 |
|
        |
 |
| Now recognized as the #1 Stratego site on the Internet! |
THE STRATEGO MESSAGE BOARD
SECTION 6
January, 2003 Ed, Let me say this with all honesty - your Stratego site is fantastic. Not only is it entertaining and informative, but it's very pleasing to the eye. The colors you use were obviously done with the game 'Stratego' in mind and the little Bomb images and the personalized background are nice touches. It's organized and easy to navigate. Anyone can create a website. You created a work of art. Sincerely, Matt Nemmers Wow! Thanks! - Ed |
January, 2003 Hello Ed. I have a few setups I like, but I only play game-board style. How did you create the cool Stratego graphics? I'd like to create a scenario and send it to you. It is also a nice way to plan your setups for future matches. Do I need any special software to create such a layout? Many thanks. Robert F. Shearer II The images of each of the Stratego pieces in my SETUPS section are screen captures from Accolade's 1990 Stratego game. The setups were all created by hand, using Paint Shop Pro. However, you don't need PSP; any image editing software is capable of creating similar setup images. - Ed |
January, 2003 Hey Ed, Great website. My fiancée and I have played Stratego for 25 years, and want to buy a game like the ones we played as kids. We bought the current version, but the numbering/rank system is different from the early '70s version. Any suggestions where I can go? Jim Hi Jim. Three suggestions: 1) Target, Wal-Mart, and other such stores are currently selling Nostalgia Stratego. 2) You can almost always find used sets on eBay, often $10.00 or less. 3) I'm selling a few used sets, with wooden pieces, on my site. - Ed |
January, 2003 Your site appears to be the Cadillac of Stratego sites. Jon Krampner |
January, 2003 Hello, I am very impressed with your website. We just bought the Stratego 4 but we purchased it in Belgium and the rules are in French. Any ideas where we could get a copy of the rules for Stratego 4 in English or German? Esther Mike Rowles has informed you can find the rules here: I've updated my Rules Section to include a link to this page. Thanks Mike. - Ed |
January, 2003 Hello Ed, I just received some fan mail that pointed me to your wonderful site. I loved playing Stratego as a young man (and still love it now when I get the rare chance to play!) and just wanted to say thank you for showing off my art for the 1996 version. It was one of the greatest pleasures in my professional illustration career to contribute back to a game which inspired me when I was young. Needless to say, I had a blast creating all the portraits for the game pieces when I found out they would be in color. Just for your info, all of the pieces are relatives and friends of mine. It brings a new level of pleasure to the game when the Marshal (my father) is taken by my brother David the Spy! Or the Miner (my friend Tony) defuses a bomb! I noticed the link you have doesn’t quite direct people to the Stratego section of my site (it sends them to the gallery) and wanted to supply you with the more direct link of: If you think people would be interested in limited edition prints of the different pieces, I can arrange to offer them. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Donato
Giancola P.S. I also hated the new numbering system. The Marshal as #10? What happened to #1? |
January, 2003 Dear Ed, I am a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco and have organized a Stratego tournament at my site in Sefrou. I tried to order some additional game boards for the tournament but was very unsuccessful through Amazon.com. They said Morocco was a restricted address. If you know of another way to get some boards, I am looking to get four additional boards. Better yet, if you could make a donation of game boards and pieces for our cause, that would be great. I know this is bold but I thought I would just ask. Being a volunteer is very stressful and playing Stratego has helped. Attached is a copy of the rules for the tournament. I would love to get your input. Love your site. Thanks. Kimeo
Carr |
January, 2003 Ed, Stratego was my favorite game growing up. I am so glad to see there are so many people out there that enjoy it too. My boys love it - it's nice to see them liking something other than PS2 for a change. Recently I bought a "new" game (it's been years since I've played) and I couldn't help but notice the ranks have changed. Example: The highest ranking piece is a 10, the Scouts are 2's, Miners 3's, etc. In your Message Board I noticed the antique game dating back to W.W.1 & W.W.II with the same structure. Interesting. It doesn't change the gameplay at all, but it did take some getting used to. Thanks for the time you put into this site. I look forward to spending more time here and visiting some of the links. Robert
