Game: Stratego

Thread: Re: Stratego: Fire and Ice

Big Bad Lex — 2008-09-07T17:31:46+00:00

I have never heard of Stratego fire and ice. What is it?

Thread: Re: New Version of Stratego?

JohnnyDollar — 2008-09-06T20:17:09+00:00

trawlerman wrote:
JohnnyDollar wrote:
I really don't understand BGG's organization. Why does the new version of Clue get a separate entry, but the new version of Stratego doesn't? Both had major rules revisions and complete artwork/theme overhaul.

I generally agree with you that these decisions are strange. It seems like most other new versions of Stratego have gotten their own entries. Maybe you should try creating one for this new game.

Good point, maybe it's just that no one had submitted a new entry yet. I just now tried added an entry for the game, let's see what happens!

Thread: Re: New Version of Stratego?

trawlerman — 2008-09-06T19:51:24+00:00

JohnnyDollar wrote:
I really don't understand BGG's organization. Why does the new version of Clue get a separate entry, but the new version of Stratego doesn't? Both had major rules revisions and complete artwork/theme overhaul.

I generally agree with you that these decisions are strange. It seems like most other new versions of Stratego have gotten their own entries. Maybe you should try creating one for this new game.

Thread: Re: New Version of Stratego?

JohnnyDollar — 2008-09-06T19:38:57+00:00

I really don't understand BGG's organization. Why does the new version of Clue get a separate entry, but the new version of Stratego doesn't? Both had major rules revisions and complete artwork/theme overhaul.

Thread: Stratego: Fire and Ice

Wylde Irishman — 2008-09-05T19:50:40+00:00

Just wondering about the dragons: if they have the ability to fly anywhere on the board, AND they are the most powerful piece in the game...what's to stop the strategy from becoming, in the words of the gang of knights from Monty Python's troupe, "run away!!!"?

Seriously.

The new abilities for the pieces sound terrific, but, aside from chancing to have your Slayer(Spy) right next to wherever the beast happens to land on any given turn, what's to stop this game from turning into a pointless massacre?

Thread: Re: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

sbszine — 2008-09-04T06:59:53+00:00

Wikipedia's source for Jungle Chess predating Stratego is here:

http://edcollins.com/stratego/stratego-freeman.htm

It doesn't look super trustworthy.

Thread: Re: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

Omega2064 — 2008-09-04T06:38:56+00:00

Dont worry. With Wikipedia's well known efficiancy the entry for Stratego will sooner or later be deleted because it fails to meet their "Notoriety" standards.

I've come to increasingly distrust and dislike Wikipedia as have many others.

Good work on setting the facts straight on this fun game. I believe I have seen the book in question before. Many interesting things in it.

Thread: Re: Stratego: Fire and Ice Review

Omega2064 — 2008-09-04T01:34:22+00:00

Just spotted this on the shelves 3 days ago and couldnt figure out what was going on here! It says STRATEGO on the front. But the back shows what looked like the old Legends pieces.

Thanks for clearing this up!

Omega

Thread: Re: Stratego: Fire and Ice Review

Hugh_G_Rection — 2008-08-28T05:03:12+00:00

It sounds quite similar to Stratego: Legends without the random pieces.

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ryanmaesen — 2008-08-25T01:11:33+00:00

Fire & Ice

Thread: Re: Stratego: Fire and Ice Review

ryanmaesen — 2008-08-25T01:08:57+00:00

Yes, but I started peeling off the stickers and placing them on the pieces, halfway though I decided to take a picture.

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Thread: Stratego: Fire and Ice Review

ryanmaesen — 2008-08-24T20:39:12+00:00

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I've been a fan of Stratego for a while. My girlfriend and I play it from time to time, but less and less lately. So when I saw the new version of Stratego, I was intrigued. I picked up a copy while on a trip in Oregon at Toys R Us. On the drive back to San Francisco I peeled off the shrink wrap...

Out of the Box
The Box is a lot smaller than the original. Nice, now I can fit it in my backpack. Beautiful artwork on the cover. Inside, there are two plastic bags to put your pieces in. I kinda miss the old plastic holder that kept each piece in it's place. But, a plastic bag is fine.

Some Assembly Required
It comes with two sheets of stickers to peel off and place on each individual playing piece. Careful, put them on straight the first time or you'll never get it off.

