When we first heard about Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, we got excited.
After all, we love cooperative games.
We enjoy deck-building games.
And we love Harry Potter!
So the thought of USAopoly combining all those elements into a game was very exciting.
It also created very high expectations.
The big question was – could it live up to our high hopes?
Well, it’s time to find out…
How to play Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Just as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and friends work together to defeat villains in the Harry Potter book and movie series, players work together to defeat all the villains in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle.
However, if the villains take control of all the locations in the game first, the players lose.
The game is structured in a way that players can play through a series of 7 games aligned with the 7 books. However, by no means is this a limitation. Players aren’t limited to just 7 plays of the game.
Players are encouraged to begin with Book 1 and continue through all 7 stories by opening the next Book container after beating the prior Book. If they don’t win, they simply play that book over again.
Each book introduces new types of cards they can add to their player decks, additional rules, new villains to face, and new locations to protect. All the new cards and locations tie right in line with the Harry Potter book storyline.
As they progress, players will combine cards they’ve opened in earlier books to build even strong decks of cards to defeat tougher villains.
One of the great things about the game is that players can choose how to store the game for future plays. The cards are labeled clearly as to which Book they came from. And the box insert is set up in such a way that players can either store all components back in their associated Book boxes or they can keep them all combined in their playable decks using card dividers.
This way, players have full control over how they want to play future games – by book or all randomized.
Either way they choose, there’s no limit to the amount of times they can play the game.
Set Up:
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle includes a game board and player boards that make the game set up a breeze.
Each player chooses a hero to play (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville) and gets that character’s Hero cards, starting deck of 10 cards, a player board, and a Health tracker heart – which they place on spot 10 of their player board.
The Location card deck is shuffled and placed face up in the Locations area on the board.
The Dark Arts cards are shuffled and placed face down in their area of the board. And the Villain cards are shuffled and also placed face down in their area of the board.
Lastly, the Hogwarts cards are shuffled and the first 6 cards are drawn and placed face up in the designated spaces on the board. The rest of the deck is placed face down.
Players shuffle their own Hero deck of cards and place them face down to the left of their player board. They then draw their starting hand of 5 cards and the game is ready to go!
Player Turns:
Each player’s turn is made up of 4 steps.
1. Reveal and Resolve Dark Arts Events
The current face up Location card shows how many Dark Arts cards must be resolved at the start of a player’s turn. The player flips over the top card of the Dark Arts deck and applies the effects.
As you may expect, they aren’t going to be good things.
They may add tokens to Location cards (villains taking control of Locations) or cause damage to players.
2. Resolve Villain Abilities
Each villain has an ability and sometimes these abilities are triggered every turn while others are triggered by different Dark Arts cards. If the current face up villains’ abilities are triggered, their effects are applied.
Again, these aren’t going to be happy events for the team of heroes.
3. Play Hogwarts Cars and Take Actions
During this step, players get to work their magic!
They can play cards from their hand to gain resources (attack and influence tokens) and then use those resources to attack villains and use influence to buy new Hogwarts cards to add to their deck.
In most deck-building games, the powers that cards grants are typically just kept in mind to use during a turn. However, in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, these powers are represented by tokens that players actually collect on their turn and then spend.
For example, on a turn they may acquire 3 attack tokens and 4 influence tokens.
They can then place those 3 attack tokens onto a Villain card to show the amount of damage on that villain. Because the game is cooperative, those attack tokens remain on that villain as the other players take their turns and contribute additional attack tokens to the villains.
The influence tokens are spent on buying face up Hogwarts cards. Players can buy as many cards as they can afford. The newly acquired cards are placed directly to the player’s discard area.
4. End Turn
There are few clean up type actions that complete a player’s turn.
First, they check to see if a Location is fully controlled by the villains. If the token icons are full of Villain Control tokens, the Location is under villain control. It’s discarded and the next face up location is now in play.
If a Villain has received attack tokens equal to their health, they’re defeated! The Villain card is discarded and is replaced by the next Villain from the top of the villain deck.
Any empty Hogwarts card spaces are empty, they’re refilled from the Hogwarts deck.
The player places all their played cards into their discard pile (can’t save cards in hand for the next turn).
