Analyze the components of a chosen board game (Stratego).

The setup of Stratego involves placing your army on your side of the board in whichever configuration you want. Only one piece can go in each square on the board, and all pieces must be placed in the last four rows of the board. There is an implied rule in the setup phase that players should not place their flag in their front ranks. This could lead to a quick and easy victory by the other player. Each piece has a number 2-10 written on it. The only exceptions to this are the flag (objective), bombs, and a spy. During the game, players take turn moving their pieces one space at a time across the board. Pieces can move forward, backwards, or sideways across the board, but not diagonally. There are two small lakes in the center of the board that pieces cannot move into. If your piece moves into a space occupied by an opponent’s piece, both players read the numbers on their piece, and the piece with the lower number is destroyed. The piece with the higher number remains on the space that was attacked. If both pieces have the same number, both are destroyed. A few of the pieces have special rules attached, namely the scout and the miner (pieces number 2 and 3, respectively). The scout can move as many spaces in a row as are open and attack on the same turn. The miner can destroy bombs. Because bombs are often placed around the flag, players must keep their miners alive to the end of the game. The spy defeats any piece that it attacks but is also defeated by any piece that attacks it. Bombs and flags cannot attack. If a bomb is attacked, the piece that attacked it is removed from the field and the bomb remains on the field. The game has two possible resolutions. A player wins if they find and attack the opponent’s flag. Additionally, a player loses the game if they cannot move or attack on a turn (i.e. they have only bombs and a flag remaining). The controls of the game are simple, as you just move the pieces in any direction and do single-digit math. The instruction booklet included with the game allows players to familiarize themselves with the rules of the game before playing. 

A player’s resources are the units in their army. A player has 33 movable pieces, 6 bombs, and a flag. Players must choose their positioning and moves carefully, because as pieces are removed from the board, an opponent can begin to predict which pieces are in which position on the board. A game state in Stratego involves the remaining pieces on the board after a specific number of movements. The game state can be analyzed by players to try to gain an advantage on their opponent. Because both players control the same resources at the beginning of the game, each knows exactly which pieces their opponent has on the field in each state. The face of each player’s pieces is hidden from the other player but using deduction and reasoning they can figure out which pieces are where. Information is revealed to the players throughout the game, testing their memories. Every time a piece attacks, the number of that piece is revealed. This means that attacking a piece just to remove it is not always the right move. If a player knows where your Marshal (piece number 10) is on the board, they can maneuver and position around it.

While stratego does not have a story structure, it is based on historical wars where armies attack each other from either side of a battlefield. The pieces have grainy pictures of soldiers, and the board is designed like an open battlefield. The grainy, historical photos on the pieces give them a little character even though they are the equivalent of chess pieces.

Generally, I agree with the decisions made by the game designers, such as the simplicity of the board. The interactions between the pieces is the game’s focus, and the board having only two small obstacles are great for providing variation in strategy while not removing focus from the pieces. Additionally, the decision for a player to have relatively few high-rank pieces, as well as giving low-rank pieces special abilities, makes every piece on the board feel impactful. A player’s marshal could destroy every piece on the board, but that player would still need a miner to remove the bombs. This teaches the player about the power of teamwork on a battlefield, but also in their everyday life. This design decision also shows the player that no one person can be good at everything. If many people are good at many different things, they can come together to accomplish a common goal. However, the design of the game leads players to surround their flag with bombs. This means that if a player loses all their miners early into the game, they must force a tie because they cannot win. This means that even new players must be very careful with their resources. Overall, Stratego is a fun strategy game that can be as simple or complex as the player wishes. The ability for a good player to combine predicting their opponent and information gained on each turn to figure out which pieces are hiding where on the board is what draws me to it. I would recommend Stratego to anyone, as it is as fun with little strategy as it is with a full battle plan.