Butterfield |
January, 2003 Dear Ed, I am 100% in total agreement with you regarding Hasbro's current edition. I grew up playing Stratego in the 1980s with the Marshal as #1 and the General as #2, and I think it is ridiculous that Hasbro got the bright idea to use 9's and 10's to denote the high-ranking pieces. I grew up with the notion that 9's are Scouts and Spies are #10 which of course have the unique power of removing a Marshal if the Spy strikes first. I would like someone to write to Hasbro and tell them to correct the game and make it right: 9's are Scouts, 8's are Miners, etc. In other words, if it isn't broke don't fix it! Sincerely, Thomas P. Medema |
January, 2003 Hello! My name is Kevin and I am 7-years-old. My father gave me and my little sister a Stratego game some months ago. He taught me how to play the game and I enjoy it very much! I am almost as good as my dad already! Thank you for inventing this great game. Greetings from, Kevin Kevin, thank you for the warm comments, but if you check the history of Stratego in my History Section and throughout the Message Boards, you'll see that I didn't invent the game... it's older than I am! - Ed |
January, 2003 I bought my 6-year-old daughter a Stratego set for Christmas. It is the plastic set with stickers, etc., etc.. but is fine for her. One difference between our set and your picture is that our set did not contain the Stratego wall to set your pieces up behind. That sucks. Especially playing with a 6-year-old who places her flag first, etc. I thought you might like to know. Bert Hall |
January, 2003 I just wanted to congratulate you on your fantastic Stratego site. I loved the game, when I was a kid. I had a buddy who I remember playing the game with on his front porch when I was 12 and 13. We also enjoyed a similar game called Admirals. You may have heard of it. A variation we tried was having "roaming bombs" that could move. Sometimes we allowed them to attack and sometimes not. Anyway, great work. Dave |
January, 2003 My son received Stratego for Christmas, and while playing against him, I kept trying to capture a Bomb with #8 (which used to be the Miner). Unfortunately, #8 is the Colonel and the rules don't allow Colonel's to capture Bombs. I don't think I will be able to adjust. John Tremper P.S. Also, your web site helped me prove to him why I kept playing backwards. Can't figure out why they did that. |
February, 2003 Ed, After our correspondence on the Little Golem forum, I noticed and followed the link to your pages. So far I've only been browsing the Stratego pages; they're so good I haven't gotten to your chess pages yet. I do have one variation you might consider. I call it Professional Courtesy. When two pieces of equal rank are in conflict, neither piece is destroyed -- the pieces excuse each other and the attacking player must make a different move. A sub-variation would require the attacking piece to make another move if possible. I haven't had a chance to play-test Professional Courtesy because I don't presently own a set. |
February, 2003 Hey, Thanks for the web data on Stratego. I was playing sitting on the back porch of my folks house in Toul, France when you were born and am still playing today. Like you I was miffed when I received the game with the ranking reversed. Funny how numbers meant more than the images. I know lost the first three games I played on the "new" set due to the reversal. Since then I have acquired a '61 set and find I am almost unbeatable. Clint Lewis |
February, 2003 Ed- Awesome webpage!!!!!! Love it. Has anyone ever suggested TURNING THE BOARD 90 degrees BEFORE you SET UP YOUR PIECES? It adds a nice little twist to an already GREAT GAME. Heinz Proft |
February, 2003 Hello, I own one of the new Nostalgic Editions of the game. I really like it! A friend of mine and I play whenever we get together. I purchased one of the sets where the rankings are reversed and he kept getting confused. His wife, bless her heart, purchased the second generation game. He's satisfied now. Justin Van Stee |
February, 2003 Ed: Here is a Stratego tip. Don't put your bombs near your flag. The opponent is looking for your bombs which is near your flag. Your bombs are usually very near your flag. Then put your flag very near the front, right behind the water hole. Is that a good strategy? Dana |
February, 2003 Hi Ed, Here's a Stratego Mini version not often seen.
