How to Play Harry Potter Defenders
Harry Potter Defenders (officially Defenders of Hogwarts) is a 2–5 player board game where one player runs the Dark Arts and everyone else plays a Hogwarts house. You build a deck of spell and item cards, move pawns around a map of the castle, and race the other side to your win condition.
The rules in 30 seconds.
- There is one winner. House Players can team up against the Dark Arts, but they are also racing each other.
- House Players win by collecting 2 Defence Shields. Each shield costs a Library Book Card, a Parchment Scroll, and either the Dark Detector or a D.A. Coin.
- The Dark Arts Player wins by collecting 3 Progress Tokens (Giant, Acromantula, Dementor) on the Dark Arts Path, then getting 1–3 pawns onto a secret target location.
- On your turn you take one main action: Explore (play a card to move and use its effect), Learn (buy a new card) or Replenish (refill your hand to 5).
- Every time a House Player replenishes, the Dark Arts Marker advances. That is the clock that drives the whole game.
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Goal of the game
House Players: collect 2 Defence Shields
There are 6 Defence Shields on the board, 3 of each type. To claim one you must end a move on a Defence Shield space while holding all three items it asks for:
| Item | Where it comes from | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Library Book Card | Visit the Library and take one of the 2 face-up books. Its effect resolves straight away. | 1 at a time |
| Parchment Scroll | Have pawns standing in 2 of the 3 places shown on your secret House Player Location Cards. | 2 per game in practice (you stop receiving Location Cards after your second scroll) |
| Dark Detector or | Be the furthest player on the Hogwarts Loyalty Track, at space 5 or higher. Only one exists. | Only 1 in the game |
| D.A. Coin | Enter the Room of Requirement, which only opens once someone reaches space 5 on the Loyalty Track. | 1 at a time (4 coins in total) |
Each shield shows whether it needs the Dark Detector or a D.A. Coin. The first House Player to hold two shields wins on the spot.
How a Defence Shield is built
Stand on a Defence Shield space holding all three items. Two shields wins the game.
Dark Arts Player: take the castle
The Dark Arts Player must do two things: collect all 3 Dark Arts Progress Tokens from the Dark Arts Path, and then move enough Dark Arts pawns onto the location printed on a Dark Arts Location Card. How many pawns are needed depends on how deep into the Red Zone the marker is when the last token is taken: 3 pawns at the first Red Event Space, 2 at the next, and just 1 on the final space.
Turn order
The House Player sitting to the left of the Dark Arts Player goes first, then play continues clockwise. Each turn is one main action plus any free actions.
House Player turn
Choose exactly one main action:
| Action | What you do | Cost or catch |
|---|---|---|
| Explore | Play 1 card. Use its movement to move your pawns and resolve its effect, in either order. | None, but you burn a card from your hand. |
| Learn | Discard 1 card to take a face-up card from the Acquire Row or the top card of the Acquire Deck, or discard 2 cards to take a card from the Advanced Acquire Row and also move up 1 on the Hogwarts Loyalty Track. New cards go on top of your draw deck, so you will draw them next. | Needs at least 1 of your pawns outside a Protected Area. |
| Replenish | Discard any number of cards, draw back up to 5, and stand up all your stunned pawns. | The Dark Arts Marker advances 1 space. Draw is capped at 5 cards. |
Free actions
- Use a Hogwarts Token. Return a token you picked up on an earlier turn and immediately take an extra Explore action with a card of the same type. This is the main way to get two moves in one turn.
- Gain a Parchment Scroll. If your pawns stand in 2 of the 3 places on your Location Cards, reveal those 2 cards to take a scroll.
Hogwarts Tokens
Seven tokens sit on the board, one for each card type: Charms, Potions, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration & Spell Casting, Magical Creatures & Beings, and Hogwarts Items & Artefacts. Land on a token's space to pick it up. You can only hold one at a time, and it goes back to its space after use.
Dark Arts Player turn
The Dark Arts Player has only two main actions:
- Explore: play a card for its movement and, if unlocked, its effect. Bringing a new pawn onto the board costs 1 movement point and it must enter on an empty Deployment Space (marked with a mask).
- Replenish: stand up stunned pawns and draw up to 5 cards. No discarding.
Dark Arts card effects are colour-coded white, orange or red. White effects work from the start. Orange and red effects only switch on once the marker has reached that zone of the Dark Arts Path, so the Dark Arts Player gets stronger as the game goes on. Before that, those cards are just movement.
