Ard Ri

That's Gaelic for High King.  Dan Harris has created an ornate game board based on a Scottish variant of an ancient genre of strategy games called Tafl .  These games, originating in the Germanic and Celtic regions of northern Europe are played with two armies of uneven numbers.  The goal is for the King to escape from the center of the board to the periphery or, as in this case, a corner.  According to Dan, the King wins about half of the time.  What I really like about this set-up are the intricate patterns created with those sideways cheese-slopes, from the Viking ships on the outside to the dragon/ouroboros in the center.  Nice work, Dan!