Viking tablut

I saw this set of Viking-style pieces for a 9 x 9 hnefatafl version on eBay, and because they are quite different from any other hnefatafl set I have in my collection, I got it.

And it just so happened that I still had a vinyl 9 x 9 board, which I was given as extra when I ordered my 5-in-1 set. 

Board and pieces will go well together!

I decided to partly paint the pieces, using steel, silver, copper, brass, gold enamel paint.

The weapons and armour of the attackers was painted steel and silver ....

.... weapons and armour of the defenders was painted copper and brass, and of the king gold and copper.

Pieces fit on the board quite snugly:

Viking-style pieces on a tablut-sized board: Viking Tablut!

Shannon Games hnefatafl

Quite recently, I blogged about a self-made hnefatafl game, which I called Ferengitafl. The starting array of that game was based on a commercial hnefatafl game, marketed by Shannon Board Games. At that moment in time, I only knew about this 'Shannon' hnefatafl from a picture and brief description on the internet. But lo and behold, very soon after publishing the blog post, a listing of the actual game appeared on eBay! Needless to say ...

The board in the wee box is the typical fold-up cardboard board, and the pieces are simple plastic draught stones, with what looks like a chess pawn for the king.

Note that although the attackers outnumber the defenders by the usual 2:1 ratio, the actual number of pieces on both sides is unusual: 12 vs 6 (as opposed to the more normal 8 vs 4, or 16 vs 8). Not sure what the rationale for this is, other than make the game a bit different from standard hnefatafl. Also, note that I tweaked the starting array in my Ferengitafl game a bit from that of the Shannon Games version. 

In terms of rules, there is nothing out of the ordinary: all pieces move like rooks in chess, capture is by custodianship, and the king escapes in the corners. 

Goldfinger

Recently, I posted on my copy of a commercial version of hnefatafl, Swords and Shields, which dates back to 1970. A few years prior to that, in 1966, to be precise, a very similar game was released. This had a 'James Bond 007' theme, and was called 'Goldfinger'. The 'story' of the game is that James Bond and his agents have to prevent Goldfinger from escaping from the vault of Fort Knox. 

Copies of the Goldfinger game do occasionally pop up on eBay, but the problem is that the listings invariably come from the US. On top of that, the prices asked, taking into account additional shipping charges and import duties, make it prohibitively expensive to get it from across the pond. 

So patience was required, and patience finally did pay off, when an eBay listing for Goldfinger was UK-based .... Needless to say I snapped it up!

The Goldfinger board is a simple fold-up cardboard one, similar to Swords and Shields, and again depicts a 9 x 9 playing field.

The pieces are very simple plastic man-shaped figures, and the only characteristic that differentiates between attackers, defenders and 'king' is their colour: red, blue and yellow, respectively. 

The rules are the standard rules for 9 x 9 hnefatafl; Goldfinger escapes and wins the game when he reaches the edge of the board. 

Took a long time for me to be able to add Goldfinger to the collection, but good things come to those who wait!

'Ferengitafl'

Well over three years ago, I got myself a job lot of Star Trek micro-machines, and used many of these to create a set for Klin Zha. I didn't use all of them, and when I recently opened the box where the remaining ones were stored, I realised there were exactly enough of them to create a hnefatafl set .... 

For the 'king side' I used Borg cubes and Terek Nor space stations as pieces and a Ferengi D'Kora Marauder as king:

For the attackers' side, I used a collection of Klingon, Romulan and Federation ships. I decided not to paint the pieces, and so, to distinguish attackers from defenders, the attackers were all mounted on plastic stands:

Given the number of pieces, the board had to be a 9 x 9 board, and I chose to use matches to mark the squares.

The tops of the matches were painted fluorescent green/yellow, suggesting some sort of electronic grid lines.

And to make the board a bit more space-y, I added stars and constellations. Brownie points to whoever sees what's hidden in plain sight ...

Finally, the central square was marked with a golden Emblem of the Ferengi Alliance:

If you're familiar with hnefatafl variants, you will be surprised that the kings side has six defenders rather than four or eight. This is purely because I didn't have more micro-machines I could use, but it also allowed me to model my set on a hnefatafl version marketed in the past by Shannon Board Games, which has six defenders against twelve attackers:

When putting the pieces on the board, I did take the liberty of a slightly different initial array for the attackers, which I felt worked better from an aesthetic point of view.

<startreknerdmode>What this 'Ferengitafl' set finally makes abundantly clear is that the Ferengi are basically behind everything, and run the entire galaxy behind the scenes .... </startreknerdmode>

'Copenhagen Rules' hnefatafl

The details of the rules used for playing hnefatafl in Viking and Celtic times are mostly unknown, and have been reconstructed from what little evidence has come to us from those times. To avoid confusion and debate, modern hnefatafl tournaments are often played to a specific set of codified rules: the Copenhagen Rules. 

I wanted to add a hnefatafl set to the collection which looked modern while at the same time capturing its Viking heritage. Searching the interwebs made me stumble across this 'Viking Chess' set. 

Of course, hnefatafl has nothing to do with chess, but the design of the board and pieces really appealed to me.

Both board and pieces are good quality wood, and their design really comes across to me as both 'modern' and 'traditional' at the same time.

Clearly, using this set you can play hnefatafl with any set of rules, but I like to see it as my 'Copenhagen Rules' set.

Imperial Contest - interpretation of a 19th century game

As far as I'm aware, 'Imperial Contest' is the oldest commercial hnefatafl game. It dates back to 1855, and depicts the Crimean War, with England, Turkey, France and Sardinia facing Russia. I have never seen even a picture of the original 19th century game, but some information on it is here. 

As I expect I will never have the chance to add an original copy of 'Imperial Contest' to my collection, I decided to create my own interpretation of it. 

For the pieces I created flags, using carbon rods, plastic end caps and rubber washers, together with a bit of kite line. For the board, I chose chamois. 

First I put the flag poles together, 24 smaller poles and one larger one (for the tsar). 

I searched the internet for the flags that the countries would have flown in the Crimean War, printed them off, and added them to the lines on the flag poles.

Then I drew a 9 x 9 board on the chamois, and added the coastal outlines of the countries around the Black Sea, giving the board a bit of a feel of a map.

So here's how the full game looks like: 

Unless and until I see a picture of an original 'Imperial Contest' game, I'll never know how accurate my own interpretation is compared to the original, but at least I've sort of added 'Imperial Contest' to my collection of hnefatafl games.