Lords of Scotland Review: Conquer the Throne in Astonishing Epic Battles

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The throne is empty, and the clans are restless! As a lord, you'll have to recruit them, win them over as followers, and eventually turn them into allies until the war is over so that you can claim the throne. Other lords want the same thing, so betrayals and defections are possible. Are you ready?

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Interregnum

“Interregnum” means an interval, a temporary interruption, or a period when an office, government, or reign is empty or suspended. In a political and historical context, it refers to the period in a monarchy between the death (or abdication) of a monarch and the coronation of their successor, when the throne stays empty.

Today’s game, Lords of Scotland, is set during the Scottish interregnum (1286–1292), which began with the death of King Alexander III, leaving Scotland without a monarch and caught in a power struggle between noble families. This power vacuum paved the way for English intervention and the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–1357), in which Scottish lords and clans played decisive roles.

That is the central theme behind Lords of Scotland. Several clans played an important role during this period and fought for the throne, but the most interesting part is that 9 of these clans are represented in today's game, and, the best of all, their characteristics and abilities reflect their historical roles. Quite a clever touch by the designer!

Let’s explore Lords of Scotland!

Lords of Scotland - Game Details

Lords of Scotland is a game for 2 to 5 players, ages 12 and up, designed by Richard James. The artwork was created by Gabrielle Levion and Chris Quilliams.

Game Box
Game Box

Lords of Scotland was released in 2010 by Z-Man Games and came to Brazil through Conclave in 2016. Its main mechanism is hand management.

Game Components
Game Components

The Game

The Scottish throne lies vacant, and the clans are fighting each other to claim it. As a Scottish lord, you must recruit the clans, win their loyalty, and make them your followers and, perhaps, supporters to the very end. Only then will you be able to ascend to the throne and be crowned king.

But there is one crucial detail: you are not alone! Your rivals have also been waiting for this opportunity. Defections and betrayals are to be expected. In other words, the clans intend to follow the strongest leader, so you must prove that you are the best and win their loyalty. If you succeed, the entire kingdom will follow you, and you will be the winner. Are you bold and cunning enough to be crowned king?

This is the setting of Lords of Scotland!

One of the most important concepts in Lords of Scotland is the skirmish, which is simply a military combat involving small troops that are part of a larger battle. Several skirmishes will take place during the game, so be prepared!

These military combats—or, more precisely, skirmishes—are fought with cards, so let’s take a closer look at them:

- A) Clan: each card belongs to one of the 9 clans and comes with its name, its commander’s portrait, its kilt, and its shield.

- B) Rank: each card has a different rank, shown in the upper-right corner, which can be used to break ties. The higher the number, the higher the rank.

- C) Strength: a card’s strength is shown in the upper-left corner. It is used to win skirmishes and determine whether the clan’s power can be activated, and, if the card is a Supporter, it counts as victory points.

- D) Power: there are 9 different powers in the game, corresponding to the 9 clans.

Card Anatomy
Card Anatomy

The cards can also play 3 different roles during the game:

- Recruit: a card that can be added to your hand.

- Follower: a card played from your hand face up or face down in front of you that becomes a part of your army in that skirmish.

- Supporter: a card that remains with the player who wins it until the end of the game. They represent your victory points.

With that information in mind, it’s time to set up:

- give the Initiative Token (the sword token) to the oldest player.

- shuffle all the cards.

- deal 5 cards to each player.

- create a draw pile with the remaining cards.

- draw the top 5 cards from the draw pile and place them face down next to one another to the right of the pile. These are the Recruits.

- draw a number of cards from the top of the draw pile equal to the number of players and place them side by side to the left of the pile, horizontally. These cards are the Supporters.

- leave room for a discard pile next to the draw pile.

- the player with the Initiative Token starts the game.

Setup for 4 Players
Setup for 4 Players

Lords of Scotland is played over a series of rounds, each representing a skirmish. Each skirmish is divided into 5 turns, which are explained below.

Before we get to that, one important detail: at the beginning of each of their turns, before taking an action, the player with the Initiative Token must reveal one of the face-down Recruits. This will identify which turn is being played. When the 5th Recruit is revealed, the final skirmish turn is under way.

During each skirmish, when it is your turn, you must take one of two actions:

- recruit a card OR

- gather followers.