Regards Robert |
February, 2003 All of these messages are generally helpful, but after you play several experienced players you will need to keep the following in mind. Tricky flag-bomb maneuvers will usually only delay the inevitable. The best advice is be creative with your flag placement. Experiment and never use the same technique. And last, figure out your strengths. I was on a losing streak and someone told me that I need to work on my attack. I tried to improve, but I am not an attacker and it failed. I rely on my defense. I use three bombs in the front row. One in each third of the board. This method breaks up any two man attack mode and allows certain portions of the board to be isolated. If the player chooses to try and defuse them, it should cost them at least one Miner per bomb. Keep strong pieces toward the center and dispatch them to appropriate corners to defend against aggression. Most attack-oriented players become frustrated with these types of techniques. Clayton J. Jones |
February, 2003 Where did you buy that awesome Strategia set? Gregory Davis Hi Greg, I didn't buy it, nor do I even own it. The person who created it simply sent me photos of it. - Ed |
February, 2003 I have had a quick look at your web page and thought, "Great!" I had the game back in the '60s and have never been beaten. Please tell me where I can go to play online for free. I'm itching to play again. KNEP |
February, 2003 Hi, I really like your website. I have been playing and collecting games lately. Stratego was a must-have for my collection. I visited your website and I was going to order the new version of the game, but I saw what you said about getting the older ones. I went to an antique store looking for games and found a 1963 Fine Edition with the plastic pieces. It has the white and blue board. I was 100% complete, the box in great shape. It even had the enclosed advertisement inside. I just wanted you to know I was excited by my luck and I knew what to get based on info I learned from you. Thanks. Mark
Greene P.S. I will visit your site as I play to get tips, etc. |
March, 2003 Hi Ed. I've noticed on your site a lot of complaints regarding the rank reversal of recent Stratego editions, and that no one seems to know why they were changed. I exchanged messages with Rob Daviau (Hasbro representative) at about.com a year or so ago that might shed light on this: Me:
Rob:
So, the story is that only in North America did the higher ranks have lower numbers, and the change was intended to make the game more internationally consistent. You can examine this thread for yourself if you wish:
Thanks for your website. Luke |
March, 2003 Hi Ed, Just letting you know that there's a new online Stratego site. Mike Rowles |
March, 2003 Ed, I wanted to send you a scan of the box for what appears to be an Israeli edition of Stratego. I won it on eBay. The board is not in the best shape but the pieces are interesting. I can send you scans of the instructions and the pieces which are black and white unlike the cover. Have you ever seen this set?
Albert Roman P.S. I've made contact with a woman in Israel and she tells me the game is called TAKTIKO. I've sent her scans of the box and attached them to this email. Interestingly, the pieces on the box are red and blue while the actual ones are black and white. I'll keep you posted on what I learn about the game... |
March, 2003 Hi Ed, I'm looking for an unopened box of the electronic Stratego my family and I played when we were kids. Do you know of where I could find one? Thanks a million! Lauralee Church An unopened Electronic Stratego game? Good luck. I doubt you'll be able to find one. That version came out in the early '80s and would be VERY hard to find in an unopened condition... even assuming one existed at all. And even if you found one, the price would probably be several hundred dollars, minimum. Even used sets on eBay generally go for $40.00 - $60.00, which is a lot more than the game cost when it was new. - Ed |