Any unused attack or influence tokens are also discarded back to the main supply.
However, some cards let other Heroes gain tokens on a player’s turn. Those heroes don’t need to discard those tokens. (They’ll discard any excess at their end of their own turns.)
Finally, the player draws a new hand of 5 cards from their deck. When the player needs to draw more cards but their deck is depleted, they shuffle their discard pile to create their new draw deck.
Game play then continues with the next player’s turn.
Game End:
The game ends in one of two ways.
Either the Heroes successfully defeat all the Villains from the villain deck or the Villains take control of all the Locations.
If the Villains win, then players don’t advance to the next Book. Next time they play, they try again to defeat the villains in the current Book they just played.
If the Heroes are victorious, they get to open the next Book box, remove the contents, read the additional rules, add in the new cards to their respective decks, and dive into a new challenge!
Can the whole family enjoy Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle?
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a fantastic family game!
Not only will it appeal to Harry Potter fans everywhere, but it’s also a very fun game!
Granted, it’s not going to be suited for younger kids because of the reading involved. And the card art is taken from the movies – some of which may be scary for youngsters.
The recommended age on the game box says 11+.
That being said, since it’s also a cooperative game, older players can help younger players along the way.
So if your 8 year old is already familiar with Harry Potter, while he/she may not pick up the game and play it own their own, there’s no reason why he/she couldn’t enjoy playing with you as well.
If you’re unfamiliar with deck-building games (such as Dominion), Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is fantastic introduction into this wonderful type of card game. The game introduces the basic flow of deck-building (play cards, buy cards to add to and improve your deck, shuffle, repeat) in a wonderful way.
If you’re already familiar with deck-building games, the first few books of Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle will be a breeze. In fact, the rulebook instructs those familiar with deck-building games to open Books 1, 2, and 3 all at once before playing their first game.
Even though we’re very familiar with deck-building games, we wanted to experience what the game might be like for new players. So we started with Book 1 and went from there.
And yes, the first couple books felt very simplistic and easy to beat. But it also let us experience the basic flow of it being a cooperative deck-builder – which is a cool twist.
Rather than competing against each other to get the slickest deck the fastest, we’re happy to see other players gain great cards to add to their decks along the way. Good Hogwarts cards help everyone.
The game is also full of Harry Potter flavor.
There may only be 4 main hero characters to play as, but the Hogwarts cards from each book include a lot of helpful friends, potions, and items to use along the way.
It may also be nice to know that even though each hero has a health track on their player board, they can’t die or be knocked out of the game.
Some bad events will cause heroes to lose health and some Hogwarts cards will gain health. But if a player’s health goes to 0, they’re just Stunned. When Stunned, a player has to discard a number of things and add a Villain Control token to the Location, but overall it’s not too terrible.
Component Wishes
Earlier I mentioned how the artwork on the cards is taken from the Harry Potter movies. This is one of the things we enjoy about the game because of being Harry Potter fans. It helps bring us into the theme of the game as we play.
The card stock itself is also good. They feel like they’ll stand up to plenty of game plays.
It’s also great that there’s a board included for showing how to layout all the different decks of cards. It’s a very clean presentation.
Even the game insert is terrific for storing the game. And even the rulebook is well thought out with a place on the final page for storing the additional rules found in the Book boxes.
Our favorite components however are the Villain Control tokens.
These weighty metal tokens with a skull for the Dark Mark are fantastic!
They’re a high quality piece that we actually enjoy placing on the Location cards. Not that we like the villains controlling the locations – but just that they’re fun to handle.
However, not everything in the game is wonderful.
The Attack, Influence, and Heart tokens fall woefully short of the rest of the quality of the game.
They feel very cheap and out of place in the game.
While it’s nice that they already come cut out, their quality stinks. And I say “cut” out instead of punched out because they’re more like thick card stock than cardboard like every other game we have. We have no idea why the publisher would skimp on these tokens.
Instead of coming in a sheet of cardboard with tokens to punch out, these feel like an afterthought. The edges are rough and flake off.
Even though the Influence tokens have a Ministry of Magic design to them, we’ve switched them out with coin components from other games.
