Beginner: Setups

Examples of setups
On UltraStratego.com

Below article taken from player "Losermakers" tutorials

Balanced and Defensive setups
We all have our favourite setups, and we all like them for different reasons. I believe this is a good topic for the first tutorial as your setup is your solid base from which to build your game; It is amazing how 1 or 2 flaws in your setups can let the rest of your game down. I hope this tutorial helps you realise flaws you may have and also lays down a few fundamentals to help you make good setups on the fly.

The more you improve and gain confidence the more you will try things, often resulting in crazy setups that look like they should never be used. Though these have reasons why they are the way they are, we are going to look first at more standard setups then move to more advanced methods of implementing bluff, attack, defence, and most importantly, surprise into your setups.

Based on my own experiences these are some of the general ways to make a good balanced setup:

Do’s:

Bomb in your flag, either corner or tripod is fine

Keep at least 3 miners in the back 2 rows (4 is preferable)

Back front row pieces up with ranks 3-4 ranks higher (i.e. back up lieutenant with a major or a colonel)

Don’ts:

Put all 3 majors in the front 2 rows, have at least 1 in the back 2

Bomb off centre

Have more than 2 high bombs

Bomb in pieces higher than a sergeant

Have catch points where an opponent can entirely block off piece movement (mostly applies to endgame)

Based on these principles I have made a setup off the top of my head.

Example1:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cv4c93u49tl12jv/Example1.PNG?dl=0

Now this setup is a bit rough, but it does include a good number of the basic elements that make up good setups. As you can see the front row scouts are backed up by sergeants or captains which are backed up by general and colonel. The setup offers good manoeuvrability for endgame and overall is not  too  bad for defense, or an offensive up the centre or down the right lane.

It’s time to tailor this to suit your own style, I will start with defensive options using a style of setup making (analysing each small part) that I like to use. A few of the previous principles still apply such as bombed in flag and backing up pieces but some tweaks will help a lot if you plan to play defensively.

I think that playing a good defensive game is about having a setup that is easy to move pieces around in, and also about how much information you give away/how much you can hide. Say for example the captain on the right, it’s fine there but if a lieutenant comes down and takes the scout, you take it with captain, your colonel is now exposed for a scout at I7.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rymjky7gwz9590m/Example1%28part2%29.PNG?dl=0

A simple fix for this is to move the colonel behind the lake. This makes it harder to use the marshal on your right side, but it is better for keeping info down.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sj7mequrzmjab66/Example1%28part3%29.PNG?dl=0

After each adjustment you should do a small analysis on what you have just changed and whether there is more adjustment needed.

Looking at this again there is a small thing I would change, I would swap the captain at I4 for the lieutenant at J2. The reason for this is that front row pieces often don’t survive long, and its better to be a lieutenant down rather than a captain.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pcx2mhfg6zubav8/Example1%28part4%29.PNG?dl=0

However, this means that a captain coming down your right could hit J4, then J5 before you can swap captains. To solve this, you will have to play that lieutenant moves up one and you slot the colonel in behind it. Both methods of captain and lieutenant should work fine, you may want to try both and see what works best for you.

I think that’s enough adjustment on the right for now, let’s move to check the centre.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oemv7e8tt2m64au/Example1%28part5%29.PNG?dl=0

The centre is quite well set up for defensive play IMO, but it does allow you to quickly bring out the marshal if you see an opportunity to trap a valuable piece. You can either choose to leave the centre to play out, and let captains or lieutenants take the scout or sergeant, and take it from there, or you can move sergeant up and put major behind it, or move scout up and put marsh behind it, all of which are good options.

The only thing I might change is the miner. Having 1 high miner is not bad, but here it is not going to be used as more than a discovery piece, which is something I don’t think miners should be used for at all, leave that to the scouts.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ip50hhrb5qzwig/Example1%28part6%29.PNG?dl=0

The other benefits of swapping that miner is in the scenario where you use the scout at F4 to identify a piece, you find it’s a sergeant, he manages to swap serges, then captains end up swapping; not only do you have another piece to replace the captain, but you also are able to leave the miner near your flag until the end of the game; maintaining setup shape to keep your opponent guessing.

