Play Hnefatafl online | Nefatavl | King's table

Play Hnefatafl Online.

The Viking board game.

Tafl against humans.
Тавлеи против людей.

There is an invitation for a game of Hnefatafl.
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Opponent: , ,

Tafl against the computer;
click on a board.

Play white
11x11

Play black
11x11

Play white
9x9

Play black
9x9

Rules / Regeln / Règles / Regler / Правила.

Forum.


  2014-07-29 17:28:24 Hagbard: While waiting for the grand tournament, a test tournament of the last of the 11x11 variants: Sea battle tafl cross 11x11. *Unarmed* king, captured from 4 sides, wins on edge.

  2014-07-29 15:23:23 HELFRICH: I am relatively new here at this site and I find Copenhagen to have the best balance. Copenhagen please.

  2014-07-29 14:51:28 vonraider: Copenhagen

  2014-07-28 23:29:46 crust: Copenhagen please!

  2014-07-28 22:59:05 Hagbard: If general agreement, Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11.

  2014-07-28 21:23:54 HELFRICH: Hello. Can you clarify which board variation/rules set will be used for the championship tourney on this site? Thanks.

  2014-07-22 17:12:00 Hagbard: A note about the coming internet championship tournament was put on the large forum.

  2014-07-20 14:42:07 crust: good!  Thanks Hagbard.

  2014-07-20 09:57:52 Hagbard: Could be a point there. Counting altered.

  2014-07-19 23:47:55 crust: To Hagbard:  I strongly urge that in future tournaments, games that end in timeouts are counted for points in the same way as games that end normally.  The current system is open to abuse, and it's possible it has already been abused.  For instance,  (under the present system) if you know you're losing a tournament game, it would benefit you to let the game end in time-out, so that your opponent doesn't get a point out of it.  This would increase your own chance of winning the tournament.  An unscrupulous player might be tempted to just stop playing, whenever he or she is losing, thus depriving their opponents of points they have earned.  What do you think?

  2014-07-18 09:26:45 cyningstan: Thanks crust, I've got them and made the corrections to the Copenhagen leaflet now.

  2014-07-18 03:15:50 crust: Thanks, cyningstan!  I've sent you some comments on your copenhagen leaflet, I hope you got them  :)

  2014-07-16 06:45:38 cyningstan: As of late last year, they hadn't decided between Fetlar and Copenhagen.  I haven't heard anything since.

  2014-07-15 13:56:42 crust: Anyone know what rule set they will be using in Tromso?

  2014-07-13 19:27:11 crust: It's probably the only tournament that comes close to being that.

  2014-07-13 14:07:17 Hagbard: So Tromsø with participants from the whole world would sort of be the World Championship of this year?

  2014-07-13 12:54:38 crust: Fetlar World Quickplay Hnefatafl Championship is cancelled again, owing to fluctuating health of the organizer.  Best wishes to Peter Kelly for better health in the near future.

  2014-07-12 09:26:23 Hagbard: I believe it will be the Copenhagen.

  2014-07-12 04:01:52 altti: what rule set will we be playing in our tournament

  2014-07-11 13:13:01 Hagbard: Tromsø will be 7th August, and our internet tournament will be in September, I presume.

  2014-07-11 13:10:07 Hagbard: No Fetlar date yet, and they use to publish the date already in June.

  2014-07-10 15:22:29 crust: The English National Hnefatafl Championship 2014 will take place at Sutton Hoo Suffolk, UK) on Sunday 10th August, starting at 10:30 a.m. Fetlar rule-set. The day before will be practice, and other saxon/viking games and activities will be going on the whole weekend.  I'll be there to teach anyone who needs it!

  2014-07-09 11:46:54 crust: Congratulations to Plantagenet, Altti and Duhawk93 on jointly winning the Tawlbwrdd Diamond tournament.  Also to Helfrich who was only 1/2 a point behind them

  2014-07-08 09:56:36 Schachus: I dont know how, but the old design seems to be back, thanks

  2014-07-07 06:25:49 cyningstan: Basically yes, Hagbard. If the lack of throne makes little difference to the balance, then it would make it a lovely, simple and elegant version to teach beginners.  And reasonably authentic too.

  2014-07-06 23:32:15 Schachus: I have to say, the new design confuses me(black and white look too similar). Is there an option to get the old design back?

  2014-07-06 14:27:30 Hagbard: I didn't know there was a tawlbwrdd 9x9; it would be Saami without a throne?

