Fox and Geese (1400)

A relative of Hnefatafl played on a cross-shaped board. Like many ancient abstract strategy games, the shape of the board and number of pieces varies from region to region but the general play of the game is the same: one player controls a single piece, the fox, the other player controls the geese (usually 13 to 17). The fox player tries to remove all of the geese from the board by jumping them. The geese player tries to prevent this from happening by pinning down the fox so that it cannot move. Halatafl/fox games also include fox and sheep games, such as the one where twenty sheep try to go into a corral, and two foxes try to capture them before nine can make it safely in.