Like
Stratego, its
originator, Stratego 4 features a 17th century army.
All the units are shielded from the view of enemy players, and the only way you can find out is if you attack the unit, it attacks you, or it's brought back from the dead(you'd have to look in the rulebook for that one). This makes for a game that is part Concentration, part Risk and part Chess.
Units can usually move only one space at a time(except for the Captain), and only vertically, and horizontally.
The objective is to move the unit with your flag to a
fort in the center of the board.
Unlike chess, a player can play Stratego 4 for a good time without thinking out every move. This makes playing more fun, since the chances for a miscalculation are higher, but they can be recovered from with time.
Unlike Stratego, Stratego 4 does not remind one of Mindsweeper, and lets you play two other players in a game of three-player Stratego, or as teams in four-player Stratego, where your team has to put one of its flags on the fort.
Unlike Risk, where you can plan for surprise attacks easily, in Stratego 4, you don't know where an attack can lie until it happens, and so, a good bluff is as valuable as in a game of poker.