March, 2003 Dear Ed, I must say I love your site and hope you continue your wonderful work! No one else I have seen has devoted the kind of time and energy you have on this topic. There is one in every crowd and thank goodness it's you! Now on to the reasons I'm writing... I got into STRATEGO about three years ago and started collecting all the new sets that were being made at the time but had no idea about the games history or how it had changed over the years. I sold all the sets I had because I had fallen on hard times. Now that my bank account is in the black I can afford to collect again. I discovered your site while looking to play the most recent computer game online and ditched that idea when two things happened: I leaned that GAME ZONE no longer supports the Hasbro interactive game and I learned about the new nostalgia edition of the board game on your site. I bought a copy of it today at TARGET and played my sister to a draw! Its a great set, and if you ever have that means I recommend picking it up. I know "REAL" classic sets can be had online but what really grabbed me was the wooden box. Its just more durable than cardboard, and feels more "adult" and "grown-up" to me. The second reason I am writing is to tell you about an ongoing project of mine. I call it "STRATALUS - WAR ON THE HIGH SEAS -" and its my attempt at creating a naval version of STRATEGO. I did not go overboard (No pun intended!) trying hash out new rules or any other radical departures from the classic game. All that I am trying to do is create an opposite yet complimentary version that my Dad could relate to. We have a Naval Tradition in my family that dates back to the battle of Hastings in 1066! (Okay, so we were commanding the transport barges but its still important!) Anyway I just got my first prototype back from the printer and I will send you some snapshots as soon my sister's digital camera finishes charging! Just to let you know, I do not have any plans to sell this game or make it widely available. HASBRO might start sending an angry mob of lawyers after me. I know a lot of folks out there make their games freely available at no cost to the person downloading them. I will have to mull it over before I go searching for free servers for a website of my own. On other news this will not be my only project. It is merely the first in a triad of new versions with different themes I am planning. The next two will be a lot more original and might even include some fresh features. I will have to get back to you on them in a couple of weeks. Back to Stratalus... Expect to see some snapshots for this first game by tomorrow! Here's a stupid joke for you: (Maybe I'll do this as a cartoon.)
Take care Ed, and happy St. Patrick's Day! Garth
Lippincott |
April, 2003 Hello, My name is Bill Aka Nothingness. I've been a big Stratego fan for years but to my dismay no one plays anymore. I found a site that plays a Stratego variant - itsyourturn.com. It's a semi-free site with a game called Sabotage. It plays very similar to Stratego. There are actually four variations of the game, one of which plays almost exactly the same as Stratego, only with less ranking soldiers. The other variations are more amped-up faster games. Bill Hi Bill. You may not have noticed, but It's Your Turn is indeed one of the links in my LINKS section. Thanks. - Ed |
April, 2003 Hello Ed, I missed something important on your website about Stratego. Stratego was originally designed by Jacob Mogendorf. He was a Jewish person in hiding who designed the game during the second world war. Regards, Armand Servaes |
May, 2003 Hi Ed, hope you are doing well. We haven't corresponded in a while. I've got two things I was hoping I could discuss with you. I've been making a bunch of improvements on the Metaforge game lately, and am working hard to get some increased traffic. I was talking with Tim (TheCommish) and he suggested increasing advertising on your site. In addition, I've started an affiliate program to share 25% of the registration fees with anyone who refers a new registered member to Metaforge. Would you be interested in putting up some Metaforge banners on your site - on more places than just the links page? (Thanks for that by the way!) Of course, I would be happy to pay for the banner space. Or perhaps you would like to have an agreement where you get the affiliate referral fees, perhaps at an increased rate? Also, I've been thinking about running a face-to-face Stratego tournament in Vegas in the coming months. Tim mentioned that he thought you were currently living around Vegas, perhaps in Arizona? I currently do live in Vegas, and I was wondering if you might want to help out with logistics, advertising, and registration for the tournament? Thanks for your time Ed. Please drop me a line with your thoughts. Look forward to hearing from ya. Chip |
