Ato-Blitz War Games

This is a Stratego-like game that's actually two games, an army game and a navy game. Pieces are set up on a board in a manner similar to Stratego, but rather than being linear (numerical values), the units have a rock-paper-scissors relationship. i.e. the tank unit is superior to infantry and engineers but is inferior to aircraft, artillery, and mine units.

For those who want to recreate the (army) game, the pieces are as follows: Private, corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant = 3 each. Second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, 1, 2, 3, and 4 star generals = 1 each. Tanks=2, plane=1, Anti-aircraft/anti-tank=5. Mines=6, Engineers=6. A-Bomb=1.

Infantry take each other according to rank; infantry also takes anti-aircraft/anti-tank and engineers. Tanks and planes take infantry and engineers. Plane takes tank, anti-aircraft/anti-tank takes planes and tanks, engineers take mines without damage. Mines are stationary pieces that explode and destroy anything that triggers it except an engineer. The A-Bomb is essentially a movable mine that destroys every piece in a surrounding square when it explodes.

The pieces are like mah jongg tiles arranged so that the opponent cannot see what kind they are -- he just sees blank pieces advancing toward him. When a piece is attacked or attacks, it is turned over so that the face is visible. It then becomes a known piece for the rest of the game.

We played the game in Hawaii in elementary school in the late 1950s. There were two blank pieces included, presumably in case a piece got lost. We sometimes used these to create two additional pieces, the brainwasher and the kamikaze. The kamikaze was simply a flying bomb. The brainwasher changed an opponent's piece into one of your own. It was not possible to brainwash the A-Bomb.