Alea Evangelii rules
The epic, on a 19×19 board · 19×19
Alea Evangelii, "the game of the gospels", survives as a diagram in a 12th-century Irish gospel book. The layout here is H.J.R. Murray's reading of it: 48 attackers against 24 defenders and a King.
The manuscript gives no rules, so the core rules fill the gap: a strong King who escapes to a corner.
The scale changes everything. Openings are deeper, endgames longer, and the King's journey is a true odyssey.
Also known as: Game of the Gospels, 19×19 tafl.
At a glance
| Board | 19×19 |
|---|---|
| Pieces | 48 attackers against 24 defenders and a King |
| King | Strong: he must be surrounded on all four sides |
| King escapes to | A corner |
| First move | Attackers |
| Repeated position | A loss for whoever repeats |
The core rules
Every tafl game builds on the rules below. Where the table above says otherwise, the table is right for Alea Evangelii.
- Two sides. The attackers surround the board and outnumber their enemy. Their goal is to capture the King. The defenders are outnumbered but guard the King and must escort him to safety.
- The board. A square grid. The centre square is the Throne, where the King begins. The four corners are escape squares. Only the King may stand on either.
- Movement. Every piece moves like a rook in chess: any number of squares in a straight line, with no diagonals and no jumping. Other pieces may pass through the empty Throne, but corners block them.
- Capture. Sandwich an enemy piece between two of your own on a straight line and it is removed. Moving into a sandwich yourself is safe; the trap only springs when you close it. An empty corner or the empty Throne can take the place of one of the two pieces.
- Capturing the King. In most variants the King must be sealed on all four sides, by attackers or by the empty Throne. In the "weak King" variants two attackers are enough.
- Winning. The defenders win when the King reaches an escape square: a corner, or any edge square in the edge-escape variants. The attackers win by capturing the King, or by encircling every defender so none can reach the edge. A side with no legal move loses, and repeating a position three times ends the game.