New proposal variant for hnefatafl
Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 6:12 pm
Intro: In an attempt to tackle balance issues, stalemates and alternative methods of victory that venture away from the intended sole objective of King captured or King escaped. Depending which side you choose to play.
The process began and went on for months consisting mix and matching various rules and lots and lots of sitting and thinking. I gave up a year went by and I dusted of my copy of hnefatafl and began staring at layouts, capture options, movement, special abilities and how that would affect the endgame. Weeks went by and nothing. After a long night of my 3rd shift job I came home and went to bed and the moment my head hit the pillow i had a revelation and seen an image of black and white hnefatafl units forcing their way through opposing lines and breaking formations in my head. It's been used and called few things in different games but for theme sake I'd like to call it the "force mechanic".
The Force mechanic: units of greater number forcing opposing units of lesser number back 1 space. All units involved in the offensive maneuver and units being victim from the move are all moved.
Here in photo 1 are some examples of basic movement involving the force mechanic. Fig.1 the units are at a stand still as each opposing unit of men have equal numbers thus having equal strength. The same is happening in Fig.2
Fig. 3 shows white having a formation strength of 2 and black 1. White forces black back 1 space while moving with it forward 1 space. Fig.4 shows the same involving a white formation strength of 3 and black 2. And Fig.5 showing black being the aggressor with 4 units forcing the line of 3 white units back.
Here in photo 2 is the end result.
The process began and went on for months consisting mix and matching various rules and lots and lots of sitting and thinking. I gave up a year went by and I dusted of my copy of hnefatafl and began staring at layouts, capture options, movement, special abilities and how that would affect the endgame. Weeks went by and nothing. After a long night of my 3rd shift job I came home and went to bed and the moment my head hit the pillow i had a revelation and seen an image of black and white hnefatafl units forcing their way through opposing lines and breaking formations in my head. It's been used and called few things in different games but for theme sake I'd like to call it the "force mechanic".
The Force mechanic: units of greater number forcing opposing units of lesser number back 1 space. All units involved in the offensive maneuver and units being victim from the move are all moved.
Here in photo 1 are some examples of basic movement involving the force mechanic. Fig.1 the units are at a stand still as each opposing unit of men have equal numbers thus having equal strength. The same is happening in Fig.2
Fig. 3 shows white having a formation strength of 2 and black 1. White forces black back 1 space while moving with it forward 1 space. Fig.4 shows the same involving a white formation strength of 3 and black 2. And Fig.5 showing black being the aggressor with 4 units forcing the line of 3 white units back.
Here in photo 2 is the end result.