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The Standard Rules of Hnefatafl. In the standard version of Hnefatafl, there are only two types of pieces: The King; The Pawns (Vikings) That’s all there is to know. Easy enough right? How the pieces are allowed to move. The king and the pawns move in exactly the same way. For the chess players out there: they move like the rook in chess.
Hnefatafl print-and-play file with an elaborate 19x19 layout for 73 pieces. The board and pieces can be printed onto six sheets of A4 paper. A seventh sheet contains the assembly instructions and game rules. The rules are for the only known hnefatafl game on the 19x19 board, alea evangelii.
If you click on the "Rules Leaflets" link on the "Related Pages" sidebar of this page (to the right on desktop screens, or at the foot of the page on Mobiles), you'll see a range of downloadable PDF leaflets for different versions of the game.
HNEFATAFL RULES. Set up the board as shown above, the counter in the centre is the king and the counters surrounding him are his protectors. The darker counters are the attackers. The game is won by the defenders if the king to escapes to one of the corner squares marked with an X.
This leaflet is a paraphrase of the rules developed by the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel for their annual World Quick-play Hnefatafl Tournament. This version has been adopted by other tournaments around the world and is supplied with some commercial sets of the game.
Hnefatafl is a game of unequal sides and different objectives. The King is placed in the centre of the board and the light defending pieces surround him in the pattern shown. The dark pieces are placed in 4 groups in a particular formation at the middle of each edge of the board.
This document provides the rules for playing Hnefatafl, a Viking board game. It describes how to set up the board with dark attacking pieces and light defending pieces including a king. The aim is for attackers to surround the king and defenders to get the king to a corner space.
