Ancient Games: Tafl games and The Stanway Game

Tafl or Hnefatafl

A small insight into ancient games which aren't Chess takes us back to 400 AD. A game known as "tafl" which has grown to be known as hnefatafl or The Viking Game. H.J.R Murray suggested that it was the "only board game played by the Saxons" (Murray, 1952 p.52) Which I think cant be true. Many board games must of existed, but not documented. The game is played on a square checkered board which has to have odd numbers of squares on each side (11x11, 13x13). The game was played on whatever the played could create, often the games were embroidered onto cloth or linen so it could be transported. The defending player stats in the middle with all their pieces placed symmetrically in the centre of the board or cloth. The central piece was often larger and was known as the "king" piece. The attacking players are placed around the outside and outnumber the defending player (king) by 2:1. The object of the game was to move the defending "king" to the outside of the board where the attacking player must intercept and surround the king in order to defeat the player. The object of the game for the attacking player is to eradicate or remove all of their opponents pieces (or the king) Pieces can be taken by both sides as long as a piece is sandwiched between two opposing pieces. However the king can only be taken by being surrounded by all four sides. Each piece can move as many places as they want in one turn, but can only move in a straight line. There has been many variations of this game which varies from changes of rules to scale of board, but one of the most famous variations is chess, you may have heard of it.

The Stanway Game

This was a game recently excavated in our region just outside of Colchester in the 1980's. It was discovered in a quarry and was believed to be buried around AD40-AD60. This particular excavation brought with it alot of attention and enthusiasm as the items contained within the burial were rather unusual compared to a range of artifacts usually found within burials in Britain. The game consists of a 13x9 squares with 13 different coloured pieces for each player. Similar to Tafl, the proposed rules to the game are that the players have to capture all the opponents pieces by surrounding a piece on two sides. The goal of the game is to capture all of the enemies pieces.



Murray
, H. J. R. (1952) A History of Board Games Other Than Chess. Oxford. Clarendon Press. See "Ancient Games" and "War Games".


http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Vikings/Tafl/viking/overhead.jpg

http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/wxk116/Roman/BoardGames/stanlat.jpg