Set up takes about 15 minutes on a first unboxing [our estimate] — the rulebook publishes no setup time. Everything below restates the official setup sequence in order, with the rulebook’s own step letters in brackets [official, p. 6–9]. One player must be the Dark Arts Player; the rulebook suggests the most experienced player takes that role [official, p. 3].

1. Place the main board

Put the main board — Hogwarts castle and its grounds, adapted for play — in the centre of the table [official, p. 6].

2. Place shields and Hogwarts Tokens

Shuffle the Defence Shields and place one face up on every Defence Shield Space — there are 6 shields, two types of three, and each type demands a different fourth item [official, p. 4, p. 6]. Then put the 7 Hogwarts Tokens on their own spaces across the castle and grounds [official, p. 6].

3. Give out Dark Arts pawns

Give the Dark Arts Player their Dark Arts Pawns according to the House Player count, place 4 of them on the 4 Deployment Spaces (the spaces marked with the Dark Mask icon) on the Hogwarts grounds, and keep any remaining pawns as a pool in front of that player, off the board [official, p. 6].

Dark Arts Pawns used, by number of House Players (official rulebook p. 6)
House Players	Pawns in total	On Deployment Spaces	In the pool
1	4	4	0
2	5	4	1
3	6	4	2
4	7	4	3

However many players sit down, exactly 4 Dark Arts pawns start on the board.

4. Place House pawns and the Room of Requirement

Each House Player puts 3 of their 4 pawns in the Great Hall [official, p. 6]. Place the Room of Requirement board and the D.A. Coins beside the main board — the room stays unrevealed until a player earns its opening [official, p. 6].

5. Prepare the Library

Put the side board — carrying the Dark Arts Path and the Hogwarts Loyalty Track — above the main board [official, p. 7]. Shuffle the Library Book Deck face down onto its Draw Deck Space, then flip 2 cards face up onto the two Library Book Spaces beside it [official, p. 7].

6. Fill the Acquire Rows

Shuffle the House Player Acquire Deck face down onto its Acquire Deck Space [official, p. 7]. Flip 2 cards onto the Advanced Acquire Row and 2 cards onto the Acquire Row — the two rows you will buy from when you Learn [official, p. 7].

7. Start the Dark Arts Path

Put the Dark Arts Marker on the first space of the Dark Arts Path (the top-left space) [official, p. 7]. Place the 3 Dark Arts Progress Tokens — Giant, Acromantula, Dementor — on their matching spaces along the path, set the Dark Detector on its own Hogwarts Loyalty Track space, and stack the Parchment Scrolls on their supply space [official, p. 7].

8. Seed the Loyalty Track and location decks

Put each house’s fourth pawn on the first space of the Hogwarts Loyalty Track — it tracks loyalty only and never walks the map [official, p. 7]. Shuffle the House Player Location Deck and the Dark Arts Player Location Deck face down onto their spaces [official, p. 7].

9. Prepare the Dark Arts Player

Give the Dark Arts Player their player board. Shuffle the Dark Arts Player Starter Deck onto its Draw Space, and the Dark Arts Player Acquire Deck into their area [official, p. 8]. Split the Event Cards into three shuffled decks by colour — white, orange and red — beside the board [official, p. 8]. In games with two or more House Players, the extra Dark Arts Pawns from step 3 already sit in this player’s pool. The Dark Arts Player then draws 5 cards [official, p. 8].

10. Prepare each House Player

Each remaining player picks a house — Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin — and takes that House Player Board. Shuffle your House Player Starter Deck onto its Draw Space, put your House Marker on the Items Space, and draw 3 House Player Location Cards [official, p. 9]. Then draw 5 cards from your starter deck [official, p. 9]. Unchosen houses go back in the box entirely.

Scope note
Each starter deck holds 7 cards, so drawing 5 leaves 2 in every draw deck and every discard pile starts empty — house decks are arithmetic on the official component counts. The four house starter decks are identical in content [official, p. 4].

Setup checklist

Run down this table before the first turn; every row restates the official steps above.

Defenders of Hogwarts setup checklist — where every component sits after setup, per official rulebook p. 6–9
Component or area	After setup it should be	Count
Defence Shields	Face up, one per Defence Shield Space on the main board	6
Hogwarts Tokens	On their own spaces in the castle and grounds	7
Dark Arts Pawns	4 on Deployment Spaces; the rest in the Dark Arts Player’s pool	4–7
House Player pawns	3 per house in the Great Hall; 1 per house on Loyalty Track space 1	3 + 1 per house
Room of Requirement	Beside the main board, unrevealed, with the 4 D.A. Coins	1 board
Library Book Spaces	2 cards face up; the deck face down on its Draw Deck Space	2 + 9
Acquire Rows	2 face-up cards in the Advanced Acquire Row; 2 in the Acquire Row	2 + 2
Dark Arts Marker	First space of the Dark Arts Path	1
Dark Arts Progress Tokens	On their matching path spaces (Giant, Acromantula, Dementor)	3
Dark Detector	On its Hogwarts Loyalty Track space on the side board	1
Parchment Scrolls	Stacked on their supply space	8
Location decks	Both shuffled face down on their side-board spaces	21 + 4 cards
Event Card decks	Three shuffled colour decks beside the Dark Arts Player board	3 × 5 cards
Every hand	5 cards; 2 cards left in each draw deck; discard piles empty	5 per player
House Player Location Cards	3 in each House Player’s hand	3 per house

Sources
Official rulebook PDF, MinaLima — setup steps p. 6–9 and component list p. 4: media.minalima.com — Defenders of Hogwarts rulebook. Kickstarter campaign page (player counts): kickstarter.com/projects/minalima/defenders-of-hogwarts.

Set up in 15 minutes