Review: Talsiman 4th Edition Core
Talisman 4th Edition...What can you say?
The most fun you can have with a ridiculous amount of cards and some little plastic figures?.. Perhaps
Talisman is the link between board games and fantasy, with simplistic rules that can be picked up quickly, and enjoyed by many. A word of warning though, games can take considerably longer than expected, especially when children are involved.
Originally created by Games Workshop, when they did things that didn’t have the word Warhammer at the beginning, It went through a few changes and expansions until it was put to rest after the 3rd edition, more famous for it’s hard to buy dragons tower expansion than the game. After languishing for many years as a distant memory, it was reborn under the Black Industries label, who took all the nostalgia that made Talisman great, and added a modern feel. However, they soon stopped producing games, and the licence was taken up by Fantasy Flight games, and with their normal flair, made everything nicer.
Opening the box, you get a large play area, dived into three rings, a boggling array of cards, and 14 well sculptured character models. Looking through the rules, there is a simple game method, easily picked up. After choosing your character, dice rolls control your movement around the outer ring, either clockwise or anti clockwise. Each board square has instructions, unusually draw x cards, and you encounter these cards in the number order of the cards. These fall into standard categories such as enemies and encounters. Battle consists if pitting your characters strength against the cards, with a dice roll to see who wins. Defeating enemies allow you to claim there card as a trophy, and these can be traded to increase your stats.
Play continues on this way, with a few fights with your friends thrown in.
So how do you win?
Well, the play time around the outside ring usually provides one encounter per turn, although some squares differ, and in this way with objects, followers and victories, you build up your character. At some point, you will decide your strong enough to move to the second ring, which plays like the first, only with an average of two encounter cards per square, and alot more squares that give you a nasty bite, such as the desert, that instantly takes a life if you haven’t got a water bottle. As monsters add their strength in a fight, the chance to face 2 or 3 monsters at once is not for the weak.
And in the back of your mind, always is the talisman. This card is the only way to win (there are multiple ways to earn it). This card alone will let you enter the third ring, and face the trials to make your way to the centre of the board.
This third ring plays differently, there are no encounter cards, and you only move one square per turn through the realm, facing each new challenge on your turn. You quickly learn if you have done enough to build your character, or beat a hasty retreat back to the normal realms.
The object of the game is to get your character into this centre, the crown of command. From here, you can cast the crowns spell, stripping lives off your opponents and enforcing permadeath if you can’t be removed from the crown.
The mechanics are simple, easy to pick up, and with a couple of hours, and idles of wine, it’s a great evening in with your friends, although sneaky tricks will strain your relationship. The different special skills on the characters mean playing varies greatly, and each character has to be used to it’s best advantage to win. The game has been put together by someone who loved the GW formats (we don’t mention talisman timescape, the Jar Jar of the Talisman history) and it’s true to the original shines through.
We dont Mention TimeScape
It is by no means perfect, and hardcore gamers will find it too repetitive a game in its core build, and in most base games there will come a point where a single character becomes practically unstoppable in it’s march to victory. Both these issues are resolved via the expansions route, of which there are in FFG’s way, many many more options than in any other version. The expansions male a much more satisfying game, and strategy plays a much more important role than in the base game. However, as the expansions give, they take away, as without a storage strategy the sheer number of encounter cards becomes unmanageable. While I will look at expansions in detail another time, in the main they come in big box, providing additional play surfaces, normally going on the corner of the main board, and small box, offering a new mechanic to the game. Each come with additional characters, and matching models. With the additional boards, be aware you will need a BIG table top play on.
Talisman can provide a great evening for casual players, and is well designed and constructed, but without the additional packs long term gamers will find the game predictable and simple.