What's New?
In classic Stratego, only three characters have special abilities. In the new version, everyone has a special power. Instead of bombs, we now have traps. One side of the battle field is fire, and the other is ice. Instead of spies, we now have slayers. Dragon slayers. And the dragon is the strongest piece with a value of 10.

Each piece can move one square at a time as in the original, or use his/her special power. My favorite being the Yeti/Lava Beast. He can move on adjacent square, reveal himself and simultaneously attacks all adjacent squares (including friendly pieces)! Another great addition is the Sorceress. She can use her power to turn lower value enemies to her side. The piece she turns to her side is now turned completely around and now fights alongside her own army! You can detect an enemy using the Mage. He can use his power to select an enemy piece from 2 squares away and force them to reveal their identity. The Dragon has the ability of flight. The dragon can glide over any number of pieces and land on the first empty square followed by an attack.

Overall
You can still play the original rules of Stratego or play with the new special powers. This has really adds a breath of fresh air to this classic game. I highly recommend you check it out! Smaller box, beautiful design and artwork with all new player movement makes this a great addition to the Stratego family!

I give it a rating of : 8.5

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And, for you die-hard Stratego fans, check out Senjutsu. It's a lot like Stratego, plus you can customize your army!

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

On High — 2008-08-23T23:55:53+00:00

It was also the first time a competition was organised for women.
Wait is she the world champion or just the winner of a women only Stratego competition? I'm very impressed if it's the former. The latter, not so much.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

JoelCFC25 — 2008-08-23T23:06:02+00:00

EYE of NiGHT wrote:
Dunno who he is.

Steve "I'm suspicious of that word, entertainment" McLaren.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

EYE of NiGHT — 2008-08-23T20:34:38+00:00

Jan van der Laan wrote:
EYE of NiGHT wrote:
And for your geekiness, the country is called The Netherlands, not Holland. North and South Holland are er areas in the Netherlands.

To be more precisely, North and South Holland are two out of the twelve provinces The Netherlands consist of.

That's what I said.

I forgot, also, everybody is called Van der something.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

EYE of NiGHT — 2008-08-23T20:33:34+00:00

Stephen, you're right! That's really strange, a bit of Up North, a bit of Hallo here schere is a loooverly canaaaal.

Dunno who he is.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

stevebritgimp — 2008-08-23T17:42:13+00:00

And the accent is catching...

Youtube Video

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

jtspecial — 2008-08-23T17:23:33+00:00

Around here they´re probably most famous for their lenient policies on certain smokable plants...

This comes up frequently in political debates on the that subject, as it´s one of the countries we like to campare ourselves to!

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

Jan van der Laan — 2008-08-23T15:39:17+00:00

EYE of NiGHT wrote:
And for your geekiness, the country is called The Netherlands, not Holland. North and South Holland are er areas in the Netherlands.

To be more precisely, North and South Holland are two out of the twelve provinces The Netherlands consist of.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

MWChapel — 2008-08-23T13:24:52+00:00

EYE of NiGHT wrote:

And for your geekiness, the country is called The Netherlands, not Holland. North and South Holland are er areas in the Netherlands.

Isn't that weird.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

LankyEngineer — 2008-08-23T13:17:58+00:00

EYE of NiGHT wrote:

Clogs. Tulips. Windmills. Canals. Cycling. Strange accent. Edam. House Of Orange. That's the limit of my Dutch knowledge.

I hear they have a lot of dykes, too.

Thread: Re: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

Moviebuffs — 2008-08-23T11:41:02+00:00

Clogs. Tulips. Windmills. Canals. Cycling. Strange accent. Edam. House Of Orange. That's the limit of my Dutch knowledge.

Caps ?

N.

Thread: First female winner of Stratego World Championship

EYE of NiGHT — 2008-08-23T10:28:42+00:00

http://www.24oranges.nl/2008/08/22/first-ever-dutch-woman-st...

"Roseline de Boer from Baarn, South Holland is the first woman ever to become world champion at the board game Stratego."

Her brother won last year. It's originally a Dutch game and they are made for it. I saw the Stratego championship at the Mindsports Olympiad a few years ago. Coachloads of Nederlanders.

And for your geekiness, the country is called The Netherlands, not Holland. North and South Holland are er areas in the Netherlands.

