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.
Join the game!
Opponent: Haner Adigard, Wirral, England

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.


  2014-04-18 15:41:02 Fairland: Thanks alot, Cyningstan.

  2014-04-18 08:46:51 Cyningstan: Fairland, I've given this a try already, but it needs a lot more play-testing. Basically it's a 13-piece game, king wins at edge, but I've had to make the king weaponless for balance. For details, Google "reconstructing the Scottish game" "Cyningstan" (quotes and all) and you should find your way to the article I wrote last October.

  2014-04-18 02:30:14 Fairland: One of these days, my Scottish heritage demands I turn Ard-Ri into a layeable game. Any theorists out there with suggestions?

  2014-04-16 19:13:24 Hagbard: We've not found out yet.

  2014-04-16 19:11:29 Watson: is it easier for white to win?

  2014-04-15 19:56:12 Watson: the layout of Hnefatafl edge 19x19 (Alea Evangelii)looks cool.

  2014-04-14 08:58:06 Hagbard: As for Lewis diamond: statistically white seems to win more often. But even game variants with "measured balance" not close to 1, could be considered suitable variants, because they give a different and larger challenge to the "underrated" color. I'd suggest the limit could be balance -2 to +2.

  2014-04-14 08:44:27 cyningstan: What's your opinion of the Lewis diamond layout? Mine is that it seems to give quite an exciting game. And I've lost nearly every game, so from my point of view it's balanced :-)

  2014-04-14 08:27:01 Hagbard: Next test tournament: We should pay our respect to R. C. Bell also, author of "Board and Table Games from Many Civilisations", and test his set up for the tawlbwrdd. Same rules as before, but in Bell's set up it might be slightly easier to capture the king, as there are only 4 open lines uncovered by black.

  2014-03-22 08:37:30 Hagbard: To the many new tafl players: please consider to send your email address to our World Tafl Federation chairman Tim Millar on
anomalocharis AT hotmail DOT com
 , so that we have some other contact information than just an anonymous alias here.

  2014-03-14 07:28:26 Hagbard: Next test tournament: back to the tawlbwrdd. Remember, the king is captured from only 2 sides and wins on the edge.
In this variant, white has maximum advantage of the initial set up with 8 open lines uncovered by black.

  2014-03-08 19:59:13 Plantagenêt: Was dachte Silje Bjerke ans Copenhagen Hnefatafl?

  2014-03-04 17:48:14 Plantagenêt: Do you think the immediate 2....h9 is playable after 1.h3 g2 2.c2?

  2014-03-03 23:05:08 Plantagenêt: I think we can professionalize Copenhagen Hnefatafl and others tafl games as long as  we put some special pieces for white and/or correct some rules.

  2014-03-03 18:39:48 Plantagenêt: When Crust was white and me, black, the rest was: 4.c10 b9x 5.a9 and I don't remember after...

  2014-03-03 15:59:17 nath: @Plantagennêt: I don't think we are good enough to tell for sure who is winning in your position. 4.ab6x is obviously a move that gives a lot of play to the white player. The position  after 8. …i8 is definitely worth playing.
We don't need a strict series of moves that keep us from taking pieces like we need in other games like chess. Hnefatafl is much more position based. In fact I claim that also black need to sacrifice pieces in certain strong variants to stay in game. The question whether you have a good or a weak position is about positioning and developing, but not really about the number of your pieces. If you don't have any pieces, they obviously can't be good positioned. But a singe pice+king is enough to built a guillotine.

  2014-03-02 15:06:20 Plantagenêt: I've a little idea, for example: 1.h3 b7 2.b8x b7 3.bb3 d9 4.ab6x e10 or 4....i8

  2014-03-02 09:26:34 crust: in that case I don't see why 4.a6-b6x should be a problem.  Are you saying you were prevented from making that move?

  2014-03-01 21:11:33 Plantagenêt: Sorry, of course, 3.bb3.

  2014-02-28 01:48:47 crust: hi plantagenet, when you say "b3" (third move) do you mean "b6-b3" or "h3-b3"?

  2014-02-27 21:22:50 Plantagenêt: I would like to know what it is the sequence of moves which prevents playing 4.ab6x after 1.h3 b7 2.b8x b7 3.b3 d9?

  2014-02-24 01:16:19 Adam: @nath: the quest for balance continues.. I think your points deserve proper discussion nath, maybe you could open a new 'balance' thread in the large forum. I have a feeling this will generate some in depth discussion easier to follow on the forum. It also makes it easier for newcomers to read up on important discussion about the game.

  2014-02-22 23:27:45 nath: Besides: If anybody think the measure of old Hnefatafl 11x11 (+1.22) is reliable, I am ready to make a bet. We play five games (I always back, you always white). If you manage to get more than 2.5 points you win. Otherwise (I get at least 2.5 points) I win. I would bet 50 $ against 10 $ from you.
I do not want to play for money, but you see how much I give on that measure.

