page_title: Tafl games
section_title: Setup
hierarchical_section_title: Tafl games / Tafl variants / Tablut / Setup
caption_attribution_description: Tablut board and pieces in starting position
context_page_description: Tafl games are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum.
  Names of different variants of Tafl include Hnefatafl, Tablut, Tawlbwrdd, Brandubh, Ard Rí, and Alea Evangelii. Games in the tafl family were played in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Britain, Ireland, and Lapland. Tafl gaming was eventually supplanted by chess in the 12th Century, but the tafl variant of the Sami people, tablut, was in play until at least the 1700s. The rules for tablut were written down by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus in 1732, and these were translated from Latin to English in 1811. All modern tafl games are based on the 1811 translation, which had many errors. New rules were added to amend the issues resulting from these errors, leading to the creation of a modern family of tafl games. In addition, tablut is now also played in accordance with its original rules, which have been retranslated.
context_section_description: The game is played on a 9×9 board.  Initial setup is as shown.
  The king (konakis, modern Lule Sámi gånågis) starts on the central square or castle (Latin: Arx).
  The eight defenders, called Swedes, start on the eight squares adjoining the gånågis, in the form of a cross.
  The sixteen attackers, called Muscovites, start in groups of four at the centre of each edge of the board, in direct contact with the Swedish "cross".
caption: Tablut starting position: lighter "Swedes" start in centre; darker "Muscovites" start at the board's edges. Based on Linnaeus' sketches reproduced in Smith (1811).
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