Sectumsempra! – review of the board game “Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle: Defense Against the Dark Arts”

Kto z nas nie marzył o liście z Hogwartu, niech pierwszy rzuci zaklęciem. Miliony dzieciaków (a także dorosłych) zakochało się w niezwykłym świecie Harry’ego Pottera, pełnym fantastycznych stworzeń, wspaniałych historii, niesamowitych przyjaźni  i przede wszystkim magii. Jednak prawdziwym złotym zniczem uniwersum były fenomenalne pojedynki czarodziejów, których klimat możemy poznać dzięki planszówce Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle: Obrona przed czarną magią.

Accio cards!

Defense Against the Dark Arts is a typical two-player deck-building game that is played over a maximum of five rounds. The player’s goal is to win an exchange of blows (we play cards and resolve their effects) to stun and throw the opponent off the shield. Of course, the first player to collect 3 stun tokens wins.

The set includes: a solidly made, hardened training mat board; creative and atmospheric 4 house cards, 112 Hogwarts, 31 charms, 24 starting cards and 8 items. All of them are marked with a special reverse referring to duels. During the game, we will also use surprisingly nice and stiff house markers and various types of tokens. You can’t see any damage after them, despite having played several dozen battles, so we can count on them to be as long-lived as Hogwarts. The creators of the game decided to use the actors’ likenesses for the effect of coherence with the film, but the elements of visual creativity can be found primarily in the markers and the board.

 

Bomb!

We start with placing house markers on the starting spaces. We divide individual cards among ourselves and create a starting deck for players. Each takes seven “Alohomora” spells, one item “Wand”, “Cauldron”, and art from starting ally cards. Then, we shuffle the cards to create ten-piece decks and draw five of them to add to our hand.

We begin by considering the spells that affect the turn. Later, we play Hogwarts cards and analyze their effects, which are attacks (we move the opponent’s marker back), health (we move our gauge forward – “healing ourselves”) and cost. Put the played cards aside (except for allies). If you manage to move your opponent’s house marker to stun, you win the round.

Expelliarmus!

For me, the biggest advantage of the game (apart from very solid workmanship) is a direct duel. We can feel like Harry fighting Draco (in the Chamber of Secrets). We cast spells, deal damage to enemies, and at the same time have a great time using e.g. wands. It is also worth paying attention to the dynamics of the game, which allows for fast and atmospheric gameplay. The first round is by far the longest, when we mainly focus on creating our deck, but the subsequent stages of the game proceed at a dizzying pace.

The biggest problem of the game, however, is its correctness, because very accessible rules and mechanics as well as a relatively direct reference to the movies mean that Defense does not stand out from similar items. The situation is somewhat reminiscent of Lockhart’s attack, whose spell reflected in his direction, because we get the impression that the board game was aimed exclusively at Harry Potter fans, and a more demanding player would probably look for something much more interesting for himself.

Open to Kedavra

Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle: Defense Against the Dark Arts is a position primarily for board moguls and Aurors, who are big fans of JK Rowling’s work. We will find there a characteristic film atmosphere, solidly made elements and exciting duels, allowing us to feel the fate of our favorite heroes. All this makes the time spent during the game go by at a dizzying pace, and we will start dreaming about the Hermione time-turner.