Tafl

Tafl

Hnefatafl is a Scandinavian board game that is played on a square chequered board with an odd number of squares on each side.  There is much debate regarding the rules and also the size of the board.  However there is a general consensus that the aim of the game is for the defending player to try and reach the edge/corners of the board while the attacking player tries to prevent this by capturing their pieces.

According to H.J.R Murray the board game tafl or hnefatafl as it would later become known (to distinguish it from other games of the time such as chess (skak tafl) or tables (kvatru tafl)). Is a game that could have been played in Scandinavia as early as 400AD (Murray (1952) p. 56).  Of course it wasn't only played in Scandinavia, Murray suggested the game was being played in parts of Europe mainly appearing in countries where the Vikings settled such as England, Ireland and Iceland.

After much research the main problem with tafl is the game play isn't balanced the king is usually able to escape. I have decided to pick this as the ancient game I will iterate for my first assignment.