Research Guides: Game Collection: Hnefatafl (The Viking Game) (2024)

FAQs

How to win hnefatafl? ›

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.

At first, it plays remarkably well. Beginners might say that the king has too easy a time, but this is not necessarily so. The king's side relies on short-term tactics, taking advantage of opportunities for escape, or for weakening the attackers' blockade.

Basic Play

Capturing only happens when a piece is moved so that a single opposing piece ends up trapped between two of the players pieces. 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.

The game has a basic strategy for each side. The attackers have to form a blockade to contain the king and his defenders, and gradually close in the ring until the defending forces are suffocated, capturing defenders and eventually seizing the king himself.

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.

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.

Also sometimes known as Viking chess, Tafl (also known as Hnefatafl) is considered the great strategy game of the Celtic and Nordic peoples during the Middle Ages, in addition to being charged with symbolism in the Viking culture.

In most games, the king can help to make captures like any other piece. There are some in which he can't, however. These are usually games in which he would otherwise be too strong: games where he wins on reaching an edge, and requires four attackers to capture him.

In some games, the king has a restricted move (typically one or four squares) while the other pieces are unimpeded.

What does hnefatafl mean? ›

Hnefatafl literally translates to "fist table", from the Old Norse (equivalently in modern Icelandic) hnef, 'fist', and tafl, 'table'.

Two teams of 2 to 6 players per side compete to first knock down all their opponents' five Kubbs, and then the King. Basically, the idea is to knock down big pieces of wood by tossing smaller pieces of wood; in practice, however, Kubb is a team-building game of skill, strategy and a little luck.