Play the Viking board game Hnefatafl online | Viking Chess | Tablut | Nefatavl

Play Hnefatafl Online. The Viking board game.
Play tafl against humans.
Тавлеи против людей.
Rasmus Holbroe vikings
Coming tournaments:
Tyr 15x15, test starting March 21st 2021.
MasterLuke: the Tyr 15x15 tournament is a sort of in-between version of 'TYR!' (capitals and exclamation mark) and 'Simple Tyr'. 'Tyr 15x15' features the jumping commanders but lacks the V-men and jumping king. It's like 'Simple Tyr' plus commanders.
Fetlar Hnefatafl 11x11, starting March 28th 2021.
Historical Hnefatafl 13x13, starting April 4th 2021.
Berserk Hnefatafl 11x11, starting April 11th 2021. No tournament since 2019.
Next: Old Hnefatafl 11x11.
Go to the Play Tafl Against Humans page to join; the invitation is open for 7 days.
Small forum.
Code of Conduct. You should not post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful or threatening material. Doing so may lead to you being immediately banned for a period of time.
(On the second, large structured forum registering is normally disabled to keep spam robots out. Please give a tip-off if you need it opened for registering of a new user.)

  04-13/20:55 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard I reckon that with Abbas Agraphicus's proposal you would be able to run as many tournaments in a month as now. Under the current scheme registration and play for tournament 219 opened on 2021-04-04, while registration and play for tournament 220 opened on 2021-04-11. Under the new scheme 2021-04-04 would have seen play open for tournament 219 and registration open for 220, while 2021-04-11 would have seen play open for tournament 220 and registration open for 221. So you would get through as many tournaments in a month. And once a tournament opens for play it is likely to finish in a shorter time, with everyone starting at the same time; whereas currently people can join a tournament on the last day and you then have to wait for those games to finish.

  04-13/19:32 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BNyQEYVBpI

  04-12/23:22 Hagbard:  There's not been the time to implement it in the software.

  04-12/21:57 Draganov:  @Jrton80, what would be the alternative to the draw by repetition? Do you think playing the same moves until someone timed out would be the solution? In Fetlar there is a rule stating that a position repeated for three times leads to a draw game. I wonder why it was not applied by the software.

  04-12/21:13 Hagbard:  Just a small historical comment:
Before 2012 we had only Fetlar here (and two Skalk variants which do not work), and I believe half the games were draw by eternal check and some by draw fort.
2012 Adam, Tim and I discussed a new rules set modified from Fetlar (which became "Copenhagen"), and Adam Bartley was the one who insisted on getting rid of all repetitions now that we were in the process.
It's informing to see that the ban on repetitions now comes so natural to the players, that it is greatly missed when it's not there -

  04-12/20:30 Jrton80:  @Draganov IMNSHO unless a draw fort has been made so that the King cannot be captured, it is not a draw, just lazy thinking.

  04-11/22:15 Hagbard:  Tablut2 = Tablut + noreturn + nopass

  04-11/21:51 Draganov:  @Hagbard, what is the difference between Saami Tablut and Tablut2?

  04-11/17:41 Draganov:  @Hagbard, in my Fetlar game against Cacreal we repeated the position more than 3 times. However, the software did not declare the game as a draw. The rule 9 in the Fetlar rules states that the game should be draw if the repetition happened three times. It is also written in the rules on the Fetlar panel. So, could you declare my game against Cacreal as a draw as well as the game between Jrton80 and Rossomaha in which the position was repeated more than 10 times. I ask you for this because my opponent did not accept the draw offer.

  04-10/20:46 Hagbard:  Test of a modification. Brandubh3 = Brandubh2 + noreturn + throne nonpassable

  04-10/20:33 KayKyber:  What is Irish Brandubh 3?

  04-10/16:47 Abbas Agraphicus:  Hi everyone, I had an idea that I posted in the forum:
What about creating a yearly award of, like, "Best Revelation of the year", in which between the players that joined the website in that year, the one who reached the best achievements is rewarded.
The choice could be made for example between the players subscribed in 2020 that got at least a title (AM, CM, etc)
What do you guys think? Maybe it's a stupid idea, don't know

  04-09/13:06 Abbas Agraphicus:  I see. Yeah, maybe there would be less tournaments x month, but I still think starting all toghether would be fairer, as sometimes people study the games and join at the last minute. Aso you would know how many matches you have left and make your "calculations" and stuff

  04-09/11:13 Hagbard:  The solution now used emphasizes the flexibility for the players: within the one week window they can join and begin the games immediately.
A one week window gives room for many tournaments, four per month. And starting the games immediately lets the tournaments finish as quickly as possible.
In a tournament you might have many games, in the recent Fetlar fx. 16 games, therefore the tournament timing is x2.
The recent World tournament Final was a lesson in a shortcoming of the x2 timing, in that this Final lasted for 3 months.
Therefore the timing has been modified so that x2 and x10 games cannot be this extremely long in time (of course x10 games still have extraordinarily much time).
The time used for a x2 game is limited by:
At start a player has a time buffer of 4 days and 25 hours free time per move, and his game can never timeout before 25 hours.
When the sum of his thinking time exceeds 4 days (normally happens after 8 days, 2 players x 4 days), then his free time per move gradually falls from 25 hours to 13 hours.
New:
When the sum of his thinking time exceeds 8 days (normally happens after 16 days, 2 players x 8 days) and he has no more time buffer, then the time before his game can timeout gradually falls from 25 hours to 13 hours.

  04-09/10:29 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Hagbard: what do you think of the proposal to have n° days (say a week) to join a tournament, and then every player starts the same day?

  04-09/05:40 Hagbard:  No I see what you mean. Still a tie, no winner.

  04-08/23:58 Hagbard:  It's the same. The players are equal in everything, so the game lengths decide.

  04-07/17:37 Draganov:  @Hagbard, I have a question about players in a tournament with equal points and equal Sonneborn-Berger score. The next parameter to split a tie is the number of moves to win the game. However, what about if both games between tied players are draws? This situation is difficult but not impossible to occur in Copenhagen tournament but can easily happened in a Fetlar.

  04-07/17:33 Draganov:  @Abbas Agraphicus, I think your idea is great. It would be good if every tournament starts in the same time for every players.

  04-07/09:10 Steiger:  @KayKyber: https://discord.gg/bVfMyRRNBQ

  04-06/22:53 KayKyber:  Is there a Discord server for this website, or for the Hnefatafl community overall?

