Fetlar Hnefatafl

For some years, Fetlar Hnefatafl was the most popular version of the game for national and international tournaments. It is played on an 11x11 board. A king must escape to the corner of the board with the aid of his twelve defenders, while twenty-four attackers lie in wait to capture him. Fetlar features a strong king who is difficult to capture and may take part in capturing enemies.

History of Fetlar Hnefatafl

With the growing popularity of hnefatafl in the early 21st century, a panel was set up by the late Peter Kelly with the objective of "playing the game, testing rules and deciding a set of practical rules to publicise world-wide in order that all players were able to contend when they met with a standard set of rules." This was the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel, set up in 2007 on the island of Fetlar in the Shetland Islands.

With a population in double figures, Fetlar may seem to be an unusual place on which to centre a worldwide movement, even in such a niche as this. But due to the enthusiasm of the panel in promoting their game, and an annual competition held using the rules, their venture became a great success. Other competitions around the world adopted the rules, and some commercial hnefatafl sets adopted the rules too.

Today Fetlar Hnefatafl has been eclipsed in tournaments by Copenhagen Hnefatafl, a more complex variant that builds on Fetlar's rules. But it still retains popularity today and serves as a good introduction to the game.

Rules for Fetlar Hnefatafl

2. The attackers move first.

3. All pieces move along a row or column any number of spaces.

4. A moving piece cannot land on another, nor may pieces jump.

5. No piece but the king can occupy the corner squares or the central square.

6. A piece is captured by surrounding it on two opposite sides along a row or column with two pieces of your own. The enemy is immediately removed from the board.

7. It is sometimes possible to capture two or three enemies separately (i.e. not two or three enemies in a row) against other pieces of your own in a single move; in this case all captured pieces are removed at once.

8. It is also possible to capture a piece against the corner squares, or the central square if it is empty, as if one of your pieces were sitting on it.

9. The king can only be captured by surrounding him on all four sides.

10. To win, the defenders must get the king to one of the four marked corner squares.

11. The attackers win if they capture the king before he escapes.

Strategy in Fetlar Hnefatafl

A skillful attacking player may quickly seal off the exits before an unvigilant defending player has chance to react. So draws in Fetlar can be common: when the king's side loses hope of escape, they can arrange their pieces in a safe configuration such that the king can move around indefinitely within. Called a "draw fort", this can in fact become a spoiling strategy for the king's side, the defenders forming a such barrier without making any attempt to escape. This is one of the main reasons that Copenhagen Hnefatafl rules were developed.

Nevertheless Fetlar Hnefatafl remains a very playable game. There are a great many strategic tips for the game given at grandmaster Tim Millar's web site (see link elsewhere on this page).