Hnefatafl is a simple yet very addictive Norse board game that was very popular in northern Europe until the advent of chess. The game is sometimes called 'King's Table' or 'High Table' although a literal translation from Icelandic gives 'Fist Chess'. Interestingly, the word 'fist' refers to how this game used to be played, with the knuckle bones of sheep

Description

Hnefatafl, or 'Viking Chess' as it is sometimes known nowadays, and its many variants were usually played on wooden boards, some of which have survived to this day in varying states of repair¹. However, any flat surface would do and simple playing areas could no doubt be scratched out on table tops or flat rocks with a knife. The game board consists of a square area divided into rows and columns - variants from 7x7 to 19x19 have been excavated. The central square and the four corner squares, which are special places in the game, are usually decorated, while the remainder of the squares are unadorned.

The game is for two players. One takes charge of a large force of pieces - or soldiers - known as the 'attackers', who start at the edges of the board. The other player controls a much smaller force of bodyguards called the 'defenders', who start in the centre of the board and are led by a special large piece representing their king.

The object of the game is for the king to try to escape from his central 'throne', which is the middle square, to any of the four corner squares. If he succeeds, the game is over and he wins. If the player in charge of the attackers manages to surround the king and make him unable to move, he is declared the winner instead.

The unevenness of sides is quite an unusual feature to find in a board game, as is the fact that the two players have different objectives. Both features add greatly to its charm.

A Set of Rules That Work Quite Well

The rules have been worked out and guessed at from historical sources and there is no real consensus on a definitive set. There were probably very many local variations and 'house rules'.

Players take alternate turns and it doesn't seem to matter much who goes first. All pieces use the Rook's move from chess - ie, they can move horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally, any number of spaces. No jumping of other pieces or sharing of spaces on the board is allowed. The king is the only piece who is allowed to rest on the central throne square, although other players can pass through it when it is unoccupied. The king is the only piece allowed onto the four corner squares, at which point the game ends.

The technique for taking pieces is unlike that found in any other contemporary board game. In all 'tafl' games, a piece is captured and removed from the board if the opponent manages to get two of his soldiers on opposite sides of it, from side to side or from top to bottom. Note, however, that a soldier is safe if he deliberately sneaks into an existing gap between two of his opponents. The king is much harder to overpower and must be surrounded on all four sides. The throne square and the four corner squares count as an opposing piece during an attack so it is not wise to stand right beside them.

Strategy

The player in charge of the defenders will find that his own soldiers tend to get in the way early on in the game and hinder the king's movements. He may wish to sacrifice a few soldiers to give the king a bit of mobility.

The attacker may wish to build a wall of soldiers across each of the four corners to block the exit routes for the king. Quick action is needed to achieve this.

After a game, the two players would probably swap sides, perhaps keeping a tally of how many pieces of their opponents they had managed to capture during the battle, to settle any tied series of games.

History and Variants

Perhaps derived from an earlier Roman game known as Ludus Latrunculorum, which used a similar method for capturing pieces, Hnefatafl was played as early as 400 AD in Scandinavian countries and was taken to the lands in which the Scandinavians settled in later periods. It is mentioned many times in the Sagas and poems of old Norse literature.

The Scots knew it as 'Ard-Ri' and the Irish preferred the names 'Brandubh' and 'Fitchneall'. Both peoples tended to use 7x7 boards. The Welsh called it 'Tawlbyund' and generally preferred 11x11 playing areas, while the Anglo Saxons were keen on a 19x19 board and called the game 'Alea Evangelii'. The Norse Hnefetafl was played on 11x11 or 13x13 boards.

The Finns used a 9x9 board and called their game 'Tablut'. Carl von Linne, the Swedish botanist, documented the Saami people of Lapland as playing a version of Tablut as late as 1732. These people called the defenders 'Swedes' and the attackers 'Muscovites'. Perhaps this recalls episodes when Norsemen, who had set up fortifications along the Baltic coast and inland areas, were besieged by forces from Russian principalities who were keen to get rid of the newcomers.

Gaming pieces made of glass, antler, walrus bone, ivory, amber, horse teeth and clay have been found at archaeological sites from Ireland to Ukraine, although wood must certainly have also been used.

Sometime around the 11th century, when the more complex game of chess began to be be played in these regions, Hnefatafl declined in popularity.

Diagram

In the above diagram, a possible starting line up for a 9x9 game of Hnefatafl is shown. 'A' represents an attacking soldier, 'D' a defending soldier, and 'K' is the defender's king.

Here is an 11x11 arrangement found in a popular modern version of the game.

Online Version

An online version of Tablut is available for Netscape only, although it uses slightly different rules to those given above.

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¹ On the reverse of some Hnefatafl boards there are Nine Men's Morris boards.