Stratagemo

king of battle games

Stratagemo is a game similar to the popular battle game Stratego (Stratego was invented in 1961 by the Milton Bradley Company. Stratego is today a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc).


Rules

The goal of the game is to capture your opponent's Standard. You also win if your opponent doesn't have any moves left.

1. The piece with the lower number beats the piece with the higher number.
2. The Assassin ('A') can only beat the Commandant ('1') and only if the Assassin attacks first.
3. When any piece (except a Disarmer - '8') strikes a Mine, that piece is lost and removed from the board. When a Disarmer strikes a Mine, the Mine is defused and removed. Note! In Stratagemo the Disarmer can also defuse friendly Mines.


The pieces in ranking order (the number within parentheses says how many)

1. Commandant (1)
2. General (1)
3. Brigadier (2)
4. Major (3)
5. Captain (4)
6. Lieutenant (4)
7. Sergeant (4)
8. Disarmer (5)
9. Scout (8)
A. Assassin (1)
Mine (6)
Standard (1)

In Stratagemo the player who begins (typically red) places all his pieces first (in this stage one doesn't change turns). After all pieces have been placed the opponents take turns to move pieces by the following rules. All pieces, except a Scout ('9') move only one square up, down, left or right. A Scout can move any number of squares in these directions.


Strategy

• Place Mines around the Standard to protect it.
• Put a few lower-numbered pieces in the front line, but be careful! If you lose them early in the game you're in a weak position.
• A few Scouts should be in the front lines to help you discover the strength of opposing pieces.
• Place some Disarmers in the rear for the end of the game, where they will be needed to defuse Mines.
• Remember that the Assassin is, after all, an important piece while it can protect a flank against the enemy Commandant.

The following variants are provided:

• Stratagemo
• Stratagemo (no retreating pieces)
• Mini Stratagemo
• Stratagemo (random setup)
• Stratagemo (no retreat, random setup)
• Stratagemo (random secret setup of both armies)

The above variants, including many others, as well as history, tips and strategies, can be found on Ed's excellent Stratego site (http://www.edcollins.com/stratego).

You can download A. Kaufmann's and M. Winther's Stratagemo program here (updated 2008-10-25), but you must own the software Zillions of Games to be able to run it (I recommend the download version).

© M. Winther 2007