Tafl Iteration

Of each of the three ancient games I played and wished to iterate, Tafl was the one that stuck out most to me. It was entertaining, but somewhat held back by a few small issues that caused significant gameplay issues. As such, I took it upon myself to delve into the game and see what I could potentially fix.

My issues were two-fold; the edges of the board represented a near invincible safe zone that could easily stop any attempts to assault a position, resulting in the player with the king piece having no real capability to do anything but surrender the game or stall it out for a near infinite time. Secondly, the small scale of the game was somewhat stifled, leading to very cramped conditions when it came to piece movement.

These issues were fixed through very simple means. The first was a small adjustment to make an edge count as a surrounding piece, preventing boxing-in strategies and making the edge an incredibly dangerous zone that was potentially worth an incredible risk upon moving towards it (As it can give a piece a wide sweeping movement to counteract any enemy piece movement, yet puts said piece at risk of being instantly captured). The second was fixed through a simple expansion of the game board size and the amount of pieces on each side, turning the game from a small skirmish to a much more tactical war-like game. Both of these changes were well received by the playtesters of my iterations, and as such I decided to make these my changes.