Clogs. Tulips. Windmills. Canals. Cycling. Strange accent. Edam. House Of Orange. That's the limit of my Dutch knowledge.

Cheers,
Jon.

Thread: Re: New Version of Stratego?

ryanmaesen — 2008-08-21T18:00:04+00:00

I think it's pretty cool. I played it for the first time last week. Each character has his/her own special power and movement. It really adds a lot to the game! I recommend it!

Thread: Stratego: Fire and Ice

ryanmaesen — 2008-08-21T16:58:21+00:00

The NEW version of Stratego: Fire and Ice

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I've been a long time fan of Stratego. When I hear about the new version about to hit stores, I was very interested. I found it at Toy's R Us and picked up a copy. My girlfriend seemed very interested in the new version as well.

So we opened the box and played our first game last night. It was very easy to learn the new characters. Some of them are really cool. Like the Yeti/Lava Monster. He can use his special "Rampage" power to attack all adjacent squares around him (including friendly pieces). I also like the Sorcerous. She can use her power to convert the enemy to her side and use him with her influence. The Dragon has a power value of 10 and is able to use the power of flight to sore over the heads of the warriors and land on the first empty square followed by an attack.

My Dragon was lured in by her Mage. I chased after her Mage to be ambushed by her Dragon Slayer. After that, she had a clean opening into my fortress. Her Mage destroyed my weak army and discovered my flag.
It was a fun game with some great new elements! I would recommend the new Stratego to anyone who love the classic. You can always play the original rules or play with their special powers.

If you're a Stratego fan, you'll love having control of each warrior in your army. It really adds a lot to the game. Plus, for the die-hard fans, look for Senjutsu
Senjutsu
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ryanmaesen — 2008-08-17T17:13:28+00:00

Fire and Ice

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ryanmaesen — 2008-08-17T16:59:39+00:00

Stratego: Fire and Ice

Thread: New Version of Stratego?

watcher_b — 2008-08-09T20:19:38+00:00

Anyone know anything about the new version of Stratego? I've seen it at my local Toys R'Us. It looks kinda like Stratego Legends! Hast his whole Fire and Ice dragon theme, with the stats for each of the pieces on the board. Anyone?

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nello — 2008-07-24T18:58:55+00:00

Obama vs Mc Cain ..?

Thread: Re: Strategic Distraction

PaleHorse — 2008-07-18T19:48:11+00:00

Distraction shouldn't need to be a part of a Stratego game. Stratego is a memory game and distractions take away from the game's essence. Also, it was a good thing for you that you were playing Agressor Advantage (which the purist in me dislikes) and that your opponent was a weak player (or at least made some boneheaded moves).

Always like to hear of people still playing this great game.

Thread: Strategic Distraction

GreatAtuin — 2008-07-18T18:42:31+00:00

Like other Stratego articles I've written, this session report is written for those "Little Generals" out there.

The following is a session report of a game of Stratego between myself and a camper at summer camp. As with all of our games at camp, this game is played on a “new” set with the Marshall or highest piece labeled as “10.” The miners are labeled with a “3.” We also play all games with the “Attacker Advantage” variant listed in the instructions.

I set-up my pieces in my standard corner flag placement with a “bomb-4-bomb” pattern around the flag in the left corner. This placement puts a bomb in the front row. To balance the set-up and to confuse the camper (who knows I only use one set-up at camp) I took one of the bombs in the rear rank and placed it in the front row on the opposite side of the board (the right side). This would be important later…..

The game's opening moves were normal, with my sacrificing of “2’s” to find the opposing “10” and “9”. I was able to locate both of those pieces and closed my trap using my own “9”, “10” and “Spy”. I had both of my “8’s” free at the entrances to the left and right approaches. At this point the game should have been over as I would have to make a major blunder to permit my opponent from even reaching my side of the board, let alone take an important piece.

****I then was called away to situation in another part of the building that required my attention for 15-20 minutes. It wasn’t anything major, but it required someone with a cool head and some decision making ability.****

I returned to camp to finish my game. TOTAL BLANK! I knew that I had arranged a trap in the middle of the board, but I had forgotten the exact positions of the pieces. I then made a major, potentially game losing, decision. I continued with my play without resetting the trap, because I was reluctant to sacrifice 5’s and 6’s to re-identify the opposing “9” and “10.”

