Re: World Tafl Federation
Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:44 pm
Recently I suggested that the players on this website should form an International Hnefatafl Society (working title), and this idea was supported by several other players. Very loosely, this group would aim to promote the game of hnefatafl and bring it to a wider public, while also encouraging the international community of hnefatafl players which already exists thanks to Aage Nielsen’s website. Such a society could also act as a resource for people in related fields such as historical research or re-enactment, who want to know more about hnefatafl. We could present demonstrations or organise tournaments, or put people in touch with those who can. There are several historical festivals such as Spectaculum in Germany (http://www.spectaculum.de/) which would welcome someone with some expertise to introduce the game and maybe run a tournament. I did this in Yorkshire, UK, and the hnefatafl was a very popular part of the Viking festival there, and I know Adam has had similar experience in Norway. We could also have an online newsletter, with reports of hnefatafl-related news, game analysis, and of course a “hnefatafl problem” like the chess problems published in newspapers.
There are two organisations dedicated to hnefatafl that I know of, the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel (which runs the World Quickplay Hnefatafl Championship) and the Tafl Gild (yahoo discussion group). The FHP did a lot of work testing out various rule-sets before settling on the one we know as “the Fetlar rules”, and started the World Quickplay Championships in 2008. (more info here: http://www.fetlar.org/hnefatafl-world-championship ) As you may know, the championship was cancelled this year because of the serious illness of the organiser, Peter Kelly. I wish him a speedy recovery! At this stage, it is not clear how active the other members of the FHP are, but it seems likely that the championship will be back in 2012. The Tafl Gild (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/taflgild/) has recently moved onto Facebook, where I have slightly lost track of it, but I have no doubt it is still out there, with its scholarly debates on the historical aspects of tafl games. It would not be the intention of any society based here to replace any function of either of these two organisations. Indeed, friendly links with both should be sought.
This is not any kind of manifesto, however if we do proceed, I think we should have some statement of our aims, and some ideas of how to go about achieving them. At the moment, all I’m asking for is reactions, ideas, suggestions and responses. If there is not enough interest at the moment, or it turns out to be a bad idea for some reason, that’s o.k.! Nobody is going to be upset. Personally, I think the excitement generated by the recent internet tournament, and the incredibly high standard of play on show, are things we can build on. It would be good to keep up the momentum, and see eventually a real renaissance of hnefatafl, a game which does not deserve its present obscurity. I hope that this proposed hnefatafl society will in time come to be recognised as having some sort of official status, for instance, if someone runs a hnefatafl tournament in their home town, they could say it was done under the auspices of the International Hnefatafl Society, with links to similar tournaments in other towns… who knows, we may even get to the stage of having national teams, and a tournament that players would be prepared to travel great distances to participate in. Until that great day, we are lucky to have our internet community at aagenielsen.dk – greetings to you all!
Tim Millar a.k.a. "crust"
There are two organisations dedicated to hnefatafl that I know of, the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel (which runs the World Quickplay Hnefatafl Championship) and the Tafl Gild (yahoo discussion group). The FHP did a lot of work testing out various rule-sets before settling on the one we know as “the Fetlar rules”, and started the World Quickplay Championships in 2008. (more info here: http://www.fetlar.org/hnefatafl-world-championship ) As you may know, the championship was cancelled this year because of the serious illness of the organiser, Peter Kelly. I wish him a speedy recovery! At this stage, it is not clear how active the other members of the FHP are, but it seems likely that the championship will be back in 2012. The Tafl Gild (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/taflgild/) has recently moved onto Facebook, where I have slightly lost track of it, but I have no doubt it is still out there, with its scholarly debates on the historical aspects of tafl games. It would not be the intention of any society based here to replace any function of either of these two organisations. Indeed, friendly links with both should be sought.
This is not any kind of manifesto, however if we do proceed, I think we should have some statement of our aims, and some ideas of how to go about achieving them. At the moment, all I’m asking for is reactions, ideas, suggestions and responses. If there is not enough interest at the moment, or it turns out to be a bad idea for some reason, that’s o.k.! Nobody is going to be upset. Personally, I think the excitement generated by the recent internet tournament, and the incredibly high standard of play on show, are things we can build on. It would be good to keep up the momentum, and see eventually a real renaissance of hnefatafl, a game which does not deserve its present obscurity. I hope that this proposed hnefatafl society will in time come to be recognised as having some sort of official status, for instance, if someone runs a hnefatafl tournament in their home town, they could say it was done under the auspices of the International Hnefatafl Society, with links to similar tournaments in other towns… who knows, we may even get to the stage of having national teams, and a tournament that players would be prepared to travel great distances to participate in. Until that great day, we are lucky to have our internet community at aagenielsen.dk – greetings to you all!
Tim Millar a.k.a. "crust"