Stratego Meets Magic

I first saw Stratego Legends at the Gencon in 1999. I happend to be working at the Hasbro booth demonstrating one of their upcoming computer fantasy game (Majesty) and during the show the Avalon Hill guys were showing off this game(Avalon Hill is now a Hasbro brand for those who might have been living in the closet for the past year or two). At the time I was too busy to pay much attention to it but by the end of the show I understood that it was going to be a collectible board game based on Stratego.

Now, I like playing Stratego and all, but I was a little unconvinced that a collectible boardgame was something that was really going to work that well. Even so, when the game finally came out a few weeks back I was intrigued enough to pick it up and give it a try. I'm really glad that I did. What Hasbro has done is create a game that uses some of the concepts behind collectible card games like Magic the Gathering, and blends them into one of the classic board games - Stratego. What you get is something that not just works, but works well. It's one of the best boardgames that I've purchased in a long time.

What's the Deal?

Okay, this is how it works. The basic boxed set gives you two forces of 30 pieces each, four board tiles, a rules booklet, and some references cards. There are a total of 240 possible pieces so you aren't getting all of them. There are also 24 of the board tiles available. Again, you're only getting a small portion of all the possible pieces. Luckily, Hasbro hasn't left everything up to chance and the forces that you are given are each well balanced so you don't find yourself wishing that you had more pieces right off the bat.

How's It Play?

If you've ever played Stratego (and I have to assume that most of us have) then you already know the basics of Legends. Movement and basic attacks are essentially unchanged. Only you can see your own pieces until you move into a space occupied by an opposing piece. At that point both pieces are revealed and the piece with the higher number wins. It stars to diverge quickly though as each of the pieces may also be given special abilities or powers that can affect the game in some way. This is where the game gets interesting.

The board tiles each have different land types in the various squares. Many of the abilities possesed by the pieces are based on land types of some sort. You might have a piece that gets a bonus to his strength if he is in a swamp square, or a piece might be able to teleport from one desert square to another. There are a large number of possible abilities or special actions that a piece might get and, unfortunately, you will need to reference these abilities on the cards provided to figure out what the abilities are. The pieces themselves give no indication as to what abilities the pieces have. This is the only serious drawback to the game since when you first start playing each person will tend to look at each of his pieces on the board, look the piece up on the cards, decide if it's worth using, then move on to the next piece. Repeat this process 15-20 times before the players turn is over. It only takes a few games to really learn what the majority of the pieces do so games get quicker as you play more.

One nice thing is that as you play you also find that you can start using pieces in combination to create interesting effects - much like you might do in a game of Magic. Another aspect taken from card games is the randomization of setup. In the original Stratego one of the most important parts of the game was the setup. Choosing the best place for all of your pieces to defeat your opponent. I think that it probably became clear that when you add all of the special abilities, if you could actually choose where everything went you could create some unstoppable setups. So, you randomly place the four board tiles that make up the playing surface and your pieces must be placed randomly as well. After you have placed your pieced you may then make two "swaps". The first you would probably use to move your castle to a more defended position since if you lose the castle, you lose the game. Strategy gamers are probably going to have a real problem with this.

Actually, this collectible aspect is something that harcore strategy gamers will complain about as well. You see, it is possible to create your own army by choosing pieces from the possible 240 - but to get all of the pieces you either need to purchase more boxed sets of the game, or you can buy booster packs of the pieces as well. The only limitations to building your own army is that you have to use the same numbers of the same types of pieces as the basic setup (one strength 10 piece, one strength 9 piece, three strength 8 pieces and so on) and your forces must all be from the same side. The forces are made up from allied good guys and bad guys so you must be one or the other.

In Conclusion...

It plays quickly, and the rules are simple enough that there's not a lot of room for argument. You have the ability to customize your army and that's always a lot of fun. Gameplay is great with a lot of depth for something so simple. Early games will always go to the one that knows his forces the best though. The art on the pieces is very nice but will probably be familiar to some collectible card players. Constant checking of reference cards can be annoying at first but before long you'll know your pieces where you'll only be doing it every now and then.

This game could be big. Better yet, it SHOULD be.