Play Hnefatafl online | Nefatavl | King's table

Play Hnefatafl Online.

The Viking board game

Tafl against human opponents.
Тавлеи против человеческих противников.

There is an invitation for a game of Hnefatafl.
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Tafl against the computer;
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11x11

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11x11

Play white
9x9

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9x9

Rules / Regeln / Règles / Regler / Правила.

Forum.


  2013-12-06 17:21:51 vonraider: Good article. Thanks for posting.

  2013-12-06 11:39:59 Hagbard: New in photos gallery: Photos and report from the Hnefatafl event in Berlin November 28th sent by Rene Gralla.

  2013-12-05 04:52:54 cyningstan: I think that the David Brown rules (and sea battle tafl, for that matter) might become a bit more balanced if the defenders are set out in a cross instead of a diamond. It doesn't look as pretty, but gives them control of two ranks and two files at the beginning of the game - and makes it easier to get the king out.  I don't propose a rule change for David Brown as it's historical, but sea battle tafl could benefit from it.

  2013-12-03 06:08:41 Hagbard: That might be so. A couple of points more: the repetitions are a help to white. And the rule about not more than one piece be killed in one move is a help to white; but this is a difficult one to implement, because it requires the player to be able to mark which piece to kill and which to preserve.

  2013-12-03 01:33:38 nath: Sorry I didn't mean Salk, but anvil/hammer only 11x11 to the edge Hnefatafl. I just had a look at our old testgames. I couldn't find any capture at the throne. So I doubt that this will change much about the balancing. But ok - have fun to all participants!

  2013-12-03 01:18:21 Hagbard: - which is another help to white.

  2013-12-03 01:11:40 Hagbard: The Sea Battle Tafl 11x11 without a throne was found to be in favour of black (just as the 11x11 king hammer only/anvil only, which you mention). The throne probably is a help to white to some unknown degree. The king hammer only/anvil only versions, which we tested, did have a throne but were still in favour of black. However the David Brown throne is different in that it is friendly to all common pieces.

  2013-12-03 00:56:05 Hagbard: David Brown doesn't mention about repetitions, which therefore is assumed to be allowed. But in return the encirclement rule prevents the early center draw forts.
  Skalk is not the same, because the Skalk king is captured from 2 sides, but the David Brown king is captured from 4 sides.

  2013-12-03 00:22:16 nath: I mainly ment the judgment of the perpetual repetition. That is one of the most core questions according to different Hnefatafl rules.
Isn't this the same as Salk Hnefatafl 11x11 to the edge? We noticed that both variants king hammer only/anvil only at a 11x11 board is in favor for black. Why should an unarmed king be stronger?

  2013-12-02 23:54:58 Hagbard: It's very close to a Sea Battle Tafl 11x11. See the rules page, and also follow the link to Damian Walker's page about the version. It's implemented as described there, except for one detail: according to the original rules only one piece can be killed at a time, but here you can kill up to three pieces at a time as usual.

  2013-12-02 22:09:30 nath: What are David Brown rules exactly?

  2013-12-01 21:50:36 Hagbard: Nath was present at the Berlin tournament and reports: Silje Bjerke played against Olaf Koppe, the director of "Neues Deutschland", the newspaper that offered the location for the tournament.

  2013-12-01 21:47:28 Adam: Thank You! Finally made it into the 21st century, albeit briefly. ;)

  2013-12-01 20:49:52 Hagbard: Test run of another historical version: the David Brown rules from 1980. King unarmed, wins on edge. Remember that the David Brown throne is friendly towards all ordinary pieces.

  2013-12-01 12:19:10 altti: looks like he'll take the tourney too. congrats Adam

  2013-12-01 08:11:17 Hagbard: Adam's on 2000!

  2013-11-27 17:37:59 Adam: Good Stuff. I hope the chess player Silje will try some training games against human players on this site.

  2013-11-26 21:29:33 Hagbard: Rene Gralla from Germany informed about a hnefatafl exhibition match in Berlin November 28th. There's a link about it below on this page.

  2013-11-21 20:26:13 Hagbard: Just seen the movie Thor 2011. It begins in Tønsberg, Norway, 965 A.D.!

  2013-11-18 07:35:42 Hagbard: The question is about the Check my Current Games page. The reload feature makes it easy to play real time against an opponent who is present at his computer right now. Every five seconds the page checks if the opponent has moved and it is your turn, but after five minutes it checks only once per minute. When it found that it is your turn, it checs no more.

  2013-11-18 00:00:02 altti: is there anyway I can stop the site from constantly loading and returning the screen to the top of the page every few seconds

  2013-11-12 19:49:34 Fairland: MAN! I am glad I read that comment! I would have been murdered in this tournament!

