Have you ever stared at something so long that the whole world disappears and all that exists is what you are staring at. Of course you have! Well that is what happens to me when I play Stratego. Suddenly the world isn't made up of suburban communities and cars but rather Generals and Marshals are the elite and the technology of the world is still limited.

              Why do I tell you this. Recently I picked up the game Stratego and I have fallen in love. I quickly searched the internet to find all the Strategy I could. I encountered a lot of bad setups and when I used them on online Stratego I got crushed, but I also found some good sites. StrategoStrategy had a free guide which I downloaded and tested out. It had some really great information in it. The authors clearly have spent a lot of time playing the game and even more time making the game teachable. The reason why I talk so highly of it is because before the book I was pretty much hopeless. After reading the book the games depth became a lot more vivid and consequently I gained a lot of insights of my own. I wanted to share some of the things I learned.

Some ideas that I'm working on:
     Openings that penetrate one side of the board. Once you get to a high level of the game both players will be playing, as Jonathan Hilton puts it, "systematically" so winning becomes about doing something unexpected.

    Here are some adjustments I've been making lately to apply this idea.
When playing systematically it is advised to keep your front rows full of 4s,one or two 2s, and 5s. The occasional 6 is okay but it is risky.

   I've been attempting to put two sixes in the front row and attack aggressively with one while staying passive with the other. I essentially lotto my 6 trying to ascertain as much information about my opponents structure as I can. (One thing to note is that as you get better you will be able to infer your opponents flag position with a lessening quantity of information.) By playing this way I one start training my mind to make these inferences and two I've found it to be very effective. The other player often jumps at the opportunity to take your six with a more powerful piece. When he does that you come at him with your ten and hopefully make a trade in which you lose a 6 at the gain of a 7 or higher. Of course the worst case scenario is that your opponent takes with a ten. This is unlikely though because it requires your opponent to take his ten deep into a wing, which one makes the opposite vulnerable to an attack. At the same time you have identified your opponents ten which is very beneficial.

   I hope to further elaborate this position in an upcoming post. Thanks for reading

John