What is the Stratego game?
Stratego is a two-player strategy board game built around hidden information. Each side deploys an army with ranks concealed from the opponent. Your objective is to capture the opposing Flag while protecting your own. Knowing which piece is stronger is only part of the challenge: you also need to remember what has moved and what combat has revealed.
This independent field guide covers classic play and uses modern rank numbers. It is not an official rulebook. The player at the top loads a separate third-party service from play.stratego.com when you press Play. Its accounts, availability and rules are controlled by that provider. The local rank lab below the player answers one narrow question: what happens when a chosen attacker meets a chosen defender? It cannot check board position, movement legality, repetition or a whole match.
How to set up a Stratego game
The classic board has ten rows and ten columns, with two impassable two-by-two lakes in the middle. Each player places forty pieces in the four rows nearest their own edge. Leave the two middle rows empty. Arrange pieces so that you can read their identities but your opponent cannot.
Each classic army has thirty-three movable pieces, six Bombs and one Flag. The Flag and Bombs stay where they were placed. Check the instructions supplied with your edition before starting: smaller editions and themed versions can differ from the classic army described here.
Movement and combat in the Stratego game
Players alternate turns. Most movable pieces travel one square horizontally or vertically. They cannot move diagonally, jump other pieces, enter a lake or land on a friendly piece. A Scout can travel along a clear row or column over multiple empty squares. A long move therefore reveals that the piece is a Scout.
To attack, move a movable piece onto an enemy-occupied square it can legally reach. Reveal both pieces. Normally the stronger rank survives and the weaker piece is removed. If the attacker survives, it occupies the defender's square; if the defender survives, it stays put. When equal ranks meet, remove both pieces.
A Scout can also attack along a clear row or column under the classic rules described in the reference below. It cannot attack through another piece or a lake. Check edition-specific restrictions, including repetition and chasing rules, in the rulebook you are using.
Three important combat exceptions
Miner against Bomb: an attacking Miner defuses a Bomb and takes its square. Every other movable piece is removed when it attacks a Bomb; the Bomb remains.
Spy attacking Marshal: a Spy captures a Marshal when the Spy initiates that attack. The exception is directional. If the Marshal attacks the Spy, the Spy is removed. A Spy also loses to other stronger ranked pieces in ordinary combat.
Capturing the Flag: any movable piece that legally attacks the enemy Flag captures it and wins. Bombs and Flags cannot move or initiate an attack. A player with no legal move or attack also loses under the classic rules; consult your edition for edge cases and draw rules.
Stratego rank reference
In the modern numbering used by this guide, the order from strongest to weakest is: Marshal 10, General 9, Colonel 8, Major 7, Captain 6, Lieutenant 5, Sergeant 4, Miner 3, Scout 2 and Spy 1. The Spy's special attacking ability is an exception, not a higher general rank. Bombs and the Flag do not have a normal movable-piece rank.
The classic forty-piece distribution is one Marshal, one General, two Colonels, three Majors, four Captains, four Lieutenants, four Sergeants, five Miners, eight Scouts, one Spy, six Bombs and one Flag. An older numbering system labels the Marshal 1, General 2 and so on, with the Spy marked S. Names are the safest way to compare sets with different numbering.
Using the Stratego rank lab
Choose an attacking piece in the first menu and a defending piece in the second. The result changes when you change a selection; the Resolve encounter button also runs the comparison. Try Spy against Marshal, then Marshal against Spy, to see why the direction matters. Compare Miner against Bomb with Scout against Bomb to understand the other major exception.
The defender menu includes Bomb and Flag, but the attacker menu does not: neither can initiate combat. The tool runs in your browser and does not save your selections as a match. Without JavaScript, read the rules on this page instead.
Practical habits for learning
Start by learning piece names and movement before trying to memorize a complete army setup. Notice that a piece which moves cannot be a Bomb or Flag. A piece that travels several squares in one straight move is a Scout. Remember revealed identities rather than treating every encounter as a fresh guess.
These are consequences of the rules, not a guaranteed winning strategy. Your opponent's concealed setup and the pieces remaining on the board determine which moves are useful. Keep your own edition's rulebook nearby when an unusual position occurs.
Rules references and scope
This introduction was checked against the Strategus classic rules reference. A Hasbro Stratego rulebook is also available for players checking a particular edition; its rank numbers may differ from this guide. Visit the official Stratego website for the brand's own offering. External websites control their availability, accounts, pricing and terms.
Stratego is a trademark of its respective owner. This website uses the name to identify the game being discussed and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the rights holder.