  2013-11-12 15:32:44 Hagbard: No, they're the same. But several players believed that white had a too easy play last year, because the black players forgot about the king's weakness. And thus the measured balance could be misleading.

  2013-11-12 14:11:05 Adam: Are the rules any different from the skalk 11x11 edge tafl tournament performed a year ago?

  2013-11-11 18:16:29 Hagbard: New test tournament: Skalk Hnefatafl edge 11x11.
Remember, outside center the king is captured from only two sides, and therefore the king isn't as threatening as usual. Wins however on board edge.

  2013-11-08 06:34:22 Hagbard: Rene Gralla from Germany informed about a recent newspaper article about Hnefatafl in Tromsø, there's a link to the article below on this page.

  2013-11-07 17:58:05 fairland: Ada, the new guy to the cite, is a student of Russian.

  2013-11-04 10:16:41 Hagbard: Понимаем русский, давай

  2013-11-04 10:05:24 Вася Пупкин: здесь русские бывают?

  2013-11-04 00:03:56 Hagbard: Hentafelen - Norwegian?

  2013-11-03 21:55:42 Anonymouse: I am really good at this. Nice game, Very good. Its amazing. Nice graphics and all.

  2013-11-03 20:43:59 Derek: My brother pronounces it Hentafelen

  2013-10-31 11:39:51 Coolstar1111: Great game. I should make a live replicate. Not claiming it as my own of course.

  2013-10-29 23:32:56 Nath: congrats :)

  2013-10-28 11:37:42 crust: great tournament, thanks to cap'n hagbard for running it!

  2013-10-28 10:53:20 Hagbard: Captain Blood!

  2013-10-28 09:26:01 crust: Arrrr!  I be the Longships Captain, Pirate King and terror of the seven seas. Well done me.

  2013-10-20 12:56:40 Hagbard: The Uig Museum on the Hebrides, Scotland, is hacked by a Chinese dating site, has been for quite some time now.

  2013-10-14 22:15:16 crust: Kayser Sose!

  2013-10-14 21:32:19 Adam: Berserk tournament now running. It's a fantastically entertaining variant of Aage's invention, which could do with more tournament testing, so hopefully all the usual suspects will join in ;)

  2013-10-11 18:18:21 Hagbard: yes, it comes out a bit different when the timeouts are not counted.

  2013-10-11 08:39:51 crust: to Hagbard; now that the altti/nath game has finished in the WTF Copenhagen tournament, I checked the table to see how far behind Nath in the points I am...  LOL I'm on the same number of points, somehow, because the timeout games aren't being counted, and Nath had more of those than I did.  So it looks like I came joint first!  It's o.k. I'm not disputing the result (nath beat me twice in the tournament), but it cheered me up this morning.

  2013-10-08 12:33:19 Hagbard: Nath, would you prefer to be listed on the champions' list with your real name, or only with the alias "Nath"?

  2013-09-30 10:02:09 Hagbard: New in photo gallery: open-air hnefatafl set at Shave Farm, Somerset, UK.

  2013-09-29 21:32:50 crust: Yes, thanks Aage!  And that sounds very sensible; 3 umpires would be advisable, agreed on in advance of course.

  2013-09-29 09:40:34 Adam: Congratulations Nath! May I also suggest next year we agree on having a referee, possibly a panel of three, for settling disputes that the computer cannot solve. Thanks to everyone for our most challenging tournament yet! And thanks as always to Aage for running the show.

  2013-09-28 17:00:55 Watson: no objection(I am just a passerby)

  2013-09-28 12:25:15 altti: I agree to the motion Nath be recognized as our WTF Grand Master.

  2013-09-28 10:22:53 crust: Hagbard has nominated Nath to be named as WTF Grand Master, and I'm seconding it.  Any objections??  Congratulations to all participants in the internet championship; there were some fascinating games going on.

  2013-09-28 10:19:20 crust: Absolutely right!  Nath is clearly a Grand Master, I don't think anyone could disagree.  I was going to wait until the last game finished, but it looks like it's going on for a few more years yet.  So, let us nominate Nath as our first World Tafl Forum Grand Master.  Nath, I don't know  your name or address, would you email me at anomalocharisAThotmailDOTcom, and I'll do you a lovely certificate.  Congratulations again.

  2013-09-28 09:37:01 Hagbard: Winners of the Fetlar World Championship are nominated "Hnefatafl Grand Masters". I wonder, couldn't we nominate winners of the World Tafl Forum Championship "World Tafl Forum Grand Masters"? Fetlar masters should also automatically be on the World Tafl Forum masters list.

  2013-09-28 09:15:36 Hagbard: Yes, and I'm planning to; it's a very large viking exhibition, a large international collection of items assembled and the largest viking exhibition here since 1993.

  2013-09-28 09:09:54 crust: to hagbard, will you be able to see it in Copenhagen?  (The city was of course named after a famous set of hnefatafl rules)

  2013-09-27 23:19:43 Fairland: @hagbard. It works now, thank you!

