Made a great find at a garage sale today. Stratego is a classic game, which has been around since the 1910's in one form or another, and continues to be played today.
Over the years, many different versions have been produced, including Star Wars, LotR, Transformers, Civil War, and Narnia, to name a few. This version is from 1977, and follows the classic French military theming, as you can tell from the guy on the box with the sweet moustache and uniform.
The components are pretty good quality, but could be better, with the board being a standard single fold cardboard playing surface of the time period...
.. and the pieces being plastic.
I had never played this game, but I have memories of watching my cousins play it when I was a kid. I was a bit young to join in then, so tonight was my first experience.
Each player begins with identical pieces, placing them on their side of the board in whatever configuration they wish, filling in the last 4 rows with pieces. Most pieces have a number value, which determines the outcome of the battle when pieces fight. But since you don't know where your opponent has placed their pieces, you often don't know how you'll fare going into a battle in the beginning. As the game progresses, you gain more info about your opponent's forces, but at the beginning, you're flying blind.
In addition to the numbered troop pieces, each side has 5 bombs and 1 flag. The goal of the game is to capture your opponent's flag. If your piece hits a bomb, that piece is defeated, unless it's a miner, who can defuse the bomb.
I really enjoyed this game, and look forward to playing again. It's not insanely heavy, but it does involve enough strategic planning and memory to keep it interesting. I can definitely see some things I could have done better, so I plan to tweak my strategy slightly next time I play.