Tablut

Opening Position

Alternate Names

Milton Bradley marketed a version of this game under the name Swords and Shields around 1960.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

The 9x9 Tafl board, sixteen black attacker counters (described as Muscovites by Linnaeus), eight white defender counters (described as Swedes or Blondes after translation by Linnaeus), and one larger or distinctively marked white counter that is known as the King are required for play. Note that the Tablut board is unique among Tafl games for not having the four corner squares marked differently and also giving special markings to the sixteen cells on which the dark attacker counters commence. The board that Linnaeus described for the play of this game was made of reindeer skin and ornamented with needlework.

History

Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist, in his diary, Lachesis Lapponica, has an entry dated 20 July 1732 that details a game played by Lapps called Tablut.

Objective

Play

First, it should be noted that the precise rules to all of the medieval Tafl games (Ard-Ri, Brandubh, Ficheall, Tablut, Hnefatafl, Tawlbwrdd, and Alea Evangelii) have been lost to the mists of time. Although several ancient manuscripts and writings contain scant clues as to the method of play, no complete, unambiguous description of any medieval Tafl game exists. The most information that has, as of yet, been discovered is that of the famous Swedish botanist and father biological taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, in a 1732 diary of his expedition to Lapland in the northernmost parts of Sweden, called Lachesis Lapponica. Linnaeus, an astute scientist, was well versed in many fields well outside the domain of botany and paid careful attention to the manners and customs of the Sami people. Amazingly, these Northern people still played a version of the ancient Tafl games! Linnaeus witnessed and recorded the play of this in the most complete and most recent description of any Tafl game.

Alternate turns entail the movement of a single friendly counter orthogonally across any number of vacant cells (the move of the rook in Orthochess).

No complete, unambiguous description of the rules of a tafl game exists.^[34] The best description we have from history is that given by Linnaeus of the game Tablut in the 1732 diary of his travels, Lachesis Lapponica.^[35] The following rules are based on the 1811 translation of Lachesis Lapponica into English by James Edward Smith.^[36]

• • The game is played on a 9×9 board. Initial setup is as shown in the diagram.

  • The king starts on the central square or castle, called the konakis, which no other piece may ever occupy.

  • The eight defenders, called Swedes, start on the eight squares adjoining the konakis, in the form of a cross.

  • The sixteen attackers, called Muscovites, start in groups of four at the centre of each edge of the board. (In Linnaeus' notes, these squares were embroidered to signify them as the domain of the Muscovites.)

  • All remaining squares (neutral zone) may be occupied by any piece during the game.

  • Any piece may move any number of vacant spaces in any straight line [←↑→↓], but not diagonally. (Compare to the rook in Chess.)

  • No piece may ever pass over another piece in its path.

  • If the king should ever have an unimpeded path (through the neutral zone) to the edge of the board, unless he is immediately blocked by a Muscovite, he may escape and the game is over. (This rule suggests that the king may not escape through the domain of the Muscovites.)

  • If the king should ever have a path of escape, he must call out "raichi"; if two paths of escape, then his escape is imminent and he must call out "tuichu". (Compare these to "check" and "checkmate" in Chess.)

  • Any piece, save for the king, may be captured and removed from the board if it becomes surrounded on two opposite sides by enemies. (This is known as custodial capture.)

  • If the king is surrounded on all four sides by enemies, he is taken prisoner. If he is surrounded on three sides, he may escape by the fourth.

  • If the king is on a square adjoining the konakis and is surrounded on three sides by his enemies and the fourth by the konakis, he is captured. (This rule suggests that once the king has left the konakis, he can never return.)

  • If the king is captured, the Swedes are conquered and the Muscovites victorious.

Several problems of gameplay are left woefully ambiguous or completely untouched in Linnaeus' notes, and some translations are problematic.^[37] There are also several other variations played by modern reconstructionists.

Strategy

Variations

Sources