Highlanders

About this board game

Highlanders is a 1993 castle-capturing game for 3–5 players, designed for a playing time of about 90 minutes. Set on a board depicting eighteen castles on or near the Rhine, it offers a Castle Risk-style contest without dice combat.

At the beginning of the game, none of the castles belongs to any player. Each location has a point value based on its size or importance, ranging from 1 to 3 points. The goal is to capture castles and finish the game with more points from captured sites than your opponents.

The board connects the castles to numerous movement areas using tracks. This network gives the locations different strategic qualities: some castles occupy powerful positions, while others are more isolated. Castles that provide or guard a river bridge are especially important, making the layout of the board central to planning your moves.

• 18 castles positioned on or near the Rhine
• Castle values ranging from 1 to 3 points
• Track-linked movement areas shaping access between locations
• Bridge castles that can provide strong positions
• Victory determined by the total value of captured castles

Rather than relying on dice to resolve combat, Highlanders focuses on the opportunities created by the board’s connected movement areas and the relative value of its castles. Players must weigh valuable targets against their positions on the map, particularly where bridges influence movement and access.

With its Rhine setting, varied castle values, and unclaimed locations at the start, Highlanders builds its competition around positioning and successful capture. The player holding the greatest total value in captured castles at the end wins.