Talisman 4th Edition

Frequenting my local brick and mortar gaming store here in Manchester (one which I was yet to play or buy anything in), I finally braved the unknown and purchased my first premium board game; The classic, Talisman 4th Edition.

I was really looking for something grand to sink my teeth into and all preliminary research kept pointing towards this monster. This won't be a review as google will tell you all you need to know about a relatively old and very well documented game, I'll just give my prelimiary thoughts after maybe 10 hours of gameplay, of which none have been completed.

If you're not familiar with Talisman, it was first published in 1983 by Games Workshop and is a fantasy adventure game in which 2-6 characters race into the innermost of 3 regions, seeking the Crown of Command. Of the 14 available character classes, each traverse each region using a single roll of a die and increase their power through encounters and items in order to brave the increasingly dangerous middle and inner regions. Only those who have obtained 1 of 6 Talisman along their journey may enter the Valley of Fire within the inner region and become victorious through the acquisition of the Crown.

My preliminary thoughts? This game is a wonderful nightmare. A turn of an adventure card can see your character simply increase his or her prowess or inventory, another, a dragon or devil to quickly wipe the smile off your face. The unique array of characters and endless potential for encounters, memorable player vs player battles and item combinations make this game very replayable, not to mention the many expansions which have now been released, expanding the initial board to the epic scale shown above. Talismans themselves are great at creating early game controvery; obtaining a Talisman yourself is often a game of chance, taking one from another player however can create some memorable PvP encounters.

The game offers a great selection of Adventure cards which can offer world events, temporary or permanent events to the game square you're on (markets etc), items, monsters or the rare chance of a coveted Talisman. I'm already starting to feel like I've seen every adventure/spell card before, but this has yet to detract from the excitement of the game and these can be expanded massively by supplementary expansions.

My first and single biggest observation has been this: it never ends. I have had 3 sessions playing the game, playing with a group of 6 each time (the maximum number the game allows) from between 3 and almost 5 hours per session. On each occasion, the inner region has been breached multiple times, each visit being extremely short lived as the player was flung to a far square of the outer region - or killed. It is brutal. A full compliment of players extends the playtime of this game, seemingly indefinitely (not always a bad thing). If anyone has any advice on what's going wrong here I'd be happy to hear it.

The game has been badly reviewed at times for the seemingly random and brutal nature of the random elements present within the gameplay. I cannot see how this is a negative feature, more so simply the nature of the beast and what makes Talisman unique and enthralling in its own right.

The game is thoroughly enjoyable and available expansions will no doubt keep my interest sparked for many more sessions to come. I would recommend Talisman to anyone and if anybody has a suggestion for my first expansion purchase then I would be happy to hear from you.