f you have ever played the game Stratego and found yourself wanting
more, then Stratego Legends is for you. For those of you who
are not familiar with Stratego, it is set in Napoleon
times with playing pieces ranging in value from 1 to 9
(1 being the best piece), bombs, and a flag (this is from
memory, I hope it is right). The object of the game is to capture
your opponent's flag. The game's twist is the pieces have
two sides, one side has info and the other side is blank. This makes it
so you can not see what your opponent's pieces are until they are
attacked (once attacked both pieces are revealed and the lower
number wins).
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Now, with Stratego Legends, the setting has changed to a time
when knights, wizards, and dragons roamed the land. Magic and
castles have replaced the bombs and flags, and each piece has
special abilities and actions. These abilities include: special
movements, flying, distant attacks, strength boosters, bring
pieces back from the dead, and a much more. The abilities and
actions add a whole new dimension to the game. The playing
pieces value from 1 to 10 (10 being the best), this is different
from the original Stratego where the lower number was better.
valon Hill has made Stratego Legends to be a collectible game.
There are 206 pieces and only 60 are in any given box. Usually this
turns me off to a game; I hate having to buy hundreds of packs
and not knowing if I will ever get the piece I have been looking
for. Fortunately, Avalon Hill only made six sets of the game and
if you get all six you will have the complete game (except for
two pieces that you can only get at gaming conventions). The
only bad thing is you have to open the game box to figure
out which set you have. This hasn't been a big problem for me.
I found that most game stores are willing to open the box so you can see
the set before you buy it. There are also a few places on the web that
sell the game by set number. This is not to say that you can not
play the game unless you get all six sets. Each set is well balanced
with 60 pieces (30 for each side), 4 board tiles (4 of 24), 6 reference
cards, and a manual. The fun part comes when you start customizing your
own army from among the sets you have. The board tile graphics are ok, but it would
have been cool if they were more like maps. The manual is easy to read, the
actual rules only take up about 6 pages. I found the rules to be very
thorough.
he setup is a bit different from the original Stratego, all the
pieces are randomly placed on the board and each player is allowed
to switch two sets of pieces. I was a a little disappointed that I could not set up my
pieces the way I wanted. I felt it took away from a major
strategy element from the original game, but the rationale behind
it is you could customize an army that was unstopable.
With the random setup sometimes your castle ends up on the front row.
I found myself wanting to switch my castle from the front lines to back.
By doing this switch, it gives your opponent a good idea where to start looking for
your castle. I have tried to use this to my advantage by
diverting attention away from my castle, but when your castle
is on the front row it hard not to move it. One of the good thing to
come out of the random setup is that it speeds up the game.
The game play is great! The first few games were slow because the capabilities of each piece are on the reference cards. But after a few games, you will find yourself needing the cards less. I have noticed that if I play someone new to the game it's hard for him or her to win. Newcomers usually do not use the special abilities of each piece effectively. They usually only look at the reference cards when an attack has taken place and by then it too late.
n conclusion, I like games that eliminate dice rolling; I always
favored games where strategy was at the forefront. This game has
a bit of luck in it (random setup), but not to the point where
I feel that I have lost control. Commit to memory the abilities
of your better pieces and use them in conjunction with other pieces
and you will do very well. All in all this is a winner of a game,
and I highly recommend it.
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