From: salley@niktow.canisius.edu (David Salley)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Covington Cross question
Keywords: board game
Date: 7 Nov 92 04:01:22 GMT
Organization: Canisius College, Buffalo NY. 14208

sallylb@netcom.com (Sally Smith) writes:
> In article <Bx4nqx.x5@rahul.net> phil@rahul.net (Phil Gustafson) writes:
> >The game board that appears from time to time in the CC living room
> >is set up for Saxon Hnefatafl.  Quite a nice touch.
> 
> It's what?? (I can barely read that, let alone pronounce it!)
> But seriously, Phil, you wanna explain that?
 
At last, _I_ get to explain something to The Lucky Bitch instead of the
other way around. ;-) ;-)  That is, if she'll allow me to explain instead
of Phil.

First of all, the initial H is (sort of) silent.  The game is pronounced roughly
"Neff-a-taffle".  Its usually played on a 19x19 square board, however other
sizes were used.  One player, usually the weaker, has a 'king' in the
center square surrounded by 24 of his own pieces.  The other, and usually
stronger, player has forty-eight pieces surrounding those.  All pieces move
like chess rooks.  The object of the game for the 'white' player is to move
his king completely off the board.  His other pieces are for blocking his
opponent.  The 'black' player has to trap the king on all four sides so he
can't move at all.  The board looks as follows:

                     . . b . . b . . . . . . . b . . b . . 
                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                     b . . . . b . . . . . . . b . . . . b 
                     . . . . . . . b . b . b . . . . . . . 
                     . . . . . . b . w . w . b . . . . . . 
                     b . b . . b . . . . . . . b . . b . b 
                     . . . . b . . . . w . . . . b . . . . 
                     . . . b . . . . w . w . . . . b . . . 
                     . . . . w . . w . w . w . . w . . . . 
                     . . . b . . w . w K w . w . . b . . . 
                     . . . . w . . w . w . w . . w . . . . 
                     . . . b . . . . w . w . . . . b . . . 
                     . . . . b . . . . w . . . . b . . . . 
                     b . b . . b . . . . . . . b . . b . b 
                     . . . . . . b . w . w . b . . . . . . 
                     . . . . . . . b . b . b . . . . . . . 
                     b . . . . b . . . . . . . b . . . . b 
                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                     . . b . . b . . . . . . . b . . b . . 

It's a lot more complicated than it seems.  If you like to play chess, you'll
like to play this.  I learned a lot of historical board games in a historical
re-creation group called the Society for Creative Anachronism.  If you think
this one is complicated, try Rithmonachy some time. ;-) ;-) ;-)

> Sally "Don't flame this show 'cause I know the supervising producer and
> one of the story editors and you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" Smith
                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ah Sally, are you any relation to The Incredible Hulk (tm)? ;-) 

                                                       - David   

SCA Persona : Lord Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake
Disclaimer  : A society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.
Internet    : salley@niktow.cs.canisius.edu
USnail-net  : David P. Salley, 136 Shepard Street, Buffalo, New York 14212-2029
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv