'Ard Banrigh'

Look for information on hnefatafl variants and you'll come across the mention of a small (7 x 7) Scottish version, called Ard Ri ('High King'). But dig a bit deeper, and you'll realise that there is no historical evidence for this, and so it's likely it's a modern invention. Of course, there is historical evidence for a 7 x 7 version of hnefatafl, but Ard Ri is said to have 8 + 16 pieces rather than the 4 + 8 pieces normally associated with a 7 x 7 size. 

Historical or not, I felt I had to add Ard Ri to my collection, and decided to create a board of raised squares covered by sari fabric (of which I still had some from creating the 'board' for my Kama Sutra set).

The central square is deliberately made higher than the other squares.

The sari fabric was fastened on the board using gold-coloured drawing pins.

So now for the pieces! In the end, I decided to remain Kama Sutra-esque, and order one queen plus 24 pawns from the erotic chess set made by oggtheclever (I have ordered several chess sets from him before; see here, here and here). The queen and 8 pawns are coloured 'antique bronze', and the remaining 16 pawns 'aged pewter'. I also decided to use the alternative 'cross' formation for the starting array of the queen side rather than the more common 'square' formation. 

So this is what the board looks like with the pieces on it:

Clearly, with all the pieces being female, I felt I needed to change the name of this set slightly; 'High King' isn't quite appropriate! So I looked up what 'High Queen' would be in Scottish Gaelic: 'Ard Banrigh'.

Hnefatafl World Championship 2021

 

The 2021 Hnefatafl World Championship took place from September 15 to December 12 last year. Like last year, the tournament was conducted on-line. A total of 35 players participated, from 15 countries.

Similar to previous years, there were two tournaments happening side-by-side. One used the modern Copenhagen rules, where the other used historical tawlbwrdd rules.

Plamen Dragonov, from Bulgaria, won both tournaments, and can now call himself both the Hnefatafl World Champion and the Historical Hnefatafl World Champion.

More information, including scores and moves of all games, can be found here. 

Drakkar set

I'd seen this 'Drakkar' hnefatafl set pop up on eBay several times, but always shied away from clicking the 'buy-it-now' button, because they all appeared to be located in Russia, and who knows where your money then goes and whether you'll ever see what you ordered .... But then, it wasn't very expensive, so the worst that could happen is me losing the money. So I bought a set in the end, and, even though it took a long time to arrive, it did eventually!

The set itself is made from wood, and a model of a Viking longboat serves both as a place to store the pieces, as well as for a board for another Nordic game, Daldos.

Of course, my interest was in the hnefatafl aspect of the set, and a cardboard board allows playing of a 9 x 9 version of the game.

The pieces are pretty rough and simple, but smell quite nice, of burnt wood!

Unique addition to the collection, this Drakkar set!

'Tyr' hnefatafl

 'Tyr' hnefatafl is a modern hnefatafl variant, inspired by some ambiguities in the 11th century manuscript portraying Alea Evangelii. Both sides have a extra piece type called a 'commander', and in addition, a piece type called 'vanguard', can switch sides. All this makes for faster and more exciting game, especially on larger boards. 

Clearly, I wanted to add a 'tyr' hnefatafl set to my collection, and opted for the 17 x 17 version, simply because that size isn't yet part of any set in the collection. Plywood and self-adhesive 'tiled' plastic were to be the main ingredients of the board, whereas the pieces are those from two identical cheap chess sets.

Step one was to cut the self-adhesive plastic to size (17 x 17 'tiles') and add finishing strips to the edges.

Then, remove the excess plywood, and sand down the edges.

Turn the board around to add finishing strips to the underside as well.

Final step in creating the board is to add multiple layers of mahogany wood stain.

Board done! So all remains doing now is to put the pieces on the board in their starting position. Obviously, a white king is used for the white king, and pawns for the soldiers on both sides.

Knights are used for white 'commanders' ...

... whereas rooks are used for black 'commanders'. Finally, bishops are used for 'vanguards'.

I give you a set for 'tyr' hnefatafl!

heXentafl

People have repeatedly changed the squares in chess to hexagons, as this changes the moves of the pieces in interesting ways. Guess it's no surprise that someone has also done this with hnefatafl! Say hello to heXentafl, designed and marketed by NXSgame.com.

The board is made of a tough sort of plastic, featuring hexagonal 'squares'.

The pieces are 3D-printed; a king plus three defenders pitted against six attackers. Note that the game retains the 'n + 1 vs 2n' ratio of pieces.

Even though the moves of the pieces are still like those of a rook in chess, i.e. in straight lines, due to the hexagons, each piece now has three directions of movement rather than two ...

Hnefatafl app

If you want to learn how to play chess, there is a vast amount of books available on chess tactics and strategies, openings, end games, etc. In contrast, I am aware of just one book solely dedicated to learning how to play hnefatafl: Jonathon George's "A Kingly Pattern".

Reading about hnefatafl tactics and strategy is one thing, but the best way to learn to play the game is obviously to try and put the theory into practice and play. For this reason, I surfed the web for hnefatafl-playing software, and came across this app:

The app is able to play lots of different variants, historical as well as modern, including hnefatafl, tablut, brandubh, tawlbwrdd, alea evangelii, berserk hnefatafl, tyr hnefatafl, and even magpie. Hnefatafl with the modern Copenhagen and Fetlar rules is also included. For this reason, I picked this particular app over others. The reviews suggest it doesn't have the strongest AI, but that's fine for me for now. I may in time become too strong a player for the AI, but I'll cross that bridge if and when I get there!

Catch the King

Catch the King is a commercial hnefatafl game, released by Studio Twin Games in 2020. 

The board in the box is a cardboard 9 x 9 board.

And superficially, the game appears identical to tablut; same size, same number of pieces on both sides, same initial set-up.

But, when you look closer, you notice that there are differences among the two armies. The 16 orange attackers come in three versions: twelve vikings, two jarls and two godis. Whereas the vikings move as normal hnefatafl pieces (i.e. any number of squares orthogonally), the godis can also move diagonally, and the jarls limit the movement of a piece on an adjacent square to one square only.

The defenders also come in more than one version (besides the king, of course). Half of the eight defenders are bowmen, which can capture like a knight in chess.

A further addition to the game are the 'forest' pieces, which each player has one of, and which can be placed on the board at the start of the game to block certain lines of movement and attack. 

Of course, the game can be played as traditional tablut, without the forest pieces, and ignoring the differences among the pieces.