The best strategy I've seen in Wallenstein was the one used in our last game by Jeff Suderman. He played it slow in the first year and set himself up for the second year. At the end of the first year, he was in last place. In the second year, while the rest of us were concentrating on the leaders, he pounced. At the end of the game when the points were totaled, he won by a large margin. Jeff played superbly and used the bashing of the leader to his advantage.

The moral of the story? The best strategy in a game where you can bash the leader is to simply not be the leader. In Wallenstein, don't accumulate too many points in the first year - let someone else take the lead. In the meantime, set yourself up for the second year. In the second year the leader will get all the attention - when that happens, make your move and grab all the points you can.

In my opinion, people should use this strategy is any game where people can directly bash the leader Wallenstein and San Marco come to mind, though many other games fall into this category). I often hear criticism of this type of game, usually from the person who were leading, got bashed, and then came in third or fourth. These people have to realize that the leader bashing is part of the game and part of the strategy of the game is working the leader bashing to your advantage.