I thought disconnecters were just part of the game until I read the other thread on reporting disconnecters. My son who plays a different online game (Rainbow 6) calls them 'Rage Quitters'. I like that name better. It happens so often that I just make a cup of tea and wait for the time to run down. I take it as part and parcel of the game, but I can see why the moderators and admins try to stop it as it is bad sportsmanship and it makes the whole Stratego much more enjoyable if accompanied by courteousness and politeness.
But I met a different disconnecter today. This player is a very good player (much higher rank than me) and won his previous games against me easily. But this time he ran in to a bomb with his Gen early on and then lost a major and captain in quick succession. He disconnected, so off I went to make a cup of tea. I always watch the onscreen clock when someone disconnects to make sure it runs down, but with 20 seconds to go, he popped back again and started playing.
Even with his superior playing skills and tactics, he couldn't really win, so my guess is that he hoped I would lose interest and assume the time would run down, leaving him to win the game as my buffer would run down. All he had to do is move a piece to stop his buffer going down and wait for mine to run out. Luckily, I never trust rage quitters so this last attempt to gain a win (albeit a trick one) wouldn't work, but it is worth mentioning to other players to keep an eye on the disconnect run down time just to make sure it fully runs out.
His luck finally ran out when I trapped one of his remaining majors with my gen, and he quit again. This time he never came back.