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| Hnefltafl by Simon C B Day | |
Introduction & Explanation Taking a Piece |
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| Introduction & Explanation | |
One of the games enjoyed by people since the Viking age is Hnefatafl. The game is split into two sides, with one side acting the defender (white) and one side acting as the attacker (black). The objective of white is to let the king piece escape the field, while the objective for black is to stop them The board is square, and can range from a 6x6 square upwards,
with the overall number of playing pieces being adjusted accordingly. For this
example we will be using an 11 x 11 square, with the following markings:- |
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The white king is placed onto the central square. All pieces move in the same way as the Rook (Castle) in chess - i.e. in a straight line, but cannot jump over another piece. Players take it in turns to move a piece, with white moving first. Pieces can move any number of squares, but only the king is allowed to stop on a 'King' square (the corners and the central square), although other pieces can move across them. The game ends when the king is taken by black, or the king escapes to one of the corner squares. | |
Taking a Piece |
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A normal piece is taken off the board when it is surrounded on two opposite sides by the opposing force. The king must be surrounded on all four sides by the opposing force to be removed. When performing a "take", the five 'King' squares (i.e. the corners and the central most square) act as pieces of the opposing force, so if black is performing the take, the square acts as a black piece. Before the game starts, the players should agree if the king can be used as a "taking" piece or not, since the king piece does have a large advantage over the other pieces. The following are examples of legal and illegal
"taking" moves. |
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