H n e f a t a f l

Hnefatafl or, also known more simply as Tafl, was a board game played throughout the viking kingdoms of northern Europe prior to the introduction of chess to northern Europe in the middle ages, which, eventually eclipsed the popularity of hnefatafl.

The board was typically wooden but could also be a stone slate with the lines drawn roughly on with whatever was handy at the time (eg. sharp stone, ember from fire etc.) and the figures were made of antler, amber, bone, glass, clay or stone. The exact rules and format of the game are now lost to history as no complete records of the game have ever been found. However, similar games were played in Wales and by the Saami peoples of northern Scandinavia during a time when records were a little more important and so we now have a fair idea of how to play hnefatafl.

The good people at EBro Software have produced a version of hnefatafl which they call 'Viking Siege' and they are happy to let others distribute this fine game for non-profit. So we at 'Heathen Europe' are glad to announce that you can download Viking Siege 1.0 at no cost and play the game that your ancestors played during the long winter nights!

Installation Instructions:

• Save the self-extracting zip file VS10INST.ZIP to your hard disk
• Find the VS10INST.ZIP file you downloaded and change the file name extension to .EXE, so the file name is now VS10INST.EXE.
• Note that the file IS a WinZip self-extracting executable, but because of security filters at the web site service provider, it can't be downloaded with its proper ".exe" file name extension. However, it can also be unzipped like a standard ZIP file.
• For Windows installation either find the file VS10INST.EXE in Windows Explorer and double click on it, or select Run from the Taskbar Start menu and enter the full name of the file (for example, C:\DNLOAD\VS10INST.EXE), and follow the prompts.

Screen Shot:

You can download the 'Viking Siege' game here

The rules (put simply) are that the defending army (in the centre) must aid their king to escape, but the attacking army must stop this escape at all costs by sealing off escape routes and deposing of the defending army before capturing the king.

The full rules and background to this game and all the other similar board games played in ancient Europe are a long and detailed study, well outside the scope of this article. We'll simply point you in the right direction and you can go into the detail to the degree you wish.

Here are a number of sites that will be of interest to you...

• Games of the Viking & Anglo-Saxon Age
• Viking Answer Lady
• Hnefatafl - the Strategic Board Game of the Vikings
• Hnefatafl An Experimental Reconstruction
• HNEFATAFL, The Viking Game

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