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

Play Hnefatafl Online.

The Viking board game.

World Tafl Federation Championship 2019, starting Sep. 15th 2019.
Go to the Tafl Against Humans page to join; the invitation is open until September 14th 12:00 Danish time.

Coming tournaments:
Sea battle-2542 9x9, test starting Aug. 15th 2019
Ard Ri-39 throneless 7x7, test starting Sep. 1st 2019
Sea battle-1606 9x9, test starting Sep. 16th 2019
Go to the Tafl Against Humans page to join; the invitation is open for 7 days.

World Tafl Federation Championship 2019, starting Sep. 15th 2019

Tafl against humans.
Тавлеи против людей.
(Use button in top panel.)
Rasmus Holbroe vikings

Artist: Copyright © Rasmus Holbroe (Jan. 2016).

Tafl against the computer.

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.


  08-19/13:55 Hagbard:  New in gallery: Roskilde Viking Ship Museum 50 years anniversary Aug. 17th.

  08-17/19:52 Steiger:  @Masterluke: nice sets!

  08-17/07:41 Hagbard:  New in gallery: Luk Martens, Belgium, sent photos of new tafl sets.

  08-16/14:30 Steiger:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4dtCjkLydM

  08-16/11:22 Steiger:  \m/.

  08-16/08:17 Hagbard:  6 new photos from the Bylinnyj Bereg in gallery

  08-14/16:05 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard Thank you.

  08-14/10:02 Hagbard:  The file is updated to 16 moves (2 x 8).

  08-14/09:24 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard I think 16 moves might be needed (that is, 8 for each side). Chess openings are typically at least as long.

  08-13/11:13 Hagbard:  How many moves?

  08-13/02:35 Volkenpuk:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  08-12/19:20 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard Thanks. That list of openings is useful. Might it at some point be extended to a greater number of moves?

  08-11/09:19 Hagbard:  There's a file of openings here:
http://aagenielsen.dk/tafl_openings.txt

  08-10/11:02 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard The analysis I was thinking of was to try to work out some openings.

  08-10/08:24 Hagbard:  As for handicap ways, and so has chess, one player with one or more officers less, for training.
I did at some time try the same in tafl against beginners and children, removed a couple of pieces from the board. But I don't bother to do that anymore, when instructing beginners and children, I just play very badly, and then as soon as possible I let them play against each other and have even games.

  08-10/08:16 Hagbard:  @ChaolAibhne: Which analysis do you have in mind?

  08-10/08:09 Hagbard:  @ChaolAibhne: Yes, the engine warns.

  08-10/08:01 Hagbard:  "The agressive player" (hat tip Foteviken Museum) and "the player with a choice" (hat tip Adam Bartley) are philosophical ways to understand and explain who should lose from a repetition.
In my opinion, however, the simplest is to ask "Who is sidestepping and who is blocking? The sidestepper is the repetitioner and loses." This gives the same result and is easier to recognize.

  08-10/08:01 Hagbard:  By the way, black used an interesting tactics in this game: there are only two white pieces and the king. So one white piece is trapped on row 1 and blocked from escaping. To avoid the repetition, white is then forced to move the second white piece, whereafter the king will be immediately caught.

  08-10/00:43 ChaolAibhne:  The game of go has a handicap scheme that allows players of different ratings to play on a roughly equal footing. Has anyone done any work on something similar for tafl? If there are any candidate schemes perhaps these could be the subject of a future series of test tournaments (with necessary adjustments to the game engine to compute the handicap for each match).

  08-10/00:24 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard Are the game archives available to download? I'm thinking of doing some kind of analysis.

  08-10/00:21 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard On the matter of repetitions, does the game engine warn a player when they are proposing to submit a repeating move? It not then that might be a useful addition.

  08-09/22:05 Hnefihunter:  @Hagbard:Thank you for explaining!

  08-09/21:42 Hagbard:  - or you mean: that it could occur that black does the repetition? Yes certainly. I cannot think of a game right now where it happened, but imagine fx. if black wants to break through to capture the king or to capture some white piece, and white is able to block the effort the same way. Then black is forced to give up this attack and do something else

  08-09/21:37 branan:  It doesn't really matter in this particular case: I would have probably loose anyway. I just want to understand the rule.

