Highlander: The Card Game is a collectable card game based on the Highlander franchise. The core product was first launched in August 1995, but several additional product releases have taken place since then.
Players build their own decks from a 400+ card set and select to play as one of the available immortal characters from the franchise.
The culmination of the game is a sword duel where players alternately attack and defend by playing cards from their respective decks. A player wins when their opponent is reduced to zero ability and can no longer avoid being beheaded in the game.
Product releases
Highlander (1st Ed.) – Core product August 1995
Movie Edition August 1996
Watcher’s Chronicle February 1998
The Gathering June 1998
Arms and Tactics November 1998
Four Horsemen March 1999
Collector’s Tin date unknown
The Duncan Collection date unknown
The Methos Collection date unknown
Highlander (SAEC games)
Black Raven Collection 1-4 March 2005
Millenium Edition Previews date unknown
Highlander (2nd Ed.) – Core product, also known as “Beta Ed.” December 2006
Beta Edition Expansion January 2007
Season 1 date unknown
The Gathering date unknown
The Quickening date unknown
Season 2 date unknown
Season 3 April 30 2009
Season 4 date unknown
Four Horsemen date unknown
Search for Vengeance date unknown
Versus packs date unknown
01 Duncan vs Xavier
02 Connor vs Kurgan
03 Kalas vs Methos
Revised Legacy 1 pack date unknown
2014 Summer Special March 6 2014
2015 Summer Special
2nd Edition Highlander 5 PreGame Foil Set, Crystals 4,5,& 6, Famine & Pestilence
Revised VS packs
01 Hamza el Kahir vs Marcus Constantine
02 Graham Ashe vs Haresh Clay November 15 2013
03 James Coltec vs Kamir November 15 2013
Highlander Legacy Set March 6 2014
04 Zai Jie vs Andre Korda May 20 2014
Highlander 5 Pre-Game Foil Card Set, 3 New Crystals, 1 Persona, 1 WOC June 26 2014
05 Crysta Van Pelt vs Kahbul Kahn August 13 2014
06 Alex Raven vs Damon Case December 1 2014
07 Katherine vs Bartholomew February 2 2015
08 Raphael vs. Reggie Weller February 2 2015
09 Axel Whitaker vs. Talia Bauer May 1 2015
10 Matthew McCormick vs. Carl Robinson July 30 2015
The Generic Set July 30 2015
Legacy 2 Set November/December 2015
Dark Duncan Set November/December 2015
11 Kiem Sun vs Victor Hansen January 2016
12 Brian Cullen vs Nicholas Ward May 2016?
13 Cardinal Giovanni vs Ursa August 2016?
14 Tak Ne “The Egyptian” vs Saif al-Rashid “The Bedouin” August 2016?
15 Old Carl vs. Thomas Sullivan January 2017
16 Caleb Cole vs. Marcus Korolus March 2017?
2017 Summer Special “Generic Immortals”
17 Quentin MacLeod vs. Christoph Kuyler August 2017
18 Walter Graham vs. Terrence Kincaid October 2017
Highlander Card Game Custom Generic Immortal Persona November 2017
19 Gavriel Larca VS Brother Paul December 2017
Short facts
Publishers: La Montagnard Inc., SAEC Games, Thunder Castle Games
Designer: Mike Sager
Playing the game
- The standard version of the game is for two players, but some variations exist that allow for more players.
- Playing the game typically takes around 20 minutes.
- This is a game of both skill and chance.
- The game is recommended for age 12 and up, but children younger than this can play if they have basic reading ability in English and can do the required arithmetic.
Card types
Basic attacks
Nine attacks, i.e. one for each space on the attack grid.
Basic blocks
Six blocks. Four of them are large enough to each cover four areas of the attack grid. The other two each cover the upper or lower row.
Guards
These are denfesive cards which can stay in place over multiple turns. They must be discarded if the player wishes to attack their opponent.
Edge cards
Edge cards modify other cards when played together with them. It is possible to play multiple edge cards in the same turn.
Speciality cards
- Event cards: An event card happens once and is then discarded.
- Situation cards: A situation card changes the basic rules of the game and stay in play. More than one situation card can be active simultaneously.
- Location cards: Simular to situation cards, but only one location card can be at play at once.
- Plots: In older versions, plots was a subset of Situations and Events. Plots stay in play and change basic rules of the game. They can add up for a larger impact.
- Ally cards: This concept was not introduced until a later expansion.
Illusion cards
This concept was not introduced until a later expansion. May only be played from an exertion.
Pregame cards
- Persona: Rare cards featuring established characters from the Highlander franchise. They allow the player to use persona-specific cards, or enchance the capacity of standard cards. Most personas give the player a special ability, e.g. the ability to carry out more attacks per turn.
- Quickenings: Quickenings have been given out as prizes to players that win tournaments and sponsored events. Quickenings grant acertain bilities to the players, and are thus somewhat similar to persona cards.
- Weapon of Choice: Makes it possible for the player to use weapon-specific cards.
- Watcher: Changes the basic rules of the game.