Tafl game
A tafl game is any member family of ancient Germanic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers, the lesser side having a king-piece that started in the center.
Description
An early Scandinavian board game is known in contemporary literature as tafl or hnefatafl.
Although the size of the board and the number of pieces varied, all games involved a distinctive 2:1 ratio of pieces, with the lesser side having a king-piece that started in the center.
The king's objective was to escape to (variously) the board's periphery or corners, while the greater force's objective was to capture him.
The attacking force has the natural advantage at the start of each game, likely indicating an important cultural aspect by mimicking the success of Viking raids.
Another cultural indication of the king is that importance of the Viking chiefs' presence in battle.
Although the kings of Europe later claimed divine rule and sat upon the throne rather than bodies in the battlefield, it was essential for a Viking chief to be considered an equal in war.
The importance of war is also reflected in Hnefatafl because it is a war strategy game, which can indicate an important reason why the gaming boards have been found with males of all ages.
In Balnakeil, a male skeleton between the ages of 8 and 13 was found with weapons and a Hnefatafl board game.
Vikings tended to take boys onto the battlefield with them, which explains why young boys also played these war-strategic board games.
There is also some controversy over whether some tafl games (i.e. Hnefatafl and Tawlbwrdd) may have employed dice.
Tafl spread everywhere the Vikings traveled, including Iceland, Britain, Ireland, and Lapland. Versions of Tafl, comprising Hnefatafl, Alea Evangelii, Tawlbwrdd (Wales), Brandubh, Ard Ri and Tablut, were played across much of Northern Europe from earlier than 400 B.C. until it was supplanted by chess in the 12th century.
The term tafl (Old Norse: "table", "board"; pronounced [tavl]) is the original name of the game.
However, Hnefatafl became the preferred term for the game in Scandinavia by the end of the Viking Age, to distinguish it from other board games, such as Skáktafl (chess), Kvatrutafl (Tables) and Halatafl (Fox games), as these became known.
The specific name Hnefatafl possibly arose as meaning "board game of the fist", from hnefi ("fist") + tafl, where "fist" referred to the central king-piece.
The precise etymology is disputed, but hnefi certainly referred to the king-piece, and several sources refer to Hnefatafl as "King's table". In Anglo-Saxon England, the term tæfl also referred to many board games.
It is not known if the Anglo-Saxons had a specific name for the game or if they generically referred to it as "tæfl" in the way that modern people might refer to "cards".
Games confused by name
Several games may be confused with tafl games, due to the inclusion of the word "tafl" in their names or other similarities.
Halatafl is the Old Norse name for Fox and Geese, a game dating from at least the 14th century. It is still known and played in Europe.
Kvatrutafl is the Old Norse name for Tables (the medieval forerunner of Backgammon).
Skáktafl is the Old Norse name for Chess.
Fidchell or Fithcheall (Modern Irish: Ficheall) was played in Ireland. The Welsh equivalent was Gwyddbwyll and the Breton equivalent Gwezboell; all terms mean "wood-sense". This popular medieval game was played with equal forces on each side and thus was not a tafl variant, but rather may have been the medieval descendant of the Roman game Latrunculi or Ludus latrunculorum.
