Heights of Courage: The Battle for the Golan Heights

About this board game

Heights of Courage: The Battle for the Golan Heights is a Standard Combat Series game for 1–2 players, with a listed play time of 900 minutes. It recreates the Golan Heights portion of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, when Syria and its allies launched a surprise attack to recapture the region.

Over a little more than two weeks, massed Syrian armor attempts to overwhelm Israeli defenders while they buy time for mobilized reserves to arrive. If the Israeli defense holds, the battle can turn into an offensive toward Damascus, giving both sides demanding offensive and defensive objectives.

Victory is determined by comparing the best Syrian performance during the early offensive with the results of the Israeli offensive at the end of the game. This creates constant pressure to fight hard, move quickly, and make every turn count. An innovative two-tempo operational system lets each player choose between going “fast” to fight more or “slow” to receive more replacements.

• Four scenarios offer different views of the campaign, including 17-turn and 10-turn historical versions.
• Operation Badhr focuses on the initial six-turn Syrian offensive.
• Operation Al-Owda presents the original Syrian plan in six-, 10-, or 17-turn versions.
• The game scale ranges from half a day to three days per turn, with one-mile hexes and platoon, task force, and brigade units.

As the 16th game in the award-winning Standard Combat Series, Heights of Courage uses the shared eight-page series rulebook. Rules also allow it to be played in tandem with Yom Kippur for a combined “whole war” experience.

The game includes a full-color 22 × 34-inch map, 280 counters, two rulebooks, and two six-sided dice. Solitaire playability is rated high, and complexity is listed as medium.