So, you may have guessed it…I blew the trap. I lost both my “10” and my “Spy” by allowing my trapped camper to march right up against them and attack while I saved my “9.” The glimmer in the camper’s eye when he realized that he now had an “untouchable” piece (with his “10” on the board) was disheartening. My only consolation was exploiting his distraction after capturing my “10.” I was able to charge with my “9” and steal his “9.”

The next stage of the game saw the camper use his “10” to chase my “9” around the board. I would buy some space by luring the “10” away using my remaining two “8’s.”
Finally he gave up and went on the attack against my defenses.

As he moved his “10” down the center approach, I followed as far as the entrances to th eapproaches on his side of the board. His “10” then cut a path of destruction through my “7’s, 6’s, and 5’s.” I moved my own “3’s” out of the way and hoped he would turn towards my flag defenses laden with bombs. NO LUCK! He turned the other way, and the forecast for my victory was looking pretty cloudy. Meanwhile, I was picking off his “3’s.” I knew that he would need at least two “3’s” to reach my flag and if I could capture all of the “3’s” I might be able to postpone my defeat.

The game then tumbled into my lap. After clearing my entire side of every piece between “5” and “7” and leaving me only two “3’s” he attacked the last piece on the far right, which hadn’t moved all game – the stray bomb! The piece I had placed as a diversion had just eliminated my opponent’s only chance of winning! Coupled with my capture of his remaining “3’s” on the next two turns – the game was all over but the shouting.

I then cleared out the remaining enemy pieces – since he had no pieces able to challenge my “9’s” and “8’s” that he had left in his rear when he attacked my defenses with his “10.” The capture of his “9” stood tall as my “9” captured an “8” and pinned the other while my “7’s” took out the remaining pieces.

I ended the game with what has become to be called a “dominant victory.” I captured all the camper’s pieces, including bombs, leaving his flag for last.

Distraction is a major opportunity in any strategy. I nearly lost the game when I was distracted and continued with my folly by not resetting my trap. However, I was able to recover by realizing that my opponent’s success could provide me with a distraction to exploit. His rush to attack, alone and unsupported, while a strong force remained in his rear was caused by his desire to take as many pieces as possible.

At first I thought about a risky dash into the teeth of his defenses with my remaining “3’s” in an “sprint to the flag” type of finish. But when the camper made a huge blunder by losing his “10” on an unneeded attack – I had the game locked up.

Lessons to be learned:

The object of the game is to capture the flag, not capture pieces. Pieces should be captured to allow your own forces to reach the flag, not just in an attempt to capture more pieces than the opponent.

Never leave a strong force in your rear when you advance. Secure your base, then attack the enemy. Unopposed, the enemy may remove the forces you need to win the game.

Sacifice of part of your army, rather than risk the destruction of teh entire army. The trap in this game should have been reset regardless of the cost, as that would have save the rest of the army.

Never attack with an unsupported piece. When the camper lost his “10” he still had “2’s” left to identify the piece before attacking. However, losing any other piece is preferable to losing an “untouchable.”

Distraction is only valuable if it is exploited. Causing your opponent to be distracted is only the first step, you must have a plan to exploit the distraction – like attacking support pieces in the approaches to remove valuable “3’s” and taking a high ranking piece like a "9."

Thread: Happy Birthday Stratego!

Pokke — 2008-06-16T09:13:08+00:00

Stratego appears to be 50 years old today [or this year?]
The game that pulled me in, when I was just a kid.

Trivia: Just heared a guy from Jumbo on the radio, who once had a chat with the original "artwork" designer. He claims that the icons/pictures of the early versions were based on the Dutch army that fought against the Belgians in 1830.

Looks like the design date on the BGG stratego page is incorrect?

Thread: Re: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

swandive78 — 2008-05-27T00:41:31+00:00

Great thread, man!

