Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - Lightning Review

Designer: Forrest-Pruzan Creative, Kami Mandell, Andrew Wolf

Artist: Joe Van Wetering

Publisher: The Op

Year Published: 2016

No. of Players: 2-4

Ages: 11+

Playing Time: 30-60 minutes

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a family friendly cooperative deck-building game that is a great entry-level game for getting new players into the hobby in an overall package that should hook most aspiring players. The look and feel of the Harry Potter universe is strong in this one and since this game is cooperative, it really takes the pressure off new players who have not experience some of the mechanics of modern board games. One thing that makes this game so accessible is that the game is broken up into all seven years of Hogwarts schooling and each year adds new mechanics and/or abilities to the game. So, what this means is that the game starts off very simple and the complexity ramps up through repeated plays. It’s a great way to get both younger and new players to progress in their gaming experience without having to introduce them to a brand new game that they have to learn from scratch.

Art is mostly photos from the films and some may be turned off by this, but I quite like it. My only complaint is that the cards are a bit low in quality and wear shows fairly quickly.

Find more info on BoardGameGeek.com (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199042/harry-potter-hogwarts-battle)