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

Play Hnefatafl Online. The Viking board game.
World Championship Tournament started September 15th 2020.
See the tournament page.
National Tournaments started July 1st 2020.
See the tournament page.
Play tafl against humans.
Тавлеи против людей.
Rasmus Holbroe vikings
Artist: Copyright © Rasmus Holbroe (Jan. 2016).

Tafl against the computer.
Coming tournaments:
Imperial Contest 9x9, starting Feb. 14th 2021. First tournament since 2019.
TYR! 17x17, starting Feb. 21st 2021. First tournament.
Hex 11x11, starting Feb. 28th 2021.
Next: Alea Berserk 19x19 (Bartley).
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.)

  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

  01-13/12:56 Hagbard:  After 7 days. That is very early morning in 4 days.

  01-13/12:39 mihkkal:  When does registration end for the Cuhkka tournament?

  01-12/18:03 Steiger:  I am

  01-12/15:21 Hagbard:  who is the photographer then?

  01-12/15:02 Steiger:  made by Dmitry Pashkov (Ethnic Board Games), not me)

  01-12/15:00 Hagbard:  The Saami Daabloe 11x9 tournament finished with #1 Jrton80 and Mihkkal, #3 Xerxes

  01-12/09:20 Hagbard:  New in gallery: Berserk game made by Steiger.

  01-08/19:18 Hagbard:  The most active players 2020:
cacreal 911 games
Jrton80 841 games
holidayinnes 787 games
Masterluke 728 games
L716 520 games
ChaolAibhne 418 games
xerxes 398 games
Haio 372 games
mmagari 331 games
frenir 313 games
p59xy 307 games
Ded Fomich 301 games

  01-08/18:44 Hagbard:  It is caught by the software after 100 moves, but that happened only one time in a real game.
Please remember for the Final: "If it is not possible to end the game, it is a draw."

Your example is an interesting case, and I believe you could be right that there could exist cases difficult for the umpire.

  01-08/17:18 Draganov:  @Hagbard: Probably, the best way to solve this issue would be to ask for umpire's decision and the umpire to declare the game as a draw if there is not a way to finish the game without a terrific mistake from one of the sides. However, it would open the door for some difficult to judge situation. For example, in one of my games against Frenir, I won on move 190. I had a plan and tried to put some pressure on my opponent and at the end I won the game. The position 20-30 moves earlier was playable in my opinion but Frenir thought it is a draw and did not see any plan for winning for me. I am afraid that the umpire will not be able to decide properly on every position. Probably the umpire should propose playing for 20-30 additional moves and see the position again and then he will better understanding on the position and if the position is as drawish as before, the umpire will declare the game as a draw.

  01-08/00:53 Greg:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2020.

  01-07/19:01 Draganov:  So, how this rule is forced? What will happen if one of the players refuses to accept the draw in a draw position.

  01-07/16:54 Hagbard:  It is now rule 10: "If it is not possible to end the game, it is a draw."
It's now a judgment, this game will lead nowhere.
50 or 100 moves on the internet take an eternity. Even over the board irl it would be an eternity ...
It would be a problem, if the opponent refuses to accept the draw. But to have to do 100 moves to force a draw would be rather depressing.
That is just my opinion.

  01-07/15:57 Draganov:  @Hagbard: Do we have in Tafl something like 'Fifty-move rule' in chess? It means that the game is declared as a draw if both players did 50 moves without capturing a piece. In Tafl 50 moves should be expanded to 100 moves per a player or something like that. It will prevent the players from endlessly moving in a position when few pieces are left and one of the players refuses to accept the draw offer. What do you think about this rule proposal?

  01-07/12:39 Hagbard:  The Simple Tyr 15x15 tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne, #2 Jrton80, #3 Draganov

  01-05/20:05 Hagbard:  Sorry there'll be a week of automatic silence for a few players so as not to disturb the concentration of the players in the Final. (- probably me too... ;) )

  01-05/15:58 Hagbard:  There was this king who got in a quarrel with his brother in law over a game and had him killed the same day, and I believe there are also other cases reported.

  01-05/14:48 Hagbard:  There are rumours, sometimes when you lost a game, you'd kill your opponent, I suppose that's not in the rules...

  01-05/12:53 Hagbard:  Only philosophy in this uncivilized game is to win the battle. But doing it following the rules of the battle, there could be a philosophy there...

  01-05/12:38 Hagbard:  - oh I see you ask for hnefatafl. In my view it is a model of the Iron Age battle field.

  01-05/12:27 Hagbard:  It's about how you should live a good life, about good and bad personal character traits. You meet a black snake, representing some bad trait, and are beaten backwards, in worst case almost back to start. Or you meet a red snake, representing some good trait, and are lifted way ahead in the race.

