7 Games, 7 Years (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle)

4 months.  4 grueling months of struggling against experienced villains, supporting one another in times of trouble, and watching everyone die again and again.  But this is important, this is the war for the Wizarding World.  We will not rest until Voldemort has at last been defeated.  This will forever be known in history as The Hogwarts Battle.



GAME DESCRIPTION:  Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle is a co-operative Deck Builder published by USAopoly for up to 4 players.  Go through the 7 Years of the series and battle against various villains of the Harry Potter universe.

SET-UP:  Each player takes 1 of the 4 Year 1 Character cards and their respective decks, and shuffle them.  Then players will draw 5 cards, deal out 6 Hogwarts cards, and place 1 Villain card out.  They will take their Hero card and game board, and place the Heart token on 10.

BASE RULES:  Each turn, players will first reveal and resolve a Dark Arts card.  Then Resolve any abilities the Villain may have.  Players may then play cards from their hand to gain or give Influnce tokens to be able to purchase Hogwarts cards, or Attack tokens to deal damage to Villain cards.  Players turn ends by discarding their hand and drawing 5 new cards, and discarding all unused tokens on their board.

STUNNED:  Dropping to 0 Health is not death, but merely stunned.  If a Hero's health drops to 0, they discard half their hand, remove all Tokens on their board, and their health returns to 10 at the end of the turn.


ENDING A YEAR:  Players win when all Villain cards are defeated.  Locations can gain Villain Control tokens, and are Controlled when a player ends their turn with that Locations V.C. track is filled.  Players lose when all Locations are broken.

------------------YEARS-----------------

Y1:  Start only with the cards that say Year 1 on them

Y2:  Add the Year 2 cards to the Villain, Hogwarts, and Dark Arts decks, use only the Year 2 Location cards, and return all purchased Hogwarts cards from your decks to the Hogwarts deck.

Y3:  Add the Year 3 cards to the decks, replacing the Location cards.  Return all purchased Hogwarts cards from your decks to the Hogwarts deck.  Reveal and play with 2 Villain cards at a time.  Replace the Year 1 Hero cards with the Year 3 from now on, allowing for Hero abilities

Y4:  Add the Year 4 cards to the decks, replacing the Location cards.  Return all purchased Hogwarts cards from your decks to the Hogwarts deck.  Take the Hogwarts Dice and use when appropriate.

Y5:  Add the Year 5 cards to the decks, replacing the Location cards.  Return all purchased Hogwarts cards from your decks to the Hogwarts deck.  Reveal and play with 3 Villain cards at a time, with Year 5 Voldemort now being the last Villain revealed and attacked.

Y6:  Add the Year 6 cards to the decks, replacing the Location cards.  Return all purchased Hogwarts cards from your decks to the Hogwarts deck.  Replace the Year 5 Voldemort with Year 6.  Each player now gains a Proficiency card.

Y7:  Add the Year 7 cards to the decks, replacing the Location cards.  Return all purchased Hogwarts cards from your decks to the Hogwarts deck.  Expert Hero cards replace the Year 3 Hero cards.  Replace Year 6 Voldemort with Year 7.  Add the Horcrux cards, which must be destroyed before Voldemort is attacked.

---------------YEARS------------

CONCLUSION:  This is a really difficult game as the years go on.  Sure, the first couple years are easy, but due to the reset mechanic for each deck, the game becomes a bit more of a slog early game to avoid getting stunned or losing outright against the right set of bosses.  Year 7 feels even worse with the introduction of the Horcrux's, but the benefit can outweigh the slog.  And, if you attempt to play this game through all 7 Years in one go, be prepared for a very long game. Still, this is probably one of the best and most well thought out licensed games that marry theme with mechanics.  If you like Harry Potter and deck builders, then cast your eyes over this one.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:  I want to thank Dillon "Saintscrub" Coburn and Trevor "Slumpymaster" Forsyth for sticking through all 7 years, regardless of set-backs.

Taking Authority...IN SPACE (Star Realms)

Space.
It's kinda big, but you wouldn't know that with how limited we can travel.  The Trade Federation continues to grow and prosper, but not without its problems.  The Star Empire and Machine Cult continues to garnish support against the TF, and the Blobs assault us at every turn.  Where is the brave hero who can help us in these Star Realms?

Really, that's my line?



BACKGROUND:  Star Realms is a deck builder for 2 players and published by White Wizard Games.  Players buy cards that represent ships and bases, and attack their opponent.

GAMEPLAY:  The bottom number in yellow on certain cards represent "Trade", which can be used to buy cards from the middle Trade row, the prices being located at the top right.  Numbers in red represent Attack, and can be used to reduce your opponents Authority and .  Numbers in green shield increase your Authority.  At the end of the turn, each player discards any remaining cards in hand and all non base cards, and draw 5 new cards.



ABILITY:  Bases remain on the board in front of the player, giving their ability at the start of the turn.  A card with an ally symbol in the ability box may allow a player to use that effect.  Some cards will give additional abilities if 2 more cards of the same Faction is played in a turn, located in the top left.  Players may also Scrap, or remove from the game, cards with a trash can on them to gain a once per game ability.

WINNING:  When a players Authority reaches 0, the opposing player wins.  A player must also destroy any bases with a black shield by meeting or beating the number in the bottom left in one turn.

CONCLUSION:  Star Realms is another easy to learn, but hard to master game.  It contains a lot of strategy and long term thought.  One issue I do have is that because it's initially limited to 2 players, this is a game you'd play with some in place of Chess.  It's not a bad alternative either.  In terms of mechanics, this game is a bit different than most Deck builders, as instead of trying to score the most points, you have a base life total that you try to avoid losing.  It's a cool idea that has a lot of love and support behind it, with an expansion that can make it 4 players, and a pretty solid digital version on Steam.  This is a flight to the stars you should check out.

The Game of Zen (Tsuro)

Since the beginning, humanity has struggled to achieve a state of mind where one could accept all, and stress would no longer affect them.  Some have called this Zen, others meditation.  And although the name changes, the path still remains as elusive and unfocused as the path one walks on in Tsuro.



BACKGROUND:  Tsuro is a tile based board game. It was published in 2004 for 2 to 8 players by Calliope Games.  Players create paths to further their own pieces and eliminate opponents. 

GAMEPLAY:  Each player has a hand of three tiles.  On a players turn, they place a tile in front of their pawn, and follow the path of white until it stops, with other players moving if they have a path in front of them, then play passes to the next player.  Players may not deliberately cause themselves to be eliminated unless their only action is to do so.

WINNING:  When a player goes off the board, they are eliminated from the game.  If a pawn runs into another players pawn, both players are eliminated.  Shuffle any eliminated players hand back into the deck.  The last player standing wins.

CONCLUSION:  Tsuro is a very relaxing game, but that doesn't mean it isn't cutthroat or strategic.  Due to the simplicity, there is an ease of understanding the game for all audiences, and yet there's a layer of strategy not found in games even kids could play.  At the end of the day, games take so little time that you don't have to worry about losing, as you'll generally be able to play again in 10 or 15 minutes.  Tsuro is a game that all people should at least attempt, and that most would be able to enjoy.