If you choose to recruit a card, take any one of the 5 Recruit cards and add it to your hand. Replace it with a card from the draw pile, but pay attention to one detail:

- if the Recruit you took was face up, replace it with a face-up card.

OR

- if the Recruit you took was face down, replace it with a face-down card.

In short, leave the board exactly as it was before you took a card.

Cards to Recruit
Cards to Recruit

Please note: you cannot recruit a card if you have more than 10 cards in your hand. Keep this in mind, because it is very easy to overlook this detail, and it impacts the game considerably.

If you choose to gather Followers, simply play a card from your hand face up or face down in front of you, adding it to your army for the current skirmish. Whether you play a card face up or face down makes a huge difference:

- if you play your card face up and there is no other card in the skirmish that's weaker than your card, you may immediately activate the power described on the card.

Players with Their Followers
Players with Their Followers

It is always a good idea to play cards face down so you do not reveal the strength of your army or which clan is joining your forces. However, if you need to activate a power, playing a card face up is the strategic choice, as long as your card is the weakest in the skirmish.

Notice that recruiting gives you more cards to play, while gathering Followers makes your army stronger (and often lets you use its power).

As mentioned earlier, there are 9 clan powers, one for each clan, divided into 2 types:

- immediate powers.

- end-of-skirmish powers.

Clans with an immediate power, as the name suggests, let you use that power immediately. Notable powers include the following:

- exchanging a Follower to turn it into a Supporter and bring that Supporter into your army.

- exchanging your Follower for an opponent’s.

- recruiting a card, increasing your options.

- gathering one additional Follower.

- copying another Follower’s power.

- discarding a Follower from any army.

Clans with an end-of-skirmish power, as the name indicates, are available at the end of the skirmish and always catch everyone off-guard:

- one clan can join any other clan and become part of it.

- taking 2 Supporters instead of just 1 at the end of the skirmish.

- saving a Follower for the next skirmish (which is generally not allowed).

Note that the powers, when activated, can make a real difference. Use them wisely.

After you have recruited a card or gathered Followers (and perhaps activated your power), your turn ends and the next player’s turn begins clockwise.

At the end of the skirmish, that is, after turn 5, reveal all Followers that are face down in the skirmish and add up the strength of all the cards in each player’s army.

Here is an important detail: double the strength of any army with more than one card if all the cards in that army belong to the same clan.

Calculating The Strength of Each Army
Calculating The Strength of Each Army

If your army is the strongest, you win the skirmish. However, ties are possible, so in that case the Rank, as explained above, comes into play.

Breaking Ties Using Rank
Breaking Ties Using Rank

At the end of each skirmish, after ranking each army according to strength, each player takes one Supporter, starting with the strongest army and ending with the weakest. Set your Supporter aside, face up, in your victory-point pile to show how many points you have.

Important: a player with no Followers in the current skirmish cannot take a Supporter.

Any Followers, Recruits, and remaining Supporters are discarded, and a new round begins.

The player who won the previous skirmish starts the first turn of the next round. Give that player the Initiative Token.

That is how a turn and a skirmish work in Lords of Scotland.

End of the Game

Continue completing skirmishes/rounds until someone has accumulated 40 or more total strength from their Supporters.

The strongest player in terms of Supporters wins.

If two or more players tie, the tied player who was the strongest in the last skirmish/round wins.

Strategic Tips

Lords of Scotland is one of those games where everything can make a difference. Many things can change the course of the game in your favor or against you.

There are many strategies: recruiting, gathering Followers with a card face up or face down, keeping an eye on Supporters, analyzing the clan type, its rank, strength, and power (immediate or end-of-skirmish), and so on. There are truly many factors that affect the game. That is why Lords of Scotland is such a success!

Let’s examine each case, starting, for obvious reasons, with strategies based on what each card does:

- Recruit: I recommend you do this when the card is very strong, has a decent power, and belongs to a clan that can help you double your points at the end of the skirmish.

- Gather Followers: fight bravely when you know you have a real chance of winning the skirmish, but always invest in it if the Supporters are worth it.

- Supporters: they determine whether we should invest in a fight. Simple as that!

Now here is a strategy based solely and exclusively on Recruiting. To that end, let’s look at the numbers that heavy gamers love so much:

- Clan and Power: there are 9 clans, each with a specific power. Look for the one that will help you most in the current skirmish, or, if you are planning ahead, a power that will help you in the next skirmish.

