Harry Potter Defenders Setup Guide
Setup happens in four areas: the main board, the side board, the Dark Arts Player's board and each house's board. Decide who plays the Dark Arts first, because the number of Dark Arts pawns depends on how many people play a house.
Table layout (schematic)
Where everything goes before the first turn. Not to scale.
Dark Arts pawns by player count
Dark Arts pawns by player count
4 always start on the Deployment Spaces; the rest wait in the pool.
Show data table
| Start on board | Start in pool | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 players (1 house) | 4 | 0 | 4 pawns |
| 3 players (2 houses) | 4 | 1 | 5 pawns |
| 4 players (3 houses) | 4 | 2 | 6 pawns |
| 5 players (4 houses) | 4 | 3 | 7 pawns |
| Total players | House Players | Dark Arts pawns | Start on board | Start in pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
Four pawns always start on the four Deployment Spaces (the mask icon). The rest wait off the board and cost 1 movement point to bring in.
1. Main board (the map of Hogwarts)
- Put the main board in the middle of the table.
- Shuffle the 6 Defence Shields and place one face-up on each Defence Shield space. Each shield shows whether it needs the Dark Detector or a D.A. Coin.
- Place each of the 7 Hogwarts Tokens on its matching space in the castle or grounds.
- Give the Dark Arts Player their pawns (see the table above) and put 4 of them on the Deployment Spaces.
- Every House Player puts 3 of their 4 pawns in the Great Hall.
- Keep the Room of Requirement board piece and the 4 D.A. Coins next to the board. They only come into play later.
2. Side board (Dark Arts Path and Loyalty Track)
- Place the side board above the main board.
- Shuffle the Library Book deck, put it face-down in its space and turn 2 books face-up beside it.
- Shuffle the House Player Acquire deck (42 cards). Deal 2 face-up to the Advanced Acquire Row and 2 face-up to the Acquire Row.
- Put the Dark Arts Marker on the first (top-left) space of the Dark Arts Path.
- Place the Giant, Acromantula and Dementor Progress Tokens on their zones of the path.
- Put the Dark Detector on its space on the Hogwarts Loyalty Track, and stack the 8 Parchment Scrolls on theirs.
- Each house puts its fourth pawn on the first space of the Loyalty Track.
- Shuffle the House Player Location deck (21 cards) and the Dark Arts Location deck (4 cards). Place both face-down on the side board.
3. Dark Arts Player board
- Give the Dark Arts Player their board.
- Shuffle the 7-card Dark Arts starter deck and place it on the board's Draw space.
- Shuffle the 20-card Dark Arts Acquire deck and keep it in the Dark Arts Player's area.
- Put any extra Dark Arts pawns in front of the player as their pool.
- Split the Event cards by colour (white, orange, red), shuffle each deck separately and put all three near the Dark Arts board.
- The Dark Arts Player draws 5 cards.
4. House Player boards
- Each House Player picks Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin and takes that board.
- Shuffle your 7-card starter deck onto the Draw space. All four starter decks are identical.
- Place your House Marker on the Items space of your board.
- Draw 3 House Player Location cards and keep them secret. They tell you where to send pawns for Parchment Scrolls.
- Draw 5 cards from your starter deck.
Who goes first? The House Player to the left of the Dark Arts Player, then clockwise. Now read how a turn works.
Setup checklist
- ☐ 6 Defence Shields face-up on the map
- ☐ 7 Hogwarts Tokens on their spaces
- ☐ 4 Dark Arts pawns on Deployment Spaces, extras in the pool
- ☐ 3 pawns per house in the Great Hall, 1 per house on the Loyalty Track
- ☐ 2 Library Books, 2 Acquire Row and 2 Advanced Acquire Row cards face-up
- ☐ Dark Arts Marker on space 1, 3 Progress Tokens in place
- ☐ Dark Detector and Parchment Scrolls on the side board
- ☐ Event decks split by colour
- ☐ Every player holding 5 cards; House Players holding 3 Location cards
Setup FAQ
How do you set up a 2-player game?
One player is the Dark Arts Player with 4 pawns, all starting on the Deployment Spaces. The other plays a single house. Everything else is set up the same way.
Who should be the Dark Arts Player in the first game?
The rulebook recommends the most experienced player, or whoever has read the rules most closely. The Dark Arts side has more timing decisions, especially around when to take the Dementor token.
What do you do with an unused house?
Put its board, starter deck, pawns and House Marker back in the box. They are not used at all in that game.
Where does each house's fourth pawn go?
Three pawns start in the Great Hall. The fourth goes on the first space of the Hogwarts Loyalty Track on the Side Board, where it tracks that house's loyalty.