Stratego Advice

(for New Players)

If your new to the game of Stratego and wish to try your hand at this game, then the advice on this page should be very useful and informative.

Where to try the game

On the board:

The board game is the obvious starting point for any new player. For Europeans, the Jumbo Stratego board is readily available from most good game stockists. For people in America, the M.B. Stratego board game is more readily available. This also is available from all good game stockists. For people wishing to try the game in the U.K. the M.B. game is more readily available, but comes with a serious drawback. All real life tournaments are played with the Jumbo board game. For this reason, we recommend any new player wishing to buy the game board, to opt for the Jumbo/Falcon game board.

Probably the easiest place to obtain this board game is via online stores. Amazon is the cheapest supplier we have found to date.

Once you have started playing the board game, you can quickly enjoy the challenge of beating family and friends.

Of course this is not the only root you could take. Unless you buy the game board and practice with family and friends, you only really have 2 other options available.

At a local Stratego club:

If you are lucky enough to have a local Stratego club, then I would advise any interested player to attend. This is probably the best way to learn the game. You would often find other players would help with setups, tactics and on the field game play. Unfortunately this option is in short supply in the U.K, as we only have 2 Stratego clubs in the whole of the United Kingdom.

If you live in the Netherlands or Germany, then this would be much easier. They have many different Stratego clubs where you can practice and learn the game.

Online

The other option is to learn the game online.

In a way this is the best option,  but it has some serious draw backs. Learning the game online would be pretty disheartening, as for the most part, you will be up against World Class Stratego players which would mean a baptism of fire. Having said this, even good local players still find it a difficult initial switch, from local standard player up to World class opposition in one swoop.

Although the jump to world class standard is a big one, this is probably the easiest way a player could improve his overall game. It is also a very convenient method because there are always players online willing to play and you can grab a game at any time of day.

My advice to any new player when starting to play online Stratego, would be to have patience and try to learn from your mistakes. You won't become an overnight world class player. It takes some time. Some people learn faster than others. (Unless you have a Stratego coach, in which case the progress can be quite rapid.)

Other advice I would give any new player, would be to try to play other new players initially. Not everyone playing online are world class players. New players join every day. Try a few games with fellow new players before taking on the world class players. My last piece of advice is probably the most important piece of advice, anyone could give you. "Have fun and enjoy the games".

Tactics:

Tactics are a individual personal choice. Some players play defensively and some players play a very offensive game. There are NO right or wrong tactics. Each game is different and different tactics suit different opponents.

Initial Setup:

The Initial setup is quite important. (although not the most important factor within a game)

A common mistake that "New players" make, is to bomb in the centre and a flank with 4 bombs. This sometimes works well against other "New players", but is a recipe for disaster, when playing a more experienced player. Showing 4 bombs means you only have 2 bombs which are unseen and this could well lead to the opponent lottoing your pieces later in the game. This also means you are trapped and have only 1 alley to attack down. If you lose control of this alley, then you lose the game.

In game tactics:

Once a game has started: a common mistake of new players, is to show too many high pieces at a early stage within the game. If a good player can discover your high pieces for a relatively small loss, then they can plan exactly where and how to attack, to gain an advantage.

Another common mistake from "New players" is to attack without knowing anything about an opponents defensive strength. This is sometimes known as "lotto". The art of making risky moves which do not rely on either logic or knowledge.

What is the single most important tip I could give to any "New player"?

This is such an important point, which would help any "New player".

Learn how the "more square rule" works.

This is an important part of the game and if you don't know how it works, then you will lose a lot of games until you do.

The more squares rule:

The I.S.F rules expand the original game rules by the more squares rule:

It is not allowed to continuously chase one or more pieces of the opponent endlessly. The continuous chaser may not play a chasing move again more which would lead to a position on the board which has already taken place.
Exception: chasing moves back to the square where the chasing piece came from in the directly preceding turn are always allowed as long as this does not violate the Two-Squares Rule / Five-Moves-on-Two-Squares Rule.

Definitions:
 

• continuous chase: the same player is non-stop threatening one or more pieces of his opponent that is/are evading the threatening moves.

• chasing move: a move in a continuous chase that threatens an opponent's piece that was evading during the continuous chase.>

Hereby:
 

• a/to move: to move plus attacking or a/to move to an empty square.

• to threaten: to move a piece next (before, behind or besides) a piece of the opponent.

• to evade: to move a piece away promptly after it has been threatened.

To say it simple:

If you move to a field and on the field directly before, behind or besides that field stands a piece of your opponent, and he moves this piece away in his directly following move and you do another move to a field (not necessarily with the same piece as before) where directly before behind or besides stands the same or another piece of your opponent, you have to stop such moves if the resulting situation was already on the board.
The only exception is that you can always move pieces back and forth on two fields, as long as this does not violate the five moves on two fields rule.

A few thoughts about that:
 

• If a battle occurs, it is not possible to reach a situation that was already on the board again, because at least one piece has gone.

• If even only in ONE move your opponent does not draw a piece that was threatened by your move, the rule will not apply any longer until the procedure begins again.

• A scout does not threaten a piece, if it does not stand directly beneath that piece, even if the identity of the scout is already known.

• If both players threaten each others pieces concurrently, the rule may even apply to both players at the same time.

• ALL situations previously on the board do count, including situations long before the first threatening (until a battle occurs, see above)!