  08-09/21:32 Hagbard:  One could say that it was black who forced white to do the repetition in this case, because white was cornered on line 1 and could not get anywhere with the game. One could say that white's repetition was a symptom telling that white had lost

  08-09/20:43 Hnefihunter:  @Hagbard: In rare cases, an attacker can initiate a repetition, if I'm not mistaken) Or could it not be in principle?

  08-09/20:43 Hnefihunter:  @Hagbard: In rare cases, an attacker can initiate a repetition, if I'm not mistaken) Or could it not be in principle?

  08-09/20:23 branan:  Ok. I misunderstood the rules, then. I always considered the 'agressive' as the one with a choice. I have no other choice than loosing, so I thought I wasn't the one with a choice. Thanks for the explanation.

  08-09/20:20 Hagbard:  The white piece is the active party, it is actively attempting to go somewhere. The black piece is just reacting to block white's efforts.
And so white is the desperate party who has to succeed in this effort or else lose if the efforts fail.

  08-09/19:53 branan:  But I wasn't the "agressive player" in my mind. I play white and have no other choice. The only move I can made is to move this piece and the black piece block me. I never try to block any black piece and I have no other choice. So I wasn't the agressive player or am I wrong?

  08-09/19:11 Hnefihunter:  The opponent continually brings his
piece in line with the aggressive piece to block the open path. The “aggressive player" is the one who has some choice in whether to repeat the pattern
or not.

  08-09/19:10 Hagbard:  The repetition is in the form of side stepping. The white piece on row 1 has to get away from row 1 and therefore keeps side stepping in an attempt to escape from the row. The black piece on row 2 constantly blocks the way for the desperate white man. And so after a number of moving back and forth the repetition is detected.

Interestingly it is here a common soldier who has to escape from a row. Usually it is the king who moves back and forth to get away from a line.

  08-09/19:08 Hnefihunter:  @branan: 8. Perpetual repetitions http://aagenielsen.dk/TaflRulesEnglish.pdf  A player who agressively
maintains a board repetition must find another move to break the repetition, or lose the game.

  08-09/18:02 branan:  Hagbard, system made me loose my game against Hnefihunter for repetitions on tournament 137 but I didn't made repetitions. My 5 last moves were e1-d1, d1-b1, b1-e1, e1-c1, c1-d1. Can you explain me why it did this?

  08-08/21:19 Hagbard:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  08-08/00:42 Gungnir:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  08-04/11:58 Steiger:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  08-04/11:57 Waegn:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  08-04/08:20 Steiger:  @mmagari: Very thoughtful works!

  08-03/23:05 mmagari:  Dear Friends, I present my latest work
Thanks for the attention
Marco Gandolfo

https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/08/quel-che-rimane-mmag-mmxix.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/08/il-pensiero-unico-e-gli-asini.html

  08-03/17:45 Steiger:  Also, that festival had a lot of music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZFbJ0BaIIc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_2uB2VGJQY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iru-J3FDg4

  08-03/17:41 Steiger:  Many people, including Lucho, Dmitry and others...

  08-03/17:25 Hagbard:  Who were the photographers then?

  08-03/16:14 Steiger:  In truth, I didn’t make these photos - I just compiled them

  08-03/15:44 Hagbard:  New in gallery: Alexander Steiger Dis made a fabulous photo series from the Russian festival Bylinnyj Bereg.

  08-03/11:46 Hagbard:  The large forum is opened for new registerings for a few days.

  07-25/09:02 Hagbard:  Now I understand better the many photos of tafl boards in the grass! The verse makes good sense when you are familiar with the Iron Age long houses from reconstructions. Inside would be very dark and with much smoke in the air, so you would always prefer to spend your time out in the open.

  07-24/15:02 OdinHimself:  Splendid photo! It only misses the set for OdinHimself lol. Steiger is a true master! Respect!

  07-24/11:56 Hagbard:  More new in the gallery.

  07-23/16:06 OdinHimself:  Very nice! :)

  07-23/11:43 Hagbard:  New in gallery.

  07-22/18:33 Hagbard:  :)

  07-22/18:31 OdinHimself:  @Hagbard: They need a higher battle spirit. :) Though the woodcarving is very unique!