So if we could wave our magic wands, our first transfiguration would be on the Attack and Influence tokens. They fill their purpose functionally, but could be much better.
How does Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?
As you might have guessed, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle scores very high on our “let’s play again” game meter.
By structuring the game along with the book series, successfully completing one game cries out for the next to be played. It’s actually tough putting the game away when you know you can now open the next Book box. It just begs to be opened.
And as soon as you open one of the boxes and look at the additional cards to play with, it’s hard not to play it.
So it’s easy to get swept up in playing another game.
And even after going through all the Books, the game still has a great draw to play again and again.
Our muggle family gives many big thumbs up for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle.
We’d like to thank USAopoly for the review copy of the game.
FAQs
Is Harry Potter Hogwarts battle fun? ›
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a fantastic family game! Not only will it appeal to Harry Potter fans everywhere, but it's also a very fun game!
How long is Harry Potter board game? ›Number of players: 1 to 8 players. Duration of a game: 20 to 45 min. Contains: 1 board, 1 six-sided die, 6 pawns, 213 cards.
Can you play Harry Potter Hogwarts battle with 5 people? ›Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - The Charms and Potions Expansion is made for 2-5 players, ages 11 and up.
Is Harry Potter good for 8 year olds? ›The Harry Potter book series is Middle Grade, not YA (Young Adult). This means it is generally written for children ages 8-12 and grade levels 3-7.
How long does Harry Potter Hogwarts battle take to play? ›Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative deck building game for 2 – 4 players that, depending on which game you're playing, could take 30 minutes, or well over 90 minutes. Hogwarts Battle plays best with 4 consistent players.
Is Hogwarts 7 or 8 years? ›Students routinely attend Hogwarts for seven years — unless you are Harry Potter and his two best friends, who blew off their senior year. But who actually pays the cost of attending?
Which board game takes longest? ›- 1 The Campaign For North Africa – 1500 Hours.
- 2 World In Flames - 100 Hours. ...
- 3 Gloomhaven - 90 Hours. ...
- 4 Pandemic Legacy - 12-24 Hours. ...
- 5 Europe Engulfed: WW2 European Theatre Block Game – 12 Hours. ...
- 6 Twilight Imperium – 8 Hours. ...
- 7 7 Ages – 8 Hours. ...
- Monopoly (the Landlord's Game) (1904)
- Bunco (1855)
- Chess (1500s)
- Checkers (3,000 B.C.)
- Backgammon (3,000 B.C.)
Per the official announcement, students will be allowed to have no more than 2 pets at the same time during their magical education. Students will have to send in a form registering their animals, and each animal will be required to have a tag, either on the animal itself or on the animal's cage/tank.
What age is Hogwarts battle game for? ›Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative game for 2 to 4 players, ages 11 and up, and takes about an hour to play.
Can twins be in different Hogwarts houses? ›
Are family members always sorted into the same house at Hogwarts? Not necessarily. The Weasleys are, but Harry's own children are not (Slytherin and Gryffindor). Sirius (Gryffindor) and his brother, Regulus (Slytherin), and the Patel twins are Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, so split too.
Who are the characters in Harry Potter board game? ›In the game, players take on the role of a Hogwarts student: Harry, Ron, Hermione or Neville, each with their own personal deck of cards that's used to acquire resources.
How do you get past the chess board in Lego Harry Potter? ›(Right Image) When you step onto the chess board, hop onto the black horse piece and then the black rook piece. Ride them, then use magic on other pieces to keep the battle going until one side wins.
Is Harry Potter Hogwarts battle replayable? ›Hogwarts Battle is a simpler version of this with less replayability: replaying a book's challenges will vary primarily in the order of the dark events and villains (which can matter in later games as you face more than one villain at a time) and the order of the spells/items/allies cards that come out each game.
Is Harry Potter OK for a 4 year old? ›Like most milestones, there is no “right age.” It all depends on the kid—and the parents. But there are a few age-related guidelines to take into consideration: From a technical standpoint, Harry Potter is categorized as a middle-grade read, which typically encompasses 9–to–12-year-olds.
Can a 3 year old read Harry Potter? ›Turns out, there's no right age for Harry Potter (or a multitude of other books and milestones). Every family and every child is a bit different.