  04-06/22:34 Hagbard:  The Tyr 15x15 tournament finished with #1 Jilles, #2 Chaolaibhne, #3 Jrton80

  04-06/21:03 ChaolAibhne:  @Abbas Agraphicus That's a good idea. It would have the bonus that it gives people the opportunity to withdraw from a tournament if they find that it has more participants than they have time to play. I think that may be a reason why people join a tournament towards the end, so that they know what they are committing to.

  04-06/20:05 Abbas Agraphicus:  Regarding the tournaments: couldn't it be better if there were n° days to join and after that the tournament starts for everybody? Just a thought

  04-06/19:19 Draganov:  @Cacreal, I can't agree with you about your suggestion for players who joined a tournament on the last day to have only 1 day for their moves. In my opinion the better solution would be just to reduce the amount of the open invitation to 3 days. So, every player who wants to participate in a tournament should joins in 3 days after the tournament started. If someone joins on the 7th day, he or she will know most of the results since the tournament has been almost finished. So, this player can create a strategy in which games to play riskier and in which to play more solidly or for a draw in the case of Fetlar. Joining on the 3rd day will not give you such an advantage. However, joining on the last 7th day has also some disadvantages. For example, most of the players have already finished their games and will be able to focus on playing against you. So, in my opinion the advantages and disadvantages on joining the tournament on the last 7th day are equal.

  04-06/19:12 KayKyber:  @Hagbard. Thank you. That's a rule I can understand, it makes sense thematically (since the King did not escape) and in balance terms (since in nearly all variants white is considered to have the advantage).

  04-06/18:58 Hagbard:  @KayKyber. We discussed to simplify the repetition rule to: white always lose repetitions.

  04-06/18:54 KayKyber:  Please explain the repetition rule in Historical Hnefatafl to a chess player. Who is considered to be 'in control of the repetition'? Is it simply that the player who plays a move which repeats a position loses? Or who repeats a position three times loses?

  04-05/18:05 cacreal:  I think we need a cumulative timing for all player moves per game. Maybe up to 7 days total per player for the tournaments. This way all games would be completed in 2 weeks. This way if you join a tournament early you have the entire 7 day timeframe for your games. If you join on the last day the tournament is open you have 1 day for your moves and the opponent the full seven days.  Some players are waiting a full day or two between moves and it’s not very enjoyable for others in a tournament that are waiting.  Reading this forum and seeing a 10 second or 1 minute  move suggestion seems very ironic. Great site, great players and most of the time enjoyable.

  04-04/20:41 Hagbard:  The Sea battle-2526 9x9 tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne, #2 Alex hnefatafl and Holidayinnes

  04-03/16:46 Abbas Agraphicus:  But the gong sound must be implemented too! :D

  04-03/11:06 xerxes:  @Draganov: I think a timed tournament would be great fun.  Players would have to agree a start time I guess, then play the whole game through in one session ?

  04-02/12:51 Draganov:  I think the player who didn't manage to move in time, lose the game.

  04-02/12:50 Abbas Agraphicus:  @draganov: what happpened, in the live tournament, if a player didn't move in time? Did he lose the match, or did he lose just a move?

  04-02/12:34 Draganov:  I would like to try such a gong-variant Fetlar if Hagbard can create it on this site. I think it would be great fun.

  04-02/12:31 Draganov:  When someone is playing live on the real board, he or she will be able to focus on the game and know the history of the moves, has an already prepared plan to move and in this situation 10 seconds would be enough. However, when playing correspondently, we are busy with so many daily routines and if we had only 10 seconds to move, it would not be enough at all. That's why I propose 1 minute for a move instead of 10 seconds. Indeed, the blacks will have more troubles playing a good move in 1 minute but we can give the blacks double time. So, probably a gong with 2 minutes per move for the blacks and 1 minute per move for the whites would work well.

  04-02/11:23 Abbas Agraphicus:  @draganov: I saw the gong thing in a video, it would be fun to try the one-minute move (quite challenging for black tho).
Btw I obviously didn't mean to change Fetlar rules, as I said before, only the creator should do that. But to possibly create a new "frankenstein" variant mixing Old and Fetlar. It is all speculation, it's not something that is really necessary, but it is fun to make hypotesis like these.

  04-02/09:56 Draganov:  In my opinion, Fetlar rules shouldn't be changed. They were introduced by Peter Kelly and the tafl community on the island of Fetlar as an attempt to create a playable game for their tournament. The Fetlar rule is Historical itself since there is no Fetlar tournament on the Fetlar island any more. In their tournament they used a gong on every 10 seconds. So, the players had only 10 seconds to think out their moves. I think this is a nice idea and I would be glad if Hagbard add similar rule for Fetlar here on this site. For example, when the player open to see the opponent's move on the board, he or she will have only 1 minute to play. I think 1 minute is reasonable on online games and could be comparable to 10 seconds thinking on a live game. This will simulate the gong and the Fetlar spirit as a whole. And this gong rule should be optional if both players are OK with that.

  04-01/18:17 Abbas Agraphicus:  I mean, Fetlar without draw forts, plus hostile corners to the king

  04-01/17:41 Abbas Agraphicus:  @ChaolAibhne: To be honest I didn't know that the entire edge is hostile to the king...I thought only the corners.
Now I get what Draganov meant. I wonder how it is so balanced then...
Maybe a compromise would be making the edge friendly and only the corners hostile: Fetlar + hostile corners for the king?

  04-01/17:25 ChaolAibhne:  While we are comparing Fetlar and Old Hnefatafl, is the marked difference in balance between the two really due just to the fact that the edge is hostile to the king in Old Hnefatafl? Is this feature used often enough to cancel the advantage that White has in Fetlar? (Note that I am treating the fact that the king can be captured with two pieces against a corner square as just a consequence of the hostile-edge rule. That is, you can regard corner squares as hostile to the king in Fetlar too, but ineffectually so as you can't complete the surrounding-by-four.)

  04-01/17:10 ChaolAibhne:  @Abbas Agraphicus I had indeed overlooked Old Hnefatafl. For some reason I had remembered its balance as being worse than it is. (But it's interesting, @Draganov, that you feel it to be less balanced while playing it. I have encountered that with some variants, where it feels harder playing one side than the other, even though the results confirm it as well balanced.) Old Hnefatafl would seem to be the ideal candidate for a potential historical corner-escape variant. Only one thing makes me hesitate: the hostile edge of the board. Conceptually that is going a bit further than hostile squares. And the fact that the edge is hostile only to the king feels like too much of a special case to me.

