Quick Look: Tablut | ancient Norse board game
Designer: (Uncredited)
Artists: David McCord
Publisher: NEWVENTURE GAMES
Year Published: 1700 (Currently on Kickstarter as well, link at bottom of review)
No. of Players: 2
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30 minutes.
From the Publisher:
TABLUT – THE POPULAR NORSE TAFL GAME – IS NEARLY 1,000 YEARS OLD
The Norse were great game-players. Whether they were competing in athletic competition or on a table-top game board, they held victory and honor in high regard. And when the Vikings went exploring, seeking trade and establishing colonies, they brought their table-top games with them to new lands and peoples.
This version of Tablut is on our new larger peg-board format – nearly twice the size of our earlier games. The artwork is printed in full color on a hard-maple precision-drilled game board, a real gem for your game collection.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided the copy of Tablut. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.
Foreword:
When I saw Tablut | ancient Norse board game + 4 more historic games launch on Kickstarter. It took me back to a simpler time, when our family could eat food without looking for those blasted Gluten Free Labels and such. We spent many a meal in what used to be one of my favorite restaurants: Cracker Barrel. As I would most often order the biggest breakfast option available it would take them a while for my food to frolic to the dinner table. While waiting if not looking around the gift shop or using the bathroom I’d play their little peg board games they had at the table. To tell you the truth I don’t remember what games they were, how to play them or if I even won. All I knew is they were peg board like Tablut. (I’ve suffered from short term memory loss, even before Dory from Finding Nemo coined the phrase. So when I saw the peg boards and the lack of the components, it took me back. I assumed that it’d be a simple enough game for me to learn and teach. You know what they say when you assume. Let’s see if it made an _____ out of me, like they say.
Don’t mind my Altra running shoes in the background.
Review:
Overview:
I can’t rave enough about this newly render old game!
Rules & Setup:
Theme and Mechanics:
My wife and son told me this game looked and felt like some Kings Chess game we have. I wouldn’t know (My short term memory loss again 😭). Truth be told this game is independent of theme if you ask me. You could really slap any old theme on it and voila. It’s pretty much a rendition of chess + checkers if you ask me. All pieces can move as a rook or castle in chess and instead of hoping over or landing on the same square as the piece you’d like to capture you surround it by surrounding it orthogonally. I’m not sure what is supposed to happen when one accidentally moves into a spot in which they end up surrounded orthogonally due to oversight. I’ve reached out to the publisher of this particular rendition. I’ll let you know what I find out in the comments. If it’s a position in which you’d be able to capture someone else’s piece, the capture goes to the offender. I beg to differ.
Gameplay:
I feel it’s one of those games that is easy to play yet hard to master. I gave myself a run for my money. Yet I wouldn’t recommend this as a solo venture. I was able to easily beat both my. 10 year old daughter (credit her for the photo’s of the game) & my almost 15 year old son. Said daughter and I played it quite a few times alternating winners. I got a quick win off on my son (he kills me in both checkers and chess). Might as well go out on top, eh?
Artwork and Components:
Like I said very few components. It comes with a very nicely crafted wooden peg board which is painted very elegantly in Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. It’s a 9 by 9 grid/peg board with a small hole in the center of each square. There are 16 red painted wood (My opinion) /plastic (My daughter’s opinion) pegs, 8 green one’s and one yellow peg. It comes in a small box. The pegs came in a small ziplock baggie. There was also a short but sweet rule book (See the photo’s in the Rules and Setup section above) in the box. I liked that the rule book included a brief but informative history of Tablut. I’m not sure if what I received was a a prototype or the actual game. It sure looked nice enough to be the final product.
The Good:
I was able to beat two of my gamer kids numerous times. What’s not to love?
The Other:
No complaints from me.
Final Thoughts:
I LOVED this game. It was easy enough for me to read the rules, teach it and then play with my kids. After less than 10 plays this game has gained a piece of my heart. Right next to checkers for me. I can’t wait to play it again. I wonder if I’ll be able to beat the misses. I guess it’ll depend on how thick her brain fog is. Hopefully it’s heavy or I don’t think I stand a chance. She killed me in Santorini in less than 1-2 minutes. While I don’t know how the other games play, playing this makes me want to get all of the peg games they’re offering on this Kickstarter Campaign.
Players Who Like: Checkers, Chess, Strategy, Peg Games and Cracker Barrel
After reading Lake’s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Tablut | ancient Norse board game + 4 more historic games will be live on KICKSTARTER until Sun, June 4 2023 12:24 PM PDT, and has surpassed its funding goal of $3,995. Check it out and back it HERE.
Find out more at BGG.
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Lake Leafty – Owner
Lake was a pharmacy tech in just about every facet you can think of including as a veteran of the United States Air Force. He’s also a husband to his wonderful wife with whom he has been blessed to be the father of 5 great children. Due to circumstances beyond his control he got thrown into the world of Tabletop gaming. As an overachiever he couldn’t just sit there quietly playing games. So he started podcasting about games in May of 2017. Ever since then has been slowly trying to grow his evil regime starting with
The Giveaway Geek and now EBG.
Lake Leafty has done Reviews, News & Interviews which can be found HERE.
