How to Play Stratego

§ 01What is Stratego?

Stratego is a two-player board game of hidden information created in the Netherlands in 1947. Each player commands an army of 40 pieces, and — this is the heart of the game — you can see your opponent's pieces, but not their ranks. Every piece looks identical from the outside. You know where the enemy is; you don't know what the enemy is.

The objective is simple: capture the enemy Flag. Getting there is anything but simple: your strongest piece can be assassinated by the weakest, your fortifications can be defused, and every attack is a bet on information you don't fully have. It's chess crossed with poker — long-term strategy plus bluffing and deduction.

§ 02The board and setup

The battlefield is a 10×10 grid with two lakes (impassable zones of 2×2 squares) in the middle of the board. The lakes split the battlefield into three lanes — left, center, right — which forces armies to meet head-on instead of sliding past each other.

• Red sets up in the top four rows, Blue in the bottom four rows.
• Each player freely arranges their 40 pieces in those four rows, however they like — this secret arrangement is called the deployment, and it's roughly half the game. (See our companion guide: Stratego setup theory.)
• Two neutral rows in the middle hold the lakes. Nothing may enter or pass through them.

§ 03Your army: all 12 ranks

The classic edition gives each side an identical army of 40 pieces in 12 types. Higher numbers beat lower numbers — learn this table and you know 80% of the rules.

Rank	Piece	Qty	Notes
10	Marshal	1	Strongest piece — but fears the Spy
9	General	1	Second strongest
8	Colonel	2	Heavy hitter
7	Major	3	Strong mid-rank
6	Captain	4	Workhorse
5	Lieutenant	4	Light workhorse
4	Sergeant	4	Fodder and probing
3	Miner	5	Defuses Bombs
2	Scout	8	Moves any distance in a straight line
1	Spy	1	Kills the Marshal — when attacking
—	Bomb	6	Immovable; destroys any attacker except the Miner
—	Flag	1	Immovable; capture it and the game ends

Newer editions sometimes print ranks in ascending order or use letters (the Spy marked "S"), but the hierarchy above is the classic standard used in virtually all versions.

§ 04How pieces move

Players alternate turns. On your turn you move one piece:

• Most pieces move one square up, down, left or right — never diagonally — into an empty square or onto an enemy piece (an attack).
• You may not enter a lake, leave the board, or pass through any piece.
• Scouts are the exception: a Scout can move any number of squares in a straight orthogonal line — like a rook in chess — as long as the path is clear. A Scout can also strike from distance: its long move into an enemy piece is an attack. Warning: a long-range move instantly reveals that the piece is a Scout.
• Bombs and the Flag never move. They are fortifications, not soldiers.

§ 05How combat works

When a piece moves onto an enemy piece, both ranks are revealed to both players and the fight resolves instantly:

Situation	Result
Attacker rank > defender rank	Defender removed, attacker occupies the square
Attacker rank = defender rank	Both removed — mutual destruction
Attacker rank < defender rank	Attacker removed, defender stays put

That's the whole combat system — three lines. The depth comes from what you don't know: every attack is a bet. Attacking an unknown piece with your Colonel is a strong bet; attacking with your Marshal risks assassination by a Spy. This is why players "probe" with cheap pieces first, learning the enemy's ranks one sacrifice at a time.

§ 06The four special pieces

The Spy (rank 1) — the assassin

The Spy loses to everything — except when it attacks the Marshal. A Spy that strikes the Marshal kills it. A Marshal that attacks the Spy kills the Spy like any weak piece. So the Spy only works as a hunter, never as a defender. Losing track of the enemy Spy is how Marshals die.

The Miner (rank 3) — the engineer

Bombs destroy any piece that attacks them — except the Miner, which defuses a Bomb and takes its square. Since strong defensive setups wall the Flag behind Bombs, Miners are endgame gold. Losing all five of your Miners while the enemy flag still sits behind Bombs is a common way to lose a winning position.

The Bomb — the minefield

Six immovable traps. They don't move and don't attack; they kill whatever attacks them (except Miners). Typical use: sealing the approaches to your Flag, or shielding your Marshal from unknown attackers.

The Flag — the objective

Immobile, defenceless, priceless. Where you hide it is a secret worth keeping: corner fortresses, decoy clusters, open-looking middle placements all have their believers. Any enemy piece that reaches the Flag wins the game instantly.

§ 07How you win

There are exactly two victory conditions:

1. Capture the enemy Flag — any piece that attacks the Flag wins immediately.
2. Immobilise the enemy — if your opponent has no legal move available (all remaining pieces are Bombs, the Flag, or fully blocked), you win.

A typical game has three phases: the reconnaissance opening (probing with Scouts and Sergeants to map enemy strength), the trading middle game (calculated attacks as ranks get revealed), and the flag hunt endgame (breaking through Bomb fortifications with Miners).

§ 08Five beginner mistakes

1. Leading with the Marshal. It wins fights and then dies to a Spy. Screen your Marshal with lesser pieces and keep it out of unknown fights.
2. Burning Scouts for no reason. A long Scout move screams "I'm a Scout!" and hands the enemy a free kill plus information. Use Scouts deliberately: to test a suspicious piece or to race into flag territory.
3. Clumping all six Bombs around the Flag. A fully-Bombed corner screams "flag here!" and tells the enemy exactly where to send Miners. Good setups mix real protection with convincing decoys.
4. Trading Miners early. Miners are weak in a straight fight. Spending them on random skirmishes leaves you unable to defuse the enemy fortress in the endgame.
5. Forgetting the Spy exists. Both yours and theirs. Track the enemy Spy's death — once it's gone, your Marshal is untouchable and can dominate the board.

§ 09Frequently asked questions

Sources: classic Stratego rules (Jumbo / Hasbro editions); rank table cross-checked across multiple rules references. Stratego® is a registered trademark of Jumbo / Hasbro; this is an independent fan site.