Let’s move on to the left side.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a51el5gckfuklkk/Example1%28part7%29.PNG?dl=0

It is not too bad, but for me I can see that this  could  lead to some tricky situations that can make it very, very hard for you. Say he brings down a captain, you swap captains and eventually he ends up in some way or another with his marshal at B3.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gg5gdfm2srvdm8a/Example1%28part8%29.PNG?dl=0

This is very tricky for you, if you try to bluff the spy (C2-C3?) he traps your gen by B3-B4 or if you actually try to use spy he may or may not call it and just take the spy. If you try to clear out the centre to bring your general across, it leaves the major at B2 very unprotected and also the spy quite vulnerable. If you sit and wait he could diffuse the bomb, and then bring down a lieutenant or captain and take the sergeant, which will (in one way or another) result in the loss of the major.

If you do use a setup similar to this and get in this situation then there is not much really that you can do but maybe just sit tight and hope for the best and if you get an opportunity to get your general into the lane (blue B3-A3 after diffusing bomb) make sure you go for it and keep diagonal.

Of course, the easy way around this is just to change whole side of this setup .

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jh7sri8bnaqfcpe/Example1%28part9%29.PNG?dl=0

For myself I decided the bomb had to go and did a complete re-arrange, just take a little time to think through brand new ideas and don’t hold onto your original plans for your setup, sometimes you just have to go back and redo a whole part or even the entire setup.

Finally take a look at the setup as a whole and see if there is anything that you would change, after all, you don’t have to rearrange with just the pieces close by.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h65obyqsovjnds4/Example1%28part10%29.PNG?dl=0

I’m pretty happy with the setup overall, now its time to test it out. IMO you should always test in RANKED games. My reason for this is that I find myself playing different with known opponents/friends and often I will do things that may not help reflect my setups true potential. Some setups are just not suited to your opponent’s playstyle.

Just to wrap this part up, make sure that when testing you try to think what went wrong/right (recording your game for analysis is great), i.e. was the sergeant at B4 ok? Should you swap it to B3 with the scout? Where seems to be the best start for this setup? I4-I5? E/F4-E/F5? A/J4? Try to remember these things when playing and get confident with the setup.

Here are a few more examples to try/get ideas from.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/z7tohscc7c7sc66/Defensive02.PNG?dl=0

Another standard style defensive setup

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rhu3uhkvawmhbzh/Defensive03.PNG?dl=0

A defensive setup with a bit of extra flair.

Please note: all of the setups used in this tutorial have NOT been tested at all and may have flaws (hopefully only small) in them.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions please feel free to ask them in my other thread found here: http://forum.stratego.com/topic/358485-losermakers-stratego-tutorials-discussion-and-questions/

Aggressive Setups
Making a setup for an attacking style is more of a specialized thing in my experience. Before, we made a balanced setup, then we adjusted it to suit the defensive player better. I find with attacking setups you are not really able to do this as much and when you do, you end up with a half-hearted setup that can lead you to playing defensively with a setup that is giving away too much information.

Attacking is in itself something that quite a number of players struggle with, but if your setup is helping you out it makes it  a lot  easier. Here are a few hints for a good aggressive setup: Some other things to think about when making the setup:
 * 1) Your setup must be made to allow you to attack very quickly whenever you need to, time is the essence when attacking.
 * 2) You must have a plan of how you are going to attack (and adjust your setup to suit this), otherwise you will end up shuffling around or making bad attacking decisions or just playing defensively.
 * 3) You should make your setup to allow your attacking piece(s) a fairly quick path back to a defensive position.
 * 4) Have some time buying pieces on your non-attacking lanes. These should be either bombs, expendable pieces, or pieces that can quickly trade out.
 * 5) Don’t go half-hearted into making aggressive setups, if you are going to commit to playing an aggressive game then do it and back yourself. Be confident

First off, do you know your opponent? This can largely influence your attacking setup. Let’s say you don’t for this example.

Next decide what piece you want to attack with. The marshal is the most popular choice, but generals and even colonels can be just as effective if used the right way.

Decide how you want to attack, i.e. Left/middle/right lane? How far do you plan to take your attack? 2 rows deep? 3? Even 4 and search for the flag?

What do you plan on coming out of the attack with? Is a captain enough?

Once you have thought through these things a bit you should be ready to start making the setup.

Scenario: I don’t know the opponent, I want to attack with the marshal up the right lane and I want to go 2 rows deep and hopefully get some info and at least capture a major. Attacking is a game of risk vs reward, here you have to hope that your opponent’s setup includes some valuable pieces up that right side.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/22i285c6lmcvnn7/Example1.PNG?dl=0

This setup looks fairly similar to the standard setups, but there are a few key things that make this better for attacking. The first of these is the captain at J4, you can just go charge into the front rows with him and if he gets taken, it gives you your target piece to capture. The next is the scout at G4, you should aim to use this scout as soon as possible; this allows a clear path to the centre should you need to bring your marshal back in a hurry. The next are the 2 diagonal bombs at A1 & B2, they buy you time in case he makes a counterattack down that side. And finally, the general is in a position ready to defend or swap with the opponents general in the left or the centre.

