thread: 2012-01-09 : 2011 here at anyway
On 2012-01-09, Marshall B wrote:
I missed that one about Tablut. My first experience with it was a PC game in the 90s called King's Table. It had a Ragnarok theme: the king was Odin, the white pawns were the Aesir, and the black pawns the fire giants and other forces of darkness.
Interestingly, unlike the one you posted, the game was on an 11x11 board, with 12 white pawns (in a diamond pattern) and 24 black. The king was also limited to 1 or 2 spaces of movement in a single direction. Also, a match consisted of two games, one in which you play white and one in which you play black, and you had to win both matches to win the game. Otherwise it was the same.
It also had a 'Ragnarok' mode in which each side picked 4 out of 6-ish special pieces themed on personages from Norse myth, with special rules and/or moves, to replace 4 of their pawns. Frex, Tyr (white) and Garmr (black) had to be surrounded on three sides to be captured, while Heimdall (white) and Loki (black) moved diagonally instead of orthogonally. I remember finding this mode frustrating, however, as I had a hard time recognizing the special pieces, remembering their rules, and factoring that in my strategy.
Not too long ago I built my own board for this at work (I work in a lumber yard) and challenged one of my coworkers to play (I hadn't played it in at least 10 years). I was immediately struck by how interesting the design was. I liked how you had to think in order to set up a capture that wouldn't immediately meet reprisal, and was awed at how the game favors white even though black out-numbers them 2 to 1.
I need to find some other people to play with so I can continue to study it.
