Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game cancels Kickstarter, confirms no availability at retail

The Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game will no longer be coming to Kickstarter.

Instead, studio Knight Models has announced that, instead of running a crowdfunding campaign, it will offer the wizarding game directly as a pre-order ahead of a release this September – but there’s a catch.

First of all, Knight has confirmed that the game will not be coming to retail, making its online store the only place it will be available to buy. (UPDATE 13/3/18: Knight Models has contacted Tabletop Gaming to clarify that its previous statement that the Harry Potter Miniatures Adventure Game would not be coming to retail was "published by error" and the game WILL be coming to shops "later this year, at regular price TBC". The expansions and models marked as pre-order exclusives will only be available during the month-long pre-order window and "won't be available later in any way".)

Secondly, if you want to buy it, you’ll only be able to do so during a month-long pre-order run from March 14th to April 15th. (Oddly, the store lists the game with a “pre-order offer” of 20% off and exclusive miniatures, despite the company’s insistence on its Facebook page that the game will not be available afterwards.)

If you want to go in for the game, the core set will cost you €80 (£71) plus shipping, which will get you models of Harry, Hermonie and Ron, plus four Death Eaters, an Acromantula giant spider and five of its spawn. There’ll also be three double-sided map boards; various character, item and spell cards; tokens; and custom dice. Figures of house elves Kreacher and Dobby are included as a pre-order bonus.

If you then want to bump up your collection, there are a variety of miniature and expansion packs, from Dumbledore’s Army, the Order of the Phoenix and Slytherin students to Hogwarts professors and Hagrid. Extra adventure packs will introduce bigger enemies, including the troll from The Philosopher’s Stone, a Prisoner of Azkaban dementor and Lord Voldemort himself, who is only available as a pre-order.

There is an all-in bundle on the site, which will set you back a pretty staggering €300 (£266), plus postage.

Knight has also teased some more details about the gameplay of the title, confirming that it will feature both a one-on-one skirmish mode, support for solo play and a co-op campaign, with up to eight players supported.

The decision to drop Kickstarter and the confusing explanation of how, when and where the game will be available to buy has resulted in a predictably mixed response from fans online, with some celebrating the avoidance of the crowdfunding platform and others lamenting the limited availability and high cost of the set. We’ll see if it’s all been worth it when the game ships out this September.