Hnefatafl - How to play & history of the game 

Great video. I love that you talk about the fact that it is a reconstructed game, that variations are OK and actually make the game even more fun and versatile :)

That was the best description , history and explanation of the rules I have seen thus far. Good job 👍

My first day playing and this is much funner than modern Chess! So much creativity and it really teaches you to actually have your men work together and positioning as opposed to the quick sacrifices and captures of Chess.

Terrific video! Thank you! Love your passion for the history as well as the game itself.

I just bought this game. Thank you for this video. It helps a lot and makes playing much more fun.

Love the video. Keep them coming! You make it so easy to understand. Thank You!

great history tutorial, this was extremely well done, ty

Probably the best Hnefatafl video on youtube, thank u! 🍻

Wow so glad i found this channel please keep up the great work!

What a neat little game! And a great channel I have stumbled upon. Very informative, clear, and your passion for the history and the game itself makes watching this very enjoyable. Thank you for sharing! Now I wanna run off and make my own board.

Great job. Thanks for great video.

You really know your Scandinavian history, very awesome and informative!

Thank you for opening-up this game for us.

Very informative. Thank you!

Thanks for another great video. I heard about Hnefatafl as an example of asymmetric forces a long time ago and have wondered about it since. Along with your video on Fox & Geese, the apparent quality of play makes me wonder why asymmetry is rare in games. My guess is that balance is too hard to achieve without symmetry. And wow, Linnaeus wrote about games - that came right out of left field for me! It's cool to get such a holistic take on games. Thanks. And I recognize (and own) some of the volumes on your bookshelf.

Bravo! Thanks for this instruction. I came across it today while researching the Lewis Chess pieces. I don't think anyone has mentioned 'Go' here, clearly a very different game where the pieces once placed on the board don't move but can be removed by the opponent. Still there are some similarities in that each piece is (apart from there is no king in Go) equal and the removing/capturing is done by surrounding a piece. Also, in both games, multiple pieces may be removed One board variation you showed was played on the intersections of lines as in Go. Fascinating how these games evolved and moved around the world. The Chinese game of Go looks so beautiful in mid-game, it is elegant in its simplicity but gains an increasingly high level of complexity! Thanks again for your work.

Hi , I think I just found my game. This looks fun, and challenging. Thank you for sharing this video. We met at Steps 12 Night. I’ll be at next week’s fighter practice. Lord Ricciardo

When I started out playing Hnefatafl I used like ordinary ludo pieces and a board I designed myself printed on A3 paper. Fortunately I have a proper set now which is much nicer, with the walrus bone style pieces!

🎩Hi. I find having the defenders in a cross formation gives a better game, and also using the edge escape. If you use the corner escape it can be blocked by 3 pieces diagonally on each corner that cannot be then taken. I also use that the kings square is a hostile square, same as the corners. (See Hnefatafl by Jonathan George, a great book on the game. ) As you say there are so many different ways to play it. Very easy to learn, but takes a life time to master. If you make your own set make sure there is a big contrast in colours between the sides. I made one and even though the pieces were different shapes the colour difference was not too good. Makes it hard to follow the game. Anyway enjoy playing a great fun game.

great introduction, i thank ye..

Haaallooo :) Really nice video. I have read that the king, in order to be captured/killed, needs to be surrounded by attackers both north - south and east - west (four attackers combined). That would probably change the gameplay quite a lot. What do you think?

Hmm I thought the king had to be caught on 4 sides not 2 ? That was how i was taught in sweden

Great video, I recently got into historical gaming and loving it. On a side note your link for boards and lay outs is missing the standard lay out for the 11x11 board.

Great vid. Thank you. 👍🏻 Edit. Subscribed. 🙂

Very good! Thank you!

Excellent explanation. Also, handsome tunic, is the border tablet woven? And is your small necklace made of pinenut seed beads?

You did a great job explaining the rules, but there is rule I would like to correct. The Attackers always move first at the beginning of the game. The reason for that is because they are attacking.

Thank you!

Thanks a lot I enjoyed this video! I want to make a board and play some. I am very interested in Aleva Evangeli (sp) the Irish game you mention at the end if the video.

