King's Table: The Legend of Ragnarok

King's Table: The Legend of Ragnarok is an attempt to transfer the traditional Scandinavian board game Hnefatafl, which dates back to the early Middle Ages, to the world of computer entertainment. The Imagitec Design team led by Nigel Kershawa took on the challenge.

The game is based on the principles of the historical prototype - the struggle takes place on a square board with a size of 11 x 11 fields. One of the participants plays the role of a defender, exercising control over the figure of Odin, placed in the central point (on the throne) and protecting it with thirteen white verticals. His task is to lead the Odin to one of the corners of the board. The attacker has 20 black perpendiculars on the sides of the board and tries to surround the Odin from four or three sides if the fourth direction closes the abandoned throne.

In each turn the player can move only one figure, the movement is possible at any distance in vertical, horizontal or diagonal line - just like the queen's movement in chess. However, you cannot jump over other figures or stop moving on the occupied field. The figure is eliminated if it is surrounded on both sides.

The creators have also been tempted to come up with a number of innovative solutions, in particular the introduction of additional figures with special skills - in a few cases they are a direct borrowing from chess.

King's Table graphic design: The Legend of Ragnarok does not differ in quality from competitive products such as Battle Chess series. Noteworthy is a large number of animations, as well as funny silhouettes of opponents controlled by computer artificial intelligence.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015