Harry Potter Board Games: cooperative deck-building game
Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle Game: How to Play
The Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle Game is a cooperative deck-building game for 2 to 4 players. Play as Harry, Ron, Hermione or Neville, buy spells, allies and items, then defeat every villain before they take over the locations.
- 2016
- 2-4 players
- 30-60 minutes
- Ages 11+
- cooperative deck-building game
- The Op Games (formerly USAopoly)
Designers: Andrew Wolf, Forrest-Pruzan Creative, Kami Mandell
Wands out, team. Take down every villain before the locations fall.
Hogwarts Battle is cooperative, so everyone loses if the villains win. Turns are short. Follow the steps below, from the first Dark Arts event to drawing a new hand of five cards. Want to compare it with the other games in the series first? Browse the full Harry Potter board games list.
Discard any Influence and Attack tokens you haven’t used at the end of your turn.
Quick guide: one turn of Hogwarts Battle
Each turn follows the same loop: reveal trouble, play cards and rebuild your hand.
Bought cards go to your discard pile, not your hand.
- Step 1:
Reveal the Dark Arts event or events for the current location. They may cost heroes health or make them discard cards.
- Step 2:
Check for villain abilities. Some trigger every turn; others need a specific event.
- Step 3:
Play the cards in your hand. Most give you Influence tokens, Attack tokens or both.
- Step 4:
Spend Attack tokens on a villain. Once it has as many tokens as health, defeat it and collect its reward.
- Step 5:
Spend Influence to buy one of the six face-up Hogwarts cards. It goes to your discard pile, not your hand.
- Step 6:
Discard unused tokens. They do not carry over to your next turn.
- 7Step 7:
Refill the Hogwarts cards to six, then draw a new hand of five cards.
- 8Step 8:
Defeat every villain before they control all the locations to win.
The turn summary skips how heroes get stunned, how control shifts around the board and why some games have more villains than others. The next section explains those rules and how the seven adventures ramp up the difficulty. Prefer a head-to-head game? Hogwarts Battle: Defence Against the Dark Arts is a separate competitive spinoff.
Hogwarts Battle Rules, Explained
Setup
Each player takes a hero card, Turn Order card and Player Board to track their deck, health and tokens.
Each player starts with a ten-card deck. Everyone gets Alohomora!, and each hero adds a few of their own cards.
Shuffle the Hogwarts cards, then deal the top six face up onto the game board.
Set up the villains, Dark Arts events and locations for your adventure, following the rulebook’s instructions for that game.
Turn by turn
Dark Arts events
At the start of your turn, reveal one or more Dark Arts events, as directed by the current location. They may cost heroes health or make them discard cards.
Villain abilities
After resolving the events, check each villain. Its ability may trigger every turn or when something specific happens, like a hero losing health or a Control token being added.
Play cards and gain tokens
Play your five cards. Most give you Influence or Attack tokens to keep on your Player Board. You can also gain tokens on another hero's turn and save them for yours.
Defeat villains
Assign Attack tokens to a villain. Once it has as many tokens as health, it’s defeated, and you claim its reward.
Acquire Hogwarts cards
Spend Influence equal to a card’s value to take it from the six face-up cards. An ally, item or spell goes to your discard pile, then joins your deck when you shuffle.
End your turn
Discard leftover tokens. Refill the face-up cards to six, then draw a fresh hand of five. If your deck runs out, shuffle your discard pile to make a new one.
End of the game and scoring
There’s no scoring. Win an adventure by defeating all its villains before they take control of every location. If they take over all the locations first, you lose. Clear an adventure to move on to the next of the seven.
Key rules
Cooperative play
The whole group wins or loses together. Some cards help only you; others aid one hero or everyone. Decks work best when their cards complement each other.
Locations and control
Each location shows how many Dark Arts events to reveal each turn and how many Control tokens it takes to fall. Defend locations in the order shown by the game.
Stunned heroes
If a hero’s health drops to zero, they’re stunned. Add 1 Control to the location, discard half your hand and any tokens, then recover to full health at the end of the turn.
Removing control
Defeating some villains removes 1 Control from the location. Some Hogwarts cards can do the same, so check the row for help.
Villains ramp up
The first adventure has just three villains, and you face them one at a time. Later adventures add villains and more Dark Arts events to the stack.
