An absolute classic assault mech, the Highlander when originally created was the heaviest mech to mount jump jets. It’s always been a mech that sticks in player’s heads, particularly as the Death From Above mech – something common enough that it gets called a “highlander burial.” The miniature is in the Comstar Command Level II box, though it’s a mech that gets used by virtually every faction – even the clans used Highlanders, and eventually created the Highlander IIC (which we’ll be covering in the future).
It’s a fantastic mech in most every era, with good armor, powerful weapons, and generally nothing that particularly bloats BV. If you need an assault mech there’s a variant that you can drop into nearly any force and be happy with.
Peri: The Highlander is a classic and an OG for a good reason, a cool as hell assault mech with completely impeccable aesthetics. It is the face of the SLDF, probably the single most iconic assault mech that they had access to, and has been trampling poor periphery settlements for hundreds of years.
Chassis
At 90 tons, the Highlander is near the top of the weight scale, and it pays for that by being limited to only a 3/5/3 movement profile. While not an omnimech, the highlander is remarkably consistent across variants – there’s only one variant that doesn’t mount jump jets, and two variants that aren’t within two points of maximum armor (one of those is only eight points low, which is still 97% coverage, and the other at 91%). Almost all variants are also running a standard fusion engine – between full armor and the standard engine, the Highlander is an absolute brick of a mech that can easily survive side torso losses and keep going.
Peri: The sheer monster durability of this thing is the main value it gives. 3/5/3 means it can decently easily build a +2 TMM from jumping. 3/5/0 mechs badly struggle with getting enough TMM together to not just get brutalized, the addition of jump jets is huge there. It does leave it with less space for guns, but it’s a 90 ton assault mech, 6 tons of jump jet isn’t going to break the bank when it comes to tonnage.
Variants
These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).
HGN-732
Running a gauss rifle, LRM 20, SRM 6, and pair of medium lasers makes this a mech that really wants to hang out at either 7 hexes or 3 hexes. At 7, your gauss and LRM are just barely at short range, while you’ll be at long range against a lot of short range weapons – and you win the damage trade there. Unless you’re up against ER ppcs or gauss, this is an incredibly favorable spot to be in. As you close, swap the LRM for the SRMs and medium lasers – while this variant only has single heat sinks, a walk while firing the gauss, medium lasers, and srm is exactly heat neutral. Very good number of heat sinks. My only minor complaint here is that there are two tons of SRM ammo – while this does let you bring a ton of inferno ammo, one extra heat sink would let it sit at 6 hexes (medium lasers at medium range, lrm 20 at +1 from just barely into minimum) and only generate heat from movement. But seriously, very small complaint – 2,227 BV is a good value, and the only reason I’m really dinging this on rating at all is that the 732b is much better for a tiny BV increase.
My rating: A-
Peri: The Highlander is, in a lot of ways, very similar to the various members of the 55 ton trio. It is a jumping mech with both long range and close range weapons, designed to be used in any role and any situation. Much like those mechs, it is substantially weaker than a specialized mech of it’s weight class at every task, but it is always stronger at something. A King Crab is better up close, a Banshee is faster, a Longbow is better at range, but against each of those mechs the Highlander is not obligated to fight them on their own terms. The Gauss Rifle is an every range weapon, the LRMs add good value at a distance and the SRMs and lasers help up close. It is never as good as a specialized assault mech, but you will literally never fail to find gainful employment for the Highlander somewhere on the board. You do pay for the flexibility, but if you don’t know what situation you are going to land in or what you are fighting, the Highlander is always at least adequate. Not quite A grade, but an incredibly solid B.
My rating: B
HGN-732b
The royal variant of the 732, the biggest change here is swapping to double heat sinks. While it is now technically possible to overheat, in practice you’re never going to unless your opponent just stops moving and gives you incredibly easy shots. Saving two tons on the heat sink and a third ton from dropping that spare SRM ammo upgrades both missile launchers with Artemis IV, so you’ll be hitting with more missiles, and adds a third medium laser. This definitely shifts the firepower to be a little more close range – while the 732 is perfectly content at 7 hexes, the 732b should be pushing up to bully other mechs at 3 hexes. It’s gone up to 2,335 BV – 108 BV to add quite a bit of extra damage. This is a mech that’s competitive in every era.
My rating: A
Peri: In my opinion you don’t use this any differently to the base model Highlander, it is still an every range trooper, it is just better at it at every range in every way. This is also the one you get in HBS tech, and it won’t let you down here either. Gotta love Royal variants.
HGN-733
All three -733 variants are the simple succession wars variants, each approaching how to lose a gauss rifle in slightly different ways. The basic -733 does so by trading it for an AC/10, adding a heat sink, and adding a bunch of ammo. Seriously, it has a lot of ammo. 18 turns of shooting the LRM 20. 30 turns of shooting the SRM 6. 20 turns of shooting the AC/10. This is too much. Two tons of AC/10 ammo is OK because you can turn one ton into precision and still have enough shots for almost any game (or two tons and have 10 rounds, still probably enough). Three tons of LRM 20 and two tons of SRM 6 is just too much, particularly in an era where there’s no CASE. A left torso crit has a 45% chance of being an ammo explosion, and 40% in the right torso. Not super unusual in succession wars, but doesn’t hold up later despite being fairly competitively costed at 1,801 BV.