Bumping
When a Dark Arts pawn ends its move on a House pawn, it bumps it:
- The House pawn goes back to the Great Hall, and the Dark Arts pawn returns to the Dark Arts Player's off-board pool.
- The Dark Arts Player takes that house's House Marker (if they don't have it already). Once they hold every House Marker, the Dark Arts Marker advances 1 space and the markers go back.
- Once per turn, the Dark Arts Player draws 2 cards from their Acquire Deck, keeps 1 on top of their draw deck and puts the other on the bottom.
Moving around Hogwarts
- A card's number is how many spaces you may move one pawn. A two-number card (for example 3 + 3) moves two different pawns by those amounts, or one pawn by the total. You can't split it any other way.
- House pawns can't backtrack within a turn and can't cross obstacles (Locked Doors, Protective Spells, Physical Objects, Water) unless a card says so. Dark Arts pawns ignore obstacles.
- Dark Arts pawns can never enter the 4 Protected Area spaces (blue shield icon). Hagrid's Hut is one of them.
- With the right card, any pawn can fly between Fly Off Points. Three colour-coded Secret Passageways are House-only and also need a card.
- Bonus Spaces trigger when a House pawn ends a move there: acquire a card, draw a card, or take another turn.
- If a House pawn ends on a Dark Arts pawn, both are stunned, and the House Player pushes the Dark Arts pawn to an adjacent space.
The Hogwarts Loyalty Track
This 7-space track is the only route to the Dark Detector and the Room of Requirement. You move up it by:
- ending a move on a space with the Dark Detector icon,
- playing a card that says so, or
- buying from the Advanced Acquire Row (the 2-card Learn option).
The first time anyone reaches space 5, the Room of Requirement appears on the board and House pawns entering it collect a D.A. Coin. The player who is furthest ahead at space 5 or above holds the Dark Detector. Spending it on a shield drops you back 3 spaces, and if every House pawn falls below space 5, the Room of Requirement closes again, trapping anyone still inside until it reopens.
The Hogwarts Loyalty Track
7 spaces. Space 5 is where the Dark Detector and the Room of Requirement unlock.
- 1Start
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5Room opens · Detector
- 6
- 7Final space
The Dark Arts Path: the game's clock
Dark Arts Path at a glance
The marker moves right each time a House Player replenishes (and on some events). ◆ = Event Space.
The marker advances when a House Player replenishes, when an event says so, or when the Dark Arts Player collects every House Marker. The path has three zones, White → Orange → Red, each with Event Spaces and one Progress Token:
| Zone | Progress Token | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| White | Giant | Only white card effects active. Some white events even help House Players. |
| Orange | Acromantula | Orange effects unlock. Events get harsher. |
| Red | Dementor | Red effects unlock. Taking the Dementor reveals the target location. |
On each Event Space, the Dark Arts Player draws an event card of that colour. House Players resolve their half first; then the Dark Arts Player chooses between the event's bonus or that zone's Progress Token. They must have the zone's token before the marker can move into the next zone.
How the game ends
- House win: a House Player collects their 2nd Defence Shield.
- Dark Arts win: all 3 Progress Tokens are taken and the required number of Dark Arts pawns stand on the target location at the same time.
- Draw: the marker hits the last space, everyone draws up to 5 final cards with no more replenishing, and all cards run out before anyone wins.
Next: set up your first game, then read the Dark Arts guide or the House player guide.
Rules FAQ
Is Defenders of Hogwarts cooperative?
No. MinaLima's Kickstarter FAQ confirms it is a competitive game with one winner, and there is no co-op or solo mode. One player must be the Dark Arts Player. The House Players may help each other along the way, but only the first one to collect 2 Defence Shields wins.
How many Defence Shields do you need to win?
Two. A House Player wins the moment they collect their second Defence Shield.
Can the Dark Arts Player discard cards?
No. Only House Players may discard before drawing. When the Dark Arts Player replenishes, they simply draw back up to 5 cards.
Does replenishing help the Dark Arts Player?
Yes. Every time a House Player takes the Replenish action, the Dark Arts Marker moves 1 space along the Dark Arts Path. Cards drawn through events, Library Books or Bonus Spaces do not move the marker.
What happens when a House pawn lands on a Dark Arts pawn?
Both pawns are stunned (turned on their side), and the House Player pushes the Dark Arts pawn to an adjacent space of their choice. A stunned pawn cannot move until its owner replenishes.
Can the game end in a draw?
Yes. When the Dark Arts Marker reaches the last space of the path, everyone draws up to 5 final cards and no one may replenish again. If all those cards are played and nobody has met their goal, the game is a draw.