  2014-02-22 23:25:25 nath: The second question is how reliable our measures are. There definitely variants in which I am not the strongest player. But I have not seen a variant where many players totally outact me.
Chess have a lot of players that start at a young age to play. Even some grand masters that turned playing chess into their job. I learned the basic rules of that game like 9 months ago. I might be able to compete against some of you guys, but my skill is not good enough to make any kind of objective measure.
Even if it would be...a lot of measures are just based on 30-60 games. Of course you can use that as an overview: if you see something like -3.3 then you can move on.
But it is definitely not reliable as a measure.

  2014-02-22 23:19:11 nath: That is exactly what you have in a lot of Hnefatafl variants...no draws.

  2014-02-22 23:02:57 nath: The first important question is how to measure the balancing. In chess we usually add white and black points up. Since Experienced players draw between 30 and 70 % (depends on the player - Kramnik has much more draws than a player like Iwantschuk). If you do not measure draws you get a complete strange result...specially at high level players.

  2014-02-22 23:02:31 nath: The chat does not accept the apostrophe symbol.
Even if you go to really experienced players chess is much better balanced than any of the variants we tried so far. It is not surprising since chess is unlike Hnefatafl a symmetric game.

  2014-02-18 18:48:51 Plantagennêt: I would like to know what is the serie of moves which prevents playing 4.ab6x after 1.h3 b7 2.b8x b7 3.b3 d9?

  2014-02-17 21:11:47 Hagbard: I will look into the chat problem.

  2014-02-17 16:10:09 altti: chat does not seem to be working on some of the test games

  2014-02-17 08:24:28 crust: thanks!  AFK for a week.  See you after that! Have fun

  2014-02-16 18:38:44 altti: congratulations Crust. and a crafty second for Adam ☺

  2014-02-15 16:16:37 crust: thanks for the information!  Very interesting

  2014-02-15 15:55:36 Hagbard: - if white (as in chess) wins 56% of the games, the balance would be 56/44 = +1.27

  2014-02-15 15:51:23 Hagbard: Balance +1.5 would mean that white wins 60% of the games.
(fx. 3 white wins, 2 black wins, balance 3/2 = 1.5. White won 3 out of 5 games = 60%).

  2014-02-15 14:56:42 crust: chess has a white advantage of 52 - 56 per cent, increasing further with more advanced players.  Therefore many of the variants we have tested are as well balanced as chess, or better.

  2014-02-15 14:51:15 crust: In the table of "measured game balances"  I gather a score of +1 or -1 means 50 per cent wins for each colour.   +2 means 66 percent wins for white, -2 means 66 per cent win for black.  Right so far?  So, would +1.5 mean about 58 per cent wins for white?

  2014-02-15 13:51:23 Hagbard: More about the 13x13 board:
A set up with the same number of pieces as on the 11x11, 36 pieces plus king, is often seen suggested. You can try this as "Hnefatafl 36 13x13". This variant seems very unbalanced and is not rated anymore.
As a curiosum you can also try a scattered set up, "Hnefatafl scattered 13x13". This variant is also not rated anymore, at it seems very unbalanced.

  2014-02-15 10:04:11 Cyningstan: Oops, I see that the cross & block formation is already on the site.

  2014-02-15 10:03:58 Hagbard: The Lewis is an interesting set up to try, after seeing the result of Tawlbwrdd cross.
The Lewis set up also matches the historic formulation by Robert ap Ifan in 1587:
"a king (brenin) in the centre and twelve men in the places next to him, and twenty-four lie in wait to capture him. These are placed, six in the center of every end of the board and in the six central places."
And the formulation matches even more the Lewis diamond set up.
These two Lewis set ups are on the list already and ready to try.

  2014-02-15 09:52:27 Cyningstan: Well done Crust! I noticed the tawlbwrdd was being won by black more often than not. A little while ago I discovered another layout which might be less advantageous to black: white in a cross form, and black in four 3x2 blocks.  I think it is suggested in Helmfrid but goes back a lot further - to the F. R. Lewis article in 1940.

  2014-02-15 09:49:27 crust: *evil chuckle*

  2014-02-15 09:17:31 Hagbard: The Tawlbwrdd cross game balance is now measured to -1.59, based on 94 games and 17 players.
Strong players counted alone came out with the balance -4.50, based on 22 games and 6 players.
Tawlbwrdd is known from historical sources in the UK (Wales), and British Crust did win this one.

  2014-02-15 08:16:59 Hagbard: There are two 13x13 games on the list now, with king captured on the board edge.
But the running test tournament is king captured in corner.

  2014-02-15 01:05:00 altti: 13x13 is the king captured on the board edge?

