Hnefatafl - Viking Chess

With this print, you can play a replica of the historic game of Hnefatafl, also known as Viking chess. The models have been carefully influenced by real-life Viking artefacts from the Lewis Chessmen pieces in the British Museum, dating back to 1200AD.

The king piece is seated on a throne with Nordic patterns and dragon carvings, which are accurate to the period.

For the sake of file size, I have only included one of each piece, so you must make sure you print duplicates of them. You will need 37 playing pieces in total: 1 king, 12 defenders, and 24 attackers. The pieces are very detailed, so you can scale them up to get a much larger game and to better appreciate the ‘carved’ designs.

I hope you enjoy this model and playing the game!

This version of the game follows the York Rules, also known as Fetlar Hnefatafl. The full rules with images can be downloaded from the documentation folder. These rules come from the Aage Nielsen website, but other variations of the game for an 11x11 board exist, so feel free to find what fits your play.

Objective

The dark pieces (attackers) lay siege, with the goal of capturing the king. The light pieces (defenders) must break the siege and bring their king to safety.

1.   Two players, the king's side vs attackers. There are twice as many attackers as defenders.

2.   The attackers' side moves first, and the players then take turns.

3.   All pieces move any number of vacant squares along a row or a column, like a rook in chess.
Moving a piece.

4. Capture

All pieces except the king are captured if sandwiched between two enemy pieces, or between an enemy piece and a restricted square. The two enemy pieces should be on the square above and below or on the squares left and right of the attacked piece, i.e. not diagonally.

A piece is only captured if the aggressor's move closes the trap. Therefore, it is permitted to move between two enemy pieces. The king may take part in captures.

5. Restricted squares

Restricted squares may only be occupied by the king. The central restricted square is called the throne. The king may re-enter the throne, and all pieces may pass through it when it is empty.

Restricted squares are hostile, which means they can replace one of the two pieces participating in a capture. The throne is always hostile to the attackers but only hostile to the defenders when it is empty.
Like the throne, the four corner squares are also restricted and hostile. The board edge is NOT hostile.

6. King's side win

If the king reaches any corner square, he has escaped, and his side wins.

7a. Attackers win

The attackers win if they can capture the king.

The king is captured when the attackers surround him on all four cardinal points, except when he is next to the throne.

If on a square next to the throne, the attackers must occupy the three remaining squares around him.

The king cannot be captured on the board edge, UNLESS he is the only white piece remaining on the board and is completely surrounded by black (i.e. rule 8).

7b.   If the attackers surround the king and ALL remaining defenders, then they win, as they have prevented the king from escaping.

8.   If a player cannot move, he loses the game.

9. It is a draw if it is not possible to end the game, e.g., because both sides have too few pieces left or because of repetitions.

 

If you enjoyed this model, you might like my other historic board game, based on the ancient Egyptian game ‘Jackals and Hounds’: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1130706-ancient-egyptian-board-game-jackals-and-hounds