Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle A Cooperative Deck Building Game (Usaopoly) 269

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The F.A.Q. for Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle A Cooperative Deck Building Game (Usaopoly)

I bought this game for my daughter (11) this christmas. She is a huge fan of harry potter and as a family we all love strategy games (think dominion, stone age, puerto rico, machi koro, etc). I knew she would love the game, because anything harry potter is great in her book. But i wasn't sure if the adults in the family would enjoy it as much, given the level of strategy game we are used to. We have now played all the levels. And for awhile i was thinking the game, while enjoyable was a little easy. In the first 6 levels we lost once to the villains early on, but then won every other game by a large margin. But when we reached the 7th year i was actually glad to find that we lost horribly to the villains (i like it when a game is a bit challenging) so i think we will have many more games before we actually triumph on the 7th level. Even when we were winning easily the game was fun and enjoyable (although a little repetitive). I enjoy the cooperative aspect of the game, and the deck building. It is nice that it isn't as confusing as some strategy games and it didn't take too long to learn. I feel like this is a legit board game, not just something to entice harry potter fanatics.

A number of questions have been asked here.

Q&A

(0) Question: Is the rule book posted online anywhere? i tend to read the rules before deciding on purchasing a game.

(1) Question: Is there any replay value after you've played through all the levels once?

(2) Question: Is this game supposed to have dice? i have had 2 delivered now no dice in either

(3) Question: My son is seven, but he's been playing 'difficult' games like munchkin since he was four. do you think he could learn this?

(4) Question: I read on bgg that some versions have missing stupefy cards and instead have extra confundus cards. have any of you received a correct copy?

(5) Question: Does the game contain any "spoilers" if you haven't read all the books? not sure if we should finish the series before playing (we've read 5 books).

(6) Question: Is this comparable to the dc deck building games?

(7) Question: Can this game be easily dominated by one player since its cooperative?

(8) Question: Can this game be played solo? will there be a solo variant?

(note) Question: where/how to get Usaopoly (manufacturer's brand) accessories & similiar Usaopoly's products

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Best harry potter hogwarts battle a cooperative deck building game (usaopoly) in review

I hesitated to buy this game because i've been disappointed in harry potter games in the past. They seemed to rely on the hp theme and didn't put enough effort into actual game play. I'm happy to say that usaopoly and forrest-pruzan creative have knocked it out of the park! or "castle, " if you want to go there. . This is a cooperative deck building game that has 7 games that build on each other. Kind of a neat concept. (i'm not talking about expansions you have to purchase - everything is included in the box. ) you and the other players play as harry, ron, hermione, and nevile. The object is to defeat the villians (draco, quirrel, lucius, etc. ) before the villians take over all your locations. That's the object of the first 2 games, at least. Because, just like the novels, this game builds on itself 7 times. Game 1 is complete in and of itself, but adding the material of another game box will change it in certain ways. One of the game boxes add dice. To a deck building game that starts with no dice. I can't wait to get there! . . The board, cards, and tokens are all very good quality. Nothing is flimsy or wanting. The dark mark tokens are stellar. Molded in metal, they have a heavy weight and definitely add to the "wow! " factor with this game. After you play each game box, the cards can be separated out again, or left together by type. (game 1 has 2 villians, game 2 adds 3 more, etc. ) the game developers thought ahead and even gave us organizer cards if you want to keep everything all mixed together (all the villians together, all the dark art events together, etc. ) once you've cracked the box and moved up the game ladder. . Because of the game 1-7 add-on feature, this is an excellent intro to eurogames. It starts off really simple but ramps up after you get used to the mechanics. One of the great perks is that if you have kids just now reading the books, you can play this game with them up to and including the game box for the corresponding book. That way it's completely relevant to them and nothing is given away for the later books. . Harry potter is very special to me for personal reasons that go back to 1997. I was an original fan. My hat is off to the developers for creating a solid, enjoyable game for diehard fans!