Thread: Re: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

Trelane — 2008-05-26T23:24:03+00:00

Thanks and just in case anyone is interested :
Games of the Orient by Stewart Culin , Charles Tuttle Publishing Co. First printed in 1958

Thread: Re: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

maka — 2008-05-26T22:34:12+00:00

Great research. I just wanted to say that if the wikipedia article is wrong, you can edit it. Also, here's what the discussion page for wikipedia says about the Jungle game:

Jungle (Dou Shou Qi) and Stratego history

The section on Stratego history is unsourced. I am editing the article on the game of Jungle, called Dou Shou Qi (the Game of Fighting Animals) in Chinese. It's obvious that the games are related. However, this is an encyclopedia. We need secondary sources to prove the relationship. I also note that, as mentioned above, the history of the Stratego needs development. Are there any sources of historical information on the origins and development of Stratego? I doubt that the two games evolved in a kind of convergent evolution. Part of the problem seems to be that they are both seen as sort of trivial (unlike Chess or Go for example). This is especially true of Jungle, which is usually considered a children's game (sad, because it does involve some interesting and unique strategy). If anyone has any historical source material, please share it. - Parsa 22:39, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Please see [3]: Stratego...is more directly descended from an old board game called the jungle game. This is from The Playboy winner's guide to board games by Jon Freeman Andreas Kaufmann 19:41, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Why not add your research at least there and let the comunity know the article is wrong?

After all, the wikipedia is a wiki. Anyone can correct its articles or add information...

-Jorge

Thread: Re: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

PaleHorse — 2008-05-26T21:19:06+00:00

Nice background research. Looking into the game myself a few years back confirms your info to be spot on.

The game of Stratego is a deeper strategic excercise than most people give it credit for. The bluff aspect is truly delicious for someone who knows what they are doing. If anyone thinks this is a luck or random game, go over to Gravon or Metaforge and take on one of the higher ranked people who will promptly hand you your head.

Thread: STRATEGO: Setting the HISTORY record STRAIGHT

Trelane — 2008-05-26T21:03:20+00:00

I was checking around the internet the other day and stopped at Wikipedia to read about "Stratego". Unfortunately, the author who posted the article made a comparison between "Stratego" and the implied ancestry of "Jungle Chess". A game for Children from Asia using animals in a type of rank order.
Now I know that Wiki is not the most trusted name as a resource, but this kind of reckless assumption based on what obviously was an observed comparison between the two, and the natural tendency to believe that any game from "The Orient" must have an ancient registry seems practical but is terribly wrong!
Around the year 2000, a booklet intended for auction game shoppers and collectors entitled: "Stratego Piece by Piece: History, Strategy, Tactics and Deployment" produced an accurate listing of traditional Stratego sets and included the origins of the game in both Europe and America.
We know that the game of "Stratego" in the traditional sense, appeared in Holland under the manufacture of Smeets & Schippers, Weert and Amsterdam, Holland around 1947, with the listed inventor Jacques Johan Mogendorff, who may have derived his work from "L Attaque", a European game that was sluggishly similar in design and soldiery. PATENTED by Mdm. Hermance Edan in FRANCE in 1908. The two armies were French versus British. There were two obstructions in the center and similar squares to move on. This material was all featured in the research of the aformentioned work.
But the roots of Asian games are another matter. Many games from the Orient come with no "instructions", "rules" or History. The reason is that the games were conferred from one generation to the next by oral tradition.
However, it should be known that a college Professor by the name of Stewart Culin took an extreme interest in games of every culture and extensively traveled the East in pursuit of every one of them. Professor Culin eventually produced an encyclopedia of Oriental games in a thorough compendium of forms of play handed down from one generation to the next.
His work was published in the late 1800s and can even be acquired today, periodically published every now and then by the Charles Tuttle publishing company, who specialized in books from the East in the classic sense. Culin's personal collection is the property of his University, which just happens to be the University of Pennsylvania and their museum still contains all of his material.
"Jungle Chess" is not a part of the research. Why? Because it is a 20th Century invention and Culin's work was researched in the 19th Century. You can even check a more recent resource to verify this fact. All one needs to do is check the book entitled "The Board Game Book by R. C. Bell" published in 1983 by Exeter Books in NY and turn to page 118 to discover the following: "Jungle' the board and pieces for this MODERN Chinese game...." and that is enough! The origin of the game is listed as China by the author cannot substantiate a date because the Chinese have a habit of not listing such unimportant matters, and as we have all come to know, many things in China are imitated and duplicated without license, seeing such matters as intellectual communal property.
So, once again, I appeal for scholarship! I urge all of our gaming fraternity to please research material accurately before posting such matters as important as History regarding a game. The gamers of the world owe it to future generations without the "Orwellian" 1984 editorship that we are encountering in other areas such as American History and Religions.