  04-01/16:50 ChaolAibhne:  @Draganov Have you seen the list of measured game balances under the Site Overview menu? It lists for each variant the balance for all players and for strong players. (I don't know what definition it uses for 'strong', but I know that elsewhere on the site a threshold of 1600 has been used.) For Copenhagen it does not have much difference between all players and strong players.

  04-01/16:28 Abbas Agraphicus:  Hagbard has left the chat...:D

  03-31/17:18 Draganov:  @Hagbard, would it be possible to calculate the balance of Copenhagen only for games between +1700 players?

  03-31/17:16 Draganov:  In my opinion the real balance of Copenhagen is much better than the balance of Fetlar or Old Hnefatafl. When weaker players are playing Copenhagen the whites have advantage but playing on higher rating level, the blacks are with better chances to win the game.

  03-31/16:42 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Draganov: I see your point; honestly I'm no expert in Old Hnefatafl cause I think I played it just 1 or 2 times, but, if the focus of the discussion is to have a "somehow" historical corner-variant, and a better balance than Fetlar and Copenhagen, I guess that would be more or less the way. If we assume that the forbidden squares should be hostile also to the king, then we would have the king captured by 2 + corner, to be coherent with the 4-sides capture.
Maybe there could be some different initial setup to be combined to the Fetlar rules, but judging by the hundreds of possibilities tested here in the past, I doubt that these things haven't been taken into consideration already.

  03-31/16:00 Draganov:  @Abbas Agraphicus, The balance for Old Hnefatafl is tricky. I think this variant favours the blacks too much. There is not a single rule that favours the whites in Old Henfatafl but everything works against them.

  03-31/15:06 Abbas Agraphicus:  Except obviously the 7x7 games

  03-31/15:05 Abbas Agraphicus:  Honestly I don't think a 2-sides king capture could work in a corner escape game

  03-31/15:02 Abbas Agraphicus:  @ChaolAibhne: I think the answer to that might be under our nose: the "Old Hnefatafl" variant. Corner escape, 4-side king capture, only difference is that the king is captured by 2 near the corners. The balance seems much more even, slightly in favour of black, from what I read here in the site.

  03-31/12:59 ChaolAibhne:  @Abbas Agraphicus Perhaps I confused things by mentioning Copenhagen, which I agree didn't have historicality as a goal. But I understood that Fetlar was attempting to reconstruct the historical game, so my question was about trying to get closer to that. As you say, the issue of early draws is easily fixed. But while the game balance isn't too bad, it still seems to me to be on the high side, if our default assumption is that the historical game would have been closer to 1. So my real question is, has anyone attempted to address these and improve on Fetlar in the quest to reconstruct a historical corner-escape, preferably without introducing innovations unknown to the historical documentation for Tablut and Tawlbwrdd? The attempt might provide useful evidence in discussions about the historicality of corner escape on bigger boards.

  03-30/23:50 Abbas Agraphicus:  @ChaolAibhne: Your reflection is interesting (and coincidentally comes together with a question in the forum about historical references for corners in big boards).
I think (correct me if I'm wrong)that in Copenhagen Hnefatafl the focus is not towards historical accuracy, but making a new modern variant that combines fun elements with a reasonable balance. As to Fetlar, basically the issue are draw forts: so prohibiting that would suffice to solve the problem. The fact is, being Fetlar a contemporary variant, would it be fair to intervene and change it if you are not the creator?

  03-30/19:57 ChaolAibhne:  The current Fetlar tournament brings up something that I have thought about before. My understanding is that part of the motivation for the Copenhagen rules was to address the issue of draws in the Fetlar rules, and in particular the possibility of a player forcing an early draw. However Copenhagen goes beyond merely addressing draws with its innovations of the shield wall and the exit fort. Some may feel that the interest that these innovations bring to the game is worth taking the game's balance slightly further in White's favour, 1.45 compared to Fetlar's 1.42. But perhaps a more serious consideration is that they take the game quite a distance from any historical original. Now I'm of the view that the documentary and archaeological evidence we have points to edge escape being the norm on boards bigger than Brandubh; but if corner escape was in fact played on the bigger boards then it seems likely that the game would be closer to Fetlar than to Copenhagen. With that in mind, has thought been given to a minimal revision of Fetlar that would merely address the issue of draws? And perhaps also the game balance – maybe a different layout?

  03-27/11:24 Hagbard:  https://www.yumpu.com/da/document/read/5887773/nordlysets-maler-pdf-dmi

  03-24/19:06 Hagbard:  Well I reckon that the class just has these games to get a touch of ancient Scandinavia, and then moves on to a lot of other things. The title of the course indicates that they learn about a lot of aspects in the whole world.

  03-24/18:52 Draganov:  I would like to play against the winner. It would be fair since I am inexperienced in the Simple Tafl variant and it would be a competitive match. I don't mind if someone else takes my place if he/she wants. However, in my opinion our best Simple Tafl players might be too strong for the University players. We can create a little advertising poster for the match too. That's my proposal.

  03-24/18:38 Hagbard:  I had a close look at the MSU games and attempted to reveal the format.
I now believe that the students simply play a lot of games randomly against each other.
But, in the end one student will win more than the others, so the rating list will after all show a winner.

  03-24/17:11 Draganov:  @Hagbard, it is amazing that the University of Michigan held their own Simple Tafl tournament. It is good for popularizing the game. Do you think that it would be good if someone from our community challenge their champion in Simple Tafl? I am not good at Simple Tafl but there are many great players here who are good at it. It would be nice to see a battle between the University champion and some of our well-known players.

  03-24/08:45 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfYg99Vds58

  03-23/13:54 Abbas Agraphicus:  Thanks guys

  03-23/11:31 paul7:  Thank you for fixing that. I think it's a nice touch to give credit to the designers!

  03-23/11:26 Hagbard:  True, thank you

  03-23/10:42 paul7:  @Hagbard: I noticed that the current games of Sea battle-2526 lack a mention of the game piece designer. I believe they're by @Abbas Agraphicus, aren't they? Nice clear design, BTW!

  03-22/21:34 Hagbard:  Perhaps a Double Elimination Tournament.

  03-22/21:28 Hagbard:  As far as I can tell, geattobi is in the lead.

  03-22/18:22 Hagbard:  The mechanics of the MSU tournament is a bit of a mystery to me, I suppose that it is a knockout format.

  03-22/17:54 Draganov:  Is it possible to group the Michigan State University tournaments games and present the tournament statistics somewhere in the site?

