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Sabotage
It's Stratego™ with some extra subtleties that are not possible when facing your opponent across a real game board. Please read the rules carefully. This is not your father's basic strategy game. We have regular Sabotage (SG) as well as the faster variations Mini Sabotage (SM), Sabotage Rush (SR), Corner Sabotage (SC), and Sabotage Open Rush (SO). (Stratego™ is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc.)


  • read: Introduction
  • read: Object of the Game
  • read: Setup
  • read: Movement
  • read: Attacking
  • read: Hidden Identity
  • read: Headquarters
  • read: Atomic Landmines
  • read: Volcanoes
  • read: Generals
  • read: Recons
  • read: Saboteurs
  • read: Mini Sabotage (SM)
  • read: Sabotage Rush (SR)
  • read: Sabotage Open Rush (SO)
  • read: Mini Sabotage Rush (SN)
  • read: Corner Sabotage (SC)
  • read: Moving Pieces near the End of the Game
  • read: How to start Sabotage games on ItsYourTurn.com
  • read: Moving Sabotage Pieces on the ItsYourTurn.com Board
  • read: Draw Situation in Sabotage: No Captures for a Long Time



Introduction


Sabotage is similar to Stratego™, but there are some differences. You control an army which you use to capture your opponent's pieces and destroy his or her headquarters. You do not know what any of your opponent's pieces are unless you expose them using your Recon piece. You are not even told what an unknown opponent's piece is if you attack it; instead, our system determines who wins a battle. Also, some of the pieces in Sabotage are different from Stratego's™. (Stratego™ is a trademark of Hasbro, Inc.)
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Object of the Game You can win Sabotage by doing one of the following:
  • Capture your opponent's headquarters by moving any of your pieces onto it.
  • Capture all of your opponent's movable pieces.
  • Immobilize your opponent (they have no legal moves left).

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Setup Before the game begins, you must set up your army of pieces. You are prompted to do this in your first move of the game. If you need help setting up your pieces, you can visit our special instructions on setting up pieces. The example given on that page is for Battleboats, but you will set up for Sabotage in the same way.
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Movement You must move two pieces per turn unless you have only one movable piece left. (In Sabotage Rush, you move four pieces.) A piece can only move vertically or horizontally to an adjacent space that is empty or contains an enemy piece. There is no diagonal movement.

A piece may not move back to the space it moved from in the previous turn. But if more than one turn has passed since leaving a space, a piece may move back to it.

In the pictures below, the #5 General can move in the direction of any of the yellow arrows. If it moves up one space, on the very next turn it can only move where the blue arrows point, not back to the red X where it came from. But on any turn after that, it will be able to move back to the red X.


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Attacking You attack by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy piece. You might destroy the enemy piece or it might destroy yours, depending on what the pieces are (see below). When a piece attacks another of the same kind, the attacker always wins.
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Hidden Identity The enemy's pieces are unidentified. At the start of the game they only appear as question marks. Their identity becomes revealed only when they occupy a space next to one of your Recons (see below). If you attack an unknown enemy piece, you never learn what that piece is. You only see the result of the attack.
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Headquarters
The headquarters may be placed anywhere during your initial setup, but may not be moved during the game. Your goal is to capture the enemy headquarters with one of your pieces. Any piece may be used to 'capture' the headquarters, by simply moving onto it during a turn. If an enemy captures your headquarters, you lose the game.
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Atomic Landmines
Atomic Landmines are also positioned in the setup stage and can not be moved once the game begins. If any enemy piece other than a Saboteur (see below) moves onto an Atomic Landmine, then the enemy piece is destroyed and the Landmine remains on the board. If a Saboteur moves onto an Atomic Landmine, then the Landmine is destroyed and the Saboteur remains on the board.
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Volcanoes
Volcanoes appear on the board as barriers. They have no other purpose, and they are harmless.
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Generals
Generals appear as numbers which indicate their 'stars' or rank. The highest rank is #5. Generals defeat Saboteurs, Recons, and other Generals of lower rank. When one general attacks another of the same rank, the attacker always wins. If a General moves onto an Atomic Landmine, the General is always destroyed.

5 Star Generals have a special weakness. If they are attacked by a Saboteur, the Saboteur wins! However, if a 5 Star General attacks a Saboteur, the General wins. Also, the #5 is the only General that a Saboteur can defeat. If a Saboteur attacks, or is attacked by, any other General, the General wins.
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Recons
Recons expose the identity of all enemy pieces in the eight spaces immediately surrounding them. When attacking, they can only destroy another Recon or a Saboteur. Recons lose to all other pieces, and they die when attacked by anything.

The pictures below show a Recon moving next to some enemy pieces and identifying them.



