Easy Setup Guide and Ideal Box Arrangement

Stratos comes with a generous number of game pieces to give you a lot of flexibility in how to play, without needing to buy expansions just to play with more than 4 players. We've also provided more plastic baggies than we were sure of needing, just because everyone has their own preferences in organizing game boxes.

However, we think the following is the easiest way to setup and put away the game. We've provided a captioned image gallery here for setup as well as putting the game away, so you can focus more on just enjoying the game.

Opening the box and setting up a map

Open the box! Set aside the instruction manual, and frame it once memorized.

Remove and set aside the tile trays, baggies of smaller pieces, and cloth bag containing the resource tokens.

You'll see that the terrain tiles, tuckbox of cards, character unit stand-ups and reference cards all fit nicely.

Keep stand-ups organized by player-colour and character type so that passing a set to each player is easy.

For each player, lay down one of each character reference card, and that player's character unit stand-ups.

Pour the Prairie tiles out of one large baggie and randomize them face-down so the symbols are all hidden.

Stack them nicely because it's prettier.

Other players can randomize the other types simultaneously (this stage of setup takes the most table space).

Lovely Forests!

Stunning Deserts!

Rugged Mountains!

Mysterious Lagoons, and bonus-granting special tiles too!

Special tiles can be randomized.

Set aside all unused stacks of tiles in case a spell or some other effect pulls them into the game. Mwahaha.

It's very quick to focus on one tray at a time - especially with the Free-For-All maps, because they have symmetry.

Voila! It matches.

Slide trays together.

Each player usually begins with one Peasant on the board, with a 4-health token in one of the bottom slots.

Empty all the small pieces inside the game box, separated as Health, Spirit, Prosperity, and then everything else.

We like keeping the resource-bank on the table within easy reach.

Shuffle each of the 4 decks of cards separately, and put them on the table.

Putting away the pieces after you're done playing

Put away the character reference cards and unit stand-ups in the smaller section of the game box. It's a snug fit and they usually stay in place nicely.

Store smaller pieces in the small baggies, sorted by Health, Spirit, Prosperity, and everything else. Put dice with plastic stands if you like.

Store terrain tiles of different types in the separate large baggies. Put special tiles with the Lagoons or Deserts.

Place resource tokens in the cloth bag, and place the tile trays over top of the character unit stand-ups to keep them in place when the box is tipped.

Top with instruction manual, and voila! You're all set for an easy setup the next time you play Stratos.

As you close the box, enjoy the fine artwork on the sides of the bottom. :)

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