My rating: C+
Peri: The lack of CASE is the Achilles’ Heel of this mech. Everything else is completely awesome. It can load full precision ammo and slap around any light mechs that jump up on it, has enough SRM ammo to load infernos, and can do some funny stuff with LRMs. I would load 1 ton of Thunder LRMs to leave minefields in every heavy woods on the map, or incendiary if you are expecting infantry and didn’t want them to exist anymore. Would still be better to have CASE than to have the extra ton of LRM ammo, but such is intro-tech. The extra ammo is good for endurance in campaign play though.
My rating: B
HGN-733C
Instead of Too Much Ammo this has just about the right amount. Instead of an AC/10 it mounts an AC/20, and has dropped one ton of LRM 20 ammo and a ton of SRM 6 ammo to do it. Very much a short range brawler now, it can have some heat issues as the various short range guns produce 17 heat before movement and it sinks 13 – one full volley at a walk and you start taking movement penalties. 1,857 BV costs similarly to the -733, which I slightly prefer unless I know I can stay in short range on the AC/20.
My rating: C
HGN-733P
This time the autocannon is replaced by a PPC, which in theory means you have less ammo to blow up and better range than the AC/10. Three tons of LRMs and two tons of SRMs does still mean it has more ammo than you’re likely to use, though added heat sinks makes for much better crit padding. Just jettison some of the ammo turn 1. 20 sinking is mostly entirely adequate, you generate 22 at a run shooting short range weapons, so it’ll take a little bit to build problematic heat. While weapon range brackets don’t line up perfectly, either 6 or 3 hexes are both pretty good places to be. 1,865 BV puts this as the most expensive succession wars Highlander, but not by much, and I find it to be clearly the best of them.
My rating: B
Peri: This is also a fantastic mech, comparable to the 733. I prefer the 733 because Precision AC/10s are just so good guys, but if PPCs are more to your taste the 733P is just as good. Probably better for campaign play actually due to having an ammo free main gun and the same boosted amount of missile ammo.
HGN-734
Despite gauss rifles being rediscovered by the time of the civil war era, this continues to avoid them and goes fully in on being a short range brawler. It’s running a LB/20-X, pair of Streak SRM 6s, ER large laser, two ER medium lasers, and a medium pulse. That’s quite a few guns, and this is one of the few Highlanders that’s switched to a light engine to free up weight. The ER large gives it a little bit of firepower as it closes (though I never like ER larges much, 12 heat for 8 damage is not good efficiency), and then all the short range weapons generate exactly 28 heat, which is the same as you sink, but 8 of that comes from the streaks that likely won’t fire every turn. It’s incredibly unlikely you overheat by much. Everything is supplied by adequate but not excessive ammo. At 2,214 BV for a short range brawler I really cannot complain about this.
My rating: A
Peri: IS ER larges are kinda mediocre guns, but they do have the decency to be cheap. I do wish that this mech traded the various medium lasers out for a second one so that it had a little bit more going on at long range. I generally think that 3/5/whatever close range mechs are a bad deal, they just completely lack the capability to get any value at all out of their short range guns. If your opponent lets a 3/5 assault mech with an AC/20 get within 3 hexes of them, they are an idiot and you can get away with literally whatever you want to do to them. The King Crab is a bad mech for a reason.
My rating: D+
HGN-736
And we’re back to gauss rifles and something very very similar to a -732B. It only has two medium lasers, and instead of the SRM 6 with Artemis IV is has a Streak SRM 4, but it carries improved c3. Gauss and LRM 20s aren’t necessarily the best use of c3, but they aren’t particularly bad, and it makes this a decent fire support mech. At 2,255 BV it’s a touch cheaper than the 732B, and I wouldn’t take it unless running c3i.
My rating: A (in a c3i lance)
Peri: Mech fine in a C3 force, otherwise not really worth it.
HGN-738
The Highlander traditionally puts a gauss rifle in the right arm, but in this variant it had to move to the right torso so it could get upgraded to heavy gauss. While harder to use (short range without minimum range penalties is at 5 and 6 hexes only), it’s able to hit incredibly hard. Support weapons of an ER large laser, pair of ER medium lasers, LRM 15 with Artemis IV, and Streak SRM 4 are pretty standard – it’s not going to have heat issues engaging with the longer ranged weapons, though the range bands do not line up nicely for using the short range guns with the heavy gauss. At 2,413 BV this does accomplish area denial pretty well, but for bringing a heavy gauss I’d prefer a Caesar.
My rating: C
Peri: All heavy gauss mechs are extremely funny. Not good, but funny. The Highlander is once again a bit to slow to be built for close range fights, but heavy gauss is still decent at mid range so mech fine, if you want it.
