Want Your Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle to Be More Balanced? SO DO I! Join Me

[@dylanfowler70]

Me and my friend play this very regularly. She almost always plays as Hermione and I tend to favor Ron, though I have played Harry. I will say that Hermione + Ron is really strong. Especially if you plan together. Like Hermione does great when she gets a lot of spells and card draw, she's constantly syphoning card draw and coins to Ron. Then Ron stacks up on allies, and if you luck into Polyjuice Potion you're on a roll. By the last few games, she's getting me a hand of like 8+ cards to start off with, and I'm doing 8+ damage a turn. I would say that Harry isn't required to win if you and the person you're playing with are coordinating and playing to your strengths. We also plan and strategize, taking out the worst villain of the 3 first, and planning it so that when it gets down to Voldy, with one face down villain above him, and 3 on the board, we plan it to knock out those 3 all at once so at the end its just Voldy and 1 villain, not Voldy and 3. (And also plan to get all the Horcruxes done before he's revealed too). We've played with other friends who don't work together on that level, and will snatch up cards because they're special or pretty, despite the fact that they would work better in someone else's deck. It makes it harder when your deck is just a pile of random cards that don't synergize because you wanted all your beloved characters from the books in your deck. :-P I do like the idea of culling out the duplicates though, especially for a 2 player game.

[@leadbones]

I keep my Hogwart's cards in two stacks, and use the six printed slots as two columns of three. Cheaper cards on the left, and more expensive cards on the right. The decks are sorted with cards of values 1-4 in the left deck, and the right deck is cards that cost 5 or more. It keeps the offer from getting clogged up with high value cards too soon and ensures there are always cards available to buy. Also I always stack the villain deck and semi-randomize it due to certain villain combinations being too strong for the first draft. I also won't let any one dark arts card lead to drawing more than one additional dark arts card in locations that require two or more draws already. This game is broken, in my opinion. But these fixes smoothed it out for me, and it's a good time now. Too much luck if you play it as designed. Some games can simply be impossible with bad luck. Anybody who says otherwise either hasn't played it that many times to run into a bad setup, or is just extremely lucky. I honestly think of this game as a toolbox. Mix and match locations, encounters, and villains to kind of create a little HP vignette.

[@hueysimon2726]

Instead of thinning out the market deck, just have an option that says when you buy a card, you can discard it to the market discard or bottom of market instead of adding it to your deck. That way it's not free. It has a cost to cycle cards, but at a slower pace. But if you're getting too many low cost cards mid to late game that you no longer want, they just are permanent slots eaten up by those cards. I saw someone else also suggest stacking identical cards in the same slot.

[@TabletopTolson]

Thanks! Great suggestions.

[@leorenck4675]

We play a lot with a friend and i do think we really understood the macanics of the game. There is only one rule we add to make the game more dynamic is that we can remove a card from the shop for half it’s cost. To me everything else is a part of the game. Considering it’s you VS the game it’s needed to have some overloaded combinations so sometimes the game has to win. One thing you should consider is drawing the six cards and the three ennemy before choosing your character and ability. To us best character is Neville by far then Luna, Hermione, Ron and far away behind all other Harry. We Also take out some easy opponent before we mix all enemies together so it’s not 99%win.

[@TabletopTolson]

Great suggestions!

[@ohgoosey6233]

I totally agree with you! I bought the game yesterday, going to play with my family next weekend. Coöperative games, and games in general, need to be challenging, and part of that is the fact that you can't win all the time. Losing every game is not particularly fun, neither is always winning, right? The winning/losing % has to be balanced as well. Losing keeps you thinking: what should I do different next time & how can we improve even further. When games are too easy, you'll be quite bored after a while, so they made every year a bit more difficult. And sure, a game could have imbalances. The tips are useful, will think about them when I'll play through it anyway!

[@MsGinahidesout]

💯 agree that Harry is the weakest link

[@nicolykid]

This game is actually very easy. I had to artificially increase the difficulty

[@TabletopTolson]

Nice!

[@Avocado_Ananas]

It’s actually the opposite by me and my best friend. We always win, it’s actually kinda boring like this. But we still love it, probably because we just always talk about Harry Potter. So I think we will just keep it the way it‘s designed, but you had great ideas. PS: Our favorite hero combinations for two are: -Neville/Harry -Neville/Hermione

[@TabletopTolson]

Thanks! Love the hero combinations:)

[@JTB757]

My friend and I also have the same issue where we keep wining without even getting to the 2nd location. We just did episode 6 starting with two location tokens to make it harder and still won on the first location. I keep rereading the rules thinking we are playing wrong. Maybe we have just been lucky.

