> Touching one of his own pieces does not oblige a player to move it.
It also says:
> Psychology, bluff and misleading manoeuvres are considered important aspects of Stratego. Bluffing consists of all verbal communication (talking) or non-verbal communication (acting, mimic or feign) which is intended to mislead your opponent. All forms of bluff are allowed at any time during the game, unless prohibited by any other rule. Abuse will be considered unsporting behaviour and can be penalized accordingly.
So I think you won.
1: https://isfstratego.kleier.net/docs/rulreg/isfgamerules.pdf
> 5.2 Moving
> Flag and Bombs are never moved (For the definition of „move‟: see chapter 6).
Chapter 6 shows the sequences of moves, and then Chapter 7 says:
> A move is made when:
> a piece is released on another square than the starting one, or
> a player touches an opponent‟s piece with one of his own pieces or with the hand in which his own piece is held.
So if the piece was picked up and replaced on the starting square, it was not moved, and that's fine.
On the other hand, these rules incorporate some other rules by reference which includes:
> The bombs and the flag may never be moved and therefore remain in the same place throughout the duration of the game
A bomb hasn't exactly remained in the same place if it's been picked up, has it?
The main thing the rules guard against is accidentally tripping over your opponent's or your own pieces. Especially during time trouble, it sometimes happens that you drop a piece. If your opponent reveals < 4 of your pieces, you can exchange all of them with any other of your pieces. With >= 4 "accidents", it's an automatic forfeit. If you tip over your opponent's flag, he is entitled to 3 swaps (may or may not be bombs).
I think "touch-move" is perfectly valid to enforce, but you waive your right to do so once you move after that. If someone touches a piece in chess, then moves another piece, you don't get to go all the way until you're mated and then say there was an error you should have won on.
And if you touch an illegal to move piece, I would say there the penalty would probably be revealing the bomb (or that it is immobile), not forfeiture of the game.
Tough call - glad that you are still carrying this from your childhood though. I would wager that you won but through borderline cheating. Still not sure TBH
Of course, dissatisfaction with such outcomes has often resulted in further wars.
The issue is that when considering my next move, I picked up the bomb piece, thought for a few moments, put it back down, and moved another piece. My friend then, assuming that I had just given away that it was not a bomb, attempted to capture it, and lost the attacker.
He claimed that it was illegal to pick up that piece and put it down again, although he had no objection until he learned that I'd tricked him. We had never previously announced or enforced a touch-it-move-it rule.
So did I win that game or did he? That's not a question machine learning could answer.