HGN-694
Another heavy gauss variant, this instead puts the heavy gauss in the left torso, leaving the right arm free for a regular gauss rifle. The only supporting weapons are a pair of large lasers, which means this Highlander very much wants to sit at exactly 5 hexes, the only spot that’s short range on every weapon and doesn’t have minimum range penalties. At 3/5/3 that can be hard to accomplish, but it will do a lot of damage if it can sit there. 2,369 BV is not bad for this, but it still directly compares to a -732b for usage and cost and is a bit harder to drive while not being more effective.
My rating: C+
Peri: This mech will never get to control ranges against any opponent that isn’t 3/5/0 and has a brain, but it is potentially hilarious if it works. That has value in and of itself honestly.
HGN-641-X-2
Putting an XL engine and XL gyro on a Highlander makes me sad, but reinforced structure at least partially cancels it out. It’s running a pretty standard weapon configuration – gauss rifle, pair of ER medium lasers, and this time the missiles are a pair of MML-7 launchers, so it’s trading some long range missile firepower for many more SRMs. That’s a trade I’m pretty happy with, especially as this variant carries Angel ECM, which you can use to either shut down Streak and Artemis or keep the c3 network up despite enemy ECM, making this another Highlander that really wants to stand at 3 hexes. With reinforced structure requiring a 9 to be crit instead of an 8, the XL engine and gyro aren’t nearly as concerning as they might otherwise be, so at 2,185 BV this is a solid option to a -732b and a definite pick if you’re running a c3 lange.
My rating: A
Peri: CT crits are pretty fucking dire into this mech. MMLs are great, reinforced structure is great, and Angel ECM is great for a C3 mech to have to ECCM out enemy ECM, but I really do not like how vulnerable this mech is to crits. I forgot the exact math but you do actually take around the same amount of crits with reinforced structure compared to regular structure, because the doubled structure also means it takes twice as many hits to destroy each location, meaning twice the crit attempts. That said, it isn’t like you get hit twice as often all of a sudden, so you are more durable in a lot of ways but the drawback of having so many vulnerable crits in your torso is not mitigated as hard as you would think it is. Overall it is still better than not having it and by a lot, but the XL gyro and XL engine are just a hard pill to swallow on a mech like this.
HGN-740
Another very standard weapon arrangement, this variant is running an ER PPC with capacitor as the primary weapon. To manage the potentially 20 heat from firing it there’s 30 points of heat sinking, which gives room for the Streak SRM 6, pair of ER medium lasers, and LRM 20 with Artemis IV. It also has shotgun knees with two M-pods on each leg. Potentially a lot of damage once if it can get next to something, but they’re also components that can easily blow up and cause pilot hits. At least the legs are well armored. I don’t like ER PPCs with capacitors. It does boost it up to being a head-chopper, and 20 heat for 15 damage is not a great trade, especially when you can only use it every other turn, something that you pay about 50% more BV over a standard ER PPC for. 2,232 BV is similar to other Highlanders with a gauss rifle that you can just use every turn.
My rating: C
Peri: M-Pods are fantastic for keeping little bastards away from you, but this mech would be way better if it just had a gauss rifle. I have yet to see a PPC capacitor mech that I actually like.
HGN-732 (Colleen)
Very much a fire support mech, this has replaced the gauss rifle with an ER PPC, carries a pair of LRM 15s, and then for short range has two medium pulse lasers and a prototype Streak SRM 6 (that is somehow more accurate than the production versions, unless Flechs is lying to me). It doesn’t feel like a Highlander to me, but it’s a perfectly fine fire support mech. Sit at 7 hexes, shoot things, be hard to kill, have enough short range firepower than nobody really wants to close with you. 2,169 BV puts this on the cheap end of non-succession wars Highlanders.
My rating: C+
HGN-732 (Jorgensson)
A partial Clan upgrade, the gauss rifle and a pair of ER large lasers are clan-tech, but the LRM 20 with Artemis IV is not. Not really the best arrangement of clantech upgrades, I’d rather see a clan LRM than the clan gauss, but the ER larges are much better than their inner sphere equivalents. The main problem with this is heat – all the weapons want to sit at 7 hexes, which generates 31 heat before movement, and it sinks 26. If you fire everything, you’re immediately taking movement penalties – and why wouldn’t you fire everything? Unless you’ve closed into minimum range on the LRMs, everything has very similar range bands. This is the most expensive Highlander at 2,682 BV, so you’re spending a bit over 300 BV more than a -732b to have a little better long range damage if you keep one ER large laser turned off, but worse short range damage.
My rating: B-
Conclusion
As I expected, the Highlander is at worst a decent mech. While nothing is meta-warping, there are a couple of very good variants, particularly the -732b and surprisingly the -641-X-2. I’d expected to dislike that one given the XL engine and gyro, not my favorite things to see on an assault mech, but it does interesting things with the tonnage and the reinforced structure helps shore them up. Just don’t fall into the trap of trying to DFA everything – the high leg armor on a Highlander does make it good at it, but it’s still a trap in general.
Peri: The Highlander is a do-everything assault mech, so if you don’t have a specific role in mind or a specific use for an assault mech in your force it will fit well and find something valuable to do. Troopers can be very good if competently built, and the Highlander is very competently built. Also it looks fucking badass, so who cares that it is rarely the absolute best option?
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