The key to making this attack successful is board position and time. Start with the captain at J4, move him up and lotto around until he is taken or traded. If he gets traded you can use your lieutenant until you find a piece to target.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gsrukbs129z0fpz/Example1%28part2%29.PNG?dl=0

An example of a situation you could likely end up in.

I will not go on about how to perform the attack but I will explain it in detail later in another tutorial. For now, I just want you to understand what helps make a good attacking setup.

In the next example, suppose that you know your opponent, he is from the Netherlands, play’s a bluff style game, likes to keep his marshal hidden until the endgame, and plays fairly consistent (setups don’t vary crazily). If you want to make an attack on him your best chance of being successful is probably with the general.

The same thought processes apply. I know my opponent, I want to attack with the general to gain a major or captain(s), or in trying to do so, draw out his marshal and find it for little cost. I am not going to try to go too deep into his setup as his marshal is probably deeper in and will stop me soon. I am going to try attacking up the left (or right, personal choice) because players that keep their marshal hidden like it in a balanced spot (centre) in a lot of cases.

From my own experience a general/captain combo works well, the captain allows you to find a major or higher to target and has a good chance of picking up a front row lieutenant or sergeant. You could use a lieutenant, it’s just a matter of personal preference here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kqw3w9mhwaqq736/Example2.PNG?dl=0

Here the key points are the captain at A4 and the 3 scouts at B4, C4, and C3. These allow you to make the attack, but also allow you to discover the marshal and help your general stay diagonal if you need to. The rest of the setup can be played how you want really for defense. It can be very solid because you can use both the marshal and spy for defense. Here I went for a bluff style option with the rest of my pieces.

The last aggressive setup I want to cover is a more unbalanced one with greater risk, but one which can also give back some very rewarding outcomes. This setup is what I like to call a ‘combined attack’ which involves the marshal and general together, or at least very close by.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4rhwah18ok7dkgz/Example3.PNG?dl=0

The main benefit of this style of setup is when you find a high piece (say a colonel), he gets diagonal to your marshal or general, but you now can use your marshal/general that is close by to help trap it. The other possibility with this setup is to make a heavy attack and go for your opponent’s flag early. It is quite unlikely to pull off regularly, but if you are up against a player in a tournament and you don’t think you will win, it may be a decent option that they might not be expecting.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ulqzcxp975uexa0/Example3%28part2%29.PNG?dl=0

A possible situation.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1mfmv403h70hl3b/Example4.PNG?dl=0Another&#x20;combined&#x20;example.

Please Note: None of these setups have been tested and may contain flaws (especially the combined ones as I was in a bit of a rush) but feel free to make adjustments and try out different things to suit you better.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions please feel free to ask them in my other thread found here: http://forum.strateg...-and-questions/

Alternatively, you can send me a PM but if it is a general question I think it is better that it is a public post so that all may learn/benefit from it.

Bluff and Surprise
This is the last of the setup strategy tutorials, hopefully you’re not totally bored with setups just yet…

This is what I think is the most important part of making a setup, adding the element of bluff and surprise. It’s what makes the difference between a platinum marshal and most lower gold players.

Consider this scenario: The gold player gets matched with a platinum marshal and puts in his best setup that he has been using lately. This setup of his is fairly normal, marshal and general behind the lakes, basic backing up of pieces; a good setup, but a predictable one. The platinum player will probably pick up on this quickly, that means the gold player is (figuratively) playing with half his base on ‘all viewable’. On the other hand, the platinum marshal will have weird little traps and strange positionings to mess up the gold player, confusing and frustrating him until he makes stupid moves.

This becomes more and more important the higher you go in rank, especially once you have played opponents several times. It can become a battle for who can do something different that will catch the other player off guard because it’s not considered a ‘normal’ strategy.

I advise against trying lots of new things at once, you might want to just try 1 thing (i.e. flag in the 2 row) and keep the rest of the setup normal. Sometimes I find myself trying too hard to be different, when all I really need is just 1 small thing. Having only one bluff/surprise in an otherwise normal setup actually makes the surprise more effective as your opponent just expects a standard setup.

