'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. 

Swords and Shields

Swords and Shields is a commercial version of hnefatafl, dating back to 1970. I'd been keeping my eye in eBay for quite a while, until I could pull the trigger on one in pretty good shape, given its age of half a century!

The board is the usual fold-up board made of cardboard, and depicts a 9 x 9 hnefatafl playing area. The rules are standard for hnefatafl.

The pieces are made of hard plastic: black swords for the attackers and bronze shields for the king and defenders. 

I'm glad to have been able to add Swords and Shields to the collection!

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!

So then it was a matter of measuring out the board and gluing the discs in place.

And then, once the board was done, place the minions on it.

Quirky or what?

5-in-1 set

Surfing the interwebs for hnefatafl-related stuff, I stumbled across SevenOaksGrove on Etsy. Among lots of other things, it offered a very nice vinyl hnefatafl board, allowing the playing of 7 x 7, 9 x 9, and 11 x 11 versions. The price was really decent, especially given the postage from the US, so needless to say I ordered a board plus a set of playing pieces.

Because of the layout of the board, with concentric squares, it can be used to play 7 x 7 Brandubh, ...

... 7 x 7 Ard Ri, with the square starting array for the king side (unlike my Ard Banrigh version), ...

... 9 x 9 Tablut, ...

... 11 x 11 Tawlbyrdd, ...

... and 11 x 11 Hnefatafl!

The pieces are simple, turned wood, and nicely done.

Good addition to the collection!