Hnefatafl is a game from the Scandinavian parts of Europe, with variants known from Celtic regions. Its origin is hidden in the mists of time, but it must be at least a millennium and a half old, if not older. It was mostly supplanted by chess when that game spread over Europe in the 12th century.
Hnefatafl is a hunt game due to it being asymmetric, but it is also a war game as pieces can be captured, and the ultimate aim is for the sole king in the game to either be captured or escape. It's probably best to consider it a hybrid hunt-war game, and one possibility as to its origin is as a combination of Ludus Latrunculorum and Fox & Geese (or similar).
I already have a blog detailing my collection of bought and self-made sets for Hnefatafl and its many historical and modern variants, and I don't intend to add all these to this blog on traditional board games. Anyone interested to see all, simply check out Hnefatafl Collection. But Hnefatafl does obviously belong in a collection of traditional board games, so in this post, I'll present a few sets from my Hnefatafl collection, each bought (rather than self-made) and each of a traditional variant (rather than modern variants).
Here goes!
The very first Hnefatafl set I got was one marketed by Past Times. Cloth 11 x 11 board, and resin pieces in the style of Viking warriors.
A more modern wooden set was sold as 'Viking Chess', even though it has nothing to do with chess, of course. I see this set as representing the 'Copenhagen rules', used in current world championships.
Hnefatafl variants were also played in Celtic regions. A 7 x 7 version called Brandubh is known from Ireland, and I recently found a nice Brandubh set on Etsy
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