Classic game books
Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2015 11:57 pm
Does someone know about the precise hnefatafl descriptions of Murray and Bell?
Discussions on the Viking board game Hnefatafl
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Interception is Murray's preferred name for custodian capture. The following pages in the book discuss the etymology and history of the game, with some quoted sources and drawings of archaeological finds. There are some diagrams including Murray's alea evangelii layout and tablut.Scandinavia and Iceland: Tafl, hnefatafl (HC. 445); Pre-conquest England: Tafl; Wales: Tawlbwrdd (F. R. Lewis); Ireland: name unrecorded; Lapland: Tablut (J. E. Smith, ii. 55-58). Played on the points of a lattice of 18x18 cells, or on the cells of boards 13x13, 11x11, 9x9 or 7x7 cells. Two persons play, one having a king, placed in the central point or cell, and a number of men who are arranged symmetrically around the king; the other has double the number of men who are arranged symmetrically round the edge of the board. Both king and men possess the rook's move in chess. Men are captured by interception, the central cell counting for this purpose as occupied by the side making the capture; the king is only captured if the four adjacent cells in row and column are all occupied by enemy men. A man can move to a cell between two enemy men without capture. The player with the king wins if in his turn of play the king has an open row or column to the edge of the board; his opponent wins if he captures the king.
I wondered, which of our present rules and variants originate at Murray and/or Bell.cyningstan wrote:What precisely do you want to know? I have both. Murray's full description is nine pages long, but I can give you his introductory paragraph that contains the gameplay.
.Scandinavia and Iceland: Tafl, hnefatafl (HC. 445); Pre-conquest England: Tafl; Wales: Tawlbwrdd (F. R. Lewis); Ireland: name unrecorded; Lapland: Tablut (J. E. Smith, ii. 55-58). Played on the points of a lattice of 18x18 cells, or on the cells of boards 13x13, 11x11, 9x9 or 7x7 cells. Two persons play, one having a king, placed in the central point or cell, and a number of men who are arranged symmetrically around the king; the other has double the number of men who are arranged symmetrically round the edge of the board. Both king and men possess the rook's move in chess. Men are captured by interception, the central cell counting for this purpose as occupied by the side making the capture; the king is only captured if the four adjacent cells in row and column are all occupied by enemy men. A man can move to a cell between two enemy men without capture. The player with the king wins if in his turn of play the king has an open row or column to the edge of the board; his opponent wins if he captures the king.