What is Hnefatafl 11×11?
This is tafl on the larger 11×11 board, played with the same rules as the standard game. The throne is in the centre and a special square at each corner. The king starts on the throne with twelve defenders in a diamond around him, and the 24 attackers stand in a T of six on each edge.
The attackers move first, every piece moves like a rook, pieces are captured between two enemies or an enemy and the throne or a corner, and the king wins by reaching a corner. The king is captured 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.
The king has further to travel and the attackers more ground to cover, so games are longer and more strategic than on 9×9. For the tournament rules on this board, see Copenhagen Hnefatafl.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Tablut | Hnefatafl 11×11 |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Standard Tablut9×9 squares. | Hnefatafl 11×1111×11 squares. |
| Pieces | Standard Tablut16 attackers against 8 defenders and the king. | Hnefatafl 11×1124 attackers against 12 defenders and the king. |
| Starting position | Standard TablutAttackers in a T of four on each edge; defenders two deep on each side of the king. | Hnefatafl 11×11Attackers in a T of six on each edge; defenders in a diamond around the king. |
| Moves, captures and goal | Standard TablutRook moves, custodial captures, a hostile throne and corners, escape to a corner. | Hnefatafl 11×11The same. The other options in the table setup work on this board too. |
History
Hnefatafl is the Old Norse name of the game. Boards of several sizes survive: H. J. R. Murray reports that the board from the Gokstad ship burial in Norway had 13×13 squares, and an 11×11 board from the 12th century was found near Trondheim. In 1587 the Welshman Robert ap Ifan described an 11×11 board for tawlbwrdd, the Welsh form of the game.
No Norse rules survive. Modern hnefatafl starts from the rules of tablut that Linnaeus wrote down in 1732, which Murray identified as a form of hnefatafl in 1913. David Brown made an 11×11 reconstruction in 1980, and a version with an armed king who escapes to a corner later spread online; the rules played here are of that kind. The Fetlar and Copenhagen tournament rules grew out of it.