Is Harry Potter ok for a 6 year old? ›The Harry Potter Series: Ages and Stages
The first three Harry Potter books are great to read aloud to kids aged from about six or seven up. Certainly most children - both boys and girls - will love them from the age of eight.
Games is apparently behind all the cancelation and it's not due to some glitch or bug. Hogwarts Legacy is one of this year's most highly anticipated games - it's also one of the more controversial releases in recent years.
What is the longest game of Quidditch in Harry Potter? ›The longest Quidditch match lasted about three months
Because a Quidditch match can only end when the Seeker catches the Snitch, Oliver Wood once told us that the longest Quidditch match on record was about three months. They had to keep bringing on subs so the players could get a bit of rest!
There are three class periods, typically, in the morning, and three in the afternoon. Class size is typically thirty students, according to information in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This gives a total student population of about 840, or 210 in each House.
How old are 1 years in Hogwarts? ›
First years are typically eleven to twelve years of age, and begin the year by boarding the Hogwarts Express at exactly 11 a.m. from King's Cross Station on which they travel to Hogwarts.
At what age does Hogwarts end? ›A seventh year is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who is in their seventh and final year of formal magical education. Seventh years are usually seventeen to eighteen years of age. The seventh year contains the most important exams given at Hogwarts — the N.E.W.T.s.
How old would a 6th year at Hogwarts be? ›At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sixth years are typically 16 to 17 years of age, although some may be older, if they have had to repeat a year like Marcus Flint. The sixth year is the first year in which students take N.E.W.T. -level classes. Based off of their O.W.L.
What is the number 1 board game in the world? ›What is the most played board game in the world? Monopoly has been played by more than 500 million people worldwide. The game was invented in 1934 by Charles B. Darrow of Pennsylvania, USA, and more than 200 million games have been sold.
What is the most difficult board game to learn? ›- Eldritch Horror.
- Dead of Winter.
- Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective.
- Ghost Stories.
- Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island.
Other classic card games that are considered more skill-based than luck-based include Rummy (38% vs 24%), Bridge (36% vs 9%), and Cribbage (26% vs 11%). More than two in five Americans (44%) consider the casino card game, Blackjack, a game of luck over skill (35%).
What is the oldest board game in America? ›The board game Traveller's Tour Through the United States and its sister game Traveller's Tour Through Europe were published by New York City bookseller F. & R. Lockwood in 1822 and claim the distinction of being the first board games published in the United States.
What are the top 5 most popular board games? ›Following chess, checkers, backgammon, Monopoly, and Scrabble are among the top five most popular board games.
What is the most challenging board game in the world? ›1. Go. Dating back to the Zhou dynasty, Go is an ancient two-player abstract strategy board game from China. When a game surpasses its 2,500th birthday – and was once considered an essential skill by Chinese scholars – you expect it to be challenging.
Can you have 2 dogs and 1 cat? ›Houpt, VMD, Ph. D., emeritus professor at Cornell, offers these rules of thumb: One cat per household works best. Beyond that, she says that one cat and a dog or two dogs in a household can live together harmoniously, but you need to provide vertical space for the cat to escape the dogs as needed.
What is the best pet to bring to Hogwarts? ›
Owl: The owl is the most popular type of animal among Hogwarts students and is the sidekick to the novels' protagonist; this may be because having an owl as a pet is highly useful for the purpose of delivering mail to and from the student.
Are cats allowed in Hogwarts? ›Even Hogwarts recognised the importance of having a pet by your side in the wizarding world, stating in Harry's Hogwarts acceptance letter that students may bring with them 'an owl OR a cat OR a toad'.
Is Hogwarts legacy inappropriate? ›Is Hogwarts Legacy Appropriate for Children? Hogwarts Legacy is rated T (Teen 13+), with Content Descriptors including Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Use of Alcohol, and Interactive Elements for In-Game Purchases.
What year is a 16 year old at Hogwarts? ›A student in their sixth year at Hogwarts was called a sixth-year (with a hyphen). At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sixth-years were typically 16 to 17 years of age. This was the first year in which students advanced to N.E.W.T. -level classes, based on the individuals' O.W.L.