  03-22/17:52 Draganov:  Thank you, Hagbard, for the clarification. It is really good for the game to be played at the University level. I hope that many new players will be attracted by the game and will start playing tafl, especially the Copenhagen variant.

  03-22/17:38 Hagbard:  The Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA, runs the annual Simple Tafl 11x11 tournament for its class in "Intensive Studies in Humanities, Arts, Language, and Literature".

  03-22/17:25 Draganov:  @Hagbard, I see that there are many new players from East Lansing with similar nicknames. Are they different users or they are bots? I wonder because it is strange to see so many players with similar nicknames playing only with each others.

  03-22/17:11 ChaolAibhne:  Thanks @Draganov

  03-22/17:10 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard That's kind of you. Now I don't need to make my rating a recovery goal too! 😉

  03-22/16:43 Hagbard:  @ChaolAibhne. The six timeouted games, they were only few moves long, are removed and the rating is adjusted.

  03-22/14:26 Draganov:  @ChaolAibhne, I wish you quick recovery, brother.

  03-22/14:10 ChaolAibhne:  Some of my friends here may not have been sure if it was OK to ask what had happened to me. It was a heart attack.  Despite trying to look after myself, family history caught up with me. Fortunately it could be treated with stents, which means a much quicker recovery than opening the chest. I'm now recuperating at home - reading, crafting, light exercise, and of course Tafl!

  03-22/14:08 paul7:  @Abbas Agraphicus: Thanks. Speaking of the pieces: I'm not aware of any reference actually. As far as I can tell, it's unknown what exactly original Ballinderry pieces looked like, but I'd guess that some kind of spherical pieces made of bone and with pegs in their bases would be more probable. And they would be more practical at that, as those wooden pegs are a bit too long to fit securely and tend to fall out from time to time. I kind of like their "primitive/barbaric" appearance though.

  03-22/11:31 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Paul7: that ballinderry replica is really cool! Do the pieces have any historical reference?

  03-22/00:00 MasterLuke:  @ChaoblAibhne you're quite right. A physical version would have 3 different pieces: a regular man, a Commander (seated on a horse) and a king. Maybe - as an option of choice - a king on a horse, too (jumping king). No V-men. I already made various designs (shown earlier in the gallery) and I am still working on other types, as I'm constantly refining my designs. But I think I'm almost there, will soon post them in the gallery.

  03-21/21:28 ChaolAibhne:  @MasterLuke I think there is scope to have both a standard 'sophisticated' version of Tyr and a simple version, but just modifying what the standard version is. So the simple version would have just berserk, while the standard version would add commanders (and possibly a jumping king, depending on what the test tournament suggests in terms of balance).

  03-21/21:13 ChaolAibhne:  @MasterLuke So for that and other reasons I would favour leaving out variegated men altogether

  03-21/21:11 ChaolAibhne:  @MasterLuke With regards to making physical sets, variegated men could be catered for by making them disks with a different colour on each side. But that somewhat limits the artistic creativity one can bring to designing such a set, if the variegated men are not to look out of place with the other pieces.

  03-21/19:02 MasterLuke:  @ChaolAibhne: wel defined, we're on the same level here... in IRL variants, the V-men would be a bit of a problem (extra replacement pieces would be required) and indeed, I wanted to go back to a 'purified' version. On the other hand, Hagbard may decide to keep both the more 'sophisticated' TYR! and basic 'Simple Tyr' on this site.

  03-21/18:06 ChaolAibhne:  @MasterLuke If in terms of balance there isn't much in it between this version of Tyr and previous ones then some other considerations may favour making this the definitive version: it's easier to make physical sets if there aren't variegated men; the fewer different pieces there are, the more it's like Tafl than chess; and this version retains the traditional Tafl symmetry (OK, that may have no real benefit, but it just feels right)

  03-21/17:46 ChaolAibhne:  @MasterLuke I've just joined the Sea Battle tournament. Once I've completed some of my matches in that, I may well try out the Tyr 15 tournament.

  03-21/17:11 Hagbard:  The Alea Berserk 19x19 (Bartley) tournament finished with #1 Jrton80, #2 Masterluke, #3 Kaagee

  03-21/16:38 MasterLuke:  @ChaolAibhne: Now is your chance to try it out:) Maybe this will be the 'definitive' version of Tyr. I think it will turn out fine, because TYR! and Simple Tyr are well balanced too. Later on, we can try other formats (9x9, 11x11, 13x13?)

  03-21/16:22 ChaolAibhne:  @MasterLuke I myself had wondered about a version of Tyr that included commanders but not variegated men. It will be interesting to see how that turns out in play.

  03-21/16:17 ChaolAibhne:  @Abbas Agraphicus Thank you for the good wishes.

  03-21/12:01 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Hagbard: thank you!

  03-20/20:01 Hagbard:  @Abbas Agraphicus. I've put an answer in the forum.

  03-20/12:31 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Hagbard @Everyone: A question about Tablut: why did the Linnaeus' rule n°10 didn't make it to the final ruleset used here?
I also posted the question in the forum. Thanks to anyone willing to answer!
P.s. Congratulations to the Copenhagen finalists and best wishes to ChaolAibhne

  03-19/19:14 Hagbard:  ok

  03-19/18:26 Draganov:  @Hagbard: I am going to give my opinion about the tournament format and to propose some changes in the forum. I will explain my point of view later these days.

  03-19/18:24 Draganov:  Thank you for the good tournament! I am more than happy to reach the final and to finish on the 5th place. I faced great players during the tournament and participated in many intensive games. Congratulations to all of the participants for the great battles and wish you all the best in the next world tournament.

  03-19/12:12 OdinHimself:  Congratulations to the top 3 winners, Garun and Draganov and especially for the strong Bulgarian presentation!

  03-19/10:45 Hagbard:  The Hnefatafl World Championship tournament 2020 finished with the result of the Final:
#1 Casshern, #2 Bogd khan, #3 Cacreal, #4 Garun19, #5 Draganov.
Congratulations to Mario Aluizo ("casshern"), who won both the Tablut and the Copenhagen part!
Thank you to Adam Bartley who was the umpire of the Tablut, and a big thank you to the 34 players who took part in the tournament!
I have put an evaluation in the forum:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1589#p1589

  03-19/00:14 MasterLuke:  For all those interested: the upcoming Tyr 15x15 tournament is a sort of in-between version of 'TYR!' (capitals and exclamation mark) and 'Simple Tyr'. 'Tyr 15x15' features the jumping commanders but lacks the V-men and jumping king. It's like 'Simple Tyr' plus commanders.

