Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
(Thus Passes the Glory of the World)

by Alan Emrich
from the January 1991 issue of Computer Gaming World

Most people here in the States don't know much Latin. For them, the classic phrase about the inevitability of defeat ("sic transit gloria mundi") might as well be translated, "If your sick Monday, don't transit to work but glory in a game of Stratego." Accolade has definitely connected with the computer solitaire strategist crowd, and their digitized version of Milton Bradley's classic boardgame deliverers plenty of goods, including a computer opponent tough enough to send some of your previous glory packing on some kind of mass transit.

Identical Armies

The computer version of Stratego stays very true to its boardgame roots. The board and pieces have remained unchanged in their form and function, as have the standard rules of play. Through the courtesy of computer magic, however, different styles of pieces and different looks for the game board are available to players. Players can opt for high-resolution "plastic"-looking pieces or decide instead on brownish "stone" or "wood"-looking sets. The board can be set in either the terrain-covered standard map or be switched to the stylized modern or sterile classic boards. After experimenting with all of the different piece/board combinations, the standard pieces on the standard map really look the best and, honestly, the game would not have suffered much with the loss of these "gee whiz" graphics for the map and pieces.

Yes, War Has Rules!

The standard rules are those from the Milton Bradley version game from start to finish. It is the subtle additions and new tournament-level rules which makes Accolade's Stratego a worthy purchase consideration. Experienced Stratego players will embrace these variations as bringing new life and challenge into a long-time favorite game.

Added as variants to the standard rules are the Scout Attack and Defender Moves options. When using the Scout Attack rule, Scouts can end a multi-square move with an attack on any adjacent enemy piece. This makes them much more useful for their reconnaissance work. The Defender Moves option simply places victorious defending units in the losing attacking unit's square, rather than having it stay in place. This creates some interesting circumstances on the game board, and can quickly break open stalemated sections of the front.

Stratego's #1 Piece

What puts the value in the game box, however, are the Tournament Rules. While there are only three of them, their impact is considerable and will greatly alter a player's strategies during play. When first learning these rules, the computer will obligingly give players a well-deserved lesson in hard knocks as to their correct application.

The Aggressor Advantage rule gives tie battles to the attacking player. Thus, a "3" versus "3" battle will be won by the player initiating it. Now, Spies are not the only Field Marshal stalker around, since the other Field Marshal can just as safely dispatch the enemy! Having a strength-piece parity on the board is no longer an assurance that good defensive play will likely yield advantages to patient players. Now, aggressive play is rewarded with considerable potential advantages (to offset its risks).

Looking For A Few "Old" Men

The Silent Defense rule can also be considered something of a "fog of war" or "intelligence vacuum" situation. Here, the victorious piece does not discover the value of the enemy piece which it eliminated. Scouts still get the dirt on the enemy piece which destroys them, but one can never be quite sure of the "piece count" advantage when this option is in effect. There is a saying that there are many old (read cautious from experience) generals, and many bold generals, but that there are very few old, bold generals. With these first two tournament rules in effect, the player is quickly challenged to become one of those few old, bold generals and the Marshal Blucher's among us will do quite well.

Finally, there is a the Rescue option. Akin to moving a pawn into the opponent's back row in chess and converting it into another piece, the Rescue option allows up to two pieces per game to be "rescued" from the captured pile by moving onto a square in the opponent's back row. The newly arriving piece must be placed on the owning player's half of the board. Scouts may not perform a rescue, nor may bombs be rescued and reused.

The consequences of this rule are enormous. No longer when the enemy's Field Marshal dies does one's Spy become naught but a slow Scout. One must, therefore, keep his Spy on waivers, because that enemy Field Marshal is the prime candidate for rescue! Piece advantage strategies are even less viable under this option than with the other two tournament rules. Suddenly, there is an element of more subtle maneuvering then the old "probe and hammer" tactics. Now a quick dash to the opponent's rear can yield substantial results. Even more, however, one must guard against deep enemy penetrations! The yin and yang of attack of defense become quite intense with the employment of this tournrnament level rule.

Looking For A Few "Old" Men

Stratego from Accolade, however, is not without its shortcomings and failings. Players will quickly notice that the the last thing required to play this game is sound support. The game provides only an opening and closing tune, with very few sounds of note in between. Also, there is not a lot of graphic panache on the board once the game is underway. When one piece captures another, it is as dry as most chess programs, with no graphic reward to the victorious player.

Critics are always right there looking backwards saying "it might have been nicer if...," and this reviewer is one of them. While certainly superfluous, Stratego might have been better off with Battlechess-like graphics and sound for movement and captures in this "VGA-graphics-and-sound-boards" day and age. The rattle of musketry, the yelling of "Charge!," or the explosion of bombs with related graphics would have added an element to the game which might have raised it a notch in today's MTV "quick thrill" market. Certainly, younger audiences would have preferred this to the rather passive new man and unit graphics.

The real shortcoming to this review, however, is the lack of any two-player capabilities. No AI routine will ever be as devious as a live human opponent, and not all computer gamers are the stereotypical anti-social nerds without friends (or "a life"). With the library of "modemable" head-to-head strategy games ever increasing in size, Stratego was the perfect candidate for this feature. While one may not always have the chance to stop watching the kids long enough to get together at his gaming buddy's house, a by-phone game is the next best thing. Besides, our eight-year olds could play each other with just as much enjoyment (there goes daddy's computer time!). Missing out on two-player options is Stratego's biggest miss.

Capturing Stratego's Flag

Even with its disappointments, Stratego will have a home on this reviewer's hard disk. It remains an extremely challenging solitaire game of remarkable diversity and subtlety, largely thanks to Accolade's fine supplement to the rules and vicious-playing artificial opponent. The trick, as is always the case when playing strategy games against the computer, will be not to accuse the computer of cheating when one loses (even when it does seem to always manage to dodge your bombs).