Traditional Games
The Regency Chess Company is of course famous for it’s chess sets. But in this section we have a superb array of traditional wooden games. These games have been carefully selected from top end manufacturers around the world to ensure quality and presentation. They are also games that may spark interest, some being extremely old, in some cases, thousands of years. While it sometimes feels like 21st century living may have left behind the traditional board games there’s still a very keen following and interest in the weird, wonderful and strategic multi player games
Viking board game hnefatafl
The game of hnefatafl has almost as many names as it does pieces. Very commonly referred to as the Viking Game, probably because it’s a lot easier to say, this game is an extremely popular classic. It’s said that the game has germanic and Celtic roots but was spread all over the world by the Vikings who took it with them wherever they went.
The broad term for the game is simply known as Tafl and there are many variants, hnefatafl is certainly one that has grown in popularity over the others. Given that the game was spread all over the world it’s hardly surprising to see that there are many versions. Other known versions are Brandubh, Ard Ri, Tablut, Tawlbwrdd, and Alea Evangelii. They all use a similar board layout, but the number of squares can vary between versions.
Hnefatafl
The version that we sell is the official National Museum Scotland set which has been lovingly crafted in England. This set come presented in a lovely blue box with a cloth board and stone resin pieces. Instructions in English are included. The pieces are not dissimilar from the Lewis pieces, something the Museum product team have become very famous for.
Viking Board Game
One thing we have noticed over the last few years is an intense interest in any products with a Viking theme. We’ve become Europe’s largest retailer of Lewis chess sets, it’s likely that the Viking connection is a key part of popularity for this set. The Hnefatafl set we set is most commonly referred to as The Viking Game, mainly because it’s a lot easier to pronounce. There is little doubt that the Viking connection is a key part of this game.
The Royal Game of Ur
The game of Ur is an ancient two player strategry game that preceeds Backgammon, in fact it it even thought that it died out completely at one stage due to the preference for playing Backgammon. The current version of it was discovered in more recent times in an archaeological dig. It's a slightly odd looking board and has multiple versions of the rules. The modern version of this game takes it's name from the place where the original version was discovered, the Royal Cemetery of Ur. We have no idea what the original name was. The game of Ur was introduced to the Regency Chess Company range in mid 2018. It immediately proved to be a hit with the initial stock selling out almost straight away. We plan to add more sets to the range so we can offer more choice.
Senet
The game of Senet is another addition for our range of traditional games, added in 2018. It's an ancient Egyptian game, the earliest of which dates from around 3000 BC. Very early versions were originally discovered in the Egyptian Tombs. The game is said to have religious meanings in ancient Egypt and was known as 'The Game of death'. Thankfully that association has long since past and newer versions have quite different rules to the original. We've managed to source a lovely version of this from an established games producer in Spain who make a lovely little selection of traditional games.