How to Play

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

2-4 players 30-60 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

Players become Hogwarts students defending the castle from villains in this cooperative deck-building adventure. Each character starts with a personal card deck, gaining influence to purchase spells, allies, and magical items. Teams must collaborate to defeat attacking villains while managing health and countering Dark Arts effects to successfully protect Hogwarts from evil forces.

Published 2016

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place Location cards

Retrieve cards recommended from the scenario and place in order face up

Prepare Dark Arts deck

Retrieve recommended Dark Arts cards and Dark Potion cards from the scenario, shuffle all together

Stack Encounters and Horcruxes

Place in order face up in the centre of the game board

Prepare Villains deck

Shuffle recommended and random villains and creatures listed for the scenario, including those listed on encounter cards being played

Set up Hogwarts card shop

Shuffle all recommended Hogwarts cards and reveal the top 6 cards

Select Expert Hero cards

Choose your hero, as well as proficiency, Patronus and charms if the game allows them

Prepare Potions board

If the game allows, shuffle potion cards and place face down on top of the Potions board

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Step 1: Reveal Dark Arts events

Start with revealing 1 dark art/potion card (amount increases over time)

Step 2: Resolve Villain abilities

Resolve horcrux/event first, then resolve each Villain's ability from left to right

Step 3: Play Hogwarts cards

As the active Hero, do all of the following in any order you choose

Step 4: Gather Potion Ingredients

If available for the game

Step 5: End your turn

Complete the following actions

Defeating a Villain

When attack and influence tokens equal the Villain's Health, immediately gain the reward and return attack tokens to the pile

Claiming Encounters

If you meet an encounter requirement, collect the card at the end of your turn; only one encounter may be claimed per turn

Being Stunned

If you lose all Health, you are stunned

Rolling Hogwarts Dice

Some cards allow rolling House dice, generating effects that benefit all Heroes

Destroying Horcruxes

Roll House dice to match required symbols; when all symbols are rolled, collect the Horcrux card for a permanent ability

Banishing cards

Banishing is always optional except when forced by Cornelius Fudge's ability

Winning

How to claim victory.

Heroes win condition

Cooperatively defeat all the Villains before they gain control of all the Locations to secure the safety of Hogwarts

Villains win condition

If the Villains manage to gain control of all of the Locations, the Heroes have lost the game

Location control check

When Villains gain required control tokens on a Location, Heroes have until the end of that turn to remove a token by playing a card or defeating a Villain

Location loss

If the Location still has required control tokens at turn end, discard it and reveal the next Location