Tafl

Tafl is a player vs computer, mouse controlled, implementation of a board game that dates back to Viking times, 'tafl' is Old Norse for 'table'.

The basic game consists of two sides, the green and the red, with the green side laying siege to the red kingdom that is in the centre of the board. The red player's objective is to move their king to one of the squares marked with a king symbol, if they succeed the king escapes and they win the game. The green side's objective is to capture the red king by surrounding it on four sides. in all games the king moves like a king in chess, all other pieces move like rooks/castles.

This game has been around for centuries and Tafl is not a game, it's a generic name for a group of regional games that play on different sized boards with different layouts. The variants available here are;* Brandubh -- Irish

• Fitchneal -- Irish (Gwyddbwyll -- Scottish)
• Ard-Ri (High King) - Scottish
• Tablut -- Finish/Scandinavian
• Tawlbrydd -- Welsh, there are two versions of this game
• Hnefatafl - Norse, this game includes 'Small Hnefatafl' and 'Large Hnefatafl'
• Alea Evangeli -- Anglo Saxon

The games play in a small window, are mouse controlled, have optional music and sound effects plus an internet play option. The strength of the AI opponent can be varied, there is a save game feature and the game keeps track of the moves played and has the option to print these.