Wood stained Senet Box

Not all the Senet boxes we've made have a color stain.  This one is pine with a few coats of walnut Danish Oil.  The black game squares are highlighted with a gold leaf border.

Red Senet Board

This is another finished set.  I was initially skeptical that the red stain would translate well for our senet boxes, but once it was oiled and sealed, I think the results were impressive.  We're still putting together the final molds for the game pieces themselves; when we have those, we'll be able to vary the colors of the pieces.

Rough Tafl board--Ard Ri

This is an unfinished Tafl board with game pieces.  Tafl board games are a family of Germanic and Celtic games, and the boards themselves ranged from 7x7 squares to a board to as many as 19x19 squares.  Tafl games were a favorite of the Vikings, and often show up in places they frequented.  Our Tafl board is a Scottish variant called Ard-Ri ("High King").  As is typical of these ancient games, the rules we play by today are largely conjecture, but in general the game play involves two sides, one of which is typically outnumbered 2:1.  The smaller force, in the case of Ard Ri, is composed of a king (who starts in the center) and eight soldiers.  The opposing force surrounds the king's forces and attempt to capture the king.  If the king successfuly moves to a corner, then the game is over in favor of the king's player. 

Considering the range of Tafl games out there, not to mention my own love of Norse antiquity, we'll definitely be spending quite a bit of time crafting more of these games.

Orbiter Arts now on Twitter!

This is new for us, but I figured who else is going to tweet about 5,000-year old games?

Ebony Senet Board

We stained the box of this Senet board with an ebony stain.  The papyrus plants around the base, at the ends of the game board, and the inner squares of the game squares, are all copper leafing.

Tafl Board Game Pieces

We finally created the molds to cast game pieces for our tafl board.  The amount of detail that the  cast resin pieces picked up from the carved wood prototypes was amazing.  Like Senet, the rules for Tafl board games are largely reconstructed with a healthy dose of educated guesswork.  One thing that is consistent is the ratio of pieces, where one side is set against a side with twice the number of knights.  In addition, the smaller side has a King, who attempts to evade the larger force.

This image shows the original wooden prototype on the right, with  the first casts on the left. Like chess, the difference between the two sides is the difference in color. Red typically represented the side of the King.

Here's a close up of the king flanked by two of his knights.

Green Senet Board

This is a new style of Senet board altogether for us.  The overall dimensions are smaller (12x4x2.5 inches), and we're using a simple rabbet joint instead of mitered or finger joints.  We used a green wipe-on wood stain for the box, board squares, and the stylized papyrus blossom.  The simplicity of this gamebox has a strong asthetic appeal.