Hnefatafl: the Game of the Vikings

Latest Comments

These are the latest comments that have been added to the site. To reply to a comment, click on the page or news link just underneath it. Most pages and news stories have a comment form at the bottom for you to add your own thoughts.

The Comments

make a online version

teen wolf - 16:00, 11/09/2024 - Rules for Ludus Latrunculorum

Folks- don't forget the World Tafl Champs start soon on wwwaagenielsen.dk Do come and register and play some warm ups- I'm tonythebook

Anthony Higginson - 08:55, 30/08/2024 - On-line Play Links

can you illustrate rule 7 please? i'm a novice, clearly/brain dead , perhaps or simply not progressed from occaisionally capturing one enemy at a time ...

jonty - 20:19, 25/07/2024 - Fetlar Hnefatafl

Excellent craftsmanship! I hope you have good success with your work! How did you make the game pieces? Did you use a lathe? How did you make the board? Plus how did you make it uncheckered?

James - 06:40, 25/07/2024 - Compact 25-piece Hnefatafl Game

Can you include an image of the hnefatafl board?

John Smith - 22:43, 19/05/2024 - Archaeological Finds

Very cool

Gabe maltese - 13:55, 09/05/2024 - Rules for Ludus Latrunculorum

The best strategy is to block of the corner king squares one block away from the this creates a unbeatable wall.

The Master - 16:14, 07/05/2024 - Forming a Strategic Plan

I have 3 different versions of Hnefatafl. Reading Damian Walker books and have Jonathon George books.

Thomas Tiedemann - 00:48, 07/05/2024 - Newsletters by E-mail

All your questions don't have answers. Is there a rule book I can get for the answers?

John Markowski - 18:44, 08/01/2024 - Capturing the Enemy

There may be another early literary reference to hnefatafl. Writing in the late 700s, Paul the Deacon in The History of the Lombards relates the story of Rodulf, King of the Heruli's last battle, dated to about 508AD. From Book I, Chapter XX: Rodulfus suos in pugnam dirigit; ipse in castris residens, de spe victoriae nihil ambigens, ad tabulam ludit. Erant siquidem tunc Heruli bellorum usibus exerciti multorumque iam strage notissimi. Qui, sive ut expeditius bella gererent, sive ut inlatum ab hoste vulnus contempnerent, nudi pugnabant, operientes solummodo corporis verecunda. Horum itaque viribus rex indubitanter fidens, dum ipse securus ad tabulam luderet, unum e suis in arborem, quae forte aderat, ascendere iubet, quatenus ei suorum victoriam celerius referret, comminatus eius se caput abscisurum, si Herulorum aciem fugere nuntiaret. Foulke's translation from 1907: Rodolf sends his men into the fight, but staying himself in camp, he plays at draughts, not at all wavering in his hope of victory. The Heroli were indeed at that time well trained in martial exercises, and already very famous from their many victories. And either to fight more freely or to show their contempt for a wound inflicted by the enemy, they fought naked, covering only the shameful things of the body. Therefore, while the king himself in undoubting reliance on the power of these men, was safely playing at draughts, he ordered one of his followers to climb into a tree which happened to be by, that he might tell him more quickly of the victory of his troops, and he threatened to cut off the man's head if he announced that the ranks of the Heroli were fleeing. Things didn't work out to well for Rodulf. The guy in the tree survived, though. Paul says Rodulf was playing "tablua" (ad tabulam luderit) which Foulke translates as draughts (checkers). Tablua specifically referred to a backgammon precursor, but was also a common word for board games. Rodulf was unlikely to be playing checkers, and maybe not backgammon, but quite likely some form of "tafl" (a cognate of tabula and tables), which suggests some early form of hnefatafl. The Heruli were a Nordic folk, with close ties to Denmark. The Greek historian Procopios mentions the Heruli sent an embassy to the Danes in the mid 500s to get advice on selecting a king (one better at war than wargames, no doubt). If hnefatafl was known in Denmark in the 400s (as the Gallehus Horns seem to indicate), then it would not be improbable that migrating tribes of Nordic origin such as the Heruli (or for that matter the Langobards, Vandals, Goths, etc) would have known the game.

David Hardy - 23:19, 22/12/2023 - Literary Sources

oh shit ,very good tactics

Gerald - 16:16, 19/12/2023 - General Strategy for the Attackers

Still have my set from History Craft, Cirencester bought in the mid to late 80’s

Simon Grose - 04:40, 12/12/2023 - The Viking Game Reviewed