Of course, the most basic bluff element in a setup is the option of an open flag. This can be a great mix up but there are a few things to consider before throwing it out there.

I would not do an open flag if: The cases where I would do an open flag are: Even if all of these last 3 things are true, an open flag is still always a risk. Having an open flag means the game is never over until it’s over. Until you can block all three lanes and have all their scouts, then you are always in danger until the end.
 * 1) I think I can win without it (lower opponents).
 * 2) I know my opponent likes to lotto or will be forced to lotto easily (after losing only a small number of pieces).
 * 3) It will make me play the rest of my game nervous, which creates errors.
 * 1) When I think I need to do something different to win (very high opponents).
 * 2) My opponent is someone who does not like having to lotto unless in really desperate need.
 * 3) My opponent is a player that really attacks the flag hard, it may buy me time to get up pieces whilst he goes for a decoy.

There is a catch with open flag though. Since it’s too risky to use vs lower players, you only use it for the higher ones. But these same higher players are better at reading setups, and normally are more strategic with their lottoing. In order for it to work you have to keep calm and make sure you don’t give away any hints by where you are letting your high pieces sit and your reaction to moves when he is around your open flag.

I have found that there are certain players who just seem to always miss my bombs and hit my open flag. If you decide to still play open vs these kinds of players I found a little trick that helped me. Start by placing your bombs and flag in your setup for an open flag. Now swap the flag with the bomb of your choice. Simple logic, but I found these certain opponents finding my flag less.

If you are not going with an open flag, there are still plenty of options to catch your opponent off guard with. It really is just a matter of trial and error and finding what works consistently for you.

Here are a few ideas to try:

Marshal in the back row, marshal behind a bomb, marshal in the front row - but used as a defensive piece (how do you stop him from being discovered early?).

Front row spy, does having the spy in the wings at A3 or J3 make him too vulnerable?

Open flag (if you don’t already), flag in the 3rd row, flag in the 2nd row.

Crazy bomb setups, can you bomb off a side? How many high bombs allows your setup to still be playable during the endgame?

Front row colonels can be very effective, but it takes some practice and you might lose a few initially.

Bombing in pieces?

Put marshal and general together (combined attack or defensive)

And so many more…

All of these things should not necessarily be a standard part of your setups, but you may take 1 (or maybe 2) bits and use them when you think you really need to do something different to win. The point of trying them out is to expand your game in what you think, or afterwards know, is possible.

I have tried all of these, and you can get all of them to work given the right circumstances. I once (in a ranked game) even did a corner flag bluff with the general bombed in… I won with it, but I don’t really recommend it

An example of an unorthodox flag placement:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xssw1v38yqxuqd8/Example1.PNG?dl=0

An example of the marshal behind a bomb setup:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xri1lq6t0256vu5/Example2.PNG?dl=0

Patience is required with this one and you normally would have to bluff the sergeant at G4 as your marshal. Make sure you keep that sergeant’s identity as secret as you would your marshal.

Tricky bombs:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sssdipyvoq4wydb/Example3.PNG?dl=0

Just have to survive until the endgame…

I cannot stress enough the importance of being willing to lose a few games trying out new crazy things to see if it’s possible to make a strategy work. There are so many things to try (and there is always something new) that it takes time to test them, but you come out of it a better player.

Before wrapping up tutorial 1, I want to explain something that I forgot in part1. I said, “ Don't  have catch points where an opponent can entirely block off piece movement (mostly applies to endgame).”. I would like to explain this a little more as this is very important and applies to ALL setups. Having a ‘catch point’ is basically a part of your setup that may restrict your movement during the game if your opponent puts a piece in a particular spot. Here is an example:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g3cu83z013pd40u/Example4.PNG?dl=0

If the blue player is willing to keep his colonel there, then half (!) of red’s pieces are trapped down in his base. It is quite rare that an opponent will think to trap you down like this, but if someone does then you will realise just how damaging it can be. You want to avoid this, no matter what style setup you have.

Please Note: The setups used in this part have not been tested and may contain flaws, but feel free to make adjustments and try out whatever crazy idea(s) you get!

Well that wraps up the first tutorial, hopefully my next tutorial will be a bit more interesting when I discuss “Calculating Moves and Outcomes”

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions please feel free to ask them in my other thread found here: http://forum.strateg...-and-questions/

Alternatively, you can send me a PM but if it is a general question I think it is better that it is a public post so that all may learn/benefit from it.

Mix it up,

Losermaker

Special thanks to Morx for his Setup Editor and Tilor for Editing.