Thread: Re: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

mussels — 2008-05-12T16:23:15+00:00

jeremyffg wrote:
If Monkey Auto Races could do it...

And that took a large, organized effort to do so, and was funny because MAR is so silly.

If someone proposed the same thing with Stratego, I'm guessing most people would be vaguely offended, for fear that it's remotely plausible enough that some site newcomer would take it seriously.

If you don't believe me, check out the comments challenging the rankings on this "Top 100 Games" list: http://fluffysnoop.blogspot.com/2005/11/whole-enchilada.html

e.g. "What about . . . checkers?"

Thread: Re: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

jeremyffg — 2008-05-12T15:46:14+00:00

If Monkey Auto Races could do it...

Thread: Re: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

mussels — 2008-05-12T03:36:40+00:00

jpat wrote:
quartersmostly wrote:
All games have an N/A rating right now. The system is recalculating the ratings.

That means Stratego could hit #1.

LOL, somehow I don't see that happening. . . .

Thread: Re: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

jpat — 2008-05-11T19:58:44+00:00

quartersmostly wrote:
All games have an N/A rating right now. The system is recalculating the ratings.

That means Stratego could hit #1.

Thread: Re: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

quartersmostly — 2008-05-11T17:26:15+00:00

All games have an N/A rating right now. The system is recalculating the ratings.

Thread: Re: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

DaveD — 2008-05-11T17:25:34+00:00

Have you only just noticed this? If so it's probably just that there seems to be a ranking issue at the moment and all games are ranked "N/A".

Thread: With 2912 ratings, why doesn't Stratego have a rank yet?

mussels — 2008-05-11T17:21:18+00:00

Don't get me wrong -- it's not exactly one of my favourites either, but it seems odd that even with this amount of data, we can't see where Stratego lines up at least against its Monopoly and Clue peers.

A quirk in the BGG ratings system of some sort?

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The Maverick — 2008-05-10T14:44:59+00:00

Labels for Stratego Shogun variant (see links)

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The Maverick — 2008-05-10T14:44:08+00:00

Labels for Stratego Shogun variant (see links)

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The Maverick — 2008-05-10T14:43:09+00:00

Labels for Stratego Shogun variant (see links)

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dumsumdumfai — 2008-04-29T16:52:27+00:00

Chinese version - the 2 sets of tiles

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willdesigns — 2008-04-29T06:52:41+00:00

Argentine Stratego - Game in progress

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willdesigns — 2008-04-29T06:51:41+00:00

Argentine Stratego - Setup

Thread: Re: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

weevol — 2008-02-27T17:20:56+00:00

jcb231 wrote:
I usually play with Silent Defense (but NOT attacker advantage) and the rule that Scouts always over-ride the Silent Defense.

I don't care for attacker advantage at all, nor do I like giving special movement and attack rules to other pieces. I would never allow any figure to move diagonally, as it negates many types of bomb defense.

Wow! How long do your typical games take with Silent Defense?

Thread: Re: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

jcb231 — 2008-02-25T18:19:15+00:00

I usually play with Silent Defense (but NOT attacker advantage) and the rule that Scouts always over-ride the Silent Defense.

I don't care for attacker advantage at all, nor do I like giving special movement and attack rules to other pieces. I would never allow any figure to move diagonally, as it negates many types of bomb defense.

Thread: Re: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

weevol — 2008-02-24T19:31:52+00:00

Attacker advantage/Silent defense/Scouts override

I think silent defense should ONLY be used when attacker advantage is in effect, or the games would take waaay too long. These three really go together, without silent defense in play, there is no need for a scout override as you pointed out.

With all 3 in play it makes the choice to burn a scout to override the silent defense can be a critical one.
_________________________________________________________

The unique movements of the pieces also make the game exciting.

Diagonal sergeant, bloody lieutenant, agile captain and agile miner. It really allows for challenging play, the variation in movement add a pseudo-chess feel to the game.

The bloody lieutenant is usually one of the first pieces I attack with. If I attack a large group of pieces, damage can be done quickly. Once exposed, he usually is worthless because the sergeant, miner, and scout can all move multiple squares to get away from him.