May, 2003 I couldn't agree with you more. My girlfriend and I were in Toys R Us some months ago buying a present for my niece. When we passed the board games I saw Stratego and mentioned how, when I was a kid, (I'm 37) my friends and I would play this (and electric football) for hours. She mentioned her and her brother played. I had never met a woman who played this game. Well, I kept going on and on that evening about this game. Saturday night for my birthday I opened a present and lo and behold I had a new Stratego game! I was as excited as a little kid on Christmas Day. I opened it up to discover we had to place on stickers, which was a bummer, but I was absolutely livid that the new game has the ranks backwards. I had not played this game in twenty years but I knew that Miners were 8, Scouts - 9, etc. I didn't forget! (She had.) I had the hardest time getting used to this ranking change. I don't know why the change but I hate it... I absolutely hate it. I even had to lay the instructions out to keep reminding myself of the rankings because I was just looking at the numbers and would find myself reverting back to old ways of thinking. I wish I knew why they changed. Anyway, thanks for the great site. I enjoyed it a lot. Take care, Trey |
May, 2003 Hello, My name is Tony Sammut from Malta. I am doing my Thesis which is a game of Stratego where players can play Stratego online against other players or against the computer. I found your site while I was doing my research and, first of all, congratulations....it is the best Stratego site indeed. However, what I would like is to have permission from you to refer to your Rules page and use (possibly copy) these rules instead of having to rewrite them myself. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks very much. Tony Sammut |
May, 2003 Hi Ed, Your Stratego site is simply awesome! I just came across it and was thoroughly impressed. I was just making some more changes to my game in Java, and wondered if there were any more Java games out there. Seems there are but none of them play very well. I hope to change that soon. On my site at http://www.zjkz.com I have two Stratego games. One is a two-player Java application, and the other is my Java applet single-player version. I just started it a few days ago and currently plays like crap but I hope to change that very soon. I think your readers might really like the two-player version. It allows you to create your own setups and save them, it automatically saves each played game into a numbered file (which you can then play back at any time), and it has other features as well. The graphics are kinda lame but I think the general idea is there. When you get a chance take a look and let me know what you think. Oh, I guess I should mention all my stuff is free - I'm already in a high enough tax bracket! Jim
Lewis |
May, 2003 Hi Ed, I've just started work on a Stratego clone which will run initially on Windows and Pocket PCs. I've lifted the initial setups from your web site (hope that's OK!) and I've credited all the authors of them. Could you let me know if any of those Activision ones are worth using? Or if you have any more setups I could use? It's early days yet on my version and I've only done the way of entering and choosing initial setups, and the human player being able to move his pieces. I've yet to do the computer player's AI and get some decent graphics into the game too. I know the AI is not going to be an easy task but I think the Risk clone that I have done, "Conquest" (see http://www.windowsgames.co.uk/conquest.html) has got the best AI (IMHO !) of any clone I've come across, so I'm hoping it will put up a good show against the human player. Let me know if you'd like to see what I've got done so far or if you know of anywhere else I can get hold of some good setups, or if you'd like a full version of Conquest. Thanks for your time! Sean
O'Connor |
June, 2003 Ed, I wanted to thank you for all the info on your site! It's been great for finding all the different rules, variations, etc. I've written a two-player, networked version of computer Stratego. As I'm not an artist, I "borrowed" the graphics for the individual Stratego pieces from your site. Before I released the first version of my game to the general public, I wanted to get your permission to use those graphics. My game will be made available for free, under the terms of the GPL (Gnu Public License). Hopefully, if there's enough interest, I will be able to get some original graphics. Since, I don't know how often your site is updated or if you ever check email from this account, if I don't get a response from you I will wait one week from today (06/19/03) before releasing my game. Thanks! I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Ralph Churchill |
June, 2003 Ed: I recently got a version of Stratego you don't have shown on the site. It was a gift.
