Copenhagen Hnefatafl rules

The modern tournament standard · 11×11 or 13×13

Copenhagen is the ruleset most people mean by Hnefatafl today, and the one played in most online and over-the-board tournaments.

Shieldwall: a line of two or more defenders pressed against the board edge can be wiped out in a single move. Flank both ends at once, with an attacker directly in front of every piece in the line; a corner counts as one flank. The King can stand in the line but is never captured by it.

Exit forts: if the King reaches the edge inside a ring of defenders the attackers can never break, and can still move, the defenders win.

The King is strong, needing all four sides sealed, and escapes to a corner.

Also known as: Copenhagen rules, Copenhagen tafl, Hnefatafl 11×11.

At a glance

Play Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11×11Play Copenhagen Hnefatafl 13×13

The core rules

Every tafl game builds on the rules below. Where the table above says otherwise, the table is right for Copenhagen Hnefatafl.

• 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.

Read the full rules guide

Similar games

More from classic (The full-size game):

• Fetlar Hnefatafl: Copenhagen without shieldwalls — captures come one at a time.
• Tawlbwrdd and Historical Hnefatafl: The game as the old sources have it — a vulnerable King who runs for any edge.