Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

2016

Experience the thrill of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, a cooperative deck-building game where you play as Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Neville to save Hogwarts from evil forces!

60
minutes

2 - 4
player(s)

11+

Medium

About the game

Welcome to Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, a captivating board game that immerses you in the magical world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This game provides a thrilling and unique experience that combines elements of strategy, collaboration, and a healthy dose of luck, making it an engaging choice for players of all ages.

The enchanting theme of the game is derived from J.K. Rowling’s beloved Harry Potter series. Players take on the roles of iconic characters, such as Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville, and embark on a journey through the seven years of Hogwarts education. Each year presents increasingly challenging scenarios, reflecting the escalating conflict with Lord Voldemort and his allies in the series.

Game components Unboxing the fun!

In the ‘Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle’ game, several components are included to enhance the gameplay. These components are crucial to the game’s overall operation and interaction.

1. Game Board

The game board represents the playing field, depicting different locations in Hogwarts. It’s the space where players place their cards and keep track of their progress throughout the game.

2. 7 Game Boxes

The game’s progression is broken down into seven parts, each represented by a game box. Each box contains the game components needed for each year at Hogwarts, introducing new elements and increasing complexity as players progress from one year to the next.

3. 252 Cards

Hogwarts Cards: These are the main deck of cards that players will use to build their playing deck. They represent various spells, items, and allies that can be used to defeat villains and protect the locations.
Dark Arts Cards: These cards represent the various events and occurrences that can negatively impact the players. They are drawn at the beginning of each player’s turn and executed immediately.
Villain Cards: Villains are the main adversaries that players will face during the game. Each villain has unique abilities and effects that can hinder the players’ progress.
Character Cards: These cards represent the players in the game. Each player selects a character card at the beginning of the game. Each character has their own unique abilities.

4. 4 Player Boards

Each player gets a player board to keep track of their health and to hold their active cards. It also provides a reference for the sequence of play.

5. 68 Tokens

Attack Tokens: These are used to track the total damage done to a villain. Once the total reaches the villain’s health, that villain is defeated.
Influence Tokens: Players use these to purchase new cards from the Hogwarts deck.
Health Tokens: These tokens are used to track a player’s health. If a player’s health reaches zero, they are stunned and must discard half of their cards.
Control Tokens: These tokens are placed on locations when a villain’s ability or a Dark Arts event causes a location to be at risk. If all spaces on a location are filled with control tokens, that location is lost.

6. 7 Rules Books

Each game box contains a rule book that guides the players on how to play for that year. The rules become more complex as the players progress through the years, adding new elements and challenges.

7. 8 Villain Control Markers

These markers are used to track which villains are currently in play and which have been defeated. When all villains are defeated, the players win the game.

8. 4 Dice

These dice are used in later games to represent the House Dice. Each die corresponds to one of the four Hogwarts houses and has different effects depending on the outcome of the roll.

Game setup Lay it out, line it up, let’s go

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative deck-building game where players take on the roles of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Each player has a unique deck of cards that they use to acquire resources, gain skills, and defeat villains. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up the game:

Setting up the Game:

Choosing Player Roles: Each player chooses a character to play as. They will receive the matching character card, marker, and starting deck of cards. Each character has a unique ability that will assist throughout the game, so choose wisely.
Setting up the Board: The game board should be placed in the center of the playing area. It has spots for the villain deck, dark arts deck, Hogwarts deck, and locations. The location cards are placed in order with the first location on top.
Preparing the Decks: Shuffle the Hogwarts cards and place them face down on the board. Turn over the top six cards and place them face up in the card spaces. Shuffle the Dark Arts cards and place them face down on the board. The number of Villain cards used depends on the number of players: use 7 for 2 players, 8 for 3 players, and 9 for 4 players. Shuffle the chosen Villain cards and place them face down on the board.
Initial Resources: Each player starts with a deck of 10 cards: 7 Alohomora! cards, 1 of each character-specific item card, and 2 character-specific spell cards. The remaining cards should be shuffled and placed face down in a draw pile next to the player’s character card.
Random Elements: The game incorporates randomness through the Dark Arts and Villain decks. When a Dark Arts event or a Villain’s ability forces a player to discard cards, they choose which cards to discard. The order in which Villains are drawn can also create unpredictability in gameplay.
Starting the Game: The youngest player goes first. During their turn, a player will draw a card from the Dark Arts deck and resolve its effects, play cards from their hand to gain resources or abilities, and then use those resources to defeat Villains or purchase new cards from Hogwarts.

