How to Play Hnefatafl

Hnefatafl, which translates to King’s Table and may also be known as “The Viking Game'', is an asymmetric 2 player strategy game, with each player working towards an opposing goal. The game takes around 20 minutes to play and the set being used to form this review is the National Museum Scotland version. Other Hnefatafl sets can be used with this how to guide, and the game can also be played without a specific set so long as you have an 11x11 grid board, two distinct sets of counters/playing pieces and a larger/distinct piece to act as King.

Assemble the Guards!

The game is played with 13 light pieces, made up of 12 basic playing pieces and 1 King piece, and 24 dark pieces. During setup the two players decide who will play which set for the course of the game. When setting up the light pieces, the King piece should go in the centre of the board on one of the “King’s Squares” (the other 4 King’s Squares being at each corner) and then the other 12 light pieces should be laid out in a diamond formation around the King. For the setup of the dark pieces, they should be placed so that there are 6 pieces per side. On each of these sides, 5 of the pieces will be placed in the centre positions on the outside of the board, with the final piece centred out in front of them. Depending on the board being used, it may have symbols on it which mark out where all of the pieces go during setup.

Time to Move

When starting the game, dark always goes first and can move any of their pieces to begin the game. From there the turns will alternate between the players, with each player getting to move one of their pieces a turn.

All of the pieces, including the King, move the same way across the board. Similarly to how the rook/castle moves in chess, the pieces can move horizontally or vertically as many spaces as the player wants, but it can’t go past or jump over any other piece. A restriction on this movement is that besides the King none of the pieces can move onto any of the King’s Squares. However, they can move over the central King’s Square as part of their movement to another square.

One of the signature components in the game is the capturing of the opponent’s pieces. In order for a player to capture a piece, they need to sandwich that piece between two of their own. A piece can also be captured when it is blocking one of the corner squares if it is sandwiched against said King’s Square by a piece of a different colour.

It is important to note that in order to capture a piece, the player has to move their piece into place to do the capturing. This means that if one of the players moves a piece in between two of their opponent’s it is not considered to be captured by them, and is a legitimate move.

Seize/Protect the King!

For both of the players, the King is the most important piece in the game and vital to winning the game. Mechanically it can still be used by the light player in a similar manner as the other light pieces in terms of its movement and being able to capture the dark pieces. However it cannot be captured in the same way that one of the basic pieces can be, as doing so would end the game.

Throughout the game the dark player is working towards capturing the King using their dark pieces before the light player reaches their goal. In order to capture the King piece, it has to be boxed in on all four sides by the dark pieces. This can be done by either using four dark pieces, one on each of its sides; or by surrounding the King by three dark pieces, so long as the fourth unoccupied square is the central King’s Square.

In opposition to this, the light player is attempting to move the King from the central King’s Square so that it reaches one of the four King’s Squares on the corners of the board.

As soon as one of the players reaches their goal the game ends, and regardless of how many other pieces were captured over the course of the game, whichever player managed to achieve their goal wins.

Hnefatafl is a game based entirely around strategy, and the experience playing the game can be very different depending on which colour you play. Switching out which side you play will help develop your playstyle and provide a more full experience of the game.

Games for you

If you like the sound of Hnefatafl, then check out HIRP – The Viking Game of Royal Combat for more strategy based game play. Or if it's the asymmetrical game design that peaks your interest, why not check out Nyctophobia: Vampire Encounter!