The king's table
Before chess reached the North, people there played tafl ("table") games. Hnefatafl, the game of the hnefi or king, was the favourite of the Viking age.
A Viking game
Tafl games spread across northern Europe from about the 8th century and turn up in the Norse sagas, including the Orkneyinga saga, Friðþjófs saga and the saga of Hervör and Heidrek. One riddle in the Hervör saga seems to describe the game:
weaponless maids who fight around their lord, ever sheltering and ever attacking him
Boards and pieces have been found from Ireland to Scandinavia. The most famous Irish find is the wooden Ballinderry board, discovered in 1932, with holes for pegged pieces. When chess arrived, tafl slowly faded, and no Viking wrote down the full rules.
Linnaeus in Lapland
The best rules we have come from much later and much further north. In 1732 the young botanist Carl Linnaeus travelled among the Lule Sámi and wrote down their game tablut in his diary, with a drawing of the 9 × 9 board. The Sámi called the king's side "Swedes" and the attackers "Muscovites". When the king had one clear path out, the player warned "rájgge", and with two paths, "dujgu".
An English translation of 1811 got the rules wrong. It said four attackers were always needed to capture the king, which made the game very lopsided. Modern retranslations by John C. Ashton, Nicolas Cartier and Olli Salmi (2007–2013) restored the original: usually two attackers are enough.
The two versions here
Hnefatafl, Copenhagen rules (11 × 11)
The most-played modern tournament rules. The attackers move first. Every piece moves like a rook in chess. Only the king may stop on the central throne or the four corners, but anyone may pass over the empty throne. A piece is captured when an enemy traps it between two of its own pieces, or between one piece and a corner or the empty throne. The king is armed, so he helps capture. He is taken only when attackers surround him on all four sides, or on three sides when he is next to the throne, and he can't be taken on the board edge. The king wins by reaching a corner.
Brandubh (7 × 7)
The Irish "black raven". A poem names its board and pieces, and the Ballinderry board has 7 × 7 holes, but the rules themselves were never written down. The ones here are the usual modern reconstruction: the king escapes to a corner, and away from his throne two attackers capture him.
Your own rules
Pick a board and choose how the king escapes, how he is captured, whether he fights, and whether soldiers may cross the empty throne. Each of these is argued over by historians and players.
Tablut, after Linnaeus (9 × 9)
The Sámi game. The king escapes to any edge square. Away from his castle he is captured like any other piece, between two attackers. Next to the castle he needs attackers on three sides, and inside it on all four. The empty castle counts as an enemy for everyone, and only the king may cross it.
Choices this version makes
- The Copenhagen rules here leave out three advanced rules: shieldwall captures on the edge, "exit forts", and the attackers winning by fully encircling the defenders.
- In both versions the attackers move first, and a side that can't move loses. If the same position comes round a third time, or the game runs past 300 moves, it's a draw.
- In Tablut the king takes part in captures, as in most modern play.
Sources
- Aage Nielsen: Copenhagen Hnefatafl rules
- Wikipedia: Tafl games and Tablut
- Linnaeus, Carl (1732). Lachesis Lapponica (diary of the Lapland journey); modern readings by Ashton (2007), Cartier (2011) and Salmi (2013).