Enjoy your adventure in Hogwarts and remember, the game is won when all Villains are defeated and lost if all Locations are controlled by the Villains.

Players'turn One turn to rule them all

‘Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle’ is a cooperative deck-building game where players take on the roles of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville to defend Hogwarts from Villains. Each player’s turn in the game progresses through the following phases:

1. Reveal Dark Arts Event:

At the start of each player’s turn, they must reveal and resolve a Dark Arts event card. These cards typically bring negative effects, such as adding more Villain control tokens to locations or causing players to lose health.

2. Resolve Villain Abilities:

Next, the player must resolve abilities of all active Villains. These abilities can cause a variety of challenges for players, such as forcing them to discard cards or lose additional health.

3. Play Cards & Take Actions:

The player then plays cards from their hand and takes actions. These actions can include:

Gaining resources: Players can gain attack tokens (used to defeat Villains) or influence tokens (used to acquire new cards).
Buying cards: Players can spend influence to acquire new cards from the Hogwarts deck. These cards are then added to their discard pile and can be drawn in future turns.
Attacking Villains: Players can use attack tokens to defeat Villains. Once a Villain’s health is depleted, it is removed from the game and the player gains a reward.
Healing: Some cards allow players to regain lost health.
Using card abilities: Many cards in the game feature special abilities that can be used when they are played.

Players can play their cards in any order, and the order can significantly affect the outcome of their turn.

4. End of Turn:

At the end of their turn, the player places any unplayed cards and spent tokens in their discard pile. They then draw a new hand of five cards. If their draw pile is empty, they shuffle their discard pile to create a new draw pile.

Strategically, players need to balance acquiring new cards to improve their deck, attacking Villains to prevent them from gaining control, and managing their health to avoid being stunned. Cooperation and coordination with other players are critical, as some cards and abilities are more effective when used in combination.

End of the game All good games must come to an end

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative deck-building game where players work together to defeat villains and protect Hogwarts. The game ends when certain conditions are met, which are dictated by the specific game scenario being played.

Generally, the game ends in one of two ways:

Victory: The game ends in victory for the players when all villains have been defeated. The order of defeating the villains doesn’t matter, but all must be defeated for the players to win. Players must also ensure they have not lost all of their control tokens from the locations.
Defeat: The game ends in defeat if the villains manage to take control of all locations. This is represented by all control tokens being removed from the locations.

Before the final scoring, players must take the following actions:

Players need to ensure that all cards in their hand, deck, and discard pile are accounted for and calculated in their final score. This includes allies, items, and spell cards.
Players must count the total number of control tokens left on the locations. These tokens represent the control the players have managed to maintain over Hogwarts.
All damage tokens on the villains need to be tallied. These tokens represent the effort players have put into defeating the villains.
Finally, players need to compare the number of control tokens on the locations with the number of villains defeated. If the number of tokens is higher or equal to the number of villains defeated, the players win.

Remember, in ‘Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle’, cooperation is key. Players must work together, using their unique character abilities and strategies, to defeat the villains and protect Hogwarts. Good luck!

Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?

In Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, players do not directly earn points. Instead, they work cooperatively to defeat villains and protect locations. The game does not have a traditional scoring system as in other board games, but it does have a win/lose condition.

The game is won when all villains are defeated. Each villian has a specific health which must be reduced to zero using attack tokens. These can be acquired through the play of cards from a player’s hand. On the other hand, the game is lost when all locations are controlled by the villains. Locations become controlled by villains when dark arts events or villain abilities add enough dark mark tokens.

If the players are able to defeat all villains before the villains gain control over all the locations, the players win the game. Conversely, if the villains control all the locations before the players can defeat all villains, the players lose the game.

