Stratego Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• An Army
• Assembly
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Rules For Movement
  • Special Scout Movement Privilege
• Rules For Attack
  • Special Scout Attack Privilege
  • Special Miner Attack Privilege
  • Special Spy Attack Privilege
• Strategy Hints
• Winning The Game
• Additional Tournament Rules
  • Aggressor Advantage
  • Silent Defense
  • Rescue

Object

To capture your opponent's Flag.

An Army

Each army consists of:

33 movable pieces

Rank	Piece	Quantity
10	Marshal	1
9	General	1
8	Colonel	2
7	Major	3
6	Captain	4
5	Lieutenant	4
4	Sergeant	4
3	Miner	5
2	Scout	8
S	Spy	1

NOTE: Higher number indicates higher rank. Lower-ranked pieces, like the Miners, Scouts and Spy, have unique privileges.

7 pieces that do not move:

• 6 Bombs
• 1 Flag

Assembly

1. Remove the red and blue army pieces from their bags. Discard the bags.
2. Carefully apply the 40 Red Army labels to the red pieces, and the 40 Blue Army labels to the blue pieces as shown in Figure 1a.
3. Carefully apply the two logo labels to the display tray as shown in Figure 1b. During the game, captured pieces are returned to their place in the tray.

Setup

1. Place the gameboard between you and your opponent with the name Stratego facing each of you.
2. Hide a Red Army piece in one hand and a Blue Army piece in the other. Your opponent chooses a hand and plays with the color army the selected piece designates. The other color army is yours.
3. Set up your armies using the rules for movement and attacking and strategy hints that are discussed on pages 4 – 6.
4. Place your pieces on the gameboard with the notched end up. The labeled side faces you so your opponent cannot see the rank of your pieces. Your opponent does the same.
5. Only one piece can occupy a square. Place them anywhere in the first four rows on your half of the gameboard. The two middle rows are left unoccupied at the start of the game, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 shows the gameboard: the Blue Army occupies the first four rows on one side, the two middle rows form an Unoccupied Area containing two Lakes, and the Red Army occupies the first four rows on the other side.

Gameplay

You and your opponent alternate turns. The red player moves first.

On your turn, you must do one of the following:

Move — one of your playing pieces to an open adjacent space.

Or

Attack — one of your opponent's playing pieces.

NOTE: If you cannot do either action, the game is over and you lose.

Rules For Movement

Remember, the Flag and Bomb pieces cannot be moved and must remain on the squares where they were originally placed throughout the game.

1. Pieces move one square at a time, forward, backward, or sideways. (Exception: See Special Scout Movement Privilege, below.)
2. Pieces cannot move diagonally. They cannot jump over another piece. They cannot move onto a square already occupied by another piece (unless attacking).
3. Pieces cannot jump over or move onto the two lake areas in the center of the gameboard. See Figure 2.
4. A piece cannot move back and forth between the same two squares in three consecutive turns.
5. Only one piece can be moved on a turn.

Special Scout Movement Privilege

A Scout can move any number of open squares forward, backward, or sideways. IMPORTANT! This movement will let your opponent know the value of that piece. Once its rank is known, that piece could be left vulnerable to an attack.

Rules For Attack

IMPORTANT! Flag and Bomb pieces cannot attack.

1. Attack Position: When a red and blue piece occupy adjacent spaces either back to back, side to side, or face to face, they are in a position to attack. See Figure 3.
2. How to Attack: To attack on your turn, take your attacking piece and lightly tap your opponent's piece. Then, declare the number rank of your piece. Your opponent then declares the number rank of his or her defending piece.
3. The piece with the lower number is captured, removed from the board, and placed in its position in the display tray. If your piece (the attacking piece) is the remaining and winning piece, it moves onto the space formerly occupied by the defending piece. If the remaining and winning piece is the defending piece, it stays on the square it was on when it was attacked.
4. When pieces of the same rank battle, both pieces are removed from the game.
5. Attacking is always optional.

Figure 3 illustrates legal and illegal moves and attacks: pieces may move or attack one square forward, backward, left, or right (never diagonally).

Special Scout Attack Privilege

Scouts are the only pieces allowed to both move and attack on the same turn. A Scout can move forward, backward, or sideways any number of open spaces into an attack position. Once in position, it can then attack.

Special Miner Attack Privilege

When any piece (except a Miner — ranked "3") strikes a Bomb, that piece is lost and removed from the board. Exception: When a Miner strikes a Bomb, the Bomb is defused and removed from the gameboard. The Miner then moves onto the Bomb's space on the board. Bombs remain on the same space throughout the game unless they are defused. Bombs cannot attack or move.

Special Spy Attack Privilege

The Spy is ranked with the letter "S." If any piece attacks it, it is captured and removed from the board. But the Spy has a unique attack privilege. It is the only piece that can capture a Marshal (ranked "10"), providing the Spy attacks the Marshal first. If the Marshal attacks first, then the Spy is removed.

Strategy Hints

1. When setting up your pieces, place your Flag somewhere in the back row. Place Bombs around it to protect it. Another strategy is to use Bombs as corner decoys and hide your Flag in the middle of the back row. Then place a high-ranking piece near it for protection. Warning! It is usually not a good idea to place Bombs in the front row. They can block you in.
2. Protect your Miners! If your opponent has surrounded his or her Flag with Bombs, you will need a Miner later in the game to open up a pathway to the Flag.
3. Place some of your Scouts in the first two rows. Use them to reveal the rank of the enemy moving towards you. Keep some Scouts safe and use them later in the game to capture the Flag!
4. Place some of your higher-ranking pieces in the front line to capture Scouts and other lower-ranking pieces.
5. Do not move your higher-ranked pieces into unknown enemy territory. You don't want to lose your Marshal to a Spy or Bomb.
6. Keep your Spy near your General (#9). If the enemy Marshal is nearby, you might be able to lure him over to capture your General. Then you can strike back with your Spy!
7. Once you know you own the highest-ranking piece on the board, you can capture anything that moves! Try to remember what pieces have moved during the game.
8. Be wary of pieces that have not moved. If you detect a cluster of pieces that have remained stationary throughout the game, they are more than likely the Bombs and Flag.

Winning The Game

The first player to attack an opponent's Flag captures it and wins the game.

If all of your movable pieces have been removed and you cannot move or attack on a turn, you must give up and declare your opponent the winner.

Additional Tournament Rules

Here are three rule variations included for the Stratego player who wants an added challenge. Feel free to add one or any combination of these rules to your game.

Aggressor Advantage

When pieces of the same rank battle, the attacking piece wins.

Silent Defense

When an attack is made, the attacker is the only player who has to declare the number of his or her piece. The defender does not reveal the number of his or her piece, but resolves the attack by removing whatever piece has a lower number from the gameboard. Players keep their own captured pieces. Exception: When a Scout attacks, the defender must reveal the number of his or her piece.

Rescue

When you move onto a square in your opponent's back row, you have the option of rescuing one of your captured pieces. Immediately pick any piece from the pieces your opponent has captured and return it to the gameboard. Place your rescued piece on any unoccupied space on your half of the gameboard. This ends your turn.

Restrictions:

• Scouts cannot make a rescue.
• You cannot rescue a Bomb.
• Only two rescues can be made by each player.
• The same playing piece cannot make both rescues.