Tablut Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Tablut, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Open two roads in one move (tuichu)

Lesson 1

A single open road, raichi, is easy to answer: the Muscovites slide a soldier into it on the next move. In 60 games between two Normal CPUs, 329 of 346 raichi calls were blocked straight away, so opening roads one at a time rarely gets the king out.

Aim instead for a square where both the row and the column run clear to the edge. That is tuichu, and since the Muscovites can block only one road per move, the king leaves by the other. In the same 60 games, 21 of the 37 escapes came right after two roads were open, and not one escape used a corner.

To find it, look along the king’s path for a column that is empty both above and below, and stop the king there.

When raichi is called, block that road at once

Lesson 2

Linnaeus’s law 3 says the king escapes along an open road unless a Muscovite immediately takes one of its squares. So a raichi call means: block now or lose.

In 60 games between two Normal CPUs, the Muscovites blocked 329 of 346 raichi calls (95%) on the very next move. Any square on the road works — next to the king or out on the edge. Since reaching the edge ends the game, blocking comes before any capture or plan of your own.

When choosing the blocker, keep another soldier free to plug a second road later. Once two roads open at once (tuichu), a single move is not enough.

The king can help trap a soldier

Lesson 3

The Swedes have only eight soldiers against sixteen, so they are short of pieces to trap with. Use the king: he can move to trap an enemy against one of his men, or stand still while a soldier traps an enemy against him.

In 60 games between two Normal CPUs there were 439 captures, and the king took part in 112 of them (26%). Enemy soldiers near the king are usually the ones blocking his roads, so taking them opens the board.

Under the default Latin reading, the king himself is caught between two enemies away from the throne, so check that no enemy can reach both sides of him after the capture.

Away from the throne, two soldiers catch the king (Latin reading)

Lesson 4

Law 9 in Linnaeus’s Latin has no exception for the king. Under this site’s default, the Latin reading, a king outside the throne and its four neighbours is caught between two enemy soldiers in a row or column. On the throne all four sides are needed; next to it, the other three.

In 60 games between two Normal CPUs the king was caught 9 times, and 7 of those were two-soldier traps away from the throne. A king that has wandered out looking for a road is the Muscovites’ best chance: if one soldier already touches him, look for a second to land on the opposite side.

For the Swedes it works the other way: before stopping the king next to an enemy, check that no enemy can reach the far side. With the English reading option the king must be surrounded on four sides everywhere.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Last updated 2026-09-25 · Run by Qdan, Inc.