Hnefatafl, translated as ‘King's table' and more easily understood as the ‘Viking Game' among English, and generally most non-Scandinavian languages, is a game whose history is dotted around the Dark Ages in Europe. Spread throughout the continent by the Vikings as they conquered swathes of Europe, it evolved into as many versions as places it reached, with contemporary knowledge derived as much from conjecture as historical record. It declined in the eleventh century as the growth of chess swept many historical games before it, but the Viking board game Hnefatafl has enjoyed a small revival with the globalisation of technology a millennium later.
Setup
The board is vertically, horizontally, and rotationally symmetric, as a square grid of 121 squares, 41 of them marked. Three designs exist:
- 24 offensive squares, six along each border, on each of which lies a black piece;
- 12 defensive squares, on each of which lies a white piece, around the centre square;
- 5 king's squares distributed in each corner and the centre, on which lies the white king.
The object of the game, however, is asymmetric: the black pieces seek to capture the king, who must journey uncaptured from the centre king's square to a corner.
Gameplay
The game opens with a black piece moving. Each piece moves in the same manner: any number of squares horizontally or vertically, up to any piece that blocks its path, except onto any of the king's squares. It is in this sense analogous to the rook in chess, whereby it can move to any unoccupied (non-king's) square along a path of unoccupied squares.
Pieces may be captured and removed from the game by opposite pieces in a variety of ways:
- any piece except the king may be captured in two ways:
- by an opponent piece moving to sandwich the piece between itself and a second opponent piece, one on each of two immediately adjacent, opposite squares;
- by an opponent piece moving to sandwich the piece between itself and a corner square, in the same way as if the square were occupied by a second opponent piece;
- the king may be captured in two ways:
- by being surrounded on four adjacent sides by black pieces;
- by being surrounded on three adjacent sides by black pieces, and the central square on the fourth.
Note that a piece may only capture another by facilitating one of the above positions: a piece will not be captured by itself moving into a sandwiched or surrounded position. Further, the king has the privilege of capturing in the usual way, while only being open to capture himself in the more difficult surrounding way.
Progression
The simply understood format allows for any number of strategies and gameplay evolutions on each side. With very different starting conditions and objectives for the two players, it is worthwhile to alternate positions in successive games, with the winner decided after a number of games in each arrangement.
FAQs
There are two ways to win: either the attackers (24 soldiers) capture the king, or the king (helped by his 12 soldiers) escapes to one of the corners.
What is the Viking version of chess? ›
Hnefatafl (sometimes now referred to as Viking Chess) was a popular game in medieval Scandinavia and was mentioned in several of the Norse sagas. Some of these saga references have contributed to controversy over the possible use of dice in playing hnefatafl.
Who invented hnefatafl? ›
Hnefatafl was originally invented somewhere in Scandinavia and was probably based off a Roman game called Ludus Latrunculorum (the game of little soldiers). Boards have been uncovered, in varying configurations, as far back as 400AD.
Can the king take pieces in hnefatafl? ›
A captured piece is immediately removed from the board. It is possible to capture more than one piece at once. The King is unarmed and cannot capture.
How many spaces can the king move in hnefatafl? ›
In most games, pieces can move as far as they like along a rank or file, like a chess rook. Some games restrict pieces to moving only to adjacent squares. This is most often used on the smallest boards. In some games, the king has a restricted move (typically one or four squares) while the other pieces are unimpeded.
Who has the advantage in hnefatafl? ›
Hnefatafl has one of the problems which you will find in the original chess rules: it's exceedingly hard to play offensively due to the limitations of the pieces. The two sides being unequal, white has the advantage.
How do you pronounce hnefatafl? ›
I usually pronounce it "neffa-taffle", a suggestion that has come up a few times on older forums. If you understand the International Phonetic Alphabet, ˈne-fə-taː-f(ə)l is a closer approximation.
What does hnefatafl mean? ›
He called the game for Tablut or Swedes & Muscovites in his description. The name – hnefatafl – is usually believed to refer to the board of the “fist” or the game of the “fist”.
Who was the god of chess? ›
Caïssa, the legendary mythological creature, is now known as the Goddess of Chess, and was later notoriously described in a poem called Caïssa written in 1763 by English poet and philologist Sir William Jones. “Caissa, the Goddess of Chess, had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my nature”.
What is the Celtic version of chess? ›
In the board games literature, it has often been suggested that fidchell is a variant of the Welsh game tawlbwrdd, itself descended from the Norse tafl games. These games, along with the Irish brandub, are played on a grid, often seven squares by seven, with the king in the middle.
The earliest form of the game that's now called chess can be dated back to India in the sixth century. Like the modern game, this predecessor, called chaturanga (or catur) was played on an 8x8 grid and featured pieces generally similar to those of modern chess.
Is hnefatafl balanced? ›
The king: on his throne or in his castle? People new to hnefatafl often make the same observation: "the king always seems to win!" Sometimes that's because they're playing a variant which really is unbalanced. But more often than not, nowadays, the variant is balanced.
Did the Vikings play chess? ›
From written sources we know that the Vikings played “hnefatafl” and “nitavl” (Nine Men's Morris) and chess also appeared at the end of the Viking period. Hnefatafl is a war game, in which the object is to capture the king piece – a large hostile army threaten and the king's men have to protect the king.
Is hnefatafl older than chess? ›
It is far older than chess, which originated in northern India in the 6th century AD and spread to the rest of the world through Persia. In Hnefatafl, the game is played on a square board (as pictured).
What are the rules to get into Valhalla? ›
Live bravely, die in battle
- Worship Odin. Valhalla was run by Odin, a god favoured by aristocratic warriors. ...
- Be honourable. ...
- Die on the battlefield.
In hnefatafl a king sits at the centre of a square board, with a number of his men around him. Distributed around the edges of the board are twice their number of enemies. The king must escape from the field of battle, while his enemies try to capture him.
What are the rules of the Knight's game? ›
The Knight moves to a square that is two squares away horizontally and one square vertically, or two squares vertically and one square horizontally. A square on the board can be occupied by one Knight only. A Knight cannot be captured by opponents within its own or opponent's camp.