X. Bertie, Portsmouth

O. Valdez, Rutland says

My 10-year-old son got this game for christmas and we have all been playing it non-stop ever since. Even his teenage sisters are enjoying it. My son says it is his most favorite gift of the many he received. . What i really love is that this game is cooperative, meaning all the players are basically on the same team, working together against the villains. This has been so refreshing, as sometimes my kids get competitive against each other and fight while playing games. Seeing them work together is great. . None of us have played "deck-building" games before, so at first, learning to play seemed daunting, especially as we all sat there trying to figure it out. I panicked slightly at first, thinking oh my goodness, what did we get ourselves into, this looks really complicated. Really, it's not hard, but i must say it will be a lot easier to get started if just one person reads the directions and maybe watches a sample game play on youtube. Once we did that, it was easy peasy. . We really like how you work through harry's different school years, which means you are enhancing the game at each level. My son was beside himself with glee, peeking in the next year's box. We play each level for a while and then move up. Right now, we are up to year 5. We have not lost to the villains once, which has prompted us to give the villains a head start to make the game more challenging. . The game itself is really well made, nice quality. We love harry potter, but you can play this even if you aren't familiar with the stories. If you are familiar with the stories, you will enjoy it even more.

L. Rhonda, Michigan

Excellent game even for beginners to the deck-building genre. . One of my favorite things about this game, especially as a hp fan, is that it contains 7 separate decks for each of the books/years. This grants excellent replay-ability at various difficulties and lets you feel in some way like you are progressing through the books again yourself. It has excellent-quality materials for all of the pieces - so you know it wont wear out quickly. . This has become one of my favorite games to play with my family and friends, and it's really accessible even for non-hp fans. A cool thing is that by being a deck-building game it also allows you to play your own style; one game i was building more offensively and trying to take out as many villans as i could, and the next i ended up playing more of a support character, granting allies attacks and extra money and healing others - and i did it with the same character, which means roles aren't imposed if you want to be a non-combative harry. The balance is quite good too, and there is a very satisfying jump in difficulty once you pass the "tutorial years" (book 1/2). . I've only successfully finished year 3 so far after 1 day, so i'll update my review later once i complete all the decks :), but honestly a must buy if you are a hp fan, and a great game even if you don't know anything about the hp universe.

S. Taylor, Arkansas says

The game is a musthave for potter-heads and boardgame fans alike, which comboed pretty nicely with my group of friends and have cumulated in hours of gaming already (got the game a week ago). Each year brings something new to the table and increases the difficulty either through new villain cards, dark event cards, or just general stuff like adding more villains to the table. We have completed games 1-5 and have to agree that games 1-3 is the easiest, with game 4 and 5 being much harder than the preceding games. . Our only complaint is that the hogwarts cards (the cards on your hand) seem to be made from the same quality of cheap playing cards and thus might not last long unless you put them in sleeves, but the box comes with ample space so sleeving them is no problem with storage

U. Elida, Darlington

Fun, beautifully designed game and works well for two people. It is super easy until game 6 and then it becomes pretty challenging.

T. Rebecca, Nova Scotia says

This game is surprisingly really fun. And the higher the grade, the most stressful beating the bad guys are! i haven't played with more than 2 people, but it's fun for just 2 players.

Y. Cageen, Haringey

My wife and i are big harry potter fans which is why originally bought the game, even though we've never played anything similar. I enjoyed it from the start but it took my wife a few games before she started enjoying. We've been playing it nightly for about 3 weeks now, with each of us controlling 2 different character cards (could even be played solo if wanted to play all 4). It's broken into 7 rounds (one for each book), each adding additional gameplay elements and/or cards with all cards marked so can play the desired version anytime.

Z. Shawna, Oregon says

This makes a great "my first deckbuilder". It's a lot more fun for experienced players if you skip to the last books.

X. Jessica, Bournemouth

Definitely a great buy - really fun interactive game. Even better if you're watching the movies with it!

