Hnefatafl forum

Draft for the 2014 internet Championship tournament. Rules: Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11. Sign up: all August. There will be a facility for signing up for the tournament. Start: September. An average game lenght is 60 moves. If a tournament takes 3 rounds and 2 days per move is allowed, then the whol...

Yes. And another question is: which type of king would be the most likely to balance such a game? Armed and captured from 4 sides, armed and captured from 2 sides, or unarmed and captured from 4 sides? If the marked corners are used as escape points, the king should be armed and captured from 4 side...

marc0 wrote:It occurred to me that (if I understand correctly) the Ogre/Kaempe rules applied to the king would make it impossible to capture him by sandwiching (since he can "eat" any adjacent piece).

Yes, of course you're right. It slipped my mind. The king has to be unchanged.

marc0 wrote: Could you please post the links to the two online versions you mentioned? http://aagenielsen.dk/tafl_humans.php Invite for a new game. More variants. Choose "Hnefatafl edge 19x19", "Sea battle tafl 19x19" or "Tablut 19x19". Thank you Hagbard! It occurred to me that (if I understand cor...

Damian Walker deduced a formula for the usual number of tafl game pieces p as a function of board size w: Many layouts conform to a simple formula: p = 6w - 29, where p is the number of pieces and w is the width of the board, in playing spaces. This gives a ratio of pieces to empty space of approxi...

marc0 wrote: Interesting discussion! The Alea Evangelii set up can be tried in the online games with weak (tablut) king and unarmed king, and in both cases the defending side seems hopeless. Strong king might have a chance to get through to the edge. But the Alea Evangelii board has marked corner s...

Interesting discussion! The Alea Evangelii set up can be tried in the online games with weak (tablut) king and unarmed king, and in both cases the defending side seems hopeless. Strong king might have a chance to get through to the edge. But the Alea Evangelii board has marked corner squares, so the...

plantagenêt wrote: About the Alea Evangelii Tablut, I offer this variant that it seems to me to be an amelioration: _ _ A _ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ _ _ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ _ _ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ A _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ N _ N _ A _ _ _...

17x17 Alea Evangelii? Marco wrote: In her book L’enluminure et le sacré [link not working], Dominique Barbet-Massin presents the following argument (p.360): Le dessin du damier tel qu'il est représenté, montrant des pions disposés autour d'un pion “unitaire” au centre, ou défendant les quatre cases...

Marco wrote: I just received from the library a copy of L’enluminure et le sacré by Dominique Barbet-Massin: a scholarly book (in French) which includes an extensive discussion of Alea Evangelii and MS 122. I also found an online source ( The Irish Invented Chess! By Brian Nugent) which provides a ...