  01-05/10:00 Hagbard:  The old game is education in Hindu life philosophy and the life journey from birth to Nirvana. Nowadays it's become simply an abstract game with dice.
The scientist tells that very often ancient games originally had a deep meaning, but if they're used still today, like fx. Nine Men's Morris, they're now simply abstract games -

  01-04/06:17 the-zenith-:  Deregisters from the World Championship Tournament 2020.

  01-03/16:38 Hagbard:  Well spotted! The scientist explains that the modern game has extremely old roots and that the original ancient game has deep religious meaning.

  01-03/16:35 Steiger:  Looks like Leela (Snakes and ladders): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakes_and_ladders

  01-03/15:44 OdinHimself:  @Hagbard: What's this about? Board games? I can't understand it without translation.

  01-03/14:54 Hagbard:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHayykqorh8

  01-02/18:44 Draganov:  How can I loggin to this site: 
http://beta.playtaflonline.com/
I regestered but when I tried to login, I received this message:
"You must verify your email before logging in."
However, I have never received a verification email.

  01-01/21:47 Hagbard:  Lead in Valhöll: Casshern 3 pt.

  01-01/09:47 OdinHimself:  Happy New Year everyone! Let the the Norse gods be with us and help us to bring our beloved game even to the most distant places of the world! Victoryyyyy!!!

  01-01/09:29 MasterLuke:  Happy New Year! Especially to my opponents who kick my ass every time! My goal this year is to reach the 1400-points ranking :D:D:D

  12-30/20:29 Hagbard:  Certainly. They're postponed now, not to disturb the Copenhagen Final.

  12-30/20:10 Draganov:  @Hagbard: Are we going to have Old Hnefatafl and Fetlar tournaments in 2021?

  12-30/14:24 Draganov:  @Alex Hnefatafl: the variant could be implemented after the finish of the World Copenhagen Tournament. It would be probably in the middle of January.

  12-27/22:34 MasterLuke:  @Draganov: See section 8 'Additional rules': like most other Tafl variants, repetition should not be allowed.

  12-27/21:27 Draganov:  @MasterLuke: What about the repetition rule? Are there a way for black winning the game by forcing whites to repeat their moves?

  12-27/21:19 MasterLuke:  Or you can agree on a draw, of course...

  12-27/21:18 MasterLuke:  @Draganov: If I may interfere here: as I set up the Tyr-rules, I deliberately left out the surrounding rule. In the normal Tyr-game, this is obvious. But in Simple Tyr, you should actually try to kill the king. It's the harsh nature of the Tyr game; it's all in the spirit of keeping the game as simple as possible without extra rules.  Thus there's no other way for black to win than killing the king. There's no other way for white to win then reach a border with his king. Therefore building forts doesn't count either. So I guess you guys should play on and provoke a mistake of your opponent to end the game.

  12-27/21:03 Hagbard:  The Tyr games do not have the surrounding rule, just as the Berserk game does not. Because the Berserk game has jumping pieces, which can jump over the surrounding.
But now that you mention it, the Simple Tyr should have the surrounding rule, since Simple Tyr does not have jumping pieces.

  12-27/20:52 Draganov:  @Hagbard: In my Tyr game against Jrton80, he surrounded me but the game continued. I thought it should be declared as a win for him or there is no surrounding rule in this variant?

  12-27/16:05 Hagbard:  @Alex Hnefatafl. Let's have a look after the world tourn. It's risky to change the software during the tourn.

  12-27/11:24 mihkkal:  God jul / Buorit juovllat!

  12-27/08:24 Hagbard:  First game completed: Cacreal / Casshern

  12-25/15:11 Agmundr:  God jul!

  12-25/08:10 Hagbard:  The day is 1 minute longer -

  12-23/08:34 Hagbard:  The day is 18 seconds longer.

  12-22/14:42 Hagbard:  The day is 5 seconds longer!!

  12-22/06:39 Hagbard:  The Historical Hnefatafl 7x7 (Irish Brandubh 2) tournament finished with #1 Auskor and Hnefihunter, #3 Holidayinnes

  12-21/15:32 Hagbard:  https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/nyheder/offentligt-phd-forsvar-om-rekonstruktion-af-osebergskibet-1

  12-21/14:13 Hagbard:  Already ok, the tournament starts when player two arrives.

  12-21/11:24 Draganov:  @Hagbard: I would like to join Simple Tyr tournament but I could not. Can you add me?

  12-21/09:56 Hagbard:  Shortest day!!

  12-13/08:25 Hagbard:  The Sea battle tafl 13x13 tournament finished with #1 Chaolaibhne, #2 Holidayinnes and Xerxes

  12-11/17:47 OdinHimself:  @Hagbard: Lol, no, Odin is no more, so no knowledge for them! lol Good luck!