  03-18/18:41 ChaolAibhne:  Thank you @Hagbard

  03-17/07:21 Hagbard:  @ChaolAibhne. I wish you a speedy recovery.

  03-15/19:03 ChaolAibhne:  Sorry @Casshern, @L716 and @Holidayinnnes that I timed out my games with you. I suddenly had to go into hospital. But I will soon be coming home to a period of rest, and so will have more time than usual to meet my comrades on the Tafl battlefield!

  03-10/07:00 OdinHimself:  I wish all of you a great pagan day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoIygfym36Q&ab_channel=TavernadoNibelungo

  03-09/22:16 Hagbard:  New in gallery: Paul7's tafl sets.

  03-09/16:53 Hagbard:  The Sea battle 9x9 (Imperial Contest) tournament finished with #1 Casshern, #2 Hnefihunter, #3 Alex hnefatafl

  03-08/22:33 Hagbard:  The Hex 11x11 tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne, #2 Rosk, #3 Holidayinnes

  03-08/17:59 unhandyandy:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2020.

  03-08/09:15 xerxes:  @ChaolAibhne: That is a bewitching idea.

  03-07/22:33 ChaolAibhne:  If we ever hold a championship tournament for Hex, might I propose that the title awarded is The Hexpert 😉

  03-07/13:10 MasterLuke:  @jrton80 : no worries, like I said, I was not sure what to do about it... In the meantime, given the earlier reactions, I decided the bouncy outs will stay...
I must admit I like that feature too, but I just wondered if I could make the game even more balanced. But rest assured: the rule stays, you can drink another whiskey to that!

  03-07/03:02 Jrton80:  @MasterLuke dude, really? while I can see were you are going with the thought, I must say, you know how I love the bouncy outs, and you want to take that away? sounds rather personal to me. (yes, I have had a few Irish Whiskeys this evening)

  03-06/16:38 MasterLuke:  @Paul7: you've got a point there. Your and Draganovs answer convince me keep the Berserk 'hit-and-run' rule. I experienced it myself recently, it's too much fun to let go.

  03-06/11:34 paul7:  @MasterLuke: My experience with Tyr is quite limited, so I don't feel confident to comment on its balance. I'd just say that I personally find the rule in question a fun one and I enjoy it. And I feel that if the defenders can lose the game in one turn by failing to see a long sequence of captures leading to the king being captured, probably so should the attackers. The feeling that you can always be just one turn away from defeat if you're not paying enough attention is a good thing for me.

  03-05/23:30 MasterLuke:  @Draganov: thank you for your opinion, which I appreciate very much, for you are a high rated player. Indeed, the game should be played more by higher rated players against each other to get a better view of the real balance. The digits in the balance section don't say all... What's your experience with TYR, may I ask?

  03-05/16:57 Draganov:  @MasterLuke, in my opinion the Simple Tyr variants are in favour of the blacks. Although I have won many Simple Tyr games with the whites, I don't think the variant is well balanced. I think most of my wins with the whites came after poor playing and inexperience of my opponents. Many players told me that winning with whites is really difficult in Simple Tyr, so making the king jump to the edge after Berserk moves would be good for the game and will make it more balanced.

  03-05/08:51 MasterLuke:  A question to all the players who played TYR! and Simple Tyr before: The Berserk rule allows the king to make a final move to the edge and win the game, after one or more strikes. This is inspired by the original Berserk move in the 'Berserk Hnefatafl rules' (http://aagenielsen.dk/berserk_rules.php) where rule 6 states 'The king may finish a berserk run with a winning move to a corner square.' Of course, in TYR and Simple Tyr, edge escape applies instead of corner escape. Now I wonder, would it affect the already very good balance of the game if I changed this rule, i.e. NOT allowing that final move and stopping the Berserk move after the laste man taken? I really hesitate about this, because this 'hit-and-run' factor can be great fun and a thing to consider by black, but sometimes I think it's too easy for the white king. I'll leave the game as is, for now... But I'm curious what you guys think of it?

  03-04/22:02 Hagbard:  The TYR! 17x17 tournament finished with #1 Jilles, #2 Jrton80 and Kaagee

  03-02/06:26 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxKuAAqM4GI

  03-02/00:29 Hugeal:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2020.

  03-01/06:45 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX-ipGURDgQ

  02-28/03:27 Jrton80:  it was just kind of one of those things that I didn't really think about until after I did it - it was like "that was just not right"

  02-27/11:01 Hagbard:  Yes it is the Berserk bug, sorry.
The king captures h5 but cannot thereafter jump to g3 without another capture.

  02-27/07:23 MasterLuke:  @Jrton80 and @Hagbard: Jilles (Jrton80s opponent) talked about it to me. It happened before. In all Tyr-games (and maybe Alea Berserk too?) a man who did a berserk move can make an additional jump without taking another piece, seemingly. It's a program error which can not be resolved for now, as I remember. I thought we agreed on not making that extra move, as if it was not possible.

  02-27/00:00 Jrton80:  @Hagbard - I think I found a bug in the 17x17 Tyr My game with Jilles - I am fairly sure my last move was not legit

  02-26/23:31 Jrton80:  @ChaolAibhne my only excuse is a couple of Irish Whiskeys and feeling hyperbolic at the time AND at the same time, the Norman while they were settled vikings they were no longer truly of the North by then, picking up frenchyfied (yes a spelling pun) ways and all. @L716 I don't know why, but "mousetrap" makes me wince. Pulling terms from old Norse and coming up with some slightly hyperbolic descriptions of the terms could be fun. No matter what, it would be more about getting us here on the same page using the same terms and Documenting it. I did a few reformulation of the rules in the large forum, simply because they made more sense to me laid out in the order I put them in - which may just be grammar translation - I did not change a word of the rules, I just grouped relevant rules together

  02-25/11:04 Steiger:  *russian

  02-25/11:03 Steiger:  About Copenhagen hnefatafl in rissian. Enjoy!: https://youtu.be/vIDiuwVIAMc

  02-23/16:15 Draganov:  Congratulations to Bogdan for the great battles and performance!

  02-22/16:51 OdinHimself:  Congratulations to Bogdan for this excellent ranking!

  02-22/13:57 Hagbard:  Final #2: Bogd Khan

  02-21/22:25 ChaolAibhne:  @Jrton80 "Vikings ... got their ass kicked which let in the Normans" – so you could say that the Vikings still won in a way, inasmuch as the Normans were Vikings who had raided and eventually settled in northern France (Norman = Norseman)

  02-21/13:00 Steiger:  @OdinHimself: Odin, great warlord I greet you with hail!;-)

  02-21/12:53 Steiger:  @L716: "Трекотт", мышеловка - мне нравится!)