  2014-02-14 20:19:39 Hagbard: Thank you to the players for your diligent work testing the Tawlbwrdd with cross initial ordering. Many have expected much from this initial ordering, but I am not sure that the result is as expected; perhaps the Tawlbwrdd should be explored further.
As a break from the capture-from-2-sides king, here is a variant with the strongest king, armed and capture-from-4-sides, win in corner. This is the first time a 13x13 game is tournament tested here.

  2014-02-14 17:42:10 Hagbard: That is bad news. I chose Java 13 years ago as the really smart solution for the task. "Write once, run everywhere!" What could be more ideal? Then came the tablets and smartphones which have no Java, and now even PCs cannot run it anymore. Well, they can for some time still; usually the browser launches a small pop up window asking for approval of running the applet. Like you I have also thought about porting the applets to another technology, but am reluctant to do so, because those applets took years to make, and it will take a lot of time to port them.

  2014-02-14 15:54:00 cyningstan: I am afraid the security settings are getting worse now, Hagbard.  People are being forced to fiddle with their Java settings in order to run the hnefatafl games on your site as well as on mine. The only way to get around this is to pay for the applets to be signed. I am currently looking into moving technologies as it looks like the days of the indie Java applet are numbered.

  2014-02-14 07:08:01 Hagbard: To Scanny: If the games against the computer is the problem, perhaps you have no Java installed. And when you have, your computer might before every game ask for your permission to run the Java applet.

  2014-02-14 02:29:00 Scanny: I can't seem to play due to security settings

  2014-02-13 06:49:06 Hagbard: The chat now works much like in the beginning, years ago, when the site was built with a different technology.

  2014-02-12 21:09:33 crust: Thanks Hagbard for moving the chat window on to the same page as the game, makes nattering much easier

  2014-02-12 10:05:47 Adam: @HOK - copenhagen rules are very much the result of finding a way to incorporate fort building in a way that won't lead to a stalemate. So remember that a fort on the board edge, where the king is inside the fort, able to move and have contact with the board edge, is considered an 'exit fort' and therefore a white win. Other 'drawforts' fall foul of the board repetition rule or enclosure rule in copenhagen and are thereby rendered useless. Drawforts are a fun result of the Fetlar rules,  which continues to allow them.

  2014-02-12 09:59:35 Adam: Well played Altti in the Saami tablut tournament! And Duhawk93 too for a hard fought second place. I think we gave that version a robust testing.

  2014-02-11 09:32:01 crust: yes sorry I was talking about the Copenhagen rules ;)

  2014-02-11 06:23:48 Hagbard: Fetlar Hnefatafl 11x11 has the center draw fort; but remember in Fetlar to kill two attackers first.

  2014-02-11 01:54:51 HOK: Thanks for taking the time to explain this.

  2014-02-11 01:52:07 HOK: That makes sense...I guess I'm still new at it, and I find that if I get blocked, there seems to be no other option.  Building those forts late in the game was tough!

  2014-02-11 01:43:12 crust: that's the way it used to be, but we found that some players would sometimes just play for a draw.  White can get a draw position in 2 moves.

  2014-02-11 01:27:35 HOK: Thank-you crust...I see this as a problem.  To me, it makes more sense that the result is a draw.

  2014-02-11 01:16:31 crust: yes it does, as long as all the white pieces are enclosed within an unbroken enclosure

  2014-02-11 01:03:52 HOK: Does the encirclement rule still apply if white has created a "fort" so that the king can move back and forth out of the center?  Eg. - there is an open space within the "fort?"

  2014-02-09 23:32:49 altti: thank you. my first gold medal ☺

  2014-02-09 11:06:41 crust: Well done Altti!  You are the Lapp of honour!

  2014-02-09 07:38:12 Hagbard: Altti won the Saami tablut tournament, congratulations.

  2014-02-05 10:11:27 Hagbard: New in photo gallery: more albums with thousands of photos of Russian Viking art & life.

  2014-02-01 17:52:50 plantagenêt: Now, I play on web room.

  2014-01-30 20:56:15 Plantagenêt: Sorry, i can't play on computer, i can only play on iPhone that a friend let me every thursday.

  2014-01-30 14:12:21 Hagbard: New in photos gallery: Russian ancient style art.

  2014-01-27 21:38:23 altti: I believe I have made my Est, Finn and Swede ancestors proud. Thank you Olli for delving into Linnaeus' translation .

  2014-01-27 14:24:12 Hagbard: New in the large forum: a post from Marc0 about Alea Evangelii.

  2014-01-24 22:54:45 Plantagenêt: I'm 19 years old too. Arne Roland.

  2014-01-23 11:16:03 Hagbard: A big thank you to the players who tested the Saami tablut, the results were interesting and valuable!
A note about it has been added to the large forum.
Here's another historical variant which needs a test run: the tawlbwrdd game described in a Welsh manuscript 1587.
The rules are still the Saami rules: king armed and captured from 2 sides, wins on edge. Only, the tawlbwrdd board is size 11x11 and has no throne square.

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.

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.

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 1.4.2014