The Ancient Viking Game of Unequal Armies

Unlike modern chess, Tafl games feature uneven sides where the king must flee to safety while his enemies surround him. This asymmetrical strategy was the most popular board game in Northern Europe until chess replaced it.

These games represent a dramatic struggle where one side protects a king and the other attempts to capture him. Because the armies are not equal, the attacker must use aggressive tactics while the defender relies on tight formations. We only know how to play today because a Swedish naturalist documented the rules in the 1700s. Early attempts to translate his work contained many errors, leading to the creation of entire new rule sets that changed the game forever.