  12-11/17:13 Hagbard:  First move: Bogd khan

  12-11/17:00 Hagbard:  May Odin give you knowledge on your path

  12-09/19:54 ChaolAibhne:  @Death: I've also sometimes wanted to be able to invite only players with a higher rating than me. I could invite several players by name, but then I might end up with more simultaneous games than I wanted. But in your case you presumably just invite Casshern? 🙂

  12-09/17:59 Hagbard:  It should not be a problem, please try again

  12-09/12:29 mihkkal:  The Trondheim Hnefatafl set is now in the semi finals of the NIDARK competition.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/642174312787130/permalink/1374644836206737/

  12-09/10:23 Hagbard:  That would be Simple Tyr 15x15 after Saami Daabloe 11x9

  12-09/09:47 paul7:  @Hagbard: it worked now! Thanks!

  12-09/09:40 Draganov:  @Hagbard: When we are going to have Simple Tyr tournaments again? I tried this variant and seems really interesting and well-balanced.

  12-09/00:14 Hagbard:  - which you have, please try again.

  12-09/00:03 Hagbard:  @paul7. You can join the tournament when you've finished a game.

  12-08/23:43 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Paul7: I'm not sure about the rating thing, honestly. But it should still be open. Maybe Hagbard can help you.

  12-08/23:14 paul7:  @Draganov: sounds reasonable, but I believe at least one person joined it after I first asked here in forum.

  12-08/23:07 Draganov:  @paul7: I think the reason that you could not join the Brandubh tournament is because it had been already started. I am not sure if you can join it in the middle of the tournament.

  12-08/22:56 paul7:  Perhaps one has to have a rating to join a tournament? Everybody listed in active tournaments are also listed on a rating page, and I am not there yet.

  12-08/22:06 paul7:  @Abbas Agraphicus: Yeah, that's what I do. I enter my login, my password, tick a checkbox next to a tournament and click 'Join the game!'. Then I'm just being redirected to 'My current games' page though. I even tried several web browsers, no luck.

  12-08/21:36 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Paul7: Hi, you have to click the "Join" button after you select the tournament

  12-08/21:01 paul7:  Hi there! How do I join a tournament? I see an ongoing brandubh 2 tournament in a game list but if I enter my username/password and select the tournament checkbox nothing seems to happen. I am able to start my own game though. Sorry I'm probably missing something entirely obvious...

  12-08/08:34 Hagbard:  All games in Round 2 finished.
Jötunheimr: Garun19 and Odinhimself both got 7 points. But Garun19 won both games against Odinhimself.
Garun19 qualified for Round 3.

Speaking as umpire:
Bogd khan, Cacreal, Draganov and Garun19 together with Casshern qualified for Round 3.
Round 3 starts Dec. 11th at 18 o'clock Danish time.

  12-07/23:05 Hagbard:  The Saami Sáhkku 3x15 (Kåfjord) tournament finished with #1 L716, #2 Draganov, Cacreal and Mihkkal

  12-04/16:40 Hagbard:  Separate Saami Sáhkku ratings at the bottom of the page here:
http://aagenielsen.dk/separate_ratings.php

@Abbas Agraphicus. The separate ratings are calculated slightly differently.

  12-04/12:13 Abbas Agraphicus:  @Hagbard: sorry for all the questions I make, but I wondered, why in the separate rankings I got some points in variants which I have been playing only "not rated"? Example: in Tawlbwrdd I only played friendlies but it seems I gained some elos.

  12-04/11:29 Draganov:  Wow the Saami Sáhkku tournament is really competitive. Many players have the same amount of points. It is nice that we can play this game here. 
Is there somewhere to see our separate Saami Sáhkku rating?

  12-04/08:28 mihkkal:  VOTE HNEFATAFL!

THE "Nidark" group on FB organizes a vote to determine the coolest archaelogical artifact from Trondheim.

Now you can vote for the remains of a Medieval tafl set! Go to https://m.facebook.com/groups/642174312787130/permalink/1370520973285790/

You vote for tafl by using the "surprised" emoji on the post :-)

  12-04/00:03 Hagbard:  It's not quite enough to block all corners. The king must be caught or forced to repeat.

  12-03/21:22 ChaolAibhne:  @Hagbard. In Old Hnefatafl is it considered a win for black if they block all four corners? If so then the game engine doesn't appear to detect it in my game against Draganov. Or must I actually capture the king?

  12-03/09:37 Hagbard:  @xerxes. Thank you!!
The Julekalender is rebroadcasted now.

  12-03/09:26 xerxes:  @Hagbard.  Am enjoying the Advent Calendar.  Couldn't work out which one of them was you yesterday Aage ;)
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 Tafl Federation Championship 2019 started Sep. 15th 2019.
See the tournament page.
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"), David Zolli ("branan"), Luk Martens ("Masterluke"), Marian Luck ("themightyglider") and Mikkel Berg-Nordlie ("mihkkal"). for their contribution to this site. And not least the more than 400 players the world over who played here 28000 real tafl games humans against humans and thus created a vast, practical experience with this intriguing, historical board game.
Updated 28.2.2021