Download or read book Hnefatafl written by Jonathon A. George and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-10-31 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book of its kind, Hnefatafl: The Sacred Game of Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia discusses the ancient games of Northern Europe, particularly the games now known as Hnefatafl. Beginning with the history of ancient games across the world and their divinatory uses by traditional cultures and ending with the modern history of Hnefatafl, this book covers the history, geographic spread and mythology surrounding Hnefatafl. All three of the main cultures of Northern Europe are covered, British, Irish and Scandinavian, and the games of each group are discussed (Gwyddbwyll, Fidchell, Brandubh, Tawlbwrdd, Buanbach and Alea Evangelii) with revealing excerpts from the legends and sagas of these groups as well as archaeological finds and the contentious conclusions surrounding them. A chapter on the mythology of Hnefatafl is included as well as chapters on the rules and notated example games to help any reader along with their skills and knowledge of Hnefatafl.
Download or read book An Introduction to Hnefatafl written by Damian Gareth Walker and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015-09-19 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hnefatafl, the ancient Norse game of strategy, has intrigued scholars for more than a century. It was played not only in Scandinavia, but in the other countries where Scandinavians settled: the British Isles, Northern France and Germany, Ukraine, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland. It may have even reached such exotic places as Constantinople and mainland North America. After a period of obscurity, the game is once again gaining popularity. This book acts as an introduction to the game. It takes the reader through the game's history, starting with the Greek and Roman games that preceded it, through its history of expansion and decline, and onto the modern revival and its resurgence in the present day. Alongside the historical content the book gives full rules for a number of versions of hnefatafl old and new, as well as ancestor and descendant games. Illustrations include archaeological finds, explanatory diagrams, and photographs of games from the author's collection.
Download or read book A Book of Historic Board Games written by Damian Gareth Walker and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2014 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Board games have been played throughout the world for thousands of years. Many times, in many different cultures, people have amused themselves by devising mock races, battles and hunts, played in miniature on a small surface. The rules and the level of sophistication has changed through the ages, but the general idea has remained the same. Some of the oldest games, like backgammon, chess and draughts, are still popular today. This book looks at twelve different games taken from various periods of history. Most will not be recognised by the general public, but deserve to be better known. They are pachisi, halma, agon, tâb, fanorona, nine men's morris, wari, konane, xiang qi, tablut, asalto and renju. Each game has a whole chapter to itself, which includes a history, the rules, and a section on strategy and tactics. It is the author's intention that the reader will gain appreciation and enthusiasm for these wonderful old games, and be entertained by them for years to come.
Download or read book A Kingly Pattern written by Jonathon George and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second book in the Hnefatafl series by this author, A Kingly Pattern: The Art and Science of playing Hnefatafl focuses on the manners and methods of gameplay of this ancient game. This book goes over the basic rules of Hnefatafl as well as an analysis of several games for each size of Hnefatafl boards, 7x7, 9x9, 11x11 and 19x19 both with the King winning on the edge of the board and on the corners.
Download or read book The Real Valkyrie written by Nancy Marie Brown and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra, Brown lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors “Once again, Brown brings Viking history to vivid, unexpected life—and in the process, turns what we thought we knew about Norse culture on its head. Superb.” —Scott Weidensaul, author of New York Times bestselling A World on the Wing "Magnificent. It captured me from the very first page." —Pat Shipman, author of The Invaders In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, “As heroes we were widely known—with keen spears we cut blood from bone.” In this compelling narrative Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.
Download or read book Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations written by R. C. Bell and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2012-04-30 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This encyclopedic volume provides the rules and methods of play for more than 180 different games: Ma-jong, Hazard, Wei-ch'i (Go), Backgammon, Pachisi, and many others. Over 300 photographs and line drawings.
