Kingsflight Hand Made Walnut and Maple Hnefatafl Viking Board Game | Solid Hardwood Board with Turned Playing Pieces and Elder Futhark Border | Norse Family Gift | RK-1732

Hnefatafl is the Norse board game that Scandinavia played for centuries before chess arrived, and this is a full set of it: a solid walnut frame around an inlaid maple playing field, a scored grid, a line of Elder Futhark cut into all four edges of the frame, and a set of turned hardwood pieces. The dark pieces are the attacking force, the pale pieces are the defenders, and the one marked with an incised ring is the king. Everything stores in the grey cotton drawstring pouch that comes with the set.

Here is the odd thing about tafl. We are not certain how it was played, because nobody in the Viking age wrote the rules down. What we have instead is a Swedish botanist. In 1732 Carl Linnaeus travelled through Lapland, watched people playing a game called tablut, and wrote the rules into his field journal in Latin. That journal is the backbone of every modern hnefatafl rule set, which means the game on this board reaches you through a naturalist taking notes on a plant collecting trip. The board is cut, inlaid, engraved and finished in Memphis, Tennessee, and it ships with the pieces, the pouch and a printed rule card.

Specifications

Why hnefatafl is not just Viking chess

People reach for chess as the comparison and it is the wrong one. Chess is symmetrical. Both players start with the same army, the same goal and the same shape of position. Hnefatafl is deliberately lopsided. One player has roughly twice as many pieces as the other and wins by hunting down a single target. The other player has half the force, starts surrounded in the middle, and wins by getting the king out to the edge of the board. Nobody in that game is playing the same game as their opponent.

That asymmetry is the whole point and it is what makes the set worth owning. The attacking player has to think about closing a net without leaving a gap, because a net with one hole in it is not a net. The defending player has to think about which direction to break in, and about spending defenders to open a lane, which is a genuinely uncomfortable calculation when you only have a handful of them. Captures are made by sandwiching a piece between two of yours, which means the board is full of squares that are safe to stand on and squares that are quietly lethal, and reading which is which is most of the skill.

Players usually swap sides after a game and score across the pair, because the two roles feel so different that winning as the king proves nothing about whether you can also close the net. That also solves the usual problem with asymmetric games, which is that one side feels stronger until you have played it enough to know better.

Walnut, maple and turned hardwood

The frame is solid American black walnut, mitred at the corners rather than butted, so the grain runs around the board instead of stopping dead at every corner. The playing field is hard maple, chosen because it is pale, close grained and takes a scored line cleanly, which is what gives the grid its crisp dark edge. The maple is set into the walnut as a genuine inlay rather than printed onto a board, so the difference between field and frame is a difference in timber and not a difference in ink.

The pieces are turned individually on a lathe. The dark set is stained and sealed, the pale set is left close to its natural colour and oiled, and the king carries an incised ring turned in at the shoulder so you can find him without looking twice. They are weighted well enough to stay put on a board that gets knocked, and the bases are sanded flat so they do not rock. Four small brass feet set into the underside of the frame lift the board just clear of the table, which keeps the walnut off a damp surface and makes the board easy to pick up.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel, the leather or the wood. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this board that means the Futhark row on one of the four frame edges gives way to your text, and most people put it on the edge that faces the room. Full details are on the engraving page.

Setting up and playing

Set the board with the king on the centre square, his defenders around him, and the attacking groups spaced along the four edges opposite each other. The king moves like the rest of the pieces, in straight lines along a rank or a file, and no piece jumps another. The centre square and the corners are usually treated as restricted, which stops the defenders from parking their whole force on the safest ground and makes the middle of the board something you have to leave.

The printed card in the box gives the setup and the common rule set, including how captures work against the edge and the two usual conditions for the king escaping. If your group prefers a harder version, the standard house variations are to require the king to reach a corner rather than any edge square, and to require the attackers to surround him on all four sides rather than two. Those two changes together shift the balance noticeably towards the attackers, which is worth knowing if one player keeps winning.

Care

Wipe the board with a dry cloth. Once a year, put a small amount of furniture oil or hard wax oil on a cloth, work it over the walnut and the maple, leave it a few minutes and buff it off. Keep the board out of direct sunlight, which will lighten the walnut and yellow the maple unevenly if one half of it sits in a window. Do not put it anywhere damp and do not wash it.

The pieces need nothing beyond an occasional dry wipe, and they should live in the pouch rather than loose in a drawer where they can pick up grit and scuff the maple next time you set up. If a piece ever loses its sheen, a touch of the same oil on a cloth brings it straight back. The brass feet will patinate and can be brightened with a little metal polish on a cotton bud if you would rather they stayed yellow.

Made in Memphis

The walnut is cut and mitred, the maple field is inlaid, the grid is scored, the runes are cut and the pieces are turned in our shop in Memphis, Tennessee. This is not an importer catalogue board with a logo added to the box. Each set is made when it is ordered, so allow one to two weeks of processing before it ships, a little longer if you have asked for custom engraving on the frame. Shipping inside the United States is free.

A note on handmade variation

This set is hand made, not machine made and not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Walnut and maple are natural timbers and they will not repeat. One frame will be deep chocolate and straight grained, another will carry a lighter streak or a run of figure across a mitre. The maple field may be almost white or faintly golden. The turned pieces vary a fraction in profile because each one comes off the lathe by eye and by hand. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Do the rules come with it

Yes. A printed rule card comes in the box with the setup diagram, the movement and capture rules and the two common win conditions, plus the usual harder variations if you want them.

How many players is it for

Two. One takes the attackers and one takes the king and his defenders. Most people play a pair of games and swap sides, because the two roles play completely differently.

Is it suitable for children

The rules are simpler than chess and children pick them up quickly. The pieces are turned wood and small enough to be a choking risk for a very young child, so keep the set for older children and supervise.

Can I get the frame engraved with a name

Yes. Your text replaces the Futhark row on the edge you choose. Use the rune converter above if you want it in Elder Futhark rather than Latin letters.

Does the board fold

No. It is a solid one piece board with an inlaid field, which is why it stays flat and why the grid lines run true. The pieces store in the pouch.

Will mine look exactly like the photograph

The size, the layout and the build will match. The grain and the colour of the walnut and the maple will be their own, because they are cut from real boards rather than printed.

What is in the box

• Kingsflight hnefatafl board in walnut and maple with a cut Elder Futhark border
• Full set of turned hardwood playing pieces including the ringed king
• Cotton drawstring storage pouch
• Printed rule and setup card
• Lifetime warranty against defects in the joinery, the inlay and the finish, with no end date and no receipt needed
• Made and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See the rest of the hnefatafl and Viking games, the Viking home decor, the rune stones and rune sets and the guides.