Great video I learned something new! I just wish I could play a game with somebody. Off topic, where did you buy your raven mug sitting on your book shelf?

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="137">2:17</a>-<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="144">2:24</a> In the year 1587 ,the Welsh antiquarian Robert ap Ifan made an illustration _and_ noted the rules - I understand that the classic layout of the pieces that we now have is largely based on his observations.The Welsh version of the game is called *Tawlbwrdd* ( literal translation _throwboard_ ) could this reference of 'throwing' refer to the throw of a die / dice that once accompanied the game ?🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿👍

Your playing board has a dragon-like creature on the sides. I have seen a similar drawing/carving before, and wonder if you have a source of inspiration. If yes, would you share where you found it?

Great video sir! Where do you get your cool shirts btw?

Thanks ☺️ a question: a Blue piece moves on the edge in between a corner square and a Black, can another black piece capture the Blue by moving and blocking the Blue from 3 sides?

Hello, "Raven"! As a keen chess-player, I purchased a Hnefatafl set at "Jorvik" (York) recently. (The board is identical to the one you displayed between <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="435">7:15</a>-<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="455">7:35</a> in your video.) I'm a bit greedy(!), so I have five questions: 1) Did you also acquire your <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="435">7:15</a>-<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="455">7:35</a> canvas board from "Jorvik"? 2) Would you have any objection, in principle, to a board being labelled (as in chess) - so, with an 11x11, for example: "a-k" at the bottom ("k-a" from the perspective of the opponent) and 1-11 up the side (11-1 for the opponent), in order to facilitate the easier recording of games? 3) Can you buy Hnefatafl score sheets? (I suppose you could use chess score sheets, but...) If not... small gap in the market?! 4) This may be deemed sacrilegious to keen Hnefatafl players(!), but... How close are we to having the rules standardised, throughout the world? (I think attempts have been made...?) Anyway, then you could have an undisputed World Champion...! (I've seen there is one "World Champion" - Adam Bartley - but how widely acknowledged is he?) 5) Using my suggested co-ordinates(!), suppose the "Throne" on "f6" is unoccupied: what if a piece - probably a "defender" - stands on one of the four potentially vulnerable surrounding defensive squares... (So: "e6", "f5", "f7", or "g6".) Now, further suppose that an opposing piece lands on "d6", "f4", "f8", or "h6": is the defender deemed to be "bracketed"/"sandwiched" - and removed from the board - in the most commonly played variants? Thanks for the video. (And I hope you may have time to answer my queries...)

If you have pieces two different colored sides to them like Reversi pieces you could maybe play with that they have to be captured twice to get truly captured, a piece that's been captured one would be considered injured and can only move.. say 3 spaces max (depending on the board side) until it's captured again where it's then removed from the board.

Hello. That was very interesting. I would like to find a repository of played games from tournaments. Are there any places I can find well played games between experts recorded in algebraic notation the way chess tournaments are recorded?

Where did you purchase the glass playing pieces you are using? I found the King glass piece online but I’m having a hard time finding other glass pieces to go with it

How does capture in the corners work? As in the attacker moves four pieces into each corner to prevent the king from winning. Does the defender need to capture with the two open sides or can one piece plus the edge of the board suffice?

The king can only be captured what's 4 surrounding attackers three if it's at the edge. Two spaces cannot capture a king

Starts at : <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="720">12:00</a>

How about plastic bottle caps? Coke caps are available in black and red. Water bottle caps are usually blue or white. You just need to draw a grid on a sheet of cardboard and off you go.

What if each player had to roll a d6 die and could only move the result? Might be a fun variation!

what happens if the king is surrounded on three sides when the king is at the edge of the board?

good

You didn't clarify that the attacking pieces don't need to be right next to you king to win, they can be a few squares away

Are the pieces safe on their original square?

The king must be surrounded on four sides.

Wow man, so nordic people and russians which means slavs also are relatives?

Idea for future videos. How about Shut The Box. Or give us the history of not so ancient games like monopoly and any common misconceptions about rules.

Also thanks for the info about rus 🙏 slava Ukraine 🇺🇦

reminds me of this game I learned when I was 6 in 1968 called Breakthru en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthru_(board_game)