hist-games: Halatafl

[Ed Hopkins]

> I loaded Steve Neeley's shareware for the Fox and Geese game Halatafl, and
> it's a great game but appears to be markedly different from the game
> Halatafl described on the 'Games of the Anglo Saxon and Viking Age' page on
> the Web.
> The latter is much like plain solitaire I thought. So I wonder to the world:
> Who is correct? Are they both correct? Are there two Halatafls? Will the real
> Halatafl stand up??

I would say that the 'Games of the Anglo Saxon and Viking Age'
page describes a "Halatafl" that resembles Alquerque more than
solitaire.  It also resembles Alquerque more than Fox and Geese.
It resembles Fox and Geese at all only in that they both have
a somewhat cross-shaped board.

I understand that the word "Halatafl" means "Fox-Board"
or "Fox-Game" and expect that it refers to a "hunting" game that has
unequal forces (like Fox and Geese) rather than a "war" game with
equal forces.

Therefore I hold the opinion that the creators of the 'Games of
the Anglo Saxon and Viking Age" have erred in their reconstruction
of Halatafl.

-- Alfredo el Bufon
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