[@the_motherowl]

Neville or Hermione are a must for me. The first keeps your healing up so you don't get stunned and the second is the fastest buyer of the game plus, it helps others to buy and if you get a lot of card draw you can play like 10+ cards in one turn in the late game. I think this game is only mid to hard difficulty if you play in a party of 4. On a 2 player game is nice to add 2 markers on the first location in the beginning. Still, I only lost once or twice in the main game. The same cannot be said with the expansion...We lose a lot.

[@latterdaycovenantliving]

I have played this game enough that it is almost impossible to lose weight have to intentionally put hard combos of villains for a challenge

[@6ft_otter]

We got frustrated with the market too. The stacking thing is good but one piece of advice we got and always use is that the bottom right card of the market is discarded after each players turn and the market cards are shifted down one before the market is refilled. Like some others have said, we tend to win more than we lose (even before fixing the market, #teamneville) so have it so that heroes only heal to 8 after being stunned but that you can still heal up to 10 with cards and abilities

[@TabletopTolson]

Nice suggestions!

[@arleatirfystack8832]

Hi, thanks for your input. We are playing as a couple and we face some of those problems. We added a rule: you can discard a proposed card for 1 coin. It allows us to go further into the deck and it uses those extra coins you lose sometimes.

[@TabletopTolson]

Thanks for sharing!

[@the_motherowl]

I sorted these problems with two home rules that, at least for my play group, feel fair. 1. As you said, a lot of times you get few influence tokens to buy what you want (cards are too expensive), or you just don't want anything from what is available (non-optimized cards). So we make that you can pay half (rounded down) of the influence cost to cycle a card. So imagine you don't want more "Reparo" spells. For just one of your influence you can make it go back to the deck and draw a new one for its place (it costs 3, so divided is 1.5 = 1 rounded down). This solves both problems without just "oh let's refresh everything again", which can feel like a cheap workaround. 2. About the difficulty sometimes feeling a lot luck-based... You mentioned the "reveal another dark arts event", which sometimes it makes a cascade effect that can just stun you from full health in one turn. What we do is, for EACH card you need to reveal, you ONLY reveal ONE additional card. So, if the first cards says "reveal another", and then the new one says it again, you won't reveal for the third time. Thus, even if you are super unlucky of getting multiple cards that reveal another, you are protected from a huge cascade. Even if you are in the worst case scenario of 3 dark arts plus 1 of Bellatrix (4 in total), you will never reveal more than 8.

[@the_motherowl]

By the way, I'm implementing a new house rule that further helps mitigating the problems with difficulty and card choice. Basically, starting year 5 (when you go against 3 villains for the first time), you can substitute one card in your starting deck for one of the Hogwarts cards. For this to not be super overpowered for later games, you will only be able to select a card from year 1 to 4. In the beginning of the game you roll the 4 dice. The number of equal faces will determine the range...so, if you get, for instance, 2 of the same die faces, you can select any card from the first 2 years. If chat gpt did the math correctly, this are the chances: Year 1 card - 100% Up to year 2 card - 21% Up to year 3 card - 4% Up to year 4 card - 0.2%

[@TabletopTolson]

Fantastic advice!

[@twitchster77]

I actually want the game to be more difficult. I'm on box 6 and I think after I've gone through these final 2 boxes I'll play again but find house rules to make the game harder.

[@the_motherowl]

Ideas: -Start with counters on the first location. -Start at 5 health. -Reduce the number of cards you can buy per turn to 1. -Don't use the rule of refreshing the "shop". -When you get stunned lose half of your cards rounded up instead of rounded down. -When you get stunned add 2 counters on the location instead of one. -Don't ever show your cards, forecast plays or give hints about strategy to other players. -Roleplay...meaning, buy only cards that makes sense to the character. Example: Any quidditch related stuff can only go to Harry or Ron. Books can only go to Hermione or Neville. And so on... Hope it helps

[@noreviewplaythrough4051]

We have experienced the bloated market deck too, and our deck is even worse because we have the Charms and Potions expansion. So at this point we do what some other deck builders that we have do. We collect all the market cards and separate them into individual decks with all the same cost. ie. all the 2-3-4-5-6 and the 7+ into individual decks and then place them on the market spaces with the top card of each deck showing. This allows all cost values to show at once, so you can buy something ever turn. We have found that this does work very well. It also allows the really strong 7+ cards to be seen MUCH more often because they are not diluted in the massive deck, which helps get those powerful cards to help with the game's difficultly. Here is a link to one of our videos showing the different stack setup. The 8:50 mark is where I discuss setting up the Market Deck kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqayYnqdhLxmgrM I really like the idea of stacking the Villains so that they get progressively harder because we have been totally slammed the first couple of rounds with the bad villain combo. Thanks for the video!

[@TabletopTolson]

Great idea. Thanks for providing the link for the deck set up. Genius!

