Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle - The Monster Box of Monsters (USAopoly)

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle was one of the it games of 2016. It took deck-building, mixed it with a campaign style format, and used a HUGELY popular theme to make for a fun and exciting experience. I remember playing through it with friends and we loved almost everything about it. The biggest problems we found with the game were minor inaccuracies with cards appearing before they should, only having one playable female character, and a somewhat swingy experience due to villain order and glut of cards you filled your deck with. When, I heard about an expansion coming out, I was eager to try it.

The first things you notice about the expansion are the name and presentation. Called The Monster Box of Monsters, this is a clear reference to the Monster Book of Monsters used by Hagrid when he taught Care of Magical Creatures. As for the appearance, it is a miniature box decorated like a piece of luggage, which artfully ties in with the larger base game box, also decorated like a luggage trunk. As one can guess, this expansion is mainly about introducing monsters or creatures into the game. You will see familiar faces and foes like Fluffy, Norbert, and the mysterious Boggart. These get shuffled in with Villains from the base game and provide an exciting twist on a game you have already conquered. However, there's more to this box than monsters...

The expansion has introduced a fifth playable character in the form of Luna Lovegood! How can you not love the ever-positive and quirky Luna? Adding her to the box makes this game more female friendly, because it means one less woman has to play as Ron (Sorry, Rupert!) when playing this game. I personally still think it's a shame that Ginny hasn't been made into a playable character, but maybe we'll get a second expansion next year? While it would have been nice to expand the game to five players and open this game up to larger player counts, I understand that game balance would have been thrown off doing so.

The biggest difference one will notice in this box is game play. There are a couple of new "devices" added that make for a more challenging experience. First, there is an introduction of Encounter cards, which must be cleared now in addition to defeating Villains and Creatures. One such Encounter you will have to clear is Cornish Pixies. (Yes, Seamus, Cornish Pixies!) Another new "device" added to the game is Detention cards. When you gain these cards, you will clog your deck up with useless cards that provide no benefit and harm you if you discard them. To help counter these new challenges, a new benefit has been introduced called Banishing. Banishing allows you to thin cards from your deck and create a smaller more powerful deck. This is a useful mechanic that ever deck-building game needs, so I am glad to see it added.

Overall, I was pleased with this expansion. It wasn't perfect and took some getting used to with the increased difficulty, but it also added a lot of new and interesting bits and pieces to the game, while maintaining the heart and familiar feel of the game. The biggest disappointment fans of the game will face is that you should have completed the base game before incorporating any of the new material from expansions. That complaint is minor, though, as most people have already finished the game, or if not, now have extra motivation to do so. I highly recommend picking up this expansion and discovering the secrets of the four little boxes contained within. You won't regret it!

This game was provided to me by USAopoly in exchange for an honest review.