Tokens you can’t save
You can’t save cards or resources for later. Discard anything unused at the end of your turn, so spend it all if you can.
Tips for your first game
- Play every card in your hand when you can. Unused tokens disappear at the end of your turn.
- Keep an eye on everyone’s health. A stunned hero adds Control to a location, which hurts the whole team.
- Buy a mix of cards. Spells that gain Influence help you unlock higher-value cards, while Attack cards handle villains.
- Before anyone buys, point out which cards in the row help one hero and which help everyone.
- Read each villain’s ability as soon as it appears. Some trigger from effects you reveal yourself.
A stunned hero adds 1 Control to the location.
The rules explain how to play, but the theme brings the school setting to life. Here’s how the game follows the seven adventures, including the characters you meet and the spells and items in your deck. Fans of this style may also like the Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising game.
The game and the Harry Potter story behind it
You can gain tokens during another hero’s turn and save them for yours.
The game
Design and publisher
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is published by The Op, formerly known as USAopoly. The Op says it grew out of a collaboration with Forrest-Pruzan Creative. Designer Kami Mandell wrote the solo play rules.
A seven-part adventure
The Op describes seven adventures, each tougher than the one before. After the seventh, start over with a different hero or revisit a favorite.
The film or series it covers
The Harry Potter stories span seven adventures that follow Harry's years at Hogwarts. The Op calls this a Wizarding World board game.
All four heroes begin their Hogwarts studies at the same time. Their starting cards come from the stories: Harry has his Invisibility Cloak and Hedwig, while Neville gets his Remembrall and a Mandrake. Villains like Crabbe and Goyle and Draco Malfoy battle for control of places such as Diagon Alley.
Scenes and story beats in the game
- 1
The first adventure has you defend Diagon Alley and the Mirror of Erised.
- 2
Alohomora! is the one spell every hero starts with.
- 3
Hedwig gives Harry either Attack or Health, so pick what he needs most that turn.
- 4
Crabbe and Goyle have Health 5, which means five Attack tokens will defeat them.
- 5
Draco Malfoy makes you lose Health each time Control is added. Defeating him removes 1 Control.
What the Hogwarts Battle box includes
- Hero cards for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville
- One Turn Order card for each player
- One Player Board for each player
- Hogwarts cards featuring spells, allies, and items
- Villain cards showing health and rewards
- Dark Arts event cards
- Location cards and Control tokens
- Influence and Attack tokens
Hogwarts Battle expansion options
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
The base game. It plays 2 to 4 players, ages 11 and up, and holds all seven adventures.
The Monster Box of Monsters
Four new adventures that send the heroes into the Forbidden Forest. It adds Luna Lovegood as a playable hero, creatures, encounters, detention cards and a banishing effect, and you choose one Proficiency from Game 6 to play it.
The Charms and Potions Expansion
Adds four packs of content, Ginny Weasley as a fifth hero with her own board and tokens, ten Charms boards and an eighth spell, the Bat Bogie Hex. It plays 2 to 5 players and does not need the Monster Box of Monsters.
Hogwarts Battle questions answered
How do you play Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle?
Each turn, reveal Dark Arts events, play your five cards for Influence and Attack, defeat villains, and buy cards for your deck. The group wins by defeating all villains before they control every location.
How long does a game of Hogwarts Battle take?
The publisher lists about 60 minutes for the base game. The seven adventures get tougher as you go, putting more demands on your deck in later games.
What does The Monster Box of Monsters add to Hogwarts Battle?
It adds four adventures, Luna Lovegood as a playable hero, creatures, and encounters. It also brings in detention cards and a banishing effect that removes cards from your deck.
Can you play Hogwarts Battle with five players?
Yes. The Charms and Potions Expansion adds Ginny Weasley as a fifth hero and supports 2 to 5 players.
Can you play Hogwarts Battle solo?
Yes. The Op says designer Kami Mandell wrote solo play rules for the game.
What happens when a hero is stunned in Hogwarts Battle?
Add 1 Control to the location, then discard half the cards in your hand and any tokens. You recover full health at the end of your turn.
Do I need to play the Hogwarts Battle adventures in order?
The publisher lays out seven adventures, each harder than the last, with new villains, Dark Arts events, and cards in every game. Start with the first to learn the game as intended.
Discard any Influence and Attack tokens you haven’t used at the end of your turn.
Bought cards go to your discard pile, not your hand.