[@theloganrunner]

I agree with everything she said. It's a shame I really wanted to like it. It's long, it's boring, it's not balanced, lots of luck involved and just a bit of hard work. Thanks for the suggestions. Might give it a go again.

[@michellepehrsondupont3756]

I got this game for my birthday, and I ‘inherited’ a few houserules from the friends who bought it for me, and then added one for myself. 1) The Market Deck is split into Cheap (

[@felix900]

Great ideas thanks for sharing What do you do with your split deck? Do you choose from witch you want to add a card or is it always 50/50 (you pick a low cost => you add a new low cost? Thanks Ps I like the legacy idea of keeping a card true games :)

[@ResFantasyfan]

I absolutely love this game. I discovered it earlier this year (it's been around for 3 or 4 years.), and I have both expansions. However, I get the frustration. I once had to draw 7 Dark Arts cards back-to-back. I decided to cull the decks; Hogwarts and Dark Arts both. Anything that had 3-4 copies, I narrowed down to 2, max. Anything with 6, I lowered to 3. I also split the Hogwarts deck into Allies, Items, Spells. This gave us a good mix in the market. We still run into problems, but quite a bit less frequently. We still lose once in a while, but we win more than before. Unfortunately, luck of the draw is very much a part of the gameplay, as you'd expect with this type of game.

[@TabletopTolson]

Fantastic suggestions, and I'm glad to hear you were able to adjust the cards to make the overall experience more balanced while still having a blast with this game!

[@Mightyjordy]

These are some great rules! My wife and I love the game, but we also have a few house rules similar to yours. The biggest flaw imo is the enemy deck, especially when you get a nasty combo at the beginning of the game, so we usually just start the round over if there’s a bad combo first hand. We’ve never culled the deck but it definitely gets boring seeing the same cards and enemies every round.

[@TabletopTolson]

Great tip!

[@TheJayChan]

Thanks so much for this video! I found it as we had hit the same level of frustration by continually losing game 6 due to villain combinations and draw deck issues. Your suggestions are great and we’ll try them next time!

[@TheDasfuchs]

Your card concern was addressed in Charms and Potions, with the addition of being able to back date the rule and use it with base and all expansions. You stack multiple of the same card in the market. You shouldn't always win a game. That isn't the point. The point of the game is to battle unmanageable odds. *Like the trio.* Also: you said no spoilers. You're naming later villains and their abilities. That's a spoiler.

[@Dupapier]

Nice and interesting video. I agree with most of your description. The game can be, sometimes, really punishing. But that's also what makes it nice. Bad luck can flip the way everything was going until now. You can't win all the time.

[@rogerfarley3300]

We play that each player keeps cards (0 @ game 1, 1 @ game 2, 2 @ game 3, etc) of value 4 or less (no keeping Dumbeldore!). Restarting each game with 1st year power levels is not right either, in our minds. In a 4-player game it is STILL less than a 50/50 chance of winning.

[@TabletopTolson]

Great suggestion and way to make the campaign connect/influence from game to game!

[@katerinafaith]

I tried this as 4 player and well, flushing the market every time when needed with a price was a good option. Another thing is, towards the last games, I increased HP of the characters to lessen the amount of the stuns they get, villains get stronger and hit more while your hero stays at same HP, despite the HP increase every now and then there were moments of getting stunned but it worked. Also, there must be a way to banish cards from your deck for good expecially towards the end as your deck gets clogged. Other than that, with strategy, right allies and combination a 4 player game was decently balanced. Must try a two player and maybe cut down the amount of card all over as some card show up too much for a 2 player version.

[@TabletopTolson]

Thanks for the suggestions and game strategy!

[@brighteyes6585]

Me and my husband play 2 heroes, I have Hermione and Ron and he has Harry and Neville, and we have a focus for each of them, fight for Harry, healing for Neville, allies for Ron (jellybean card passive feature) and spells for Hermione. That's just something we discovered, they each have a focus it seems.

[@TabletopTolson]

Great suggestion!

[@MsGinahidesout]

I've often thought about doing this!

[@solomarvelchampion]

I wish I'd watched this before I ordered my copy (arrives today). Would a thematic culling of villains and Dark Arts cards help the game? Quirell should never be a villain after game 1 for example, or Barty Crouch Jr. after game 4, but Draco and Crab & Goyle are "villains" throughout the series. I say this of course having not yet played the game LOL

[@TabletopTolson]

I think that customizing your decks in any way that makes the game fun and challenging is ideal. There are a bunch of suggestions in the comments here from fellow players!

[@nataliechavira3288]

I just bought this game and I’m very happy to have found your video. Thanks for these tips!

[@saro-hin3475]

Thank you for this video! I love this game and had a lot of fun playing it with my brother and cousins, but the large pile of Hogwarts cards and punishing dark arts cards made it hard to get past game 5. We played for 3 to 4 hours before finally beating game 5. Afterwards, it got easier, but I'll definitely try out your tips for future games.