Download or read book The Book of Games written by Jack Botermans and published by Sterling Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This lavishly illustrated 736-page reference provides a lifetime of entertainment! It contains complete rules, playing tips, and instructive move-by-move examples of 65 fun and diverse games. They range from Senat, a pastime enjoyed by King Tut, to Hex, invented by a 20th-century mathematician; from strategy games like Siege of Paris to dice games like Chuck-a-Luck to chase games like Pachisi; from Asian Shogi to African Wari; and from traditional Chess and Go to modern creations like Mastermind and Othello. Colorful illustrations show old-time and modern players, game boards, and equipment alongside fascinating anecdotes and curious facts about games throughout history. For every player, this one’s a sure winner!
Download or read book Ancient Board Games written by Irving Finkel and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here are four board games -- the Royal Game of Ur; Mehen, the Game of the Snake; Hounds and Jackals; and the Egyptian Game of Senet -- which were popular in the days of the pharaohs in ancient Egypt and in nearby countries from about 5,000 years ago, chosen and recreated by Dr. Irving Finkel of the British Museum. Everything you need to play them is here: the playing boards recreated in sumptuous colors, playing pieces, and full instructions including variations and other possibilities you may like to try.
Download or read book Reconstructing Hnefatafl written by Damian Walker and published by . This book was released on 2014-02 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hnefatafl, the ancient Norse game of strategy, has intrigued scholars for more than a century. In this book, the author goes back to the historical sources, and looks at the archaeological evidence as described by the archaeologists, to try and piece together a game that satisfies both the historian and the game player.
Download or read book History of the Vikings and Norse Culture written by Njord Kane and published by Spangenhelm Publishing. This book was released on 2019-09-02 with total page 599 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the Norse begins with the first ancient tribes during the early Nordic Stone Age. There originated the Nordic Ax Culture when primitive Norsemen create their first stone battle axes. An incredible evolution of an innovative and progressive culture that groomed legendary warriors whose voices still roar out today. Take a journey into the Age of Viking Expansion where Ragnar Lothbrok, Rollo, Erik the Red, and many other famous Vikings take you on a ride into the very Halls of Valhalla. Learn about Norse culture, marriage customs, baby naming ceremonies, and the sacrificial blóts used in spiritual and religious observances. Explore legendary Norse such as the Jómsvíkings, Varangian, and Rus'. The Vikings played ball and board games and had their own form of martial arts called Glima. Explore knowledge and technology specific to a culture that was shaped by a people who were able to reach great distances across seas beyond their homelands. A battle ferocious people who were unmatched by their opponents. There's a whole new world of understanding about the ancient vikings has been opened up by new archaeological discoveries and studies. New findings that lead to new questions about the Jötnar, often called frost giants. There were many shared technologies between the Ancient Norse, the Inuit and other Native American aborigines. Viking explorers have long interacted and traded with many people and cultures afar. Were ancient Norse already in contact with early Native Americans? See for yourself with new information about the Norse that was once lost in time.
Download or read book Past Times Ancient Board Games written by Jeffrey S. Johnston and published by Jeffrey S. Johnston. This book was released on 2015-02-14 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Past Times is a series of books about historical games and pastimes throughout the ages. This particular book is about games from Viking age and earlier.
Download or read book Myfarog written by Varg Vikernes and published by . This book was released on 2019-07-24 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MYFAROG (Mythic Fantasy Role-playing Game) (3rd edition) is a fantasy role-playing game, with a setting based on European mythology, religion and fairy tales. The rules are very modular, meaning you can play the game rules light or rules heavy, as you please. The rules are designed to make sense, and to give the players the ability to immerse themselves in Thulê; a highly credible fantasy world similar to Middle-earth and the European Classical Antiquity (some places touching into the Viking Age or the Bronze Age), but yet different. In Thulê, sorcery and the ancient deities are real, and the world is inhabited by not only humans, but also elves, nymphs, dwarves, orcs, gnomes, halflings, ettins and trolls, as well as other creatures. This art-minimalistic 221 page core rule-book (with black-and-white interior) is an all-in-one rule-book, so it contains all the information you need to play the game (and to make your own adventures and campaigns) indefinitely. A digital high resolution map of Thulê can be found here: www.myfarog.org. Because the setting is based on real world locations (Lofoten and Vesteralen in Northern Norway) you can also use online map services, to get highly detailed and realistic maps of the world of Thulê, in any scale you want. NB! You need a set of polyhedral dice to play the game.