I think we wanted to give each piece unique value so we boosted the 5-9 pieces with a little steroid power.

_________________________________________________________

suicide scouts sounds promising, I'll give that a try

thanks for your feedback

Thread: Re: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

Xssassin — 2008-02-24T11:00:51+00:00

I haven't played with many variations, though my games usually finish in under an hour, so I haven't experienced too much need.

1. Attacker Advantage
Turtling hasn't been much of a problem so this rule remains unused. I like the idea though.

2. Silent Defense
I don't care for Silent Defense because it makes bluffing difficult. If you run into an opponent's 5 with your 7, and afterwards you begin to move a piece towards their 5, they assume it's lower than 5, which can cause worry. If they don't reveal the piece then you simply have more random encounters, since you are unsure of the exact nature of your opponent's pieces that you have revealed. (The rule nerfs 7's and 9's too, something I'm not a big fan of.)

3. Scouts
I think I play scouts in this manner to begin with. They don't kill miners, but if you figure out which piece is a miner chances are you can knock it out with just about anything.

4. Bloody Lieutenant
Sounds interesting but I would never give a piece the chance to attack that many times in a single turn. Getting lucky and saving that much time is potentially game-breaking. Letting them have one additional attack would be an interesting variant, however.

5. Sergeants
Diagonal movement ... Huh?

6. Agile Captain
Again, not a bad one.

I don't think I'd ever play Moveable Bombs. Seems broken. One time bombs isn't bad. It would deter the old flag-in-corner defense. The spy seems good as is. Mercenary sounds interesting, but doesn't that mean you'd either be playing with less than the usual amount or you would purchase two sets?

Variants I've Played (Not Many)

1. Suicide Scouts
Lets scouts blow up bombs when they encounter them. Similar to One-Time Bombs but it allows bombs to retain some of their power. With the One-Time Bomb rule anything knocks them out, so 6's and 7's tend to level the playing surface of bombs. This one makes you allocate scouts between fast de-mining duty and surveying.

Pretty much anything can be done with scouts. I've played one game where anything a scout attacks (assuming it doesn't die) gets knocked over, and the opponent has to spend a move placing it normally. (When he or she does this is at his/her discretion.) Any attacking piece would defeat a fallen piece in this scenario.

2. No Back-Rank Flags
Prevents flags from being in a player's back row. Obviously stops flag-in-corner, and usually people get creative here.

3. Troop Desertion
A soldier of your choice deserts if your 1 or 2 die. Quickens the game, I suppose, but I didn't care for this one. Seemed like a win more (or lose harder, depending on how you look at it) rule to me. Not a bad idea though, as far as realism goes.

Thread: Re: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

weevol — 2008-02-24T02:29:17+00:00

Diagonal movement reduces the impact of bombs and miners.

Now that I am thinking about it, we often gave the miner the ability to move just like an "agile" captain. This gave the miner the possibilty of "fleeing" a sergeant and also created some mystery about which piece it was that was being moved 2 suqares at a time : the scout, the miner, or the captain.

If you have a flag in the corner and it is exposed diagonally, you just need to keep a piece there that is a captain or greater to prevent a long range assault on your flag by a sergeant...or just place another bomb there.

Thread: Re: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

GreatAtuin — 2008-02-23T15:15:54+00:00

At work we always use the Attacker Advantage variant (from the back of the rulebook). I think it prevents "turtling" by allowing a greater chance of success for the attcker.

I have heard of the various movement changes for Lt.'s and Captains, but never used them.

Doesn't diagonal movement render bomb placement insignificant?

Thread: multiple session summary and varaint analysis

weevol — 2008-02-22T21:54:48+00:00

I have played Stratego about 30 or 40 times in the past 4 years, but not once in the past 12 months. Reason : I "discovered" eurogames and I have not looked back since. However, since there was not much content on Stratego I figured I could add some insight from my multiple "sessions" from years ago. I am hoping to harvest some geek gold from this session report so I can buy myself a microbadge or two soon.

I would always play with my father-in-law who is the KING of analysis paralysis. A typical game would last at least 2 and a half hours, sometimes as long as four hours. Even so, it was very enjoyable. We have many variations that we use to make the game less "dry".

