Abstract Strategy

In Shangri-La, the mysterious and isolated utopia nestled high in the mountains, a strange struggle for dominance has begun. Once peaceful and neighborly, the Masters of the competing mountain-folk train their students and send them out across bridges to control neighboring villages. To take control of a village, the students must come together in uncomfortable alliances, regardless of their tribal origin. Eventually students become Masters themselves, train new students and expand to other villages.

There is one thing each student must keep in mind as they travel from village to village -- the mystical powers of Shangri-La mysteriously cause the bridges to collapse, separating villages forever. One crucial question will decide the winner: who will control the most Masters of Shangri-La?

Players take on the roles of leaders of a specific tribe. There is a battle raging over the empty villages of the land and players must quickly fill those villages with their tribal leaders. As players migrate tribal leaders from one village to the next, they must not become too weak or they risk losing leaders to opposing tribes. The ultimate object of the game is to have the most leaders on the board at the end of the game.
It is an abstract game with many options and tense until the end.

2004 Mensa Select

Thematically, players are adding masters and students, and trying to have the students migrate to nearby villages to become masters. Functionally, this is essentially a military game. Players either spend their turn reinforcing a village (adding more tokens there) or invading a neighboring village (expanding influence if you have more total tokens than the victim). The unique twist is that, after each invasion, the connecting bridge is removed. So over the course of the game, attack options become more and more limited, until the game naturally comes to a conclusion.

Each player attempts to score the most points by snaking caravan routes through the desert, trying to reach oases and blocking off sections of the desert. Many people feel that it is reminiscent of Go.

Publisher's Description
From the award-winning game designer Reiner Knizia comes a game of strategy, patience, and cool plastic camels! The desert is still treacherous, mysterious, and without mercy. But for those willing to risk the dangers of the shifting, sun-baked sands, the desert holds riches beyond compare.
In Through the Desert, two to five players each control a tribe of nomads vying for control of the desert. By establishing caravans and taking over oases, the players gain points as their tribes increase in power.
Strategy is essential in deciding how and where to build your tribe's caravans. There are multiple ways to gain points and several ways to win. Should you try to build the longest caravan? Or should you dominate the desert's oases? Don't forget to keep an eye on your opponents' caravans, or you may find your own tribe cut off from valuable water holes.

Through the Desert is part of the so called Knizia tile-laying trilogy.

User review: One player has twelve red frogs; the other player has twelve purple frogs. There is a yellow frog that can be moved by either player. The gameboard is a six-by-six grid. The perimeter squares are called the Outer Path. The Outer Path surrounds the squares called the Inner Path. The center four squares have been merged into the Pond, which is the goal area. Players roll both dice on their turn with the goal of getting one’s own frogs into the pond to win. The frogs may be stacked but an opponent whose frog rests on top of the stack can freeze a stack of two. An opponent can not freeze a stack of three. The stacking limit is five (except for the root and pond, which have none).

From the box:

The gameboard is your battlefield. You have an army of men at your disposal and six bombs. Your mission--protect your flag and capture your opponent's flag.

Secretly place your men, bombs, and flag on the gameboard with these objectives in mind. But remember your opponent is doing the same thing, so you must plan a defense as well as an offense.

Once the armies are in place, advance your men. When you're one space away from an enemy, attack. You and your opponent declare ranks. The lower-ranking man is captured and out of play.

You control your pieces and risk your men in battles where the strength of your enemy is unknown. The suspense builds as your men move deeper into enemy territory. Move with caution and courage. The next piece you attack could be a bomb. And when attacked, it could "blast" your man off the board and out of play.

The first to capture an enemy flag is the winner!

This game is similar to, and almost certainly derived directly from, the H.P. Gibsons (UK) game L'Attaque (1909). It is not exactly the same, but not far from it (numbered pieces, spy (same name) can kill the strongest piece but only when attacking, flag, bombs, etc.) These game in turn almost certainly draw on the classic Chinese children's game Dou Shou Qi.

Re-implemented by:

Stratego (Revised Edition) (aka Stratego Fire & Ice)
The Generals
Stratego: Legends
Stratego: Star Wars
Stratego: The Lord of the Rings
Ultimate Stratego
Electronic Stratego
Stratego: Marvel Heroes
Stratego: Star Wars Saga Edition
Stratego: The Chronicles of Narnia

and numerous others.

Similar to:

Admirals
Lu Zhan Jun Qi
L'Attaque
Batalj
Sharpe's Attack

Different Edition Complications
When first produced in Europe, the most powerful pieces had higher numbers. I.e. the Marshall (most powerful piece) was a 10, the General was a 9, and so on. The higher the rank, the higher the number.
When they introduced Stratego in the USA, the numbering was reversed, so the Marshall was a 1, the General 2, and so on. The 1st rank (most powerful) was 1, the second most powerful was 2, 3rd most powerful was 3....
Then, in 2000s Hasbro re-imagined Stratego in the USA and made a few changes. They reduced the number of pieces per side (from 40 to 30), added additional powers, and changed the numbering to reflect the European system.
This caused extreme consternation with many faithful American Stratego fans who preferred the 'old way'. (Actually the second oldest way, but whatever.) Many of these insist on playing Stratego with the 'Marshall 1 system'.
This wouldn't be a problem, except any and all discussions of Stratego are fraught with misunderstandings by those who are unaware of dual numbering systems! Keep this in mind when reading information about Stratego.

In the game Rumis, the players construct an Inca building with their stones. All players receive three-dimensional pieces made of wood, which they will try to position adjacent to their already placed pieces of their own color. All of their own pieces are of different shapes, which is a challenge to the three-dimensional imagination.

Cubic, wedge-shaped, or pyramidal volumes are different building limitations, which are imposed by the various building scenarios. Playing RUMIS, you will find that no game is similar to any previous one. Once your mind has mastered the puzzling shapes of the RUMIS pieces, you will explore the depth of tactical and strategic possibilities offered.

The rebrand by Educational Insights is labelled 1 to 4 players on the box, adding solitaire puzzles such as building a 3x3 cube with one color and building the various shapes using all the colors, following the rules of the multiplayer games while leaving no gaps in the structure.

Expanded by:

Rumis+