Viking Seige: The Ancient Scandinavian Game of Hnefatafl is the full title of this game (what a mouthful!) and the game is nearly as difficult as the name.
The program starts out with a bit of pseudo-history of the game. Apparently, this game is played by the ancient gods in Asgard with golden pieces. Also, the great heroes of myth and legend play this game in Valhalla while the await Ragnarok, the final battle of the gods and the end of the world.
Supposedly this game was also played on "Middle Earth" in ancient times, but was lost to history, until now! After the intro, the computer connects you to Asgard and selects a random opponent. As you learn your opponent's names, you will be able to select them personally, and supposedly they are of different skill levels.
At its base level, Viking Seige is a "surround and capture" type game. If you surround an enemy piece on two sides with your pieces, you capture it and remove it from the board. This is true for all pieces except the white king. This piece must be surrounded on all 4 sides to capture him. All pieces can move any distance horizontally or vertically as long as they are not blocked (much like a castle [rook] in chess).
The main goal of the black side is to capture the white king. The main goal of the white side is to have the king escape. He can do this by moving to the edge of the board.
To sum up. If you want a fun, short two-player puzzle game, this is a good one. If you want a real brain-challenge against an unforgiving computer opponent, this is a good one. If you have no friends and can't think clearly, I can't recommend this one. All in all, I think I'll keep it on my hard drive. It's a good "coffee break" game and, even if you lose twenty times, when you win, it's a great feeling.
Written by:
~dcglenn