  07-22/16:51 Hagbard:  https://www.fyens.dk/rejser/Kig-med-i-Sagnlandet-Lejre-Udsmykning-af-vikingekonges-hal-gaar-i-gang/artikel/3363763

  07-22/16:24 Hagbard:  https://sn.dk/Slagelse/Slaget-om-Trelleborg/artikel/857033

  07-20/16:06 Bogd Khan:  Hagbard, sorry but move 5/6 and 6/6 were for jrton80 and i also see that lost some points. Why that happened.Thanks

  07-20/15:32 jrton80:  Thanks

  07-20/07:34 Hagbard:  Resat

  07-20/00:58 jrton80:  @hagbard - could you reset Bogd Khan and my Copenhagen game? he resigned by accident.

  07-18/20:09 Kllimm:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-12/19:22 branan:  @mmagari you're named Gondolfo like the Conte di Piacenza?

  07-12/17:20 Steiger:  Enjoy, my friend!

  07-12/11:19 OdinHimself:  Skal!

  07-11/21:04 mmagari:  Dear friends, Steiger has created a wonderful Brandubh for me. I thank him very much in front of the whole community, I hope to soon be able to put on my blog some photos that give testimony to Alexander's art, which I greet with affection.
Marco Gandolfo

  07-10/11:46 epm180:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-10/03:14 Mykle:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-10/03:14 Mykle:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-08/21:00 mmagari:  despite the heat and the ailments I continue with passion to realize the images of the blog ...

good night


 
I present to you my latest works:
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/07/il-segreto-di-mmag-mmxix.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/07/bei-soldi-il-testimonial-di-classe-di.html

Marco

  07-06/20:46 jrton80:  O'duh, http not https

  07-06/08:10 Hagbard:  just use non secure connection:
http://beta.playtaflonline.com

  07-06/01:39 jrton80:  what's going on with beta.playtaflonline.com? it is saying "This server could not prove that it is beta.playtaflonline.com; its security certificate expired 39 days ago..." I, cutting down on things while I was out on vacation, just noticed this.

  07-05/18:31 jrton80:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-01/21:37 Bogd Khan:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-01/17:12 Hagbard:  In a small detail: they have a throne, and the initial setup is changed.
The numbers come from a list of setups:
http://aagenielsen.dk/hnefataflforum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&p=1164#p1164

  07-01/17:05 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard You've extended invitations for variants described as Ard Ri-26, Ard Ri-32 and Ard Ri-39. Do these differ from the regular Ard Ri rules?

  07-01/16:48 Luizz:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-01/16:39 sqAree:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-01/13:38 xerxes:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  07-01/10:42 Agmundr:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  06-30/16:27 Rossomaha:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  06-30/16:11 chuck ward:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  06-30/14:24 ChaolAibhne:  Registers for the World Championship Tournament 2019.

  06-28/15:50 mmagari:  Dear friend, I present my latest works:
 
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/cyborg-girl-di-mg.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/gentleman-and-young-lady-of-mmag-mmxix.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/introspezione-di-marco-gandolfo.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/an-interesting-wheel-di-mg.html

  06-20/18:33 OdinHimself:  All of them are great! Can you implement some viking's mythology in one of your next works?

  06-19/22:06 mmagari:  Dear friend, I present my latest works:
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/il-cerchio-di-marco-gandolfo.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/voi-siete-un-covo-di-vipere-di-marco.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-dream-di-marco-gandolfo.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-sleep-di-marco-gandolfo.html

  06-18/20:03 OdinHimself:  Outstanding!

  06-17/21:22 mmagari:  Dear friends, I present my latest work:https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/06/la-cattura-della-lunar-creatura-di.html
thanks

  06-15/07:54 Hagbard:  True; corrected; thank you!

  06-15/01:31 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard I think there may be a bug in the game engine's detection of white being surrounded. In the recent MasterLuke/ChaolAibhne game of Tablut I think move 45 should have ended the game according to rule 7b.

  06-10/23:59 chuck ward:  World Championship Tournament 2019!!!!!

  06-10/19:51 Hagbard:  Proposal for World Championship Tournament 2019:
http://aagenielsen.dk/wtfturnering2019.php

  06-06/20:04 Hagbard:  There've been these versions of the text:
  
Linné's diary:
14. "Arx potest intercludere, æque ac trio[tertio?], ut si miles in 2 et hostis in 3 est, occiditur4."
Olli Salmi translation:
14. "The fort can block, as a third [piece], so if there is a soldier in 2 and enemy in 3, it is killed."

Sten Helmfrid:
"The four corner squares are hostile to all pieces, which means that they can replace one of the two pieces taking part in a capture. The throne is always hostile to the attackers, but only hostile to the defenders when it is empty."