I. Shirley, Gateshead says

I love love love this game. It's a classic deck-building game, meaning that you start out with, essentially, "money" in your hand, and use that to purchase more powerful cards to add to your deck as the game progresses. You then use these cards to heal you and your teammates, attack enemies, and purchase even more powerful cards. If you're familiar with deck building games like dominion and star realms, you'll likely be able to pick this up pretty quickly. The great thing is that it's fully cooperative, so it's you and the other players working together to defeat the game instead of fighting each other, so it's not difficult to lead new players through it. I just wouldn't recommend this for your grade-schooler. It says "harry potter, " but it's pretty involved and get steadily more complicated and difficult as the game progresses, though you could probably add some house rules and adjust some things to make it better for younger kids. . You'll play seven rounds in total, starting with year 1 and ending with year 7 (assuming you miraculously win each round on the first go). It's not difficult to stop between rounds, and you'll probably have to, unless you're willing to play until the wee hours of the morning. And honestly, it's so fun, you might. I know we have! if i had to guess, i'd wager it took us about 9 hours to play all the way through, including re-playing years until we beat each one (which i think added three or four rounds to the seven). . Each player takes on the role of either harry, ron, hermione, or neville, and while you can definitely play however you want no matter who you are, each character has special powers that can really be the difference between winning and losing if you play to their strengths. Year one starts simply, and each year adds a few more villains to defeat, new spells you can learn, new allies and items to gain. By year 7, you're also fighting to destroy the horcruxes in addition to defeating a veritable hoard of villains. You'll find that you start to develop some strategies as you learn the ins and outs of the game, and by the end, you'll almost have to do so, or otherwise be obliterated. And sometimes you'll be obliterated no matter what you do. . The only thing i don't like about the game really has nothing to do with the game itself. I just hate all these cardboard tokens you have to use. You'll find that the location markers are these cool little metal pieces, but the attack, health, and influence tokens are cardboard. So it true harry potter nerd fashion, i'm replacing all the pieces with cooler metal and glass ones ones. ; )

H. Mable, Champagne-Ardenne

We have had a lot of fun playing this game together. I really like the cooperative aspect. Harry potter fans will love this.

C. Broyles, Herefordshire says

Update. Online store sent a replacement and this game had all the cards. Had fun playing the first game. Very well made. Just make sure all the cards and pieces are in the game first. . The game was a christmas present. We were very excited to play except after reading the instructions several times and watching "how to play" on youtube we finally realized cards were missing in the "game 1" card deck. It had only 1 of 2 location cards and no hero cards in the game 1 deck of cards. We have not played the game so we can't say if it's worth the big expense but it is very complicated to learn how to play and impossible to play if cards are missing. Online store is shipping a replacement so we will cross our fingers and hope all the cards for the 7 decks arrive this time. For a game this expensive all the items for the game should be included.