Keep up the great work. One thing to note that is NOT listed in the description. This is the "new rules" with pieces in order 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. I haven't even played it yet. I was going to use your site to research the old style rules. I like the old ranking (1-9) since I learned the game with them. The new ranking system will certainly make it a bit more challenging. The board and pieces are really nice. The pieces should be wood, but are actually hollow plastic, which seems like the only downfall. It is a pretty cool set and nice that it is self contained. Of course, the beautiful wood really makes it neat along with the ability to unfold the board and handy board "legs" that unfold from the main unit as well. It will become a big hit. (I recently bought that Nostalgia version in the square box for a friend and liked that version very much. I think this is a little better though.) Again, great work on the site. Dave Kaufman |
July, 2003 Ed, Back in the late '70s , a friend of mine and myself were so into Stratego that we placed an ad in the Philadelphia Daily News asking anyone interested in playing the "two best players on Earth" (as we thought of ourselves) to give us a call. I received a phone call a day or two later from an inquisitive lady, who evidently felt that "Stratego" was some form of S/M and that the ad was a ruse or "code" to find women/girls that were into this sort of thing! It took a lot of time convincing the woman we were not kinky weirdos. Besides, I was married! One other thing, Ed - if you know of anyone who wants to play on-line, please remember me as I would be interested. Thanks! Howard
Brown |
July, 2003 Hello Ed! What a wonder to find a Stratego site on the internet, when I was looking for one! I've never played the real Stratego (well, maybe once when I was a kid), but I was seaching for the rules, and I must admit you presented them very clearly - even for me, who never sat in front of the gameboard. My question for you: Have you ever played live-stratego? If not, you should try it! It's the perfect outdoor game for a lot of people. Divide your friends into two teams and hand out the characters. You may need a large area - that makes it more fun. Each team has a flag which they can place where ever they want. Then the game can begin. It's simple - just like the board-game. If you touch another person you both have to reveal your identity. If you want to complicate the game and make it last for a longer period of time, try this rule: When a person is "dead" he/she has to go to a "base" or a "prison". The prisons must be a defined area. You may need a dividing line between the two teams' areas. Place the two prisons (one for each team) on each site of the dividing line (about 5-7 meters from the line). If any from the red team dies he/she must go to the prison in the blue area and the other way around. When enough people are gathered in a prison they have the ability to free themselves. They make a chain out of themselves, and if they can reach their own area (that is the other site of the line) everyone in the chain is freed and can paticipate in the game again. I hope you have some interest in this. Best regards, Lise
|
September, 2003 Hi Ed, I've finally finished my Stratego game which is at: The AI is pretty good and puts up a very good fight, although I think a competent player will still beat it most times. Still, that makes it way better than any other Stratego AI that I've come across! I'd be happy to send you a full version if you like and I'd be very grateful if you'd add a link to that page. Please feel free to give me any criticisms of the game too, as this is only version 1.0. Thanks, Sean
O'Connor
|
October, 2003 Hi Ed, I'm wondering, do you know of any people here in the Boston area who like to play Stratego? I'm looking for people to play, and I'm not interested in playing on-line. Also, do you know of any Stratego tournaments anywhere? Since Stratego is one of the few legitimate strategy games (i.e. it is a strategy game for which a winning strategy has not been developed, although it does involve chance, unlike chess or checkers or Go, which are, as far as I know, the only other "legitimate" strategy games). I wonder why no tournaments are played. Have you ever considered having one? Thanks. |
October, 2003 Stratego
World Championship 2003 Hello Strategists, Here is some information about the world championship. I hope a lot of you come. Bring four people of your country and participate in the country team competition. It will be a lot of fun. See you in Vienna. Andreas
Weber |
November, 2003 Hello Ed. My classmates and I are programming a Stratego game for our class computer science project. Do you mind if we use some of your images? We are completely non-profit :). Thanks. Don Cholish Go ahead! - Ed |
November, 2003 Hello Ed, My name is Greg Palmer. Your site is very informative and professional. Thank you for creating and maintaining it. Like you, I played Stratego when I was very young and moved on from there to other more complex wargames. However, some of my fondest gaming memories are from the games played as a child. I recently started playing with a small group some of whose members have interest in "retro" or "nostalgia" games including Stratego. I expect your site will help me get back up to speed. Thanks again and Happy Thanksgiving, Greg Palmer |
