner (3), is destroyed. 
• If a Miner attacks a bomb it is defused and removed from the board, the miner then occupies the vacated square. 
• The Spy (1) has the lowest rank. Every other piece attacking it wins. He has one specialty though: The spy’s mission is to capture the opposing Marshal (10). If he attacks the Marshal he wins! If the spy is attacked by any other enemy piece, including the marshal, he loses and disappears. 
• Any piece other than a bomb can capture the flag.
  

Winning Stratego

You win if you succeed in capturing your opponent’s flag. You also win if your opponent is unable to move, because he has only the flag and bombs left. 

Stratego Strategy & Tactics

• The result of a game depends to a great extent on the initial deployment.
  The flag is the most important piece and it is a good idea to surround it with bombs. 
• Scouts (2) are important pieces in the later stages of a game. 
• Miners (3) should be safeguarded until bombs have been identified. 
• Protect your spy (1): if it is lost the opposing Marshal becomes very powerful. 
• Put the captured pieces in the tray in the box on the correct number so that your opponent’s strength can be monitored. 
• If you are playing for the first time, initially deploying your pieces can appear daunting and frustrating as it is difficult to know how the game will pan out. We recommend playing two or three times with a random deployment after which time, you will understand much more about how you should set your pieces out. Don’t worry about winning or losing these initial games, use them simply to understand playing the game and how to set up your army.