Most often we would simultaneously use the 6 variants below:

1. Attacker advantage : The attacking piece increases in strength by 1 rank. Using this logic, an attacking Marshall defeats a defending Marshall and an attacking General would "tie" a defending Marshall and both pieces would be removed from the board. This helps to move the game along by giving the attacking piece a significant edge!

2. Silent defense : The attacker must reveal his rank and the defender only reveals the piece attacked if he was defeated. This serves to offset the attacker advantage to some degree.

3. Scout cancels out silent defense. : You can use the scout to leap across the board vertically or horizontally and force the identification of any piece. You will then always lose the scout piece unless it attacks another scout or the spy. Both pieces are destroyed if you attack a miner. I typically "burn" a few scouts every game to identify the values of a few pieces.

4. "Bloody" lieutenant. : The lieutenant has the choice of continuing to attack multiple pieces on the same turn until dead. It is a virtual suicide mission as once the lieutenant is revealed on first attack and declared "bloody" he MUST attack until dead or until there are no adjacent pieces left vertically or horizontally. This piece is often good to use early while there are plenty of low rank pieces bunched together. Since you must reveal your piece on first attack, you may as well attack a group of pieces and try to get at least 2 or 3. I have taken up to 6 pieces in one turn with the bloody lieutenant. This can really devastate your opponent quickly. You may even get lucky enough to take down a captain!

5. Unlimited diagonal movement of the sergeant. : This gives this piece a significant boost in value toward the end of the game as it can move quickly across the board to swoop in on a miner or even sneak diagonally between bombs.

6. "Agile" captain. : A captain can move either 1 or 2 squares. This allows a captain to cover ground quickly and makes them considerably more powerful in the endgame, both in attack and in defense.
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These variations made the games MUCH more exciting. You would get clues as to what each piece was by the way it would be moved on the board.

All pieces can move vertically and horizontally 1 square.
Pieces that can move vertically and horizontally 2 squares : scout, captain.
Pieces that can move diagonally 1 square : sergeant, captain (by moving one square forward and then once to the left or right)
Unlimited vertical and horizontal : scout
Unlimited diagonal : sergeant

We used grid worksheets to track "known" pieces on pencil and paper. When we would play it really was a major to do.
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We have also tried the following variations from the Ed Collins website:

One time bombs : reduces value of the miner too much
Reduce the number of pieces in the game : game goes faster but less of a mystery
Moveable bombs :make the game even longer
Resurrection/rescue : makes the game even longer
Mercenary (purchase) : this allows each player to craft their own unique army, we liked this one
All powerful/All weak spy : makes the spy invincible as long as it is attacking but it made the spy too powerful for our liking
Unlimited spy movement : again spy becomes too powerful for our liking
Wrap around board : easy to forget about in mid-game, those scouts can really move now!

The link below provides a detailed breakdown of the many variations you can use :

http://www.edcollins.com/stratego/stratego-rule-variations.h...

I am curious to know what combination of other variations you enjoy using together.

Thread: Re: Lucky Random Actions

Im>bE — 2008-01-18T00:23:30+00:00

I replaced roll 1 right b4 posting, so I had not playtested that one.

The original was revive a miner, sergeant, or bomb

Thread: Re: Lucky Random Actions

Big Bad Lex — 2008-01-09T13:28:30+00:00

No need to apologise, but you requested feedback and I didn't like your suggestions I'm afraid.

Your variant allows the roll of a die to win the game against the flow of play. Your variant randomises a balanced a deeply strategic game.

Roll a 1 and move an important enemy piece into a locked cell surrounded by bombs and an executioner.

Roll a 2 or 3 and remove all mystery and bluff from an undeclared enemy piece that has ventured into your territory.

It's very hard to ambush a General with a spy, but your variant gives a player their general back on the roll of 4.

Roll a 5 and constantly swap out your spy to make the enemy General powerless.

6's hand the game to the person who rolls the most.

If a game is 75% decided by the player who rolls the best numbers on their dice then I'm afraid I call that a lottery. Some people like games of chance, but I do not.

Thread: Re: Lucky Random Actions

Im>bE — 2008-01-09T08:48:21+00:00

Sorry for contributing a variation to the community.

I am aware that it adds luck,
but surely not as much as a lottery?

You could always change the last entries, or any.

An example of a real lottery game would be Battlelore imo.