Hnefatafl
Equipment
Square board with center often decorated (various odd numbered/sides)
Attacker’s army
King
King’s guard = half the number of Attackers (6/12 in the 7x7 version, 8/16 in the 9x9 version, 12/24 in the I I x I I and 13xl3 version, 24/48 in the 19xl9 version).
Basic Object of the Game
The King tries to escape, and if he reaches one of the corner squares he wins.
The Attacker tries to capture the King, and if he succeeds, he wins.
Play
All pieces, including the king, may move any number of squares horizontally or vertically. No piece is allowed to jump another, be it an opposing piece or one of his own. Diagonal moves are not allowed. Only the king may land on the centre (Throne) or corner squares. Other pieces may cross the center square (Throne) but may not stop on it.
Captures
Ordinary pieces are captured when they are surrounded on two opposite sides by the opposing player. When the piece is captured it is removed from the board. It is possible to capture more than one piece in the same move.
The centre and comer squares are counted as an opposing piece whenever a piece is beside it. A piece beside these squares can be captured when an opposing piece moves opposite the special square with the piece in between
If a piece is moved so that it stops in between two opposing pieces, it is not taken. This is known as a "resting" move. One of the opposing pieces may be moved away and back again (taking two turns) to capture the resting piece.
Taking the king is more difficult than taking any of the other pieces. The king must be surrounded on all four sides. If he is surrounded only three sides with the forth side being the board edge the king is not captured. If the king is the only piece which can move, and he is blocked off from any other square, the game is drawn. If the king is surrounded on three sides with the center square being the fourth, the king is captured and the attacking player wins.
Variations
Since the rules we have found are rather vague, many variations have developed. The four most common variations are 1. The king may only move one square at a time. 2. The king can exit from any edge, but he must declare when he is one turn away, 3. No other piece can cross the Throne square, and 4. Using dice to limit the number of spaces moved.
Hnefatafl- History
Hnefatafl, or "King’s Table" is the generic name for a family of games of pre-historic origins that were the major, if not only, board games known to the Vikings. There are dozens of different versions of hnefatafl known, varying chiefly in the size of the board and the number of pieces. They go by such names as hnefatafl or hnefitafl to the Vikings, alea evangeli to the Anglo-Saxons, tawl-byund or gwyddbwyll to the Welsh, fidchell to the Celts, hala tafi to those in Icelandi, and tablut to Finns and Lapps.
Hnefatafl was known in Scandinavia before 400 A. D. and was carried by the Vikings to Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Britain, Wales and as far east as the Ukraine. The Saxons had their own variant, derived from a common Germanic Tafl game, which was apparently the only board game known to them prior to the introduction of Chess.
A beautiful carved board with 13x 13 squares was found at Gokstad in Norway. This is a double sided board with a Nine Men's Morris layout carved on the reverse side as with other less impressive examples. Many other wooden Tafl boards have also been found throughout the Viking and Anglo-Saxon world, but some of the boards were much simpler affairs being only marked out with charcoal or scratched onto the surface of slices of rock. The Norse variant is either played on an 11x11or a 13x13 board.
The Scottish (Ard-Ri, "High King") and Irish (Fidchell, Fitchneal or Fithcheall) variants were both played on a seven by seven board, with slightly different starting layouts. Fitchneal is mentioned in the Mabinogion and in Connac's Glossary (lXth century); the descriptions are scanty, so there is an element of speculation in assigning these games to the Hnefatafl family. Tablut, the Finnish variant, was played on a 9x9 board.
The Irish called this Brandubh if played with dice.
Tawlbyund , the Welsh variant, was played on an 11x11 board. It dates back at least to the Xth century. The Welsh also played the Irish game of Fitchneal, which they called Gwyddbwyll. Although by the later Middle Ages chess had taken over, hnefatafl still survived in Wales and is described in a manuscript of 1587. This version is possible to be played with dice.
Alea Evangelii, was the Saxon variant and used a 19x19 board. It was apparently the only board game played by the Saxons. It takes it’s modern name from the opening lines of the Xth century manuscript it is documented by "Incipit alea evangelii quam Dubinsi…" Some suggest this arrangement represents a sea battle.
In 1732 a Swede called Linnaeus discovered a game called tablut whilst he was travelling in Lappland. The Lapps called the pieces "Swedes" and "Muscovites" and played the game on a 9x9 board.