Hnefatafl
Hnefatafl is an old Norse strategy game for two players.
The attackers try to capture the king.
The king's side tries to carry the king to a corner of the board.
The board has 11 files and 11 ranks. The attackers field 24 dark shields.
The king's side fields 12 cream discs and the king.
The attackers move first, and then the players alternate.
Moving
Every piece moves like a rook in chess. It slides any number of empty squares along a rank or a file. It never jumps over a piece.
Only the king may stop on a restricted square.
Every piece may pass over the throne while the throne is empty.
Captures
A move takes an enemy soldier when the move closes a trap.
The soldier must stand between two friendly pieces, one of which is the square the mover has just reached.
The two pieces must stand above and below the soldier, or to its left and right.
Diagonal traps do not count.
A restricted square may stand in for one of the two pieces.
The four corners are hostile to both sides.
The throne is always hostile to the attackers, and hostile to the defenders only while it is empty.
The board edge is never hostile.
A soldier that slides into an open trap is safe.
Only the move that closes the trap takes a soldier, and one move may take several soldiers.
The king is armed. He may stand in for a friendly piece and take part in a trap, exactly like a soldier.
Taking the king
Four attackers around the king take him.
When the king stands next to the throne, three attackers and the throne take him.
The king is safe on the board edge. Attackers can never take a king who stands on an edge square.
Winning
The king's side wins at once when the king reaches any corner square.
The attackers win at once when they take the king.
A player who has no legal move loses the game.
Threefold repetition is not modelled here. The engine keeps no record of earlier positions.
The shieldwall, the edge fort and the encirclement win are part of the Copenhagen rules and are implemented.
General Statistics:
- games played.
- victories and draws.
- average movements per game ( max: , min: ).
- victories by the first player vs victories from another player.
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