November, 2003 Hello there, I work at an after-school childcare facility and we have the Star Wars Stratego game. Unfortunately, the kids are always getting upset when trying to play it because we don't have the rules that came with the game. I know how to play the original Stratego game, but I have no clue what the "special powers" are and how they are used. If you know how or anyone who could share the rules about them with me that would be great. I just spent an hour trying to find the rules to calm the kids down with no luck. Thank you very much. Sally |
January, 2004 Hi, Edward! Your Stratego site is just amazing! You have done marvellous job! I am a 40-year-old man living in the famous winter sport town called Lahti, in Finland. Until yesterday, all I knew about Stratego was that it was a board game. I found an old Stratego game on a flee market. I remembered that I had heard of Stratego, when I was a child. Because I like board games very much, I opened the shabby box and I was pleased - the board and all the pieces were there. I didn´t hesitate to pay four euros for it. This version is made in Holland in 1987. When I got home I thought that there must certainly be sites about Stratego on the Internet. When I found your site, I felt I had found a treasury. Keep up the good work! I shall recommend your site to anyone who wants to know more about Stratego. Best wishes, Jukka Nikka |
January, 2004 Hello. I was at your site a couple weeks ago, and couldn't find any versions of Stratego for Linux. So, I wrote my own. The program at http://god1x.no-ip.com/Stratego runs under Linux or Windows. Feel free to link to it on your site if you wish. Graham Royston |
January, 2004 Hello Ed, It was a pleasure browsing your Stratego web site. I recently bought Stratego while visiting the States for my brother's son. After returning home I decided to check if the original (or what I considered to be the original until seeing your site) version was being sold on the net. This, after being disappointed with the changes made to latest version (reversing the numbers, stickers...) and so I happened upon your site. I mentioned the game to a coworker and they said they had the Israeli version. I asked him to bring it to work and it is quite different than any of the other Stratego sets, in both shape, color, and the images of the pieces. I photographed it with my digital camera for you. The pictures are at the following address: The website is my home computer so if it is down just try a few hours later. It is also slow. The pictures I posted are in the original quality in which I shot them so they are big, but this lets you downsize them however you wish. You may copy them and use them if you want. Sincerely, Adin
Aronson |
February, 2004 Hi Ed! I am a big Stratego fan/player and have been for about 15 years. I wanted to say you have an AWESOME site on the great classic game and I have used many rule variations from it. Your site also introduced me to Strategia, which is profoundly more fun than regular stratego. Anyway, I just wanted to throw my two cents in seeing as how I've used your site for well over a year and never wrote you at all. My favorite variation is the powerful spy one where the spy can always take the next highest piece, but anything can kill the spy. My friend and I ALWAYS play that way and it is our favorite variant. We also LOVE Stratego 4, when we can actually get some others to play it! Keep up the great reference site! Tony |
February, 2004 Dear Mr. Collins, Your patience I beg. It's been at least thirty years since I played Stratego. Never have I played with anything other than the original wooden-piece sets that my cousin and I owned. He and I were avid players from 1963 through about 1970. In his home I had to be the Blue (the French) and he had to be the Red (the British) but in my home it was the other way round. Nyah, nyah! How we construed the rules (all other original rules were observed strictly):
Though my cousin is indeed heterosexual, he and I both thought the Lieutenants were the handsomest, most dashing rank. I think this must have been due to their Mexican War style caps and their rakish mustaches. (I think I remember we thought the Lieutenants resembled our late matinee idol Errol Flynn!) We pitied the General because he was the "second banana." Loved the Colonels because of their ornate helmets (and we imagined that they wore gleaming cuirasses). Loved too, the Majors because, in our teen brains, Majors were young enough to be dashing and not yet old enough to have risen to become Colonel Blimp-types. Captains we regarded, curiously, with disdain. Sergeants we loved because we loved the three sergeants in the classic film 'Gunga Din.' Miners we thought of, from our high perch as Grand Generalissimos (or some such nonsense), as mere technicians and not as real soldiers (we never spoke of this attitude to our uncle who