- Rank: every card has a different rank, so always look for the highest one in case of a tie.

- Strength: 8 of the 9 clans have strength values from 1 to 12, and there are 12 cards in each clan. The only exception is the Bruce clan, with just 2 cards with 12 strength, since it is the strongest clan and has the most versatile power.

Notice that Recruiting is a highly strategic task!

To wrap up on Recruiting, remember that you can have no more than 10 cards in your hand.

Now it’s time to talk strategy for when to gather Followers. This will revolve around placing a card face up or face down. As a rule, always place the card face down, as that’s the strategic choice. Your opponents will never know your Follower’s clan, so your strategy remains intact.

I only recommend gathering Followers face up, meaning openly, when you are actually going to use their power. It’s as simple as that, because doing so gives away a great deal of our strategy. The first conclusion opponents draw is that you have more cards from that clan and are trying to get the power and double your score. That’s how it always goes!

Because of this, opponents sometimes end up using a power to “steal” our face-down Follower, “thinking” it belongs to the same clan as the face-up card, only with more power. It’s a fact! In short: only gather a Follower face up when its power will genuinely make a difference in the current skirmish or the next one, depending on your strategy.

Speaking of power, immediate powers are very useful in the current skirmish, and I only recommend using them if they will truly make a difference or, at most, if you'll be using a power with such a low number that you'll prevent opponents from using a power in that skirmish. Is that dirty? No, it’s strategy!

In the long term, with later skirmishes in mind, end-of-skirmish powers are very useful. Depending on the Follower and what you have in hand for the next skirmish, it can make all the difference in the world.

These end-of-skirmish powers generally let you gain more Supporters, more versatility, and, who knows, double your points in that skirmish or keep a Follower for the next one. Note that these are very important powers.

Try not to be last in terms of power at the end of the skirmish, and if you can, don’t be second-to-last either. Because of the end-of-skirmish powers, one or more players may take 2 Supporters each and leave you with nothing.

Being the strongest at the end of the skirmish gives you the Initiative Token, which makes a huge difference as well. After all, it lets you reveal a Recruit in all 5 turns of the skirmish and make the first decision about whether or not to Recruit that card. That makes a considerable strategic difference.

If you aspire to “take the throne,” you will need to know when to send your forces into battle and when to regroup to fight another time.

Whew! There are many strategies, and together they are the difference between victory and defeat!

With that in mind, keep an eye out for the opportunities the game presents, build your best strategy, know when to fight and when to regroup for future battles, use your powers at the right time and win in Lords of Scotland.

Unboxing, Rules, and Gameplay Videos

Check out this unboxing:

Learn the rules:

Watch some gameplay:

Educational Tips

If you’re looking for a game that will hold children’s attention, is easy to teach, and can encourage strategic thinking and reasoning in a fun way, Lords of Scotland is the game for you!

To children, this game will be nothing more than a contest of strength, and, essentially, that’s what it is, but it has huge potential. It’s the kind of game children can enjoy from an early age and grow with, because it can be highly strategic, and the sooner children are exposed to it, the better. They will figure out the game’s nuances for themselves.

They’ll love recruiting soldiers, the stronger, the better, and if a soldier is from the same clan, that’s the “icing on the cake” for them. Gathering followers will be one of those moments filled with giggles because placing a card face down is the epitome of "mischief." Their friends won’t know its clan or the power of their Follower. And using powers? That’s the plot twist!

Revealing the Followers at the end of the skirmish will create some “good tension.” Who is the strongest? Who will take the most valuable Supporter? These are the enjoyable moments in a game that will stay with children as they grow, while they feel the potential in this game growing along with them.

Lords of Scotland provides all that, but beyond the fun, children have the opportunity to develop some important skills, including:

- resource management: for the cards in their hand and their Followers.

- strategy: knowing the right time to recruit or gather Followers.

- decision-making: gathering Followers face down or face up and deciding whether or not to use their power.

- mathematical reasoning: calculating power at the end of skirmishes and the total number of Supporters.

From an educational perspective, Lords of Scotland covers resource management and encourages strategy, decision-making, and mathematical reasoning. It's also a lot of fun!

I highly recommend adding Lords of Scotland to your collection!

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