Tafl Games - Legacy

Legacy

Around 1960, Milton Bradley published Swords and Shields, which was essentially Tablut as recorded by Linnaeus, but with the Swedes transformed into shields (with a king shield) and the Muscovites transformed into swords. Tafl seems also to have been the basis for two other modern board games that each bear significant resemblance to the historical games, but with some important differences. Both games feature similar symmetry but diverge from the classic 2:1 attacker/defender ratio, and both have important differences in their tactics. Breakthru was developed in the 1960s as part of the 3M bookshelf game series. It features tafl-like symmetry, but with twelve defenders plus one "flagship" (cf: king) pitted against twenty attackers upon a tiered board, so that the objective of the defenders is to escort the flagship from the center to the outer zone of the board. Apart from the distinction of the inner zone and outer zone, there are no distinctive spaces on the Breakthru board. Breakthru also features a distinctive double move, whereas no evidence points to such a move in any of the historical games. Thud, a modern game inspired by a series of fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett (which in turn were inspired by the historical tafl games), also features the general symmetry of tafl games, although it is played on an octagonal board with only eight defenders pitted against thirty-two attackers. Thud also features a "Thudstone" (cf: "konakis"), but no kingpiece. There are also important differences in the moves and attacks in Thud.

In 2008, Hnefatafl was revived by Peter Kelly in the island of Fetlar in Shetland, where the annual World Quickplay Hnefatafl Championships are now held each summer under the auspices of the Fetlar Hnefatafl Panel. The 2008 Champion was Wendy Sutherland from Yorkshire, while the 2009 and 2010 Championships were won by Tim Millar from Somerset. The term "quickplay" refers to the time-limit of ten seconds per move, marked by the sounding of a gong.