From: dyer@eagle.sharebase.com (Scot Dyer)
Subject: Re: "Hnefatafl pieces"
Summary: Thanks for all help + Rules of game...
Keywords: Hnefatafl, Tafl, Pieces, etc.
Reply-To: dyer@eagle.sharebase.com (Scot Dyer)
Organization: NCR/ShareBase Corporation
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 92 16:54:10 GMT

Ed 'Cynwrig' Dengler writes:
>Greetings!

Diolch.

>In article <1992Aug23.011413.27039@sharebase.com> dyer@sharebase.com (Scot Dyer)
> writes:
>>This might be the wrong newsgroup to take this question to, but I think this
>>is the place where I am most likely to find the answer I'm looking for.
>>Cut to the chase...
>>
>>Question:
>>       Where can I buy [preferrably wooden] pieces suitable for use in an
>>       abstract strategy game?  Two colors would be required, with one piece
>>       of one color differing in shape/size...
>>
>>[Context:]
>>[...]It is a very old [pre-norman invasion saxon] strategy game, so
>>I can't just go to a game shop and find it.
>>[...]
>>in this newsgroup) I will post the rules.  Good game.
>>
>Actually, it is even easier than that. Several friends and I have made
>Hnefatafl games (plus its many size varients) using glass beads as pieces.
>These are easily picked up at any shop that sells materials for doing flower
>arrangements (the glass beads are used in vases to hold up flowers). The
>king can eather be two glass beads glued together (to make a tall piece) or
>a piece of a third colour.
>
>There are also many alternatives to the above. Stones can be used as pieces.
>A piece of dowelling cut into disks (ie. like checkers) can also be used.
>These wooden pieces have the advantage that if you are making a game that
>requires different valued pieces (eg. chess) then all you have to do is paint
>the value on (note that black checker pieces are sold at many gaming shops).
>In fact, the dowelling can be cut into cylinders so that different height
>pieces can be used.
>
>One gentleman I know who has a business selling games makes boards out of
>cloth and uses cutoff pieces from spindle rods used to make chairs and stairs
>(you know, thouse fancy turned pieces of wood for the legs).
>
>Another alternative is to do what the Saxon's did for their game: cut and
>painted bone. Check with your local butcher shop to see if you can get the
>bones (I believe that the leg bones were mostly used) from some animal
>they are cutting up.

I don't think I'd do too well with bone...  (Nid wyf i ddim saeson!)
But many of the other suggestions are worth sharing, and basically sum up the
mail I've gotten from others, with the possible exception of Cowrie shells.

Thanks so much to all those who wrote me.  Your ideas will yet make a
Hnefatafl board for me!

Ed 'Cynwrig' Dengler writes:
>P.S. What rules are you using for the game. If you are using the traditional
>     the king only has to make it to a side, and are finding that the king
>     wins too easily, try the following variation (used for many of the
>     smaller tafl games): the king must make it to a corner, with the
>     restriction that only the king can rest on a croner square.

Everybody who doesn't want to see the rules I've been playing with should
(j)unk this article right now, because they follow...


	The board / The setup...

	. . X . . X . . . . . . . X . . X . .	A	. = empty space
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	B	X = invader
	X . . . . X . . . . . . . X . . . . .	C	O = guard
	. . . . . . . X . O . X . . . . . . .	D	* = king
	. . . . . . X . O . O . X . . . . . .	E
	X . X . . X . . . . . . . X . . X . X	F
	. . . . X . . . . O . . . . X . . . .	G
	. . . X . . . . O . O . . . . X . . .	H
	. . . . O . . O . O . O . . O . . . .	I
	. . . O . . O . O * O . O . . O . . .	K
	. . . . O . . O . O . O . . O . . . .	L
	. . . X . . . . O . O . . . . X . . .	M
	. . . . X . . . . O . . . . X . . . .	N
	X . X . . X . . . . . . . X . . X . X	O
	. . . . . . X . O . O . X . . . . . .	P
	. . . . . . . X . O . X . . . . . . .	Q
	X . . . . X . . . . . . . X . . . . X	R
	. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .	S
	. . X . . X . . . . . . . X . . X . .	T

	a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t

	As in all the Tafl games: (?)
		(1) King's side (King + guards) move first
		(2) Play alternates between the players
		(3) All pieces move according to the same rule: orthagonally
		    as far as the moving player likes, except that they may
		    not pass other pieces in doing so.  (The rook's move,
		    to chess players)
		(4) Capture is made by sandwitching a single piece between two
		    others, on an orthagonal.  A piece may safely end its move
		    between two pieces, e.g. the capturing player must move to
		    capture.
		(5) The starting space of the King, his throne, is special in
		    that any piece located there is immune from capture.
		Object: For the King's side, the object is for the King to
		        'escape' the board (by moving 'past' an edge).  For the
			invaders, the object is to capture the King.
			edge)
	Unlike some Tafl games: (!)
		(1) The king is captured like all other pieces.

Note: This version of the game differs from the one I found in some book in
that: Qk, Kq, Kd, Dk are 'O's not 'X's, and the book said the king needed to
be surrounded on all four sides to be captured.  This opening position
strengthens the King's side, but the easy capture takes some of that back away.
Still, I do need to finish 'balancing' the game -- the King's side does need
to be weakened.

Making the King get to a corner would disrupt a good amount of the elegance of
the game.  Perhaps giving 'X' four more pieces would help?  (I was thinking of
Kb, Bk, Sk and Ks, or perhaps Cc, Cr, Rc, Rr, or perhaps Ka, Ak, Tk, Kt... or
???)  The danger here is that the opening position as it stands is not nearly
as arbitrary as it seems.  Devious in design would be a better description for
it.

Oh!  If you're interested in trying out the game and have a 'Go' or 'Wei-Chi'
board, I should point out the boards are the same size!  I do heartily
recommend the game, too.  Its simplicity of rules makes for the same kind of
elegance as Go.  I wouldn't rank it at Go's level of complexity, but I can't
say I have an absolute grounding in the total complexity of either game!

Anyway, the attractive algebraic properties of the rules should spark a good
intrest in any Go player that happens to try it...

I will continue to read this newsgroup in case people wish to talk about the
game as I am extremely keen on it.  However, is there a better newsgroup for
this?

	-- Scot

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