Tafl: viking chess

Long before chess dominated European courts, Norse warriors were settling disputes on the tafl board. Tafl: viking chess revives this ancient asymmetric war game, where the defending king must reach safety while a surrounding force of black pieces closes in from every direction.

What makes tafl genuinely interesting is the imbalance. One side outnumbers the other, victory conditions differ for each faction, and neither player wins by doing the same thing. Board sizes range from 7x7 to 13x13, and rule variants shift how the king is captured — whether surrounded on two sides or four changes everything about how aggressively you can play.

Opponents can be human or AI, local or online. The attacking side always moves first, which sounds like an advantage until the defender starts threading the king toward an edge.