had been, in W.W.II, a combat engineer who had seen much front-line combat and whose closeted Class A uniform bore a kaleidoscope of decorations, battle stars, oak leaf clusters, and such). Treasured our Spies and maneuvered them as cunningly as we could, often doing little dances resembling Musical Chairs with the Spy and other of our pieces to confuse our opponent about the location and routing of our Spies; and, as you point out on your site, we considered taking the opponent's Flag with one's Spy to be the most humbling/triumphant act - nowadays one might relate it to Osama Bin Laden plopping himself in the chief executive's chair in the Oval Office.) My cousin first introduced what he called the Banzai, or the kamikaze, initial deployment: his Flag in the front rank hard by the extreme edge of the board flanked by his Marshal, whom he advanced one square as his opening move, standing guard imperiously against all comers. In this set-up the Marshal had close by his aide-de-camp, a Lieutenant, and his chief of staff, a Major. In his first such deployment my cousin took me completely by surprise, and with his well-placed Scouts was able to easily follow the panicky realignments I had to make to try to counter his stratagem; and he defeated me roundly. But that one time was enough to compel me to adjust accordingly: he never again defeated me with that gambit. There was also the Salt-In-The-Wounds Move: if one was comfortably ahead, dominating the board, one had the effrontery to show one's opponent the location of one's Flag, perhaps too, the siting of one's Bombs. Devastating on morale! Preferring a conventional, layered defense (Flag in one or the other corners protected by two or more Bombs, flexible deployment of Scouts, slashing forays by mobile raiding parties commanded by Majors or Captains, keeping my Colonels and their superiors at defensive choke points, while cleverly planting the remaining Bombs in unpredictable locations - often baiting my opponent's raiding officers into striking Bombs) I won many more games than I lost. But I admit I never played by the complete original rules and that if I had to play by them I should feel hard-pressed to manage battle. Through the early to the middle '60s my cousin and I spent hours, nights, entire weekends hunched intently over his or my Stratego boards, with Long-Playing 33-1/3 rpm records blaring martial music: Felix Slatkin's 'Charge!' album - whose cover bore a Romantic, dramatic period painting of the Light Brigade's suicidal rush at Balaclava; 'German Band Marches' - whose sleeve featured a photo of a pickelhaube parked incongruously beside a drab W.W.II G.I. M-1 steel helmet; Scottish pipe bands; the whole 'Victory At Sea' series of recordings; the London Records 'Phase-4 Stereo' album titles 'Pass In Review' and 'Battle Stereo', the latter featuring tracks of actual musketry and cannon fire overlaid with music from various wars (Stereophonic records back then employed every sonic trick of the new technology in attempting to persuade affluent veterans to buy stereos - which were, in those days, ensconced in fine wooden cabinery because members of the Radio Generation had to have phonographs, radios, and TV's that were also...furniture!); and, less frequently, Sousa marches. Whew. Thank you for listening! I haven't even talked about Stratego and all the fun I had playing it, for many, many years. Now if I can only find some way to provoke my long-estranged brother to put my original (with the second version box graphic, but sadly, as I recall, missing its inserts and considerable lengths of its side panels) wooden-piece Stratego set in the post to me I think I could die content. By the way, in our two sets there were no flaws in the wooden pieces that allowed us to single out an individual piece's rank or function, and because we played on a stout, heavy, glass-topped table we rarely experienced toppling revelations of our deployments. But when topplings occurred we moved with alacrity to screen each other, or to make the opponent swear to look instantly away till we could right our troops - of course one had to counterswear that one would not take advantage of one's opponent's turning away to redeploy one's pieces to gain a tactical edge! Thank you for your site - your hard work on it made my wee hours insomniac exploration of it most enjoyable. Appreciatively, Jordynne Olivia Lobo And thank you, Jordynne, for a very interesting, enjoyable, and well written letter. - Ed |
February, 2004 Hello Ed, Compliments on your website!!! I grew up in Czech Republic and I remember playing an Indian version of Stratego as a kid. The rules were the same, except there was a Maharaja in place of the Marshal, Raja as a General, snakes instead of mines, (bombs) and I recall elephants and horses. This was back in the '80s, but I have no idea how old the game really was. I was wondering if you or anybody else has ever come across this version, and if so, what were the other pieces? Does anyone have any photos? The game is of sentimental value to me :) Regards, Hana |
 SECTION 1 |
 SECTION 2 |
SECTION 3 |
SECTION 4 |
SECTION 5 |
SECTION 7 |
SECTION 8 |