  2014-07-06 13:20:12 cyningstan: Oops, serves me right for taking a break - I'd have also put in a vote for (Saami) tablut as being authentic, relatively simple, and balanced.  But tablut has its own page on here anyway.  Quick question: You say Lewis cross is the last of the tawlbwrdd tests; will you not be trying tawlbwrdd 9x9 at any point?  Old Welsh laws mentioned a 25-piece game, which isn't too dissimilar to Saami tablut and therefore might play well.

  2014-07-05 20:17:58 Hagbard: New defaults: Fetlar & Copenhagen.
Adam Bartley kindly drew a new set of game pieces for the Copenhagen game, 3D now.

  2014-07-05 03:52:55 altti: to be fair six year olds learn much quicker than older folk. they have a capability to examine all avenues. as we get older we begin to stick to established patterns, and this can be a disadvantage.

  2014-07-04 10:03:54 Adam: Sounds like an unofficial vote is in progress. I agree with Crust, Nath and Vonraider. tablut, now that it works so well is also a good place for beginners to start. Especially children, though i regularly teach 11x11 to six year olds without any problems.

  2014-07-02 13:29:40 altti: I prefer saami tablut. its simple, thus easy for a beginner to learn and still quite challenging as the board is only 9x9. also it has been found to be balanced. my second pick is Copenhagen for the options it gives the players (shield wall and edge fort).

  2014-07-02 09:15:22 crust: ...and I'm with vonraider too ;)

  2014-07-02 09:14:17 crust: I'm with Nath on this one.  I've always thought fetlar is simpler than "old hnefatafl" (where the board edge is hostile to the king only, but not to other warriors).  The different defaults on different pages are a little confusing. Personally I only really want to play Copenhagen as a challenge, though I'll play fetlar or even old hnefatafl to be sociable, and other variants for historical interest.  Do you have to have a default at all? Why not just offer a list, with Fetlar and Copenhagen at the top and a side note briefly describing them? (e.g. "as played at the World Championships", "popular with experienced players")

  2014-07-02 02:59:13 vonraider: With my limited experience,I find Copenhagen Hnefatafl is definitely the best rule set I have played so far.

  2014-07-01 20:23:22 Hagbard: Could be. Are there other opinions/support on this?

  2014-07-01 19:49:00 nath: If you want a variant for new players choose Fetlar Hnefatafl. Fetlar Hnefatafl isn't more complicated than 'old' Hnefatafl. In fact you need one rule less (capture king at the corner). The main problem I got with that rules is the unintuitive minimum kill rule.
I claim 'old' Hnefatafl is just a draw from the beginning.
I can understand that you want a simple ruleset for beginners. But most guys that I encouraged to play here, told me that they are confused (4 times so far). Copenhagen Hnefatafl is the most stable variant we got so far, hence I would suggest to at least mention it at the first page. Maybe it's the best way to show Copenhagen Hnefatafl also below so you can choose already without showing all variants. Different defaults are very confusing.

  2014-06-29 13:15:48 crust: Ok thanks, I will be careful not to let my king get skalked!

  2014-06-29 13:00:47 Hagbard: Right.

  2014-06-29 12:43:17 crust: Tawlbwrdd:  armed king captured on 2 sides, wins on edge?

  2014-06-29 09:48:25 Hagbard: Chess Olympiad Tromsø 2014, the world's fourth largest sporting event, begins in 33 days. See more here:
chess24.com/en/olympiad2014

  2014-06-29 09:32:40 Hagbard: New test tournament: the last of the Tawlbwrdd setups. Again 8 open lines uncovered by black.

  2014-06-29 00:52:59 crust: Thanks hagbard, that is a huge improvement to the games archive!

  2014-06-29 00:28:52 Hagbard: If you don't fill out anything in the "Search all archive", you'll get the full list like before.
Yeah, let's find out something about the database.
The "old" Hnefatafl 11x11 is the default especially for new players. The rules are a bit simpler and shorter to explain than the Copenhagen variant.
Besides, the old Hnefatafl 11x11 is also used in wide circles in USA and Russia.

  2014-06-28 23:40:42 nath: It would be also good to change the ruleset. The one marked as default is already Copenhagen Hnefatafl, but if you don't click on 'more variants' you can only choose 'old' Hnefatafl. Since it's not considered as interesting, we should change that.

  2014-06-28 23:37:26 nath: The old one is replaced, but it's definitely a big improvement - thank you! I wrote you an e-mail about a database some time ago - maybe we can also proceed in this matter.

  2014-06-28 16:17:46 Watson: thanks!

  2014-06-28 14:42:50 Hagbard: New utility "Search in all archive" added.