  2013-09-27 23:13:04 Hagbard: You're right, I checked the National Museum web site. The exhibition is in Copenhagen now, and will travel to London next and then Berlin.

  2013-09-27 19:55:44 crust: Oh that's the sea stallion?  I think it's the other ship that's going to London :) the one they dug up

  2013-09-27 18:14:46 Hagbard: 2007-2008 it sailed to Dublin and return with 65 men at the oars, and it is planned to some day sail to New York.

  2013-09-27 13:11:31 crust: apparently the Roskilde viking ship is going to London for a Viking exhibition next year!  It will be transported in flat-pack form - how appropriate ;)

  2013-09-27 07:16:05 Hagbard: @Fairland: please try again with the phone.

  2013-09-27 03:56:38 Fairland: Hello crust! I am anxious to continue my many failed attempts at beating you. Interestingly enough my phone will not recognize the password. So I can only play from borrowed computers.

  2013-09-26 22:48:35 crust: Hey Fairland, welcome back!!

  2013-09-26 21:25:53 Hagbard: Copenhagen balances are updated in the balances overview page. Result of the championship tournament was balance +1.30.

  2013-09-26 18:56:05 Fairland: Thanks very much!

  2013-09-26 18:33:40 Hagbard: @Fairland: account restored

  2013-09-26 18:15:34 Fairland: Hi guys! Back from a long absence from hnefatafl. I noticed my account is basically gone. Is there any way to get it back up or should I just create a new one with the same name?

  2013-09-26 13:10:00 crust: The problem seems to be with the computer, not with the rules.  The rules give the victory to black, but the computer is not imposing this, maybe because white has a range of repeatable moves.  You want a draw, nath wants a win.  A draw is not a fair compromise between these two wishes; if there was an outcome half-way between a black win and a draw, that would be perfect.  Unfortunately there isn't.  So either outcome is going to be a little unfair.  But I stress the word "little".  This should not be a big deal.  Let's end this game and get on with our lives.  Either outcome, though not ideal, should be fair enough to satisfy anyone.  One of you has to accept a very slight disadvantage in order to end the game, or else you'll both be stuck there forever.

  2013-09-26 12:38:04 altti: both sides are entrenched. a compromise is when both sides give up their victory and draw the game. the rules are arbitrary and can evolve. if the goal is to design a game that has no draw positions then we have ignored the nature of the game. all games have positions which can become entrenched.

  2013-09-26 12:01:19 altti: neither side can fulfill the victory requirements. I see it as a draw.

  2013-09-26 07:49:20 Hagbard: Well Altti, what would you say about my suggested compromise 2013-09-22 09:02:21 ?

  2013-09-22 23:55:46 nath: I understand crusts point. He's right. Basically a half point means nothing in this situation. I don't care about the result of this game nor about the rating change. But I consider it also as unfair to every player who played, plays or will play against me in any important game.
Since I know I'm afflicted with strong principles, I don't want to bother. I'd accept this.

  2013-09-22 09:55:00 crust: Congratulations Nath!  You are really bringing some strong tactics.  Very well deserved victory

  2013-09-22 09:38:30 Hagbard: New test tournament: Sea battle tafl 9x9 (Imperial Contest).
NB Same rules as Sea battle tafl 9x9 but with the twist that the cargo ship cannot move more than four squares per move.

  2013-09-22 09:04:51 Hagbard: And by the way, Nath already won the WTF championship 2013, congratulations!

  2013-09-22 09:02:21 Hagbard: Here is a compromise, we could do like this:
1. The game is ended as a black win. This is important as it affects the statistics counting.
2. Black wins 1 point in the championship tournament.
3. BUT, since this whole thing has not been a 100% clear, Altti and Nath both keep their ratings in the rating list unchanged.
I'll admit that you found a gap in the rules. We did at some point discuss situations like this in the large forum, but the discussions has not led to an appropriate text in the rules, yet.

  2013-09-22 02:42:23 nath: We had the warning some moves ago. I don't whether we'll get one again. I have to admit I don't really care anymore. I can prove mathematically that this position is won for me. If I wouldn't be able to determinate the position I'd accept the draw. But it doesn't sound logical for me accept a draw, since I can proof that this is a winning position for me.

  2013-09-15 19:35:38 Adam: (I meant to say that the computer is having trouble finding the aggressor, not recognising the board repetition) :)

  2013-09-15 19:31:14 Adam: ...From the computer? I would guess not due to blacks very varied manoeuvring.