Download or read book Ancient Board Games in Perspective written by Irving L. Finkel and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone plays board games, and everyone will find something to fascinate them in this book about the games of the past, and their history and development. Based on the lectures given at a conference in the British Museum, this book tells the story in a properly academic way, but it is no less interesting for that ... and perhaps even more interesting! The book begins with three chapters on the games of the ancient Near East, most notably The Royal Game of Ur , then there are five chapters on the various games of ancient Egypt, senet, mehen , etc. Five more chapters are devoted to the games of the Greek and Roman world, then one on India, and three on Chinese games including Go. Then there are three on the beginnings of Chess and its introduction into western Europe, then four on backgammon from India to medieval England, three on mancala games, and one on the pursuit of hnefatafl , finally some brief notes on the games of the New World. The authors, thirty-one of them, range from archaeologists, historians and museum curators, not least Irving Finkel, the editor of the volume, to such well-known historians of games as R C Bell and the internationally famous grandmaster and journalist Raymond Keene. It is a large format book with hundreds of photos and drawings.
Download or read book Battle for the Island Kingdom written by Don Hollway and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-11-09 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich history of the years leading up to 1066 when Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans vied for the English crown. A tale of loyalty, treason and military might. In a saga reminiscent of Game of Thrones and The Last Kingdom, Battle for the Island Kingdom reveals the life-and-death struggle for power which changed the course of history. The six decades leading up to 1066 were defined by bloody wars and intrigues, in which three peoples vied for supremacy over the island kingdom. In this epic retelling, Don Hollway (The Last Viking) recounts the clashes of Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans, their warlords and their conniving queens. It begins with the Viking Cnut the Great, forging three nations into his North Sea Empire while his Saxon wife Aelfgifu rules in his stead and schemes for England's throne. Her archenemy is Emma of Normandy, widow of Saxon king Aethelred, claiming Cnut's realm in exchange for her hand in marriage. Their sons become rivals, pawns in their mothers' wars until they can secure their own destinies. And always in the shadows is Godwin of Wessex, playing all sides to become the power behind the throne until his son Harold emerges as king of all of England. But Harold's brother Tostig turns traitor, abandons the Anglo-Saxons and joins the army of the last great Viking, Harald Hardrada, where together they meet their fate at the battle of Stamford Bridge. And all this time watching from across the water is William, the Bastard, fighting to secure his own Norman dukedom, but with an eye on the English crown.
Download or read book The Irish Invented Chess written by Brian Nugent and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over three centuries a controversy has raged as to the exact origins of 'fidhchell' - in modern Irish 'ficheall' - or Irish chess, a game played in Ireland from biblical times. This book argues that that game of fidhchell, or brannaimh, was recognisably our modern chess. It also raises disturbing questions about the real history surrounding the Lewis Chess find.
Download or read book Middle Ages Renaissance and Reformation History written by Marlin Detweiler and published by Veritas Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ivory Vikings written by Nancy Marie Brown and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1800's, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus ivory. Norse netsuke, each face individual, each full of quirks, the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the world. Harry played Wizard's Chess with them in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Housed at the British Museum, they are among its most visited and beloved objects. Questions abounded: Who carved them? Where? Nancy Marie Brown's Ivory Vikings explores these mysteries by connecting medieval Icelandic sagas with modern archaeology, art history, forensics, and the history of board games. In the process, Ivory Vikings presents a vivid history of the 400 years when the Vikings ruled the North Atlantic, and the sea-road connected countries and islands we think of as far apart and culturally distinct: Norway and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland and North America. The story of the Lewis chessmen explains the economic lure behind the Viking voyages to the west in the 800s and 900s. And finally, it brings from the shadows an extraordinarily talented woman artist of the twelfth century: Margret the Adroit of Iceland.
