Hnefatafl
Tawlbwrdd
The Welsh game: plain corners with no special power, and a king who wins by reaching any square on the edge of the board.
What is different here
Tawlbwrdd is known from a single drawing made by the Welsh copyist Robert ap Ifan in 1587: a king ringed by twelve men, with a large force of attackers set around them in blocks. His figure cannot be laid out literally on any board that has ever been dug up, so what is played today is a reduction of it.
The version here keeps his shape and trims his numbers: eleven by eleven, twelve defenders in a cross around the king, and twenty-four attackers in four solid blocks of six.
Ap Ifan says nothing about the corners, so on this board they are plain squares that anybody may stand on. The king instead wins by reaching the edge anywhere — the older, looser goal, which makes for a quicker and sharper game than the corner codes.
- The corners are ordinary squares: not hostile, not goals, open to everyone.
- The king escapes by reaching any square on the edge of the board.
- Attackers set out in four blocks of six rather than in lines.
- The king still needs all four of his sides held to be captured.
- Only the throne is special, and only the king may rest on it.