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Defender vs Guardian vs Collector
Data last checked: · how we verify numbers
Every tier contains the same game. The Defender (£58), the Guardian (£115) and the Collector (£280) all ship an identical base game — same board, same cards, same rules [official]. The tiers differ only in add-ons, and the two upgrade steps price very differently: the Guardian jump is £57 for £82 of individually priced extras [official prices, our arithmetic], while the Collector jump is £165 — of which the signed portfolio alone is £167 [official prices]. Understand that asymmetry and the tiers sort themselves.
Warning
No tier is purchasable right now. The campaign closed 2026-07-23 and the late-pledge window closed 2026-10-09 [official, Update #18]; see where to buy for today’s channel statuses. Prices below are the officially checked £58 / £115 / £280, kept for the record and for judging resale listings.
The tiers at a glance
| Contents | Defender £58 | Guardian £115 | Collector £280 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base game (board, cards, Dark Arts opponent) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| A5 foil Art Print — Kickstarter exclusive | Campaign edition only — dropped from late pledges | Campaign edition only — dropped from late pledges | Campaign edition only — dropped from late pledges |
| Deluxe Box Sleeve — Kickstarter exclusive (£21) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Wooden Token Upgrade Set, 25 pieces — Kickstarter exclusive (£19) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Player Pin Set, 5 enamel pins (£25) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Protective Card Sleeve Set, 160 sleeves — Kickstarter exclusive (£17) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Collector’s Box: Metal Player Pawns ×23 (£38), Dumbledore’s Army set (£17), Luxury Token Bag (£17), Signed Artist’s Portfolio (£167) — all Kickstarter exclusives | No | No | Yes — second shipment, March 2027 |
What the two upgrade steps actually cost
Defender to Guardian: +£57 for £82 of extras. The Guardian adds four items — Deluxe Box Sleeve £21, Wooden Token Upgrade Set £19, Player Pin Set £25, Protective Card Sleeve Set £17 — summing to £82 at their individual add-on prices [official prices], roughly a 30% bundle discount on those four [our arithmetic]. But that only holds if you want all four:
- Want sleeves plus wooden tokens only? Defender + those two add-ons was £94 — £21 under the Guardian.
- Want sleeves, tokens and the box sleeve? That combination also totals £115 — exactly the Guardian’s price, so the £25 pin set effectively rode along free [our arithmetic].
- Want just the game? The £58 Defender was the wrong vehicle: it retails at £75 including UK VAT [official FAQ], and shipping plus tax pushed a UK pledge to about £81.60 [our estimate] — see the full math in the calendar page.
Guardian to Collector: +£165 for £239 of extras — and £167 of it is one book. The Collector’s Box bundles Metal Player Pawns (£38), the Dumbledore’s Army set (£17), a Luxury Token Bag (£17) and the Signed Artist’s Portfolio (£167), hand-signed by Mina and Lima [official prices]. The signed portfolio alone exceeds the entire £165 you are paying for the step. Strip it out, and the Collector upgrade is £165 for £72 of metal pawns and cloth — a 2.3× premium [our arithmetic]. The box also ships as a second parcel in March 2027 [official], which doubles your exposure to lost or damaged deliveries.
Versus our analysis
The official pitch is “upgrade your tier to SAVE UP TO 30% OFF THE INDIVIDUAL PRICING” [official Hive add-on graphic]. That 30% only holds for the full Collector bundle measured against the sum of individual add-on prices — not against the retail price. Measured against the £75 UK RRP, the Defender’s saving was 22.7%; a late-pledge Defender, minus its Art Print, was a base game at base-game price — no bundle discount at all [our arithmetic, official prices].
Every add-on, with official prices
| Add-on | Price | Ships | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra copy of the game | £58 | October 2026 | — |
| A5 foil Art Print — Kickstarter exclusive | £21 | October 2026 | Campaign only — never available for late pledges [official Hive page] |
| Commemorative Pin — Kickstarter exclusive | £13 | October 2026 | — |
| Deluxe Box Sleeve — Kickstarter exclusive | £21 | October 2026 | A decorative sleeve over the foil box |
| Wooden Token Upgrade Set, 25 pieces — Kickstarter exclusive | £19 | October 2026 | Nice feel; changes no rules |
| Protective Card Sleeve Set, 160 sleeves — Kickstarter exclusive | £17 | October 2026 | The most practical extra for a deck-builder |
| Player Pin Set, 5 pins | £25 | October 2026 | Purely decorative |
| Metal Player Pawn Upgrade Set, 23 pawns — Kickstarter exclusive | £38 | March 2027 | Second shipment |
| Dumbledore’s Army Upgrade Set, 4 counters — Kickstarter exclusive | £17 | March 2027 | Second shipment |
| Luxury Token Bag — Kickstarter exclusive | £17 | March 2027 | Second shipment |
| Signed Artist’s Portfolio, hand-signed — Kickstarter exclusive | £167 | March 2027 | Second shipment; 6 monochrome prints + 1 colour print in a marbled hardcover |
Rulebook check
There is no separate Dark Arts expansion. The Dark Arts opponent — pawns, progress track and deck — ships inside the base game [official rulebook]. The Collector’s Box upgrade sets are cosmetic, not expansions, so any listing describing “the Dark Arts expansion” is describing base-game contents.
Who each tier was really for
- Defender — the game plus, during the campaign only, the foil art print. The honest baseline for comparing prices against the £75 retail edition.
- Guardian — for people who want the Kickstarter exclusives that actually touch play: 160 card sleeves and 25 wooden tokens are the two upgrades a frequent player might genuinely feel; the box sleeve and pins are decor.
- Collector — the signed portfolio is the product; everything else in the step is garnish. Only worth the step if you are buying a signed MinaLima artwork that happens to include a game.
Sources
- Kickstarter rewards page (tier contents, add-on prices, shipping waves): kickstarter.com/projects/minalima/defenders-of-hogwarts/rewards
- Kickstarter FAQ (RRP £75 incl. UK VAT; exclusivity of add-ons): kickstarter.com/…/faqs
- Hive late-pledge page (Art Print removal; add-on graphic with “SAVE UP TO 30% OFF THE INDIVIDUAL PRICING”): hiveinteractive.net
- Official rulebook PDF (base-game contents incl. the Dark Arts opponent): media.minalima.com rulebook