  2014-06-26 12:50:54 crust: Hagbard, are you still planning to make the games database searchable by player and by rule-set?  It now takes a long time to load, maybe it should also be split up into separate sections for each year

  2014-06-01 13:03:21 Hagbard: The tawlbwrdd Bell test tournament completed with a new winner for a tournament: Schachus

  2014-05-29 09:25:41 Hagbard: Schachus and Nath, your theories sound reasonable; but this particular rules variant has not been tested before.

  2014-05-29 00:11:17 nath: I really doubt that this change much. The skill at 11x11 lies in developing pieces. If your are able to develop them it doesn't really matter to which file. But in general Schachus is right. With this setup black has 4 empty files like before, but less weakness at to highly exposed pieces.

  2014-05-27 15:35:06 Schachus: this feels like an improved version for black... 
since black is already clearly winning in the bell setup(just look at the games of altti, me and nath with black, apart from the one that was lost in 4 moves), it seams useless to me to make another test tournament.

  2014-05-26 13:50:51 Hagbard: Next test tournament: tawlbwrdd with the classic T-setup. Same rules as before, and also in this setup only four lines are open and uncovered by black.

  2014-05-23 08:11:45 Tyr Linden: Just discovered this from one of the brothers from the Odin's Children FB group (thanks Gary Briggs!)and I must say this AWESOME!!

  2014-05-21 20:06:28 Fairland: Had a hnefatafl tournament with my Humanities students for 2014. I do it every year. This year the kids really grew into the game and showed great improvement even in such a small amount of time!

  2014-05-20 22:18:07 Hagbard: Rene Gralla sent a newspaper article from the Flensborg Avis about the Tromsø tournament 2014: see below on this page.

  2014-05-16 08:30:50 Hagbard: Good idea. Alas the motherboard of my computer which I used for development, burnt off a week ago. Now I use an old spare computer, which is suited only for the most basic maintenance. When I find a proper, new computer, I'll take this up.

  2014-05-16 03:46:41 altti: could you make the game archives searchable by parameters such as variant and player(s). such as; all copenhagen games played by nath as black. or even all games played by nath vs. hagbard. I would find it less tedious to study a players strengths and weaknesses.

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.

Hnefatafl in Berlin.
28th of November 2013 in Berlin there was 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!
The Norwegian chess website Bergens Schakklub refers from the Berlin event: Silje Bjerke spilte Hnefatafl i Berlin.

19.12.2013 Rene Gralla sent this information about a recent column in the Norwegian chess magazine Verdens Gang:
THE NEWS: Norwegian people have now learned that chess may not be a product from India (BTW, the author of the column nonchalantly talks of "Persia" in this context) but that chess may be a pure Scandinavian brand in the first place ... since the the roots of the Chess of the Vikings, that famous "Hnefatafl", that date back to LATRUNCULI which was the ancient strategic game of the Roman soldiers and which was much older than the proto-chess Chaturanga from India.
The foregoing fact has been the leitmotiv of a column on chess that has been published by Simen Agdestein in the No. 2 (!!) of the tabloids of Norway - called VG (that means: "Verdens Gang") - on last Wednesday, December 11th, 2013.
The chess columnist Simen Agdestein - who is very close to the new World Champion Magnus Carlsen - reports on his first own experiences with Hnefatafl ... and then adds some information on the "8th International Ladies Chess Gala" that had been organised by the German daily "neues deutschland" at Berlin on November 28th, 2013; as part of the program of the event Norway's WIM Silje Bjerke had played an exhibition game of Hnefatafl.
- And here a scan of the column.

Hat tip: Rene Gralla.

Interview with Silje Bjerke, Damian Walker's blog.

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.

19.5.2014 Rene Gralla sent this article from the Germanan newspaper FLENSBORG AVIS:
great news today, there is some extra promotion for HNEFATAFL at the Chess Olympiad 2014 in media of the border region ... since the FLENSBORG AVIS that publishes articles both in Danish (!) and German, has now published my German-language version of the interview with Frank Prohl who wants to bring back the Chess of the Vikings to the Norwegian people!
- See the article here.

Hat tip: Rene Gralla.

Tromsø Hnefatafl Tournament Date Confirmed, Damian Walker's blog.

Много русских гостей в эти дни, добро пожаловать! Можно здесь играть в тавлеи и против компъютер и против людей. 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, Adam Barkley, Nicolas Cartier, Fabio Capello, Rene Gralla, Damian Walker and Olli Salmi for their contribution to this site. And not least the more than 300 players the world over who here played more than 4000 real tafl games humans against humans and thus created a vast, practical experience with this intriguing, historical board game.

Updated 1.7.2014