Intermediate: Defending Known Pieces

Courtesy player Despy on Stratego.com's forum

Despy's Question
I recently had a game where someone was very liberal with his captains, leaving me with three revealed pieces (major/colonel). I understand some of the strong aggressive players are the same with majors too, and I was curious what the best strategy(ies) are for protecting the pieces that you use to capture theirs. (Perhaps if you're one of the people who is very liberal with mid pieces, you could discuss the defensive strategies you find the most difficult to penetrate?)

I.e. suppose someone uses two captains and a major to capture some of your lower pieces, and you take them with two majors and a colonel. Ideally I suppose your strategy should be to trade down - and in a more aggressive setup where you're intending to expose your power early and are ready to trade down efficiently, this works well. But what if you have a more defensive setup that's vulnerable to counterattacks (i.e. your general is not readily available to counter his if you expose your marshal).

There are three possible solutions:

1. Scout your opponent's attacking pieces with one rank lower than the piece he sacrificed (i.e. if he lost a captain, then you should scout with your lieutenant). This means you end up with the highest piece on the board.

2. Sacrifice the piece your opponent found in order to capture smaller pieces and discover new information (i.e. if he found a major, attack and capture one of his pieces with your major to find a general or marshal). This means you end up with an advantage in smaller pieces and your opponent has the highest piece on the board.

3. Attack with a higher ranked piece than the piece that was revealed (i.e. capture a piece with your marshal or general). This means you are going to capture additional pieces and/or force your opponent to remember more of your pieces.

MrTimRules response
I'm just a mediocre player, but here's my take on the deal. I never attack a captain or a major with a colonel unless I have the general or marshal waiting to protect him. I prefer to take captains and majors with my top two men. It may give away the location of those men, but you still have to find a way around them or take them out.

The worst players to deal with are the one for one jokers. I'm always glad to see a player attack with captains or majors because I know their strategy isn't the endlessly boring one for one attack. I can beat most players who attack with lower ranked men, unless they double up on the marshal and general on one side. That can be a killer and hard to anticipate. But overall, attacking with captains and majors fails more than it succeeds, imo.

Dobby125's response
I tend to hide my higher pieces as long as possible. I'm a counter attacking player. IMO, it's always best to capture a known piece, with the next higher piece if possible. The less information you give, the better off you'll be. I will still capture majors with colonels, but make sure my colonels have escape routes. It's always important to save your lower pieces, so you can scout oncoming pieces.

Here's a video showing me bringing back my revealed colonel to safety. It's worth hiding pieces back into the crowd, because many players will forget where they went. I then reveal my opponent's colonel with a sergeant due to his poor setup. A sergeant should never be able to take three pieces and then reveal a very high piece. That's Stratego malpractice. This all leads to a disaster for my opponent. I bluff charge with a miner as quickly as I can. Since my opponent hasn't revealed my Marshal, General or other Colonel, they have no idea what's coming their way unless they can scout it with lower pieces. Usually, my goal is to find other high pieces or the spy(especially if I'm bluff charging with a scout). But if I think I can get to the 2nd back row, I like to bluff charge with a miner and hope to open up a possible flag location.

http://www.screencast.com/users/Dobby125/folders/Default/media/66da540b-fd9c-4d05-8232-93f4bc4dacfb

Losermaker's response
very interesting question. For me I often end up down 2-3 capts or luits, but I get them back. If you are going to use capts to attack, you have to know how to use the info. There is no point in giving away a capt to find a major (or even col) if you are not going to be able to trap it later. I practiced the skill of trapping pieces a lot, so now if I find a major early, I know 90% I will get it or 2 capts back for my 1 capt. But you have to practice trapping a lot, and I'm not just talking about the 2 squares rule. You have to know how to get your opponents piece on the side of the board you want either by bluff or force, and you have to be very patient, people get so nervous defending it, they make mistakes.

So I would say it does work, but you gotta know what you are doing.

Tobermoryx's response
Another thing to consider if you have just killed a Captain with a Major is maybe to just advance that Major into whatever. He may actually get another couple of small pieces before death or perhaps run into the Marshal.

Bad news if he just meets a Colonel or a bomb, but at least you don't have to worry about moving your main pieces around to defend that Major. Also if you advance that Major in the centre when you had a path to retreat the opponent may assume you can't possibly have your Marsh/Gen/Spy in the centre.

A game situation i don't like is having known Majors or Colonels pinned on my front row having no idea what is threatening them.

Enigma's response
3 possible solutions:

1. Scout your opponent's attacking pieces with one rank lower than the piece he sacrificed (i.e. if he lost a captain, then you should scout with your lieutenant). This means you end up with the highest piece on the board.

2. Sacrifice the piece your opponent found in order to capture smaller pieces and discover new information (i.e. if he found a major, attack and capture one of his pieces with your major to find a general or marshal). This means you end up with an advantage in smaller pieces and your opponent has the highest piece on the board.

3. Attack with a higher ranked piece than the piece that was revealed (i.e. capture a piece with your marshal or general). This means you are going to capture additional pieces and/or force your opponent to remember more of your pieces.

See more responses at the forum link above