ughaibu:
What do you make of this, though? It's seems a rational argument--- This was his reply to mine.

"Its unsportsmanlike to cheat, to move the king diagonally or remove enemy pieces when they aren't looking. But these things are impossible IF one follows the rules, and would be tantamount to wizardry in the world of the hnefatafl pieces. Its unsportsmanlike to wave your hands in front of your opponents face shouting 'Not touching you!' repeatedly. But it is not forbidden by the rules as it really doesn't affect the little men on the board. That is a 'code of conduct' that most players would, thankfully, happily agree to.

So, what about white forcing a perpetual check at the board edge or corner? Arguably this is unsporting. I have argued against that as an opinion, but what interests me here is: is it relevant in a discussion of rules? It occurs to me that forbidding a particular player behaviour is a code of conduct, not a model defining rule. The rules govern how the pieces can behave, not how the players should behave. If we want perpetual check to not be a part of the model of the world a tafl variant portrays, it should be impossible to achieve, not forbidden according to player opinion creating an add on code of conduct.

To make the forbidding of perpetual check a rule defining the physical laws in the hnefatafl world, it would have to read something like:

Rule: A king may not move between two or more checking positions repeatedly in order to force a draw. If he does this three times in a row white automatically loses the game.

As the Ko rule is described on wikipedia: A play is illegal if it would have the effect (after all steps of the play have been completed) of creating a position that has occurred previously in the game. Consequence (ko rule). One may not play in such a way as to recreate the board position following one's previous move.

So that sounds like a rule governing the physical behaviour of a piece on the board (like saying soldiers can only move like rooks, its not a matter of opinion, its just how things are in their universe). But here's the thing, the REASON for introducing the rule is a matter of code of conduct: 'Its unfair', 'its unsportsmanlike'. Is that a good reason for introducing a physical law? Surely its a matter of personal opinion? To say 'It makes the game unbalanced' would be a much better reason (Warder has indicated this idea to me in a private message and I am more sympathetic towards this argument, "Saying, "black has not played well enough to completely contain the king" is not fair. That now means that black's goal has now changed to where he must not only capture the king, but now he cannot even allow a check for fear of perpetual check. Both burdens are not equal. You have put more burden on black. One player (white) controls check. Black can only get out of it once he is placed in it. Black's goal should be to capture the king, period. Not to capture the king before getting into check or perpetual check. That is asking too much of black.‬", An interesting argument, but other rule adjustments that address the physical laws of the game can fix power imbalances (Weaponless king etc etc) without forbidding behaviour. Also blacks goal has not changed until perpetual check is forbidden, at which point things get much easier for him. And while white can easily force a perpetual check in edge tafl, one would expect the white player to give up on it in a bid to win the game, especially if the points for a draw are 0,0.

The tafl game is inherently lopsided, asymmetrical, that's one of its great attractions. So I personally don't have a problem with one of blacks challenges to be avoiding allowing white to get into a perpetual check position, as that is one of the things possible in the hnefatafl universe model. You could use the same argument to say its an unfair burden on white to have to get the king to the edge. Black don't even have a king to worry about, that's asking too much of white. And Its an unfair burden on black to have to capture the king at all, white don't have to capture the black king. Isn't that unfair?

Suppose I thought it was unfair that white has only half the players, its unfair, its unsportsmanlike to have twice as many men. And why can't black have a king? It hardly seems fair that only white have a king? Why don't we introduce a rule that says black are not allowed to use half of their men, or better yet have to remove half of their men from the board at the start of the game, to be good sports. And black also get a king. Right, now lets address this unfair asymmetry thing, white starts on one side, and have to get their king to the other side, and vise versa. Thats better, a lovely fair game. And look, we can allow forced perpetual checking now as both sides can do it, so its not unfair anymore! Brilliant. Oh, wait, what happened to our hnefatafl game? It looks like chess all of a sudden.

While we are on the subject of unsportsmanlike, look at custodial capture. Its an illustration of killing someone by overwhelming them with numbers. Two soldiers are fighting a fair fight, another slips in and stabs one in the back. And four side king capture? Very noble.

I posit that hnefatafl is a game that revels in unfairness. What matters, I think we all agree, is balance between experienced players. Ought not this balance be achieved by the physical laws, of what is and is not possible in the hnefatafl universe , not by what is 'allowed' on grounds of fairness? (regardless of if it works for Go or backgammon, tafl is nothing like either) Is not the magic of a strategic board game the life like complexity that emerges from a simple set of physical laws?

If, in any tafl variant it turns out there is a way for either side to force a draw which is unavoidable from the start of the game regardless of the opponents actions, then I agree we have a problem, and that that variant is to be consigned, deservedly, to the dustbin of history without regret. My great fear is that this has already happened, allowing chess to take over in the middle ages, as it doesn't suffer from this problem. However, if it does happen to a tafl variant, I hope we have the nerve to bin it, or find a rule set that addresses and fixes the problem physically, without resorting to telling players how to behave on the board.

I look forward to responses explaining why I'm wrong! But lets try to keep it to reasons that are not based on opinions about what is good sportsmanship. As if that is all we are talking about, then there is no objective truth to the matter and we could argue without end or reason until the cows come home.

And to reiterate, the tournament players at this site seem to agree that the simplest way to prevent easy draw positions allowing weak white players to do well by refusing to play to win, evaporates entirely with a points system win 1, lose 0, draw 0,0. I am very fond of the Fetlar rules, but if our present research proves that white can indeed force a draw fort in the opening moves in spite of blacks most valiant efforts to stop them, then hnefatafl is once again in trouble as the game would, I agree, be pretty daft.