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How to Set up a Board in Stratego

Stratego is one of America's classic strategy board games. And unlike some strategic games like Chess, Stratego asks each player to determine his own starting position. This is a large responsibility, because more often than not, victory will go to the player who was more clever in setting up her initial board. Here are some good general guidelines for setting up a well-defended board.

Things You'll Need

Stratego board game

Instructions

- 1
  Face all your pieces towards yourself, so you can see them and your opponent can't. Laying your pieces out face-up before placing them on the board may let your opponents see them.
- 2
  Shuffle your pieces around while keeping them face-up, to keep your opponent from following the flag.
- 3
  Place pieces on the board in symmetric pairs. That is to say, if you are placing a piece in the left corner, place a piece in the right corner at the same time. Focusing on one corner will signal to your opponent that a flag is there.
- 4
  Place your flag in a corner, with a bomb directly in front and to the side of it. Place a low-numbered (1 to 5) piece adjacent to the two bombs.
- 5
  Place Scouts (9) along your open front ranks, as well as one or two medium low numbers (3 to 5).
- 6
  Place at least two miners (8) in the back row. You will need them late in the game to defuse bombs.
- 7
  Place your spy towards the middle back near your 2.

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