ChaolAibhne:
"The empty throne square is hostile, which means that it can replace one of the pieces taking part in a capture."

  06-05/14:50 ChaolAibhne:  Could I make a suggestion for simplifying the explanation of the hostile throne in the rules for historical hnefatafl? Currently it says: "The throne square is hostile, which means that it can replace one of the two pieces taking part in a capture. The throne is always hostile to the attackers, but only hostile to the defenders when it is empty." There seems to me to be some unnecessary distinctions being made between attackers and defenders and between an occupied and an empty hostile throne. Rather the throne itself is hostile only when it is empty and then to both attackers and defenders. When the throne is occupied (by the king) it is not the throne itself that takes part in a capture, but rather the king, and that is already covered in the explanation of regular capture. There is also the problem that the empty throne is said to replace one of the two pieces taking needed for a capture, but of course it would be four when capturing the king. So I propose that the quoted text could be replaced by this simpler and more accurate sentence: "The empty throne square is hostile, which means that it can replace one of the pieces taking part in a capture."

  06-04/12:29 OdinHimself:  @Agmundr: Mine is Shield wall! \m/ \m/

  06-04/08:43 Agmundr:  Hail to all! Some of you may know that Amon Amarth has released a new album "Berserker"! \m/ My favourite song is "The Berserker at Stamford Bridge"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srZJpwtaArQ May you all have a great summer with a lot of interesting and good games! Skål! 🍻

  06-03/15:39 Hagbard:  The large forum is opened for some days for new registerings.

  06-02/13:34 Hagbard:  x2 would cover it -

  06-02/12:45 Khan Asparukh:  @Hagbard: is there a chance to make time control in which the free time to move is no less than one day and the buffer is not less than 10 days and to be rated?

  06-01/21:15 Hagbard:  - When a game lasted for a long time already, the free time per move is only 1 hour, then time is taken from the buffer.

  06-01/20:14 Khan Asparukh:  @Hagbard: when the  runs  Free time per move it should not run out of buffer time.I think this is not the case at the moment

  06-01/15:13 Hagbard:  ok

  06-01/15:08 chuck ward:  @ Hagbard. I did not realize the tournament was 13x13. I have no interest in playing, please take me out of it. Sorry if it messes with things.

  06-01/11:46 Hagbard:  - and tournaments are timed x2.

  06-01/11:42 Hagbard:  Normal timing:
Free time per move: 0.5 day. Time buffer 3 days.
If you move faster than the 0.5 day, then half of the saved time is restored to your time buffer. The buffer cannot exceed 3 days, though.
If the game exceeds 6 days, then in the period 6-12 days the free time is gradually reduced from 0.5 day to 1 hour. However, if it's a game of very many moves (fx. on large boards), then the "long game threshold" is increased accordingly.
If you are flagged for timeout, it will not happen until after 13 hours since your last move.

x2 timing: All this x 2.
x10 timing: All this x 10.

When your time buffer is less than 2 days, you'll see a blue warning.
When you're less than 1 day from timeout, you'll se a red warning.

  06-01/11:18 Khan Asparukh:  @Hagbard:can you write the times of the three types of game controls at the moment Timing,Timing X2, Timing X10 because I think there are still some changes

  05-29/17:20 Steiger:  Without a doubt!)

  05-29/06:33 OdinHimself:  @ Steiger: Where? When? Is it true? :)

  05-28/20:44 Steiger:  Hooray, Сrust is back!!!

  05-27/21:09 Hnefihunter:  @mmagari: nice art)

  05-27/20:57 mmagari:  Hello, I present my latest works of art from my blog https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com, thanks for your attention :

https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/05/max-richter-di-marco-gandolfo_27.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/05/il-denaro-non-dorme-mai-di-marco.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/05/il-rassicurante-sorriso-dei-poteri.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/05/richie-hawtin-di-marco-gandolfo.html
https://marcogandolfoworks.blogspot.com/2019/05/le-liberta-individuali-di-marco-gandolfo.html

Full contents of the small forum.

World Tafl Federation Hnefatafl Championship tournament 2018.

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.
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).

Здесь можно играть в тавлеи и против компьютера, и 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") and David Zolli ("branan") for their contribution to this site. And not least the more than 400 players the world over who played here more than 15000 real tafl games humans against humans and thus created a vast, practical experience with this intriguing, historical board game.

Updated 21.8.2019