Hnefatafl comes from the Tafl games family, which is a family of games from Northern Europe inspired by the Roman Game Ludus Latrunculorum. Hnefatafl is the medieval Scandinavian version, which broke off from tafl to minimize confusion. While we have a lack of written works about the topic from the time period, a general idea of the gameplay and pieces have been put together through theory, archaeological sites and an understanding of similar games from the time-frame. 

How to Play

The board is set up with pieces of similar shape and size on both teams, but set in significantly different formats. Team A is on defense, and its pawn-like pieces are set up in a diamond shape around the king at the center of the board. Team B is the attacking, with 5 pieces on each edge, with a 6th standing perpendicular to the rest on each side. These pieces can be made of every material, from cheap objects like rocks, to glass and bone. The only piece that stands visually different is the king on team A. The goal of the king is simple. To reach one of the four corners on the board. Unfortunately with 24 soldiers on the opposing team, him and his 12 soldiers have a tall task. The key mechanic in this game is the stealing of pawns. You can steal a pawn by using 2 of your pawns, putting one on either side of it, creating a parallel line. Another way to steal is lining up one pawn with the corner space, creating a parallel line of a different method. If a pawn is captured with either of these methods, they are out of the playing field for the rest of the game. If the king is captured, the game ends and team B wins. If the king successfully gets to a corner space, team A wins. The board size for this game varies greatly, with excavations yielding 13×13, 7×7 and 19×19 board sizes. 

The stealing of pawns 

Typical Hnefatafl board game setup

Images from here

Cultural Integration

Board games came with a massive cultural impact at the time. Because board games had no financial or social barrier, they were played all over Europe. Unfortunately, there has been a heavy lack of documentation of  quite a few board games, Hnefatafl being one of them. With no written record on how to play from the time of the pieces, as well as an apparent disappearance of the game by the 12th century, the exact cultural impact reconstructed as well as guesses about meaning behind the game are extremely theoretical. Justin Kimball highlights an interesting aspect of the game. Being that the visual similarities of the pieces of team a and b suggest equality, as if both parties were a part of the same group. He also brings up the actions of the king being a fleeing coward going to the edge of the board goes against the viking ideals of dying valiantly in battle. Kimball suggests Hnefatafl as a recreation of an attempted regicide. A regicide is an execution of a king that has been deemed to be unfaithful or a coward. The defensive side of Hnefatafl may be the loyal and closest friends of the king, known as a dróttin, which translates into lord. Hnefatafl being such a strategic game rather than a game of brute force really opens the doors to the viking views of battle, valuing strategy beyond simple battle tactics. 

Brief Mentions in sagas

While we lack written records on how to play Hnefatafl, the existence of Hnefatafl was mentioned in several viking sagas including Frithiof’s Saga, Orkneyinga saga,  and Heiðreks Saga. Unfortunately, none of these sagas mention the game in depth, but only mention it casually in passing. Located in chapter 7 of  Frithiof’s Saga, Hnefatafl is mentioned to be the game that Frithiof is playing while advising  old wise man Hilding in matters relating to war and potential peace. These themes clearly tie in nicely with the themes of battle on the gameboard itself. In the Orkneyinga saga, in chapter 49,  Kali boasts of his competence with the game along with speaking on his other skill sets. Lastly,  Heiðreks Saga. mentions the game in two riddles. Riddles 13 and 16, mentioned twice in its answers,  “Good riddle, Gestumblindi—I’ve got it. It’s a game of Hnefatafl. The darker pieces defend the king, and the white ones attack.” (riddle answer 13) and “That’s the die in hnefatafl, also called the cub. Its horns are its corners.” (riddle answer 16) (Translations done by Peter Tunstall).  Yes, they might have mentioned the presence of dice, something not mentioned until now. The old English translation of the word (húnn) also may refer to a game piece or the knob part of a staff. So while it is unlikely that the gameplay of Hnefatafl included a dice, it definitely doesn’t hurt to mention the presence of dice, especially due to its usage in other games, and possibly as a variant.

Hnefatafl Gameplay

How to play Hnefatafl

Sources

Davies, Gavin. “From Rules to Experience: Cultural Records of the Icelandic Commonwealth in the Board Game HNEFA-TAFL.” Academia.edu, April 28, 2016. https://www.academia.edu/24845951/From_Rules_to_Experience_Cultural_Records_of_the_Icelandic_Commonwealth_in_the_Board_Game_Hnefa_tafl.

Hingston, Philip. “Evolving Players for an Ancient Game: Hnefatafl.” 2007 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1109/cig.2007.368094.

“ Hnefatafl: An Experimental Reconstruction.” Hnefatafl: An Experimental Reconstruction. Accessed October 26, 2023. http://www.treheima.ca/viking/tafl.htm.

Kimball, Justin. “From Dróttinn to King: The Role of HNEFATAFL as a Descriptor of Late Iron Age Scandinavian Culture.” Lund Archaeological Review, March 7, 2014. https://journals.lub.lu.se/lar/article/view/21640.

Rusticadornments. “TAFL (HNEFATAFL) and the Norse Sagas.” Medieval People at Play, March 16, 2017. https://rusticadornments.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/tafl/.

Spjuth, Oskar. “In Quest for the Lost Gamers – an Investigation of Board Gaming in Scania, during the Iron and Middle Ages.” Academia.edu, May 24, 2014. https://www.academia.edu/3450435/In_quest_for_the_lost_gamers_An_investigation_of_board_gaming_in_Scania_during_the_Iron_and_Middle_Ages.

Tunstall, Peter. “The Saga of Hervor & King Heidrek the Wise  .” Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda. Accessed February 23, 2024. https://www.germanicmythology.com/FORNALDARSAGAS/HervararSagaTunstall.html.

The Orkneyinga saga, by Joseph Anderson, ed.-a project gutenberg ebook. Accessed February 22, 2024. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57723/57723-h/57723-h.htm.

Upton, George P. “The Frithiof Saga.” The Frithiof Saga, translated by George P. Upton-a Project Gutenberg eBook. Accessed February 23, 2024. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59689/59689-h/59689-h.htm#c7.