| The game has a basic strategy for each side. The attackers have to form an enclosure (not to be confused with the method of capture of that name) to contain the king and his defenders, and gradually close in the ring until the defending forces are suffocated, capturing defenders and eventually seizing the king himself. The defenders can stop this happening by breaking through holes in the attackers' enclosure, tackling the attackers from behind, trying to widen the holes through the enclosure to allow the king to break free. As hnefatafl is a sophisticated game with many variants, there are details and subtleties to the strategy enough to keep an avid game player happy for a lifetime. The next page shows in more detail the enclosure strategy of the attackers. |