  02-21/09:13 L716:  In the second case insread of guillotine we can use, for example, old norse "mousetrap" - trékǫttr (literally - wooden cat). According to the transcription traditions it can be written as trekottr in English and трекотт in Russian.

  02-21/08:31 L716:  @Jrton80 @Steiger: I don't like chess terminology too (and, to be honest chess as a game either :D), but what options do we have? Imho, since ideally we should aim to make one unified terminology to be used internationally, not only in English, but in all languages, there are only two ways:
1. We take only words that are similar in many European languages (like guillotine and chess terminology in general) so anyone could understand them and use basically the same words. 
2. We go in a comlete opposite direction and use authentic words (Old Norse) almost no one knows, but at least everyone will be learning the same terminology. This happened in HEMA (Historical Europen Martial Arts) , for examle, where people predominantly use Early New High German therminology regardles of the language they are currently speaking.

  02-21/08:26 OdinHimself:  @Agmundr & Steiger: Don't forget the everlasting classic of Einherjer, brothers!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0taOB_BSdPw&ab_channel=RobertoGonz%C3%A1lezCaballero

  02-21/07:37 Steiger:  @Jrton80: I don't like the name "guillotine" either. I think the "scaffold" sounds more authentic.

  02-21/07:12 Steiger:  @Agmundr: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LRi5Pw1U0U  \m/.

  02-21/04:49 Jrton80:  @casshern do not misunderstand me here, but fuck chess - IMNSHO - the terminology really does not match up. I say this not only because I believe the soft option of a draw is not really the Viking way,but what I always think of it as the King's Anvil, the move everyone else, for some reason, calls the guillotine, where is the theme in that? The French never truly accepted the Normans into sociality - where the English took on many words of Norse origin. Vikings either won or dodged until they got too big for their breeches and then they got their ass kicked which let in the Normans, lead by a bastard, back when those things mattered. Language matters, and following the theme matters too. If you truly want to make something following Chess's example is a mistake.

  02-21/03:11 Agmundr:  For us that like some Viking metal! \m/https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VwILN3gE1aw

  02-20/09:33 Hagbard:  The Ard Ri-39 throneless 7x7 (Scottish Ard Ri) tournament finished with #1 Hnefihunter, #2 Jilles and Paul7

  02-19/07:11 Hagbard:  Day 3 hours longer -

  02-17/19:36 Hagbard:  I'll have it in mind

  02-17/18:22 Bogd Khan:  It would be great option if there is an option to see the last dice of the opponent.

  02-17/18:14 Hagbard:  Yes the Sahkku review doesn't work for now, sorry. I'll have a look at it when possible

  02-17/17:46 Draganov:  @Hagbard  would it be possible to implement viewing history functionality on the Saami Sahkku game. It would be good if we can see the history of the games move by move or at least the last dice and the move of the opponent.

  02-16/04:57 Steiger:  @Hnefihunter, спасибо, Лёха! Над голосом будем работать.)

  02-15/19:06 Hnefihunter:  I often watch videos with subtitles if I don't know the language. On YouTube there is a function of translation.

  02-15/18:57 Hnefihunter:  Great movie. I liked the history and review of tafl. The only small nuance: the voice is a little monotonous. As a result, I watched with a break.

  02-15/08:30 Steiger:  @Ded Fomich, дядя, ты где пропал? Ты нам нужен! "Незаметно присоединяйтесь, барон"(с) :)

  02-15/07:24 Steiger:  The language barrier:( But we can handle it!

  02-15/07:10 casshern:  I didn’t understand a single word, lol. But, I could tell that you put a lot a effort into it. The moves and games you discussed, I could follow easy enough. The first 5-10 minutes looked like you went over the history of the game and it looked like you pulled from a lot of sources, at least from the photos.

In the “forum for discussion” under “strategy,” I have started a “Tablut” discussion. I hope to continue what you have started in this video there.

  02-15/05:33 Steiger:  @casshern: I'm very glad that you like it, Mario!) Thank you!

  02-15/00:48 casshern:  @Steiger: The best Tablut video I have every seen! Bravo!!

@All: I am going to start discussing strategies and trying to name moves Sorry in advance, but I am very technologically challenged. My goal is to be able to make videos like Steiger’s to post on youtube as well. But until I get over my ineptitude, I will be posting in the large forum. Please feel free to comment or ask me any questions.

As far as naming moves, I want to use chess as a model. Probably naming openings and moves after countries or players. And use some terms from chess as well. But my knowledge here is also greatly lacking. I am very open to help and suggests, from players with a background in chess or other games and from players here who have been playing for a long time and have knowledge about the history of the game. Thanks in advance!

  02-14/14:11 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Hagbard: I happen to have the disegn of some little ships that I think could suit well to sea battle.
Can they be of some use? If so, let me know, and I can post them on the forum to discuss.

  02-13/23:11 Hagbard:  The Saami Cuhkka 5x5 tournament finished with #1 Jrton80, #2 Holidayinnes, #3 Rosk

  02-13/22:53 ssmm:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2020.

  02-13/19:23 Steiger:  @OdinHimself, \m/.

  02-13/18:12 OdinHimself:  Skal, brother!!!

  02-13/15:00 Steiger:  @Hagbard, thank you, Aage!

  02-13/13:13 Hagbard:  Steiger created this video on Historical Hnefatafl 9x9 (Saami Tablut), the ultimate guide!!
https://youtu.be/756INuMOWj8

  02-13/06:30 Hagbard:  The Simple Tyr 13x13 tournament finished with #1 Jilles, #2 Draganov, #3 Jrton80

  02-12/14:44 Draganov:  It was awesome that for a moment Cacreal, Garun19 and me were with the same raiting points- 1703 and with equal points in the tournament. It is amazing how equal in strength we are.

  02-07/10:24 Abbas Agraphicus:  Thanks

  02-06/07:39 Hagbard:  @Abbas Agraphicus. Background of Old Hnefatafl is explained here:
http://aagenielsen.dk/copenhagen_summary.php

  02-05/15:29 Hagbard:  The day is 2 hours longer -

  02-05/14:02 MasterLuke:  ... and for the occasion I designed new pieces for Simple Tyr 11 x 11.