  2013-09-15 19:29:27 Adam: Regarding the nath allti game. I'm not surprised that the computer has not recognised a board repetition, simply because black does not appear to be repeating his moves in order to bring an end to the deadlock. I hesitate to give what sounds like advice, so I shall try to be hypothetical. If white were in a position where they can no longer control the generation of novel board positions, black would only need to generate a novel board position, allow white to move, and then simply shuffle another pice back and forth until such time as white is forced to cause the board positions to repeat for a third time. If however black were to move other pieces, they would be creating novel board positions the whole time. So the trick would be for black to force white to cause the board repetition. Coming back to the nath allti game, looking at the game notation, I don't see any determined attempt by black to make this happen. Is it in order to ask if anyone has received a repetition warning fro

  2013-09-14 20:31:54 crust: but that's just my opinion ;) feel free to ignore it of course!

  2013-09-13 20:31:57 crust: So that's my Caucasian Chalk Circle judgement, each player has a key to unlock the prison for both of them to go free, or they can both be each other's jailers and keep each other locked in forever.  Their choice.

  2013-09-13 20:29:42 crust: sorry, thanks for the vote of confidence but in this instance it's a bit difficult for me to act as umpire, partly because it was not agreed in advance, and I don't want to embarrass either player by insisting they accept my judgment, but mainly because I've just been discussing it openly right here.  I would prefer this time to merely offer my recommendation, as a fellow player, which is this:   either Nath offers a draw, or Altti resigns: either outcome risks leaving one player feeling a bit cheated if it is imposed on them by a third party. I have to say, if I were Nath I would offer a draw, and if I were Altti, I would resign.  If neither of them are prepared to budge, then it's going to be a very long game indeed. Either player has the power to end the game at any moment, so unless the computer intervenes, it's up to them.  Since the game clearly isn't going anywhere interesting from this juncture, I'm surprised either of them would want to prolong it just for a point. So t

  2013-09-13 14:10:19 altti: I agree to that

  2013-09-13 10:18:04 Hagbard: Well, even if an umpire wasn't appointed beforehand, Altti and Nath could still agree to use chairman Millar as a mediator for this particular game?

  2013-09-12 14:06:41 Nath: I won to every kind of rule (if it's equal for black and white), because I have more pieces without function that have more fields than he have pieces and fields in sum. The one how causes the repetition is the player that move second, because the really fist move is not counted from the computer.
I let Altti come to this position, because I knew the game is won for me with current rules. But we should think about a rule to short up such games. I don't mind for now, but it's annoying to make hundreds of moves in a game that is obviously won for one side.

  2013-09-10 20:14:45 crust: well, that's one of the reasons for having these tournaments, to wring out the bugs

  2013-09-10 15:44:02 Hagbard: The computer is detecting repetitions in the Altti/Nath game now, but apparently cannot find out who exactly is the aggressor.
The algorithm was written with eternal checks in mind and alas doesn't take into account a very different kind of deadlock position such as this one.
After the tournament, the program will be refined to cover those also.

Full contents of the small forum.
And here the large forum for the structured discussions.

Photo gallery.

Hnefatafl is also known by the names Nefatavl, The King's Table, The Viking Game, Viking Chess, Tablut or simply Tafl.
Links to more information on the Viking board game Hnefatafl.
Try also the Lappish board game, Tablut.

Hnefatafl in Berlin.
28th of November 2013 in Berlin there'll be a hnefatafl demonstration match between a Norwegian chess player and a German hnefatafl player.
See blog article about the event here.
Also Damian Walker wrote about it here.
- And not least: Rene Gralla's report from the day with photos!
Hat tip: Rene Gralla.

Hnefatafl at Tromsø - article in German media.
The German weekly "Schleswig-Holstein am Sonntag" has published on Sunday, November 3rd, 2013, an interview with Frank Prohl, the organizer of the Hnefatafl tournament at Tromsø in Norway 2014.
See the article here: Wikingerschlacht in Miniatur.
Hat tip: Rene Gralla.

Fredag 15. februar 2013 bragte Weekendavisen en artikel om Hnefatafl i sektionen Faktisk!
Velkommen til besøgende, som finder denne vej,
her er en beskrivelse af spillereglerne for Hnefatafl,
og her kan spillet afprøves i en dyst mod computeren.
Hnefataflspillet sælges i Danmark i to udførelser og kan fås i museumsbutikker på Vikingeskibsmuseet, Nationalmuseet, Ribes Vikinger og Kongernes Jelling, samt fra tidsskriftet Skalk, http://www.skalk.dk/.

Много русских гостей в эти дни, добро пожаловать! Можно здесь играть в тавлеи и против компъютер и против человеков. Можно использовать кириллицы.

Many thanks to Gary and Christa (Germany), Ludovic Antoine, Nikolas Lloyd, Sten Helmfrid, Olga Mudrichenko, Dmitrij Polovinkin, John C. Ashton, Tim Millar and Adam Barkley for their contribution to this site.

Updated 6.12.2013