The Recon also reveals a piece when it is stationary, but another piece moves to a space next to it.


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Saboteurs
When attacking, Saboteurs can destroy only 5 Star Generals, Recons, and other Saboteurs. If a Saboteur attacks any other General (4 stars or lower), the Saboteur dies. Saboteurs also die when attacked by anything.

When a Saboteur moves onto an Atomic Landmine, the Landmine is disarmed (removed from the board) and the Saboteur remains on the board.
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Mini Sabotage (SM)


Regular Sabotage, as described above, takes much time to play. A shorter version is Mini Sabotage. All the rules are the same, but the game has fewer pieces (20 instead of 30) and is played on a smaller 8 by 8 square board.
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Sabotage Rush (SR) Sabotage Rush is another variation which is faster than basic Sabotage. All rules are the same as regular Sabotage, but you must move four of your pieces in every turn instead of just two.
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Sabotage Open Rush (SO) Sabotage Open Rush is the same as Sabotage Rush, except that there are no volcanos on the board, and you get 5 moves per turn instead of 4. All other rules are the same as Sabotage Rush.
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Mini Sabotage Rush (SN) Mini Sabotage Rush is played the same way as Mini Sabotage (with the same board and number of pieces), except that there are no volcanos on the board, and each player gets 3 moves per turn instead of 2. All other rules are the same as Mini Sabotage.
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Corner Sabotage (SC) Corner Sabotage is identical to Sabotage Open Rush, except that the pieces are initially set up in a triangular pattern in the corners of the board, and 6 additional pieces have been added to the Sabotage Open Rush pieces. Those additional 6 pieces are two 1's, a 2, a 3, a recon, and a bomb.
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Moving Pieces near the End of the Game In all Sabotage games, you can not move a piece back to the space it came from in the previous turn. At the end of a game, when you have a number of pieces equal to or less than the number that you normally move in a turn, this might cause some unusual situations.

If you can not move the usual number of pieces (4 in Sabotage Rush, 2 in regular Sabotage and Mini Sabotage) then you should move all that you can and submit the move. If you can not submit the move, write to
websupport@itsyourturn.com and tell us exactly what move you want us to make.

If you see that your opponent has been able to move a piece back to a square that it came from in the previous move, then write to us. We will back the game up and ask that your opponent make a different move.
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How to start Sabotage games on ItsYourTurn.com To learn how to start a game of Sabotage, go to our help menu and select How to Start a Game or How to Join a Game.

When you and an opponent are in a game, the game is listed on your game status page. Click your opponent's name to view the game board. Green has the first move.

In your first move, you will have to set up your game pieces. If you need help setting up your pieces, you can visit our special instructions on setting up pieces. The example given on that page is for Battleboats, but you will set up for Sabotage in the same way.
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Moving Sabotage Pieces on the ItsYourTurn.com Board After a game of Sabotage is created (see How to Start a Game or How to Join a Game on our help menu) you may go to it any time by clicking your opponent's name as it appears on your game status page.

For your first move, you will have to set up the pieces. For help with this, you can visit our special instructions on setting up pieces. The example given on that page is for Battleboats, but you will set up for Sabotage in the same way.

After you and your opponent have set up the pieces, you will begin normal game play. Click your opponent's name on your game status page to view the game board in its current state. If it is your turn, you will see blue outlines around the pieces that your opponent changed in his previous move.

To begin your move, click once on a piece that you want to move. You will then see a new page with an outline around that piece. Then, click a space to which you will move that piece. You will see another page showing the piece moved, and another red outline around it.

Repeat this process for another piece. If you are playing Sabotage Rush, you will need to move a total of four pieces.

When you have moved all the pieces that you can, several Submit buttons appear beneath the board. You must click a submit button to finish your move.
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Draw Situation in Sabotage: No Captures for a Long Time If a game of Sabotage has a certain number of moves in a row with no captures, then the game is a draw. The number of moves varies according to the type of Sabotage game:

  • Sabotage: 50 moves per player
  • Sabotage Rush: 50 moves per player
  • Mini Sabotage: 35 moves per player

These rules apply to Sabotage games which were started after 5/8/01.

If one of your games has a series of moves that qualifies it as a draw, click 'Offer Draw' among the options beneath the game board. If your opponent refuses a draw but you are convinced that a draw is valid, then
contact us using our online contact form.

State the userids of the two players in the game, the color each is playing, the tournament and round if applicable, and the move numbers at the start and end of the series of moves with no captures. If a draw is warranted, we will declare it.

If there has been a capture after the series of moves qualifying the game as a draw, we will not declare a draw. You must write to us while the game is in the midst of the series of moves with no capture.

Note that you and your opponent can agree on a draw at any time without contacting ItsYourTurn.com
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