Foteviken tablut

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Hagbard
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Re: Foteviken tablut

Post by Hagbard » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:09 pm

The rules set of the tafl variant "Swedish tablut" diverges much from other tafl variants in that it has forbidden "base camps" and thus 17 forbidden squares instead of the usual 5, and that on a rather small 9x9 board.

I searched on the Swedish internet for more about the background for these rules. A search on the Swedish public libraries for any library materials about tablut, hnefatafl or hnefatafel was very meager: zero results!

A Google search on Swedish web pages in general was more fruitful, and from the first listed 50 pages it turns out that 9 out of 10 Swedish web pages designate the rules for Tablut / Hnefatafl (they seem to understand Tablut as a name for 9x9 Hnefatafl) to be what on the present site is called:
Scandinavian Museums' Hnefatafl 9x9.

Among pages to do so are Swedish reenactment associations and a couple of museums. A couple of pages also refer to the Foteviken Museum home page where the forbidden base camps "Swedish tablut" rules are described, but the Foteviken description is to be found nowhere else on the internet than with Foteviken. Perhaps this variant would better be named "Foteviken Tablut"?

crust
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Re: Foteviken tablut

Post by crust » Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:52 pm

so, where did Foteviken get their rules from? It's an interesting variant, somewhere between corner and edge tafl. is there any support in Linnaeus for these strange base camp rules?

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Re: Foteviken tablut

Post by Hagbard » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:10 am

Hagbard wrote:the Foteviken description is to be found nowhere else on the internet than with Foteviken.
Well, as the Lappish Tablut was found in Sweden by a Swede it seemed natural to search the Swedish internet in Swedish, and this gives as mentioned one result, Foteviken. Broadening the search, however, to Swedish internet any language reveals one more result: the Sten Helmfrid page "Hnefatafl - the Strategic Board Game of the Vikings", and here is found more information about the Foteviken rules. See the Helmfrid chapter about the Tablut rules here:

http://hem.bredband.net/b512479/#Chap2

According to Helmfrid, the Foteviken rules go directly back to an apparently famous history exhibition in 1972, Riksutställningar, where the Lappish Tablut was reconstructed directly from the Linnaeus Latin diary.

Foteviken's own text on the rules' background also refers to the same 1972-exhibition.

A search on the Norwegian and Danish internets adds nothing more, and an all-world search gives the Ashton page, which is another Tablut reconstruction directly from the Linnaeus diary, slightly different from Foteviken.

crust
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Re: Foteviken tablut

Post by crust » Fri Jul 13, 2012 7:31 pm

This is like the Foucault's Pendulum of Hnefatafl. Or the Da Vinci Code if you prefer. I think you're on the point of finding the Holy Grail itself... this grail quest requires game expertise, scandaphonics, tenacity and erudition, all of which you are fortunately equipped with. Fascinating research! ;)

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Re: Foteviken tablut

Post by Hagbard » Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:58 am

Foucault's Pendulum, true. I've a feeling we were there before, but each swing from a new direction, and by each swing we learnt more.

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Foteviken tablut

Post by Hagbard » Tue Dec 25, 2012 4:43 pm

Origin of the Foteviken Lapp Tablut.
On his internet page about Hnefatafl, http://hem.bredband.net/b512479/, Sten Helmfrid clears up the origin of the Tablut game as played at the Fotevikens Museum in Scania, Sweden.

Helmfrid writes, that "When Riksutställningar, the Swedish Travelling Exhibitions, made an exhibition on Games and Gambling in 1972, they reconstructed the game" Tablut over again from Linné's diary. Helmfrid requested and received those reconstructed rules from Statens Historiska Museum in Stockholm. The rules from Riksutställningar contained several options, of which Helmfrid writes that he chose the best working set and arrived at these well-defined Tablut rules:
http://hem.bredband.net/b512479/#Return%20from%201

The Tablut rules on the Helmfrid page happen to be the same as the Foteviken Tablut rules, translated into English here:
http://aagenielsen.dk/foteviken_rules_english.html

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Last edited by Hagbard on Thu May 24, 2018 8:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.

crust
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Re: Foteviken tablut

Post by crust » Fri Feb 01, 2013 10:16 pm

Hagbard wrote:Foteviken Lapp Tablut is rated from now on
Excellent news. Another life-form to add to our tafl zoo. Good researching, everyone. Who would have thought it could be so much fun being a guinea-pig?

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