Hnefatafl Collection: Zombies Attack

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Zombies Attack

While surfing the web, looking for information on hnefatafl variants, I stumbled across an Etsy site which offered for sale a game called 'Zombies Attack'. The story of the game was that zombies attack a high school with children, and the children need to find a way to escape. The Etsy site didn't give the full rules of the game, but it was clear to me the game was loosely based on hnefatafl. So, obviously, I had to either get a copy of the game, or make a version myself. Before I had made up my mind one way or another, the Etsy listing disappeared, but fortunately, I had saved the board layout, and what little was given in terms of the rules of the game:

Why do I, in the absence of the full rules of the game, consider 'Zombies Attack' a hnefatafl variant? First of all, there is the general layout of the game, with a larger force on the outside trying to capture a smaller force on the inside. And secondly, the asymmetry in both sides having different aims. My assumption, by the way, is that the red squares are escape squares for the children.

Making a version of the game myself meant coming up with ideas for the pieces and the board. As to the pieces, I thought one day that using minion figurines would give the game a really quirky feel. I ordered several sets of minions as well as cheap plastic discs, in different colours, on which I would place them.

Twelve minions would be the school children, on blue or yellow discs (it wasn't clear on the Etsy site what the significance of blue vs yellow squares on the board was).

Twenty-eight minions, on green discs and with their overalls painted black, were to be the zombies.

And now to the board .... I couldn't really come up with an idea for a board that would fit the quirky minions, until one day I thought "bubblewrap"! Board made from bubblewrap, with more coloured discs for the 'squares' would fit very nicely!