How old are 5th years at Hogwarts? ›In Hogwarts Legacy, 5th years are 15-16 years old. The age of students in Harry Potter can be calculated by taking what year they are in and adding 10. This is the age at which they start the school year. So fifth year students in Hogwarts Legacy are 15-16 years old.
Can a Hufflepuff be with a Slytherin? ›Gentle Hufflepuff may seem like an odd match with cunning Slytherin, but that's not to say these two couldn't work out. In fact, a Slytherin could give their Hufflepuff partner the confidence and encouragement they need to pursue their dreams.
What house is Lavender Brown in? ›Cho Huang (née Chang) (born 7 April, 1979) was a Pure-Blood witch who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1990 to 1997 and was Sorted into Ravenclaw. She was a Seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and a popular student.
Is Lego Harry Potter worth playing? ›LEGO Harry Potter Collection Reviews. LEGO Harry Potter Collection is ranked in the 51st percentile of games scored on OpenCritic. A good remaster for the two LEGO Harry Potter games: the games' structure is a little outdated, if compared to the most recent LEGO games, but going back to Hogwarts is always a pleasure.
Is the Harry Potter play worth it? ›It's Great for Kids and Adults: It's tough to find a Broadway play that appeals to both kids and adults, but this by far hits the mark. Based on the massive success of the seven books and eight movies, it's clear that the Harry Potter series is appealing to kids, tweens, teens, young adults, baby boomers and seniors.
What age is Hogwarts battle for? ›
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a cooperative game for 2 to 4 players, ages 11 and up, and takes about an hour to play.
Is LEGO Harry Potter ending? ›All three of LEGO Harry Potter's direct-to-consumer sets are scheduled to stay on shelves through 2024, with one new release destined to retire all the way in 2025.
Does J.K. Rowling get money from LEGO Harry Potter? ›And as with all Harry Potter merchandise, J.K. Rowling presumably receives royalties from the sale of LEGO sets inspired by her works. This is something that other Potter-related merchandise, such as the Hogwarts Legacy video game, has attempted to address. In 2020, Warner Bros.
Is LEGO better than gold? ›LEGOs are worth more than gold
They found that the market prices of retired LEGO sets, when sold on secondary marketplaces, grew by at least 11% annually. This is higher than the average returns for gold, large stocks, bonds, and other types of investments.
The "Harry Potter" books have inspired 11 films, and fans have rated them online. Most Rotten Tomatoes fans seem to love "Deathly Hallows - Part 2" and "Prisoner of Azkaban." But "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" is the lowest-rated film of the group.
What should you not miss at Harry Potter studios? ›- Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey inside Hogwarts Castle. ...
- Flight of the Hippogriff. ...
- Escape from Gringotts. ...
- Ollivander's Wand Shop. ...
- Honeydukes. ...
- Dervish and Banges. ...
- Magical Menagerie. ...
- Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' epilogue, we meet a young, nervous Albus Severus, so named after the two Hogwarts professors Harry was inspired by. Albus serves as our hero in Cursed Child, unwittingly following in the footsteps of his famous father.
How old are 7th years at Hogwarts? ›A seventh year is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who is in their seventh and final year of formal magical education. Seventh years are usually seventeen to eighteen years of age.
How old are six years in Hogwarts? ›During the sixth year
At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sixth years are typically 16 to 17 years of age, although some may be older, if they have had to repeat a year like Marcus Flint. The sixth year is the first year in which students take N.E.W.T. -level classes. Based off of their O.W.L.
Warner Bros. is canceling Hogwarts Legacy pre-orders - Xfire.
Did lavender survive the Battle of Hogwarts? ›
Cause of Death: During the Battle of Hogwarts, Lavender falls and is attacked and killed by the werewolf Death Eater Fenrir Greyback. Although Lavender annoyed Hermione and some of her other classmates, she was just a teenager caught up in a tragic war, and she didn't deserve to be killed in such a violent manner.
What is the longest Quidditch game ever played? ›The longest Quidditch match lasted about three months
Because a Quidditch match can only end when the Seeker catches the Snitch, Oliver Wood once told us that the longest Quidditch match on record was about three months.