  02-05/14:00 MasterLuke:  To inform you all: the game variants Tyr-1 and Tyr-2 are omitted from this website, they mainly served as test cases for the Tyr concept. The third and final version, formerly known as Tyr-3, with jumping King also allowed to jump over its own men, is now renamed 'TYR!' written in capitals and with exclamation mark. This is because of the name TYR, the Norse war god, was shouted out loud when vikings went to attack. The simplified version without jumping king, v-men and commanders, called Simple Tyr, remains. In fact, it's played more than the regular TYR! recently. Tournaments proved that TYR! works well on 15 x 15 boards (17 x 17 is fine too, but more testing is needed), whereas Simple Tyr works fine on 11 x 11 and 15 x 15 formats (Tournament Simple Tyr 13x13 ongoing). Hereby I encourage everyone to play these games more and more, for they are among the most balanced variants of Tafl.

  02-05/13:31 Hagbard:  The Sea battle-204577 11x11 tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne, #2 Rosk, #3 Hnefihunter

  02-04/13:56 Abbas Agraphicus:  Guys, where do the "Old Hnefatafl" rules come from? (Was it the standard before the Fetlar one?)

  02-03/07:49 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuhqszDKKkM

  02-02/12:58 ChaolAibhne:  Imperial Contest was the first tournament I played when I joined the site almost two years ago, so it's nice to see it back. That tournament was the closest I've ever come to winning against Casshern! :-) I had made a series of moves towards getting my king to where it had two exit points. I was just about to make the final couple of forcing moves when I panicked, thinking I could now see how my plan might be obstructed. I played something else instead and ended up losing. Afterwards I found that I had misread the situation in that moment and that the original plan would have worked. I learned a lesson about reading carefully and not abandoning plans in a panicked moment of doubt! But otherwise that tournament marked a turning point in my Tafl journey, when I felt that I was starting to put things together after losing most of my previous games.

  02-02/08:00 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX3e9DmxHtQ

  02-01/08:28 Hagbard:  Yes I suppose it's because it somehow does not change the game very much. Anyway, there could be a tournament of Imperial Contest after the Ard Ri.

  02-01/07:58 casshern:  @Hagbard: Thank you! In my experience the king’s limited mobility in Imperial Contest doesn’t really make a difference. But, in theory, it should have a slightly better balance, if not even.

  01-31/15:43 Hagbard:  The first setup has a balance of +1.73 from 276 games.
The other setup has a balance of +1.18 from 42 games, which is used in a week.
All games are here:
http://aagenielsen.dk/visallespil_soeg_nath.php

  01-31/14:01 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Hagbard: what happened to the Scottish Ard-Ri starting position? I played some matches a few months back and it was the cross setup, but now it is a circle. (And I don't find my old matches anymore). Will the tournament have the circle starting position?

  01-31/10:32 Hagbard:  Added.
The measured balance of Sea battle T 9x9 was +1.52
The measured balance of Sea battle 9x9 (Imperial Contest) was +1.70
The two games are identical with the only difference that in the latter the king is limited to walk 4 squares.
And so the balance of the Imperial Contest should be expected to be better than 1.52 instead of worse.
There's no explanation of this outcome, but therefore the variants were removed.

  01-31/10:05 casshern:  @Hagbard: I don’t see Sea Battle 9x9, Imperial Contest, anymore. If it’s not too much trouble, can you add it back in as a game option?

  01-30/14:24 Hagbard:  Cuhkka and Ard Ri

  01-30/11:13 Bogd Khan:  Thank you, Hagbard. What the next tournaments will be?

  01-29/09:51 Hagbard:  The Saami Cuhkka 5x5 tournament finished with #1 Holidayinnes and Mihkkal, #3 Bogd Khan

  01-27/16:55 Bogd Khan:  In Sahkku game the software gave me two turns in a roll and skipped draganov's move.

  01-27/14:19 Draganov:  The problem with Sahkku was that I made a move and send it but the software did not accept it. It was a legal move but after I sent it anyone of my pieces moved and they stayed on the same fields as before.

  01-27/12:30 Hagbard:  Fetlar: the software does not catch the "cannot move", so white must resign.
Sahkku: you cannot catch the king if one of your own pieces is just in front of the king, because then the king cannot move one step forward. But it sounds like there's something to correct in the software.

  01-27/10:56 Bogd Khan:  I was writing in the chat space in that moment this may be caused the bug. Is it possible if message is sent in the same time as the opponent's move, the move to be skipped?

  01-27/10:50 Draganov:  @Hagbard: Let me report another bug. In my Saami Sáhkku game against Bogd Khan, I am playing with the whites and 1 turn ago I received a dice that give me the chance to kill two of my opponent's pieces and to take control over the king. However, after I played like this, my move was not accepted by the software and I had the same position as I was never moved. Moreover, the turn was changed and Bogd Khan made his move. So, I missed a move and did not manage to use my dice to kill two of his pieces.

  01-27/10:39 Draganov:  The problematic game is in Fetlar variant.

  01-27/10:38 Draganov:  @Hagbard: In my game against Bogd Khan I am playing with the whites and I cannot move so I should lose the game. However, the engine did not catch this rule and the game continues. Is this a bug?

  01-26/15:51 Hagbard:  https://www.tv2nord.dk/mariagerfjord/vikingeborge-vil-vaere-verdensarv
https://natmus.dk/nyhed/vikingetidens-ringborge-kan-blive-kulturel-verdensarv/

  01-24/23:29 Hagbard:  The Simple Tyr 11x11 tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne, #2 Draganov, #3 Holidayinnes and Jrton80

  01-24/21:12 Hnefihunter:  Hello there. Is the rule of three-way capture really excluded from Brandubh 2 at the moment? I wanted to settle a very rare situation where the king is between two attackers next to the throne. In my opinion, in this case, the king can be captured by the third striker.  Based on the message Re: king2nextthrone Post by branan » Sat Feb 01, 2020 12:34 pm on large forum, the three-way capture rule acts as an addition to the basic rules. I invite all interested players to join the discussion topic and eliminate inaccuracies in the rules in one direction or another.

  01-24/00:49 Bogd Khan:  Congratulations, Mario for being world champion for third year in a roll with 8/8 score. Thank you for the beautiful games in the final, and for being such a fair player and a gentleman, too!

  01-23/18:33 Hnefihunter:  Congrats Mario! With your victories, you have turned our depth of understanding of the strategy of Hnefatafl. When I started playing, I thought they were very simple tactical games)

  01-23/11:01 xerxes:  Congratulations to Casshern - not only a great champion, but a gentleman too.

