Paladins of Highcrown is an upcoming 1–4 player strategy game from Garphill Games by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald. It revisits ideas associated with Paladins of the West Kingdom in a new fantasy setting built around the city of Highcrown and its World Tree.
This is a pre-release guide based on Garphill’s September 2026 announcement. The full production rules are not yet final, so detailed timing and strategy sections will be expanded when the complete rulebook is published.
Paladins of Highcrown at a glance
- Players: 1–4
- Play time: 100–200 minutes
- Age: 14+
- Designers: Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald
- Artist: Andrew Bosley
- Publisher: Garphill Games
- Status: Kickstarter planned for early 2027
What is Paladins of Highcrown?
The game is set in Highcrown, where the ancient World Tree and its Paladin avatars protect the realm of Coroneth. Players respond to increasingly dangerous threats by developing attributes, supplying battlefields, taming beasts and gaining support from the city’s inhabitants.
Like its predecessor, the game revolves around building an efficient action engine from workers, resources and Paladin abilities. Highcrown is not simply a new edition of the original game, however. BoardGameGeek lists it as a reimplementation, and Garphill describes it as a larger design created after revisiting what the designers wanted to improve from Paladins of the West Kingdom.
Round structure
Paladins of Highcrown lasts five rounds. At the start of each round, players enlist the help of a new Paladin. They then spend their workers and resources on available actions until they can or choose to do no more.
When a player stops taking actions, they rest. Garphill says resting can provide additional benefits as well as new workers for the following round. This creates an efficiency question: extending a round may produce more immediate actions, but resting at the right time may improve the next round’s setup.
How do you score?
The winner is the player with the most victory points after five rounds. Announced scoring routes include improving attributes, supplying the battlefields, taming beasts, and persuading or inspiring inhabitants of Highcrown to support the defense.
That spread of scoring sources suggests the design will reward coordinated development rather than a single isolated track. The final rulebook will determine how tightly those systems interact and which scoring routes compete for the same workers or resources.
How is it related to Paladins of the West Kingdom?
Garphill has explicitly connected the new game to Paladins of the West Kingdom. The earlier game is known for worker placement, colored workers and attribute development. Highcrown keeps the Paladin identity and worker-driven structure while moving to a fantasy world and adding systems involving battlefields, beasts and the city’s inhabitants.
If you want to understand the older design before Highcrown arrives, see our how to play Paladins of the West Kingdom guide and Paladins strategy guide.
Solo play
The announced player count is 1–4, so solo play is part of the planned design. Garphill has not yet released enough final solo-system information for a dependable solo walkthrough. We will add that coverage once the production rules are available.
How long is Paladins of Highcrown?
Garphill currently lists a broad 100–200 minute play time. That places Highcrown firmly in longer strategy-game territory and makes it substantially more of an evening game than a short tactical euro.
Release date
Paladins of Highcrown was announced on September 15, 2026. Garphill plans to bring it to Kickstarter in early 2027. A final retail release date has not been announced.
Who may like it?
This is aimed most clearly at players who enjoy heavier worker-placement games, multi-track development and the original Paladins system. Its announced 100–200 minute length and several overlapping scoring systems suggest a more demanding game than an entry-level worker-placement title.
Sources and update status
This article uses Garphill Games’ September 2026 announcement and current BoardGameGeek release data. Because the game is still in development, we will revise rules, components, strategy and solo information as official materials are released.