Problem: Article: A common strategy in Stratego is to surround one's Flag with Bomb pieces to prevent players from accessing it. However, this strategy may fail if your opponent uses a miner to defuse these Bombs and then captures your Flag. If you do surround your Flag with Bombs, make sure that you have some high ranking, moveable pieces nearby to take out any approaching pieces. Since surrounding the Flag piece with Bombs is a popular strategy, you will benefit from keeping some of your Miner pieces in play. Having Miners on hand will help you to defuse Bomb pieces later in the game and hopefully capture your opponent's flag. Scouts are helpful in identifying your opponent's frontline pieces, so it is a good idea to keep some Scouts in your front row. Since Scouts are low-ranking pieces, you can afford to lose a few in the first few turns if it helps you to identify some of your opponent's higher ranking pieces. Although you do not want to have all of your high-ranking pieces up front, it is wise to have a few in your first two rows so that you can use them if necessary. Otherwise, your opponent's high-ranking pieces may take out an entire row of your low-ranking pieces before you can stop him or her. Stratego requires you to use your memory skills and pay attention to what pieces are where as your opponent attacks. It is also helpful to note the pieces that never move during the game. These pieces are likely to be Bombs, so you may want to send your Scouts to check them out or send Miners to defuse them.
Summary: Protect your flag with Bombs. Keep your Miners in play. Position some Scouts in the first two rows. Make some higher ranking pieces available for movement. Pay attention to the positions of pieces that do not move.

Problem: Article: As long as you keep up with your payment plan as spelled out in your promissory note, you are on track to successfully repaying your loan. Even if you are able to meet the payments without difficulties, you and the lender might prefer to put a buffer up so that you are not the ones handling the payments directly. Consider hiring a loan manager to deal with the payments and send any reminder notices, annual reports, and other documents. Having an outside person dealing with the everyday administration of the loan can help you have a more normal relationship with the borrower. A major factor in a successful private loan is your ability to maintain clear communication and honest transparency with the lender. The lender should make herself available to talk, and hear you out if you have run into temporary financial difficulty. The borrower has a responsibility to be direct and honest with the lender from the start and throughout. If you are anticipating having problems making a payment, speak to the lender as soon as possible and be prepared to offer a sensible alternative. You might like to set up regular meetings or conversations so you can both keep track of the loan. This gives you a formal forum to discuss any issues and work together to find mutually beneficial solutions. If you run into financial difficulty, and are struggling to make the payments, you should be prepared to work hard to make accommodations which ensure the borrower gets repaid. Treat the loan as you would a loan from a bank, and work with the lender to come up with an alternative payment schedule. This could mean increasing the duration of the loan from ten to fifteen years, or altering the repayment schedule so a greater proportion of the loan is paid off in later years. Remember that you have to make an offer that benefits the lender as well. If you're asking for a significant extension to the duration of the loan, be prepared to marginally increase the rate of interest. A big part of treating the loan as a professional agreement is keeping it isolated from your day-to-day interactions. Try to avoid talking about the loan at family occasions or when socialising. Keep it something you discuss at specific times, and try to contain it. This will be a lot easier if all the agreements are clear, and everybody is sticking to them.
Summary:
Repay the loan as agreed. Keep the lines of communication open. Be open to restructuring. Keep the loan separate from your relationship.