[@twitchster77]

So...I was wanting this game to be more difficult. I played box 6 yesterday and late into the game it was super swingy. On one turn I'd get dealt a ton of dark arts cards and take a ton of damage...but then on another I'd gain a ton of health and play a ton of cards. There was one turn where I played a total of 12 cards because of all the draws and dealt a total of 10 damage. My decks at that point were extremely stacked with tons of high costed awesome cards and it was a blast. I ended up winning at the second location with both my characters at full health. It was fun! Then I played box 7 today...twice. And yeah. 2 games in, about 2 1/2 hours...and bleh. I think I went through every issue you brought up in this video and was completely crushed in both games...and it wasn't even close. I should've just quit early games instead of dragging things out and wasting my time. I knew by mid game both times that I had zero hope. And it wasn't fun at all. It just felt dumb. I'll play a couple more games with box 7 with the base rules...but if I do manage a win, it wont be because of skill or strategy...it'll be purely based on luck which sucks. But then I'll be adding in some house rules, because, yeah, this game needs them for sure.

[@MsGinahidesout]

I'll be honest, I take out some of the villains in later games, otherwise it takes HOURS!

[@chrislobb6440]

I must admit I when I read the rules for six and it didn't state you have to start with your initial 10 cards I allowed my daughter to pick her initial 10 cards from her deck she ended game 5 with when starting game 6

[@ToSHunter]

My wife and I have been playing this game for the past 4 nights and we love it. Thank you so much for the video! These house rule suggestions are a great idea! I hope you give the game a second chance.

[@alekseyvinogradov6728]

is this game replayable?

[@brighteyes6585]

Thank you soooo much for this, especially year 4... (🤬) It seemed overwhelming! I thought I was just being irritable but it is off balance...

[@Kentchangar]

My experiences were quite different. I thought the game was quite easy and that some villains like Peter Pettigrew were wimps if they came out in the first draw. I was thinking seeding the villain deck to increase difficulty.

[@docbun]

I'm afraid there are spoilers in this video since some cards from later games are showed. (I've personally played the game enough not to be spoiled, but others may.) I've houseruled quite az few things too, especially because the scaling for 2 vs 4 players is horribly unbalanced in this game. So I've had to add (I can't remember if it's 1 or 2) spots to each location for 4 players, and remove that many for 2 players. Then for market, darn, I am 100% with you this is a frustrating one. i'm tempted to say I should have houseruled the same as Direwiled: you can pay 1-2 coins to remove a card from the market (no matter its cost), thus giving you more options but at a cost. I find the one-time flush or full flush isn't enough to make things enjoyable a vast majority of the time. I did like you for villains to handle the combos, but this still feels half satisfying to me. Still allow to remove 1 of the combo-ing villains to get there. For the game duration, I had a problem with it and yet no fix. I don't like the inability to cull, but there are some deckbuilders that do this, so I would more tend to keep that part as it is. This however means cards that allow you to draw more are going to be an absolute priority, but I think it's so deeply woven into the game that I don't feel confident with changing it. I've sold the game away, even if I was very huge on the theme and on having a deck builder. I've seen they have released more games with similar mechanisms and no fix for players scaling. USAopoly really need to improve on their core game design here. Hopefully your video and BGG threads finally end up making them see the light and come up with great improvements, possibly even better than our house rules? Who knows. Happy gaming!

[@TabletopTolson]

I appreciate your reactions and suggestions here. (Unfortunately) I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found the game unbalanced and a little tedious/long. I still don't have any ideas for shortening the game, but your other ideas are on point. Thanks!

[@Arjay82]

I play by stacking the same cards on top of each other in the "market". The deck is WAY too big. This game is so close to being great.

[@elvisthegamecollector7053]

Me, my girlfriend and brother play this game. 3 players is great for the for the first 5-6 games. When your on your 7th and final game, you need that 4th player. You can't beat the 7th game with 2 players, it's nie on impossible to pull off. I'd suggest either getting a 3rd or 4th person to play too, or you could use a proxy 3rd player and take turns using that one too as if someone is there. You do need a lot of luck with what cards come out for you to buy and then the villains also, but I think if you give each character a specific job ie Hermione only buys spells, Nevile buys healing cards, Harry buys location removal cards and some attack, Ron goes all out on atk cards and alleys.

[@TabletopTolson]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!

[@acebojanglesable]

The dark arts cards are punishing. I feel like there should be a couple of darks cards that do nothing.

[@Coffeemaker1978]

I somewhat agree even If I didn’t have that many problems. I found it too repetitive. And thus somewhat boring.

[@luketrusheim]

this was a great video :)