Top 5 Mistakes Beginners Make Playing Stratego
- They quit too early. Many Stratego beginners quit as soon as they lose a high piece. But as long as you can continue to advance to your opponent’s side and attack pieces, you still have a chance to win. Many players have open flags, so you just might get lucky finding the flag with a lotto attack. Make sure you use up all of your scouts to attack pieces on the other side before quitting. The best wins are usually when you come from behind. So don't quit!
- They don’t know or understand the 2 Square Rule. The rule states: No piece can move back and forth between the same two spaces for more than three consecutive turns. I didn't know about this rule when I first started playing at Stratego.com. My ignorance of the rule cost me several early losses. You need to understand this rule so you don't get trapped. And once you understand the 2 square rule, you can use it to defeat other beginners that don't understand the rule. I’ll eventually make a video on the 2 Square Rule. It’s much easier to understand once you’ve seen it in action.
- Waste low pieces needlessly. Many players get excited about attacking and sometimes forget or neglect to move lower pieces when they are being attacked by a higher known piece. Sometimes they just leave them in a vulnerable spot where they get trapped. Every piece is valuable in the game of Stratego. You’ll need them late in the game to stop miner attacks on your bombs and flag, to scout incoming pieces or to bluff your opponent. Your pieces should always try to capture another piece or reveal new information on your opponent's piece. Never let your lower pieces get captured by a revealed piece without trying to escape, unless you are trying to lure a high piece away from his flag, lure a high piece away from a blocked lane so another piece can enter their side or to make a sacrifice to free a higher ranked trapped piece. If you become trapped between 2 pieces, always let the unknown piece capture it to reveal new information.
- Waste scouts too early. You are given 8 scouts to start the game. It’s OK to use a few on the front row to scout out possible bombs or to reveal incoming pieces. Usually, you won’t find out much valuable information with the front row scouts. Scouts are best used in the middle part of the game when you want to reveal your opponents higher pieces, especially the marshal. They also are very instrumental in trying to capture the spy or revealing back row bombs and trapped quality pieces for your high pieces to capture. Try to save at least half of your scouts for the middle/end game. If you lose all of your scouts early in the game, your opponent will likely start moving his spy into your territory trying to surprise attack your Marshal. The spy becomes much more dangerous.
- Revealing high pieces early. Try not to reveal your Marshal, General and Colonels early in the game. It’s best to attack an oncoming known piece with a piece that’s only 1 rank higher. Revealing where your high pieces are located allows your opponent to make well thought out attack plans. If your Marshal gets revealed, your opponent can immediately think about attacking with his General. You have to be prepared to defend that type of counter attack. Revealing higher pieces also limits your ability to bluff late in the game. And it's much, much harder to come back when you are down in pieces because your opponent can usually block off attacks(if they have a good memory and can remember the revealed higher pieces).
Try to eliminate these common beginner mistakes and you’ll
start to become a much better Stratego player.