U. Colleen, Kansas

*important notice for people purchasing the early first runs of this game. There was a printing error which lead to 4 copies of a card called confundus being put into the box (2 in box 5 and 2 in box 6 i think). The two confundus! cards in box 5 were supposed to be two copies of stupefy! which are missing from some peoples game, including my own. You can contact usaopoly customer service to get replacement cards:. . Usaopoly. Com/game-care-customer-service-inquiry. . This is a highly entertaining game that was well worth the purchase and should be enjoyed for some time to come. I've played with just two and multiple games in groups of four and it's entertaining with both. . As a quick summary - i enjoy deck builders and this is a solid addition to our collection. If you like deck builders, particularly co-operative ones like legendary encounters: aliens, and enjoy harry potter this seems like an inevitable purchase. It also works as an easy way to introduce people to deck building mechanics which should work nicely for families, just be wary of small spoilers for children that haven't read through the books yet. . For a more detailed breakdown of my thoughts so far:. . -the game evolves as you play through the chapters/games. The game has a built in tutorial for the first few games where it introduces you to the general mechanics of deck builders and the basics of this particular game. As you progress through each chapter you essentially continue to add more villains, more purchasable cards and more dark arts events. If you're familiar with deck builders or are a savvy bunch you could easily start on game 4 or 5. The cards are all marked for which game they belong to so that if, at any point, you want to reset the game back you can easily do so. Game 7 represents the ultimate full form of the game with the full complement of villains, dark arts events cards and the couple other unique features introduced throughout the entire series including game 7. . -the game will get longer as you progress through chapters. You continue to add in villains with each chapter meaning the number of villains that you need to defeat is also increased. People have suggested on board game geek that it plateaus out at about 1. 5-1. 75 hours with the very first game maybe being half an hour. . -it both does and does not follow the events of the books and movies. As you progress through chapters it will introduce villains and dark arts events from the harry potter series. However the game doesn't really try to tell a story and most of the villains don't come up in order. As a result it doesn't really give away major pieces of the plot. Regardless if you have a child that is reading through the books currently the best suggestion would be to only play through the games that they have read up to (game 1 matching roughly to book 1) mainly so they can relate to the villains and events that occur. If you want to play beyond that point you can also look through the cards and maybe just remove those cards that you think might give too much away. . -the game tends to be a bit harder with 4 people than with 2. Some of the events and villains affect all characters simultaneously which makes the game slightly harder for a full group. I think overall it balances well for two players still since you also have less hero powers to make use of. It may not be the most difficult co-operative game out there, but make no mistake, the game can kick your butt pretty well depending on the villain order. You need to carefully balance damage output, heals and removing villain influence. . -there is no player elimination. I don't like player elimination, especially for semi-long games. This game handles that aspect nicely, there are still health pools to track for the characters but when you hit zero you aren't eliminated. Instead you discard some cards for that turn and it helps the villains, but you are not eliminated. You bounce back to full health for the next turn. If everyone keeps getting stunned every other turn, however, you will lose. So you still need to be careful. . -production quality is quite good. The pieces are all well done. The theme flows through all the cards and pieces. Overall the game mechanics, theme and cards just simply work. Very nice box and board. It feels like the designers are true fan of the series. . -several groups of friends already want to play this game just from seeing a picture posted online. It has that excitement factor just looking at the game, which i think is a huge plus. . -setup and game play is quick. You can set up a game in under 10 minutes and get going. Turns tend to be straightforward and are quick to resolve. . The game is easy to teach. The rules are easy to understand and everything is basically explained on the cards themselves. This helps immensely with teaching the game and being able to just play rather than making sure you have all the rules just right before each turn. This is a fantastic gateway game since you can modify the difficulty level while still introducing some major designer game concepts (like deck building) to a group. The co-operative nature of the game means you can actually help other players without ruining the game. . So should you buy it? . . If you already own a ton of designer board games (think like 20+ especially deck builders or maybe cooperative games). You may not get a ton out of this particular game unless you want/need the harry potter theme or if the game mechanics are drastically different from anything you already own. I think this game does what it does well, but nothing is especially groundbreaking. For these people that already own a lot of games i'd suggest waiting to see online plays or for reviews to come out from your favorite reviewers before purchasing. Rahdo has a nice run through of this game and dice tower has also covered it just to name a couple. . For those that have more limited designer game collections. Are you looking to try out (or think you might like) cooperative board games? are you looking for a good introduction to deck building games? do you love the harry potter universe or have family members that do? if you answer yes to all of these it's an obvious purchase. If you answer yes to even one it's also probably a great purchase. . I bought it because i love cooperative games and there are limited cooperative deckbuilders. For me and my relatively small collection of games it ranks right up there along with my other cooperatives like pandemic and ghost stories in terms of fun. It probably doesn't have the huge replay value of a game like pandemic, but it also doesn't need to. I'm exceedingly happy with my purchase and the significant other is too, and that's all i really care about.

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