  01-22/23:08 casshern:  Thanks all!!! The final was tough as always, very competitive! Congratulations to everyone who made the finals of the Tablut and Copenhagen tournaments. And thanks to everyone else who participated. And for everyone else who plays here, Thank you all!! I love this community very much and I enjoy playing with you all.

  01-22/17:04 Hagbard:  Congratulations to Casshern for winning the Copenhagen Final!!

I wrote in the forum some thoughts on the title intervals:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&p=1515#p1515

  01-22/07:22 Draganov:  Congratulations to Casshern for the devastating victory! It was an honour for me to play against the most dominating champion in the tafl game.

  01-22/06:11 OdinHimself:  Congratulations to casshern! He deserves the title! I've never seen a better player than him! Odin be praised!

  01-21/19:04 Hagbard:  casshern won the Final!!!

  01-21/12:55 Hagbard:  Perhaps after the Simple Tyr 13x13?

  01-21/12:45 xerxes:  @hagbard: Perhaps have another Cukka tournament after this one ?  There are two or three players who took advantage of the bug.

  01-21/11:37 Hagbard:  I would suggest to just let them be.

  01-21/11:09 mihkkal:  Thanks for fixing the bugs quickly @Hagbard!

What's to be done with the Cuhkka tournament games where the bug was used? Will they be restarted?

  01-21/10:00 Hagbard:  The day is 1 hour longer!

  01-21/09:47 Draganov:  @Hagbard: Thank you for the quick bug fixing!

  01-21/08:30 Hagbard:  Cuhkka fixed

  01-21/06:19 Hagbard:  Sahkku fixed

  01-20/18:31 Hagbard:  yes it's an unfortunate bug in cuhkka, it will take some time to find it

  01-20/18:07 mihkkal:  @Hagbard Please note bug in Cuhkka. See as example game between Bogd Khan vs me. Last move (a2-e2) isn't supposed to be possible. It involves jumping over a vacant spot (not allowed), from there jumping an enemy piece,and then once more jumping an empty spot (not allowed). Another player in this tournament has told of the same bug in one of their games.

  01-20/14:36 Hagbard:  Indeed. I'll check again

  01-20/14:33 Draganov:  This is what I received in my game against ChaolAibhne. It is not correct dice at all. You cannot have value of 1 in the Saami Sahkku game. The only possible dice values are X, 2, 3 and 4. 
Dice     4   3   1  
*** No X ***

  01-20/14:30 Hagbard:  Checked, and if possible increased the randomness of the dice

  01-20/08:06 Draganov:  @Hagbard: In my Saami Sahkku game against ChaolAibhne, he managed to kill all of my active pieces so I was waiting for a dice with X in order to activate a piece. However, I did not have a dice with X about 5 times in a row. In one of the times I saw that I actually had a dice with 1 instead of X and that's why I could not activate a piece. Many players think that there is a bug and when you do not have active pieces it is almost impossible to activate a piece again. I think the reason is that the engine gave the players a dice with 1 instead of X. Could you please see if there is really a bug in this interesting game?

  01-19/14:24 OdinHimself:  Amazing!

  01-19/10:14 Hagbard:  New in gallery: Thomas, USA, sent photos from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.

  01-16/19:52 xerxes:  @hagbard: Thanks

  01-16/19:47 Hagbard:  @xerxes. It was because of repetition.

  01-16/19:27 Jrton80:  LOL - Bogd khan got me again but side to side this time, and I cannot retaliate on a corner to corner take

  01-16/19:19 xerxes:  @hagbard: I seem to have won my game of Saami Cuhkka as Black v Holidayinnes in T207, but neither of us understand why ?

  01-16/18:39 Jrton80:  oops, I should have looked here before I did what I did to Xerxes

  01-15/23:56 Hagbard:  No, it is a bug. I was not aware of that.

  01-15/23:41 Jrton80:  @Hagbard in the Saami Cuhkka 5x5, Are we supposed to be able to jump corner to corner capturing the one guy in the middle? Note my games against Bogd khan and Borjk. I did look at the rules but the Wiki seems more for Saami Daabloe 11x9

  01-15/19:19 Hagbard:  The Sea battle tafl 13x13 (Nielsen) tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne and Holidayinnes, #3 Xerxes
Full contents of the small forum.
Train your brain like a viking. Science Days in Norway Sep. 27th 2020. (Click on the image!)
Aleksandr Valerievich Tsyganok ("Steiger") created this ultimate guide to Historical Hnefatafl 9x9 (Saami Tablut), posted Feb. 12th 2021, history, rules and strategy!!
See also Tsyganok's tafl game sets.

And to Copenhagen Hnefatafl, posted Feb. 25th 2021!
Dmitry Pashkov from Ethnic Board Games tells about tafl games, ludus latrunculorum, daldøs a.o., broadcasted by oper.ru Dec. 11th 2020.
Hnefatafl is also known by the names Nefatavl, The King's Table, The Viking Game, Viking Chess, Tablut or simply Tafl.
History of this site.
Art on this site.
Comments on Hnefatafl.
The origin of the Viking board game Hnefatafl and the Berserk rules.
Links to more information on the Viking board game Hnefatafl.
Tafl Shops.
Viking word of wisdom: The Hávamál.
(Havámál på dansk).
World Championship Tournament started September 15th 2020.
See the tournament page.
National Tournaments started July 1st 2020.
See the tournament page.
Здесь можно играть в тавлеи против людей. Можно использовать кириллицу.
Many thanks to Adam Bartley ("Adam"), Tim Millar ("crust"), Gregory Binns ("Torc"), John C. Ashton, Nicolas Cartier, Jonas Lööf ("conanlibrarian"), Olli Salmi, Damian Walker ("cyningstan"), Sten Helmfrid, Rene Gralla, Olga Mudrichenko, Gary and Christa (Germany), Ludovic Antoine, Nikolas Lloyd, Jeffrey Westcoat ("Sigurd"), Rasmus Holbroe, Thore Nissen, Lucho Panchev ("OdinHimself"), Alexander Steiger Dis ("Steiger"), Dmitry Pashkov, Delray Curtis ("jrton80"), David Zolli ("branan"), Luk Martens ("Masterluke"), Marian Luck ("themightyglider"), Mikkel Berg-Nordlie ("mihkkal"), "Abbas Agraphicus" and all players who contributed to the photo gallery, for their contributions to this site. And not least the more than 500 players the world over who played here 31000 real tafl games humans against humans and thus created a vast, practical experience with this intriguing, historical board game.
Updated 11.4.2021