Tablut: An Aincient Board game

thingiverse

Tablut, or King's Table, is a variant of several ancient board games generally referred to as Tafl, or more properly Hnefatafl. A sort of Viking precursor to chess, Tablut is the best documented variant. All these Tafl games feature a lop-sided distribution of forces and are central to the game. This set is suitable for playing standard 9x9 Tablut variants, as well as 7x7 variants by disregarding the outermost border of squares. Instructions The game board itself is designed to be printed on a Replicator 2 at medium quality settings (2mm layer height, 10% infill and two shells) same goes for the game pieces. By printing more pieces and making a larger board, using a system like the modular game board at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7718, you can play the more advanced variants of similar games. I have included Replicator 2-scaled versions of the game pieces and board (whose filename ends in Rep2), as well as full-sized versions for those with larger format printers (these file names end with "scale"). The board itself has tiered squares on the grid to indicate where color changes should go. You may print in a single color and paint the squares on the grid, use filament changes during the print to color them, or use a combination of both, as I did on my example. For those wishing to use filament changes to color the squares, here's a rough procedure for the Rep2 version of the board: Set a z-height pause for 3mm height. after the pause, resume the print, and wait until the next layer finishes (around 91%). Switch to a dark color such as black. After two more layers (around 96%) change to another color; I used silver. Finally, after two more layers go down (around 98%) switch to your final color for the throne and corner squares; I used translucent yellow to give them a gold finish. of course, using acrylic paint, you can darken the lines in the grid, or enhance the finish of the squares. As for the pieces: you need to print the following: for the white pieces (Swedes) one (1) king, printed in a light color or gold eight (8) pawns, printed in a light color. For the black pieces (Muscovites) sixteen (16) Pawns, printed in a dark color The Muscovites (black pieces) have no king Rules of Play: There are many variants of play: In general, the king is placed on the throne (center) square, and his soldiers (pawns) are placed around him on the two colored squares around each side of his throne (so the light pieces form a cross, with the king in the middle. the dark pieces are placed in the citadels (black "T" shaped areas on the edges). Some variants have the king surrounded by his soldiers, in all the squares around the throne, forming a box around the king. All pieces move like the rook (castle) in chess. in most variants, the king cannot attack, but in others he may participate as a soldier does. A piece is captured when the enemy moves in such a way that a piece is caught between two pawns (horizontally or vertically, no diagonals) or a single piece and a hostile square. A piece may be moved between two hostile pieces or a hostile piece and square, and it is not counted as a capture if the lone piece moves there under it's own action. The goal of the light side (Swedes) is to get their king to escape, or by completely eliminating the opposition. The king can escape by entering a corner square in some variants, or by entering a non-hostile square at the edge of the board in others. The goal of the dark side (Muscovites) is to capture the king. unlike other pieces, the king must be captured by boxing it in on four sides (horizontally and vertically) with dark pawns, or in some cases, dark pawns and hostile squares. Hostile squares: Only the king can occupy the throne. In some variants, once it is moved, it may not re-enter the throne square, and is treated as hostile to all pieces. In other variants, the king may re-enter the throne square at will, and the throne is only hostile to the king's pieces when it is empty. The throne square is always hostile to the dark pieces. In many variants, the corners are hostile to all pieces but the king, who may enter one to win the game. In some variants, the Muscovite citadels (dark "T" shaped regions) are treated as hostile, once a dark piece is moved from the citadel, it may not re-enter, and all citadel squares are treated as hostile like the kings throne. The king may be captured under these rules using only two pieces under certain circumstances, such as being blocked by two citadel squares and two dark pawns. Furthermore, no piece may pass through the citadel, and can only pass through the two-square region around the throne. In other variants, the citadels are treated like normal squares and may be traveled through freely. For more detailed rules, you can refer to these sources, as well as many others online: Saami Tablut Rules: http://aagenielsen.dk/tablut_rules.php Foteviken Tablut rules: http://aagenielsen.dk/foteviken_rules_english.html Aston Tablut rules (as documented in 1732 by Carolus Linnaeus): http://www.heroicage.org/issues/13/ashton.php Additional rules on many variants; Stick to the 9x9 and 7x7 when using my board:http://aagenielsen.dk/tafl_rules.html A special thanks to Aage Nielsen, who is responsible for collecting all the rules and history in those links! (all the links now point to the proper pages, btw) Feel free to print this off to gift it, or play with your friends; Also feel free to design your own game pieces; half the fun is having a unique set to call your own. I also just added a leaflet in PDF format with basic gameplay instructions which may be printed, folded and included with the set, named "Tablut.pdf". Thanks to Damian Walker for creating this! Copies of this leaflet, and others for classic and historic games (including more tafl-type games) can be downloaded from his site at:http://www.cyningstan.com/downloads/529/traditional-board-games-leaflets 11-09-2016: Just updated the link to the Saami Tablut rules; It works again.