Hnefatafl - the Strategic Board Game of the Vikings

In case you're unfamiliar with the site or the game, Sten Helmfrid has gathered a wealth of information on the Norse game of tafl and its many variants. Kings, nobles, and war leaders were expected to be well-versed in this game and its strategies, and the gods themselves are recorded as playing it in Voluspa. Not only to learn more about the Norse and Germanic peoples, but also gain a special insight into their history and politics, you would do well to visit this site.

Linnaeus’s Game of Tablut and its Relationship to the Ancient Viking Game Hnefatafl

Modern tafl board reconstruction. Wikimedia Commons

Courtesy of Aluric and Medievalists.net:

"This paper concerns Linnaeus’s 1732 work Iter Lapponicum and his important (though inadvertent) contributions to the field of Viking age archaeology. A journal entry from his publication contains a description of a Lapp board game called Tablut (also called Swedes & Muscovites), which later scholars realized was related to the Viking game of Hnefatafl. ..."

"... The British game historian H. J. R. Murray was the first to identify the importance of Linnaeus's description of the rules of a Lapp game called Tablut.  This game, he argued, was related to, and possibly identical with, an ancient Viking game called Hnefatafl, which the Icelandic sagas frequently reference ..."

The full article by John C. Ashton may be read at Heroic Age. A fair introduction to Tafl and its variations may be found at Wikipedia.