What is Copenhagen Hnefatafl?
Copenhagen Hnefatafl is the set of rules most tafl tournaments use today. It is played on the 11×11 board with 24 attackers against 12 defenders and their king, who starts on the throne in the centre. The attackers move first, every piece moves like a rook in chess, pieces are captured between two enemies or an enemy and a hostile square, and the defenders win by bringing the king to a corner.
Several rules differ from the standard game here. Any piece may pass over the empty throne, though only the king may stop on it. The king is never captured on the board edge; elsewhere he falls only when attackers surround him on four sides, or on three with the throne as the fourth. Pieces lined up along the edge can be taken together by a shieldwall capture. The defenders gain a second way to win, the exit fort, and the attackers one too: surrounding the king and every remaining defender. Draws are gone: a perpetual repetition loses for the defenders, and a player who cannot move loses.
The table setup also offers the Copenhagen rules on the 13×13 board, and they can be chosen on every other board as well.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Tablut | Copenhagen Hnefatafl |
|---|---|---|
| Board and pieces | Standard Tablut9×9 board: 16 attackers against 8 defenders and the king. | Copenhagen Hnefatafl11×11 board: 24 attackers against 12 defenders and the king. The same rules can be played on any other board. |
| The throne | Standard TablutOnly the king may stop on it or pass through it. It is hostile to every piece, so it can close a capture of attackers and defenders alike. | Copenhagen HnefataflAny piece may pass over the empty throne, but only the king may stop on it. It is always hostile to attackers, and hostile to defenders only while it is empty. |
| Capturing the king | Standard TablutSurrounded on four sides: by four attackers on the throne, by three and the throne beside it, and elsewhere by attackers with the board edge or a corner counting as a side. | Copenhagen HnefataflFour attackers, or three with the throne as the fourth side. The king can never be captured on the board edge. |
| Shieldwall | Standard TablutNo such rule: every piece is captured on its own, between two enemies or an enemy and a hostile square. | Copenhagen HnefataflA row of two or more pieces along the edge, each with an enemy directly in front of it, is captured when an enemy move closes both ends of the row; a corner can close one end. A king in the row is not taken, but the defenders beside him are. |
| Exit fort | Standard TablutNo such rule: the defenders win only by bringing the king to a corner. | Copenhagen HnefataflThe defenders also win when the king stands on the edge, can still move, and is walled in, with no attacker inside, by defenders that the attackers can never capture. |
| Encirclement | Standard TablutNo such rule: the attackers win only by capturing the king. | Copenhagen HnefataflThe attackers also win when they surround the king and all remaining defenders so that none of them can reach the board edge. |
| Repetition | Standard TablutNo rule: a position may repeat any number of times. | Copenhagen HnefataflPerpetual repetition is forbidden: the third time the same position occurs with the same player to move, the defenders lose. |
| A player who cannot move | Standard TablutThe game is a draw. | Copenhagen HnefataflThat player loses. |
History
Copenhagen Hnefatafl is a modern rule set. Work on it began in January 2012, when Aage Nielsen of Denmark, Adam Bartley of Norway and Tim Millar of the United Kingdom set out to fill the gaps in the Fetlar rules, and in September 2012 the finished rules were named Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11×11.
The Fetlar rules had been drawn up by the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel, chaired by Peter Kelly, for the hnefatafl championships held on the island of Fetlar in Shetland. The Copenhagen rules made several changes. A rule from David Brown's 1980 reconstruction, that the attackers win by surrounding the king and all remaining defenders, was brought back. The Fetlar idea of a fort that forces a draw became the exit fort, which wins. A shieldwall capture was taken from rules played in Germany. Repetitions were banned and draws abolished, apart from a draw when both sides have too few pieces left, which is not used here.
The World Tafl Federation has used Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11×11 for its championships since 2013, and the Copenhagen rules have largely replaced the Fetlar rules as the international standard.