As far as tie-breaking rules, since this is a cooperative game where players work together against the game itself to achieve a common goal, there is no need for tie-breaking rules as such. All players either win together or lose together.

However, in case of a need to determine a leading player, you could consider the number of villains defeated by each player. The player who has defeated the most villains could be considered the ‘leader’ or ‘most valuable player’. But remember, this is not an official rule and is only suggested for those who wish to add a competitive edge to this cooperative game.

Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?

‘Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle’ is a cooperative deck-building game that guides you through seven years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While the game rules are relatively simple, there are a few rare or special rules, exceptions, and clarifications that might be important to keep in mind.

Villain Control

When a Villain has control of a location, all players must add a Dark Mark to that location each time a new Villain is revealed. This rule persists even if the Villain who initially gained control is defeated.

Stunning

If a player is stunned, they discard half of their cards rounded down. However, they do not lose their collected House Dice. If a player is stunned on their turn, they still finish their turn, including their second Hogwarts card purchase, before discarding.

Dark Arts Events

Dark Arts events are triggered at the start of each player’s turn. If a player is required to draw multiple Dark Arts events, they must resolve the first before drawing the second. If a Dark Arts event stuns a player, the remaining events are still drawn and resolved.

Encounter Cards

These are introduced in Year 6 and make the game more challenging. They are resolved before Dark Arts events and Villain abilities. If an Encounter card would cause a player to lose more than two hearts, it only causes them to lose two hearts.

Multiple Abilities

If a player has multiple abilities triggered at the same time, they choose the order in which they are resolved.

Horcrux Tokens

These tokens are introduced in Year 7. Players can only gain a Horcrux token if they have successfully completed the required action on their turn. They cannot gain a Horcrux token if the action is completed by another player or as a result of a Dark Arts event or Villain ability.

Proficiency Cards

These cards allow players to gain special abilities. However, each player can only have one Proficiency card at a time. If a player gains a new Proficiency card, they must discard their old one.

Game End

The game ends immediately when all Villains are defeated, even if there are remaining Dark Arts events or Encounters. Conversely, the game also ends immediately if the Villains gain control of all locations, regardless of the number of Dark Arts events or Encounters remaining.

Tips and tricks Play smarter, not harder!

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative deck-building game where players take on the roles of Harry, Hermione, Ron, or Neville. Each player must work together to defend Hogwarts from the villains that threaten it. Here are some strategies and tips to help you win.

Advanced Strategies:

In the later game, try to prioritize purchasing spells and items that allow for draw power. This will ensure your deck cycles faster and you can access your powerful cards more frequently.
When choosing a hero, consider the hero’s unique ability and how it synergizes with the available Hogwarts cards. For example, if there are many spells in the Hogwarts lineup, Hermione may be a good choice as her ability benefits from spell cards.
Try to balance your deck with a good mix of attack, influence, and health recovery cards. Having a deck that is too focused on one aspect can leave you vulnerable.

Beginner Tips:

Remember to communicate with your fellow players. As a cooperative game, discussing strategies and planning your turns together can be the key to victory.
Don’t forget to use your hero’s unique ability. Each hero has a unique ability that can give you an edge in the game, make sure to utilize it.
Keep an eye on the location cards. The villains are trying to take control of these locations and if they control all of them, you lose. Therefore, it’s important to manage the villains’ control over the locations.

Common Mistakes to Avoid:

Not balancing your deck: While it can be tempting to focus on one type of card, a balanced deck will serve you better in the long run.
Ignoring villains: While it’s important to build up your deck, don’t forget that the villains are trying to take over. Make sure you’re also focusing on defeating them.
Forgetting to communicate: Communication is key in this game. Make sure you’re discussing your strategies with your fellow players.

Ways to Optimize Gameplay:

Keep your deck lean. Try to remove (banish) weaker cards from your deck when you have the opportunity. This will make your deck more efficient as it will increase the chances of drawing your powerful cards.
Coordinate with your fellow players to focus on one villain at a time. It’s more efficient to defeat one villain quickly than to slowly whittle down all of them.
Consider the order of your actions. Sometimes it can be beneficial to play your cards out of order or to delay healing until later in your turn.