HNEFATAFL - KING'S TABLE - THE VIKING GAME

Hnefatafl (or King's Table) was one of the most common games played by the Vikings. The game consists of a playing surface that has been divided into squares, upon which are placed opposing sets of gaming pieces.

The object of the game is for the defending king (white) to escape from the encircling attacking pieces (dark). If the king reaches one of the corner squares then the defenders win, but if all possible escape routes are blocked then the attacker wins.

Players take it in turns moving any one of their pieces either horizontally or verically around the board. Pieces are taken (removed from play) by having one of your pieces on either side of an opponent's piece, thus eliminating it. The king can only be taken by having attacking pieces to all four sides. The corner squares count as opponent's pieces for the purpose of taking pieces, thus a piece that is next to a corner square needs only to have an opponent's piece placed next to it (opposite the corner square) to be taken.

This boxed set consists of 37 solid resin gaming pieces (24 brown attackers, 12 white defenders and 1 white king) and a roll-up cloth gaming board. Full game rules are included in English, Swedish, Norwegian, German, French and Japanese.

HCVG1 Hnefatafl Viking Game - Price £25, US$, €