# Runetafl: Viking Chess — Hnefatafl · Tafl Board Game

> Hnefatafl · Tafl Board Game (iPhone/iPad app by Alexander Nikonov22270669431.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/runetafl-viking-chess/id6792539185 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Alexander Nikonov22270669431](https://appshunter.io/developer/1807233440)
- Category: Games, Board, Strategy
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 17.0 · 3 MB
- Languages: American English, Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch and 32 more
- Released: 2026-07-24
- Data updated: 2026-11-10

## What is Runetafl?

Runetafl is Hnefatafl – "Viking Chess": the ancient, asymmetric strategy game of the Norse, finally done beautifully and fairly.

A king and his defenders try to escape to one of the four corners. The attackers, twice as many, try to capture him first. You'll learn the rules in a minute – the games have the depth of chess or go.

ONE GAME, DONE RIGHT
• No ads. No subscription. No tracking. No energy, no timers.
• A fair, tiered AI: easy, medium, hard.
• Two players on one device (hot-seat) or against the AI – play as the king or the attackers.

FIVE VARIANTS
• Copenhagen 11×11 (modern tournament rules)
• Brandubh 7×7 (quick game)
• Tablut 9×9 and Tawlbwrdd 11×11 (edge escape)
• Alea 13×13 (a big battlefield)

BEAUTIFUL & ACCESSIBLE
• The "Runestone" look: a carved wooden board, gliding pieces, sound and haptics.
• Full dark mode.
• An interactive tutorial plus a short rules reference.
• Board themes and statistics.
• Accessible: VoiceOver, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion.
• 45 languages.

FAIR MONETIZATION
The base game is complete and fun. The one-time "Runetafl Complete" purchase adds depth – hard AI, all further variants, all themes and statistics. One purchase, forever. No subscription.

Hnefatafl is over a thousand years old. Runetafl brings it to today.

Terms of Use
By using this app, you agree to Apple's standard End User License Agreement (EULA), available at: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Runetafl Complete | $3.99 | one-time |


## Is Runetafl safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Runetafl.

## Is Runetafl legit?

Runetafl: Viking Chess appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Runetafl is 65 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 4 releases)

### 1.0.3 — 2026-11-03

Now in landscape — more accessible, fully translated, and truer to the rules.

New:
• Landscape on iPhone and iPad: the board and the controls sit side by side. On iPhone Duo, they sit on either side of the fold.
• With a keyboard on iPad, ⌘Z undoes a move and ⌘N starts a new game.

Improved:
• Accessibility throughout: readable light-mode colors, serif text that scales with your Dynamic Type settings, and richer VoiceOver announcements for moves, captures and results.
• VoiceOver announces every move, including the AI's. Rotors take you to your own pieces, the legal targets and the last move, and a blocked tap tells you why.
• Large text: every screen scrolls at the largest accessibility text sizes, and buttons stack instead of cutting off their titles.
• Reduce Motion is respected everywhere — the splash screen is shorter, too.
• A tap near a legal target square now moves there — handy on big boards and small phones.
• All 45 languages are now fully translated.
• The hard AI answers much faster and completes its full search on every board.
• Buying and restoring now tell you what happened: purchased, restored, nothing to restore, waiting for approval, canceled, or failed.
• The privacy policy opens in the language you use the app in, loads nothing from other websites, and shows a retry button instead of a blank page if loading fails.
• The purchase sheet re-fetches its price after an offline launch.

Fixed:
• Encirclement now follows the rules: the attackers win only when the king and every defender are inside the ring.
• The king is no longer captured when he moves into a surrounded square himself.
• Undo no longer freezes the game when you defend against the AI.
• "Play again" after a game in which you defend against the AI no longer leaves the board stuck.
• A finished game is no longer counted twice in your statistics after an undo and reopening the app.
• Numbers in your statistics now use your language's digits and number format.
• The tutorial names each piece's role, not only its color.
• Better contrast in light mode for Settings headers, tutorial marks and green labels.
• Some settings rows announced their state in English instead of your language.
• Leaving the replay of a finished game no longer plays the win sound again.

Enjoying Runetafl? A rating helps other players find the game!

### 1.0.2 — 2026-09-14

Bugfix and improvements

### 1.0.1 — 2026-08-05

Bugfix and improvements

### 1.0.0 — 2026-07-24

No release notes.

## Apps similar to Runetafl

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| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Viking Chess, Morris & Fox](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/viking-chess-morris-and-fox/id6804217525) | 4.0 (1) | Free | Games |
| [Tessera: Ancient Games](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/tessera-ancient-games/id6807097940) | — | Free | Games |
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| [Squared2](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/squared2/id6801620446) | — | $1.99 | Games |
| [Nord Saga: Viking Puzzles](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/nord-saga-viking-puzzles/id6824324268) | — | Free | Games |

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All apps by Alexander Nikonov22270669431: https://appshunter.io/developer/1807233440

## Related topics

[viking chess](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/viking-chess) · [hnefatafl](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/hnefatafl)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-11-10.*