Period Games
We play a variety of games at events. Usually we try to keep them period, or at least not mundane (ie: we don't play Monopoly at our events). Most of the games we play are fairly easy to learn and there are more than enough folks willing to teach newcomers the rules. However, there are times when some folks want to play a game, but everybody who knows how to play is busy doing something else! This post is a call to help out by providing the rules for a game you love so that others can study up in their spare time before events, or print out the rules to bring along if they wish to run a game themselves.
Adding More Games
Start a new topic in the forums with the title of the game and some brief information about it (perhaps a link to the rules on the web). Once you save your new topic, edit it again and look for the outline tab. Set the post to appear in the Period Games chapter using the drop down menu.
Please help this effort by posting rules to your favorite games. They don't have to be board games, and if you would rather have your rules as a stand alone page in the Period Games book, create a new forum post for it in the Library books and chapters forum and it will be filed appropriately.
Other websites
- Regia Anglorum has a nice page on period games.
- Echna's Celtic Knucklebone page has lots of great information on period games and how the Clann played some of them.
Irish Fidchell / Viking Hnefatafl
I have a version of the rules typed up somewhere that I bring to events, but in the meantime I can provide a couple great online resources for the rules of the many variants of this game:
- Hnefatafl at gamecabinet.com
- Hnefatafl - the Strategic Board Game of the Vikings (also attached in PDF below)
- Play Hnefatafl online at aagenielsen.dk
Comyn has a board and pieces that he made with Grimnir many years ago that he brings to events. 
Comyn's Fitchneal board The basic idea of Fidchell (also spelled Fitchneal) is this: One player is the king and will control all black pieces. The King also commands 8 men at arms. The King is in his hall (on the center square) surrounded by his men (in various starting layouts) when the player controlling the white pieces attacks. The attacking player has 16 pieces and starts along the perimeter of the board (entering the King's hall). All pieces move like a rook in chess, although alternatively the pieces may move like the King in chess - one square at a time, or may move a number of dice squares at a time in a straight line. No diagonal moves are permitted. A piece is removed when a player places a piece of his color on either end of a defending piece. The King is captured when all four sides are blocked in this manner. The object for the King is to get off the board, while for the attackers it is to slaughter the hapless King. There are many variants for play which may might discuss. It makes it more interesting to play such that the King can only escape out of one of the four corners of the board (call them the doors of the hall) though you can play that he can escape by reaching any edge square.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Hnefatafl_by_Sten_Helmfrid.pdf | 911.75 KB |
Shut the box
Enjoying a recent wave of popularity, Shut the Box was introduced to the Clann by Christianna at Pennsic. Players roll three knucklebones (which have four effective "sides") to roll each of nine possible outcomes in succession, "closing" each square of the "box" as they do so. A player "shuts the box" by successfully rolling each outcome before rolling a score with which they cannot close a square during their turn. Any remaining squares are added up as a score, and play moves to the next person. Katerina wrote up a nice description of the game which was published in the Winter '07 Arrow. I will attach her writeup.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| ShutTheBox.pdf | 95.53 KB |
Tali
Several members of the Clann used to play Tali frequently. I remember Aonghus being a big fan of the game years ago. The following rules for Tali were taken from Eachna's Knucklebones and Dice page. Unfortunately, she refers to a more in-depth rules page which no longer exists on the internet - but her description is good enough that I think it will suffice (see below). More information about ancient games played with Tali can be found in The Ancient Library.
Rules of Play
Within the clann, we use the Roman rules for Tali as posted at the Roman Board Games site on the Tali & Tropia page. [note: no longer live as of Jan, 2008]
A quick breakdown of these rules and our adaptions:
- Drop or toss four Tali from a moderate height over a gaming surface (table, ground, etc). Individual dice dropped "off" the table are to be re-rolled.
- There are two forms of results...named variations (Venus, Vultures, Senio, Dogs), and numerical value.
- Venus trumps all other rolls. A Venus is defined as a different number on each die (1, 3, 4, 6)
- Senio trumps all but a Venus. A Senio is defined as only one six with any other results, except additional sixes (6, x, x, x). Senios descend in precedence
- Vultures trump all but Venus or Senio. Vultures are defined as four of a kind (4, 4, 4, 4). Vultures descend in precedence from hightest (6, 6, 6 ,6) to lowest (1, 1, 1, 1). "Dogs" are four 1's, and may have a special secondary value or penalty.
- All other rolls are judged by numerical value (total of all dice when added). To break ties between these results, poker rules may take precedence (for example, pairs, three of a kind, two pair, all by highest number), or, alternate rules may be determined at the beginning of the game.
If you look at the rules on the Roman Board Games site, and the table of rolls results, you will see a conflict. The text rules state: "Numerical values did not have precedent over a Venus, the Vultures, or a Senio". The table of rolls shows the highest to lowest rolls, and does in fact seem to give precedence to numerical rolls. We choose to honor the text rules rather than the chart when we play.
For variation, we have been known to play with five Tali and use poker rules modified for the numerical variations. Some combinations do not appear (flush, straight) when you are not using standard suits or numerical ranges.