I just recently got into Talisman and am really loving it. So far I have the base game and the dungeon expansion in paper, and all the expansions in the digital version.

I'd like to know your top 10 expansions (1 being the best, 10 being the worst) and any reasoning you might have. I'd really like to get a good idea of what to pick up next and what to leave behind. I really don't think I can afford the space or money to get every expansion, so I'd really like to know the best. Obviously you don't need to do the whole top 10+

1st Expansion City or Reaper.

City if you want an additional board. It is way different than the other expansions, adds a lot of new items and stuff!

Reaper expansion if you want a small expansion and no board. The Reaper adds more basic Adventure cards and a cool NPC character that runs around.

Next for an additional board I recommend the Highlands. Its great for beginning leveling and gets you gold for the city!

If you want a small expansion next, and already have the Reaper but don't have City, I recommend the Sacred Pool. As it gives not only great basic Adventure cards but also items from a stable deck you can purchase without having the city. If you do have the City I would recommend Frostmarch next as it also has a generic addition to the Adventure deck.

The next board expansion I suggest is the new Woodland expansion. It also is different than the others, though not like the City and I think it's fairly safe for low level characters. But it has a unique game play which seems fun.

The next board expansion I recommend is the Dungeon. It is for higher level leveling. In our games it gets the least use.

Next I recommend the newest expansion, Deep Realms which connects the City & Dungeon.

If you have the small expansions I listed above, I next recommend the Nether realm. This is a new different kind of expansion and gives you a really cool alternate ending.

The rest I would get in this order:

Firelands: I have this, its new, and has some really cool effects. I don't have much experience with it yet.

Bloodmoon: A very Halloweenish type expansion. very strong in theme. I like the theme but only in the fall. It also has a game changing effect of creating day/night. In the day players get a +1 in battle at night enemies get a +1. You also get a werewolf NPC and Lycanthropy effects. I use only about 1/3 of the expansion (I don't use day/nite nor Lycanthropy). Others like it, but there is a strong percentage who think its fiddly.

The Dragon Expansion: Perhaps the most controversial expansion. About half the people do not like it. So lots of people play it with variations or house rules. It comes with a board, but it is an overlay for the center replacing part of the main board. I hated the expansion until I created a new way to play it, and now enjoy it a lot!

Don't be afraid to shop around, I got many expansions at awesome cheap prices, some of them used but in great condition.

Good list, thanks.

I think I like the Woodlands and Blood Moon about equally. As Doma says the Blood Moon is fairly Halloween/Supernatural focused, and, in a way, Woodlands brings in some of that, though more fantasy/fairy focused, but to me they complement well. I like the Day/Night cycle, personally, very well.

After that I like the Dungeon, City, Firelands best. After that, Dragon, Highland. Falling towards the back, but still quite liked are Reaper, Frostmarch and Sacred Pool.

I really like the Nether Realm, but we play it as is, so it doesn't factor into most of our games, unless you choose/reveal the alt. endings. Therefore, not enough experience to really judge it. But pretty much, HIGH challenge!

Deep realms has not factored into our games enough for me to gauge how well I like, but it seems challenging too.

My top three are Dragon, Woodland, and Firelands. But I have to recommend all the expansions.

let me do a follow-up...

I do have experience with Firelands, it just has limited impact on our game because we use everything, and thus Firelands gets diluted, But it is a tough expansion so I don't mind its dilution.

As for Woodlands, I think everyone in my group has more experience there than me. I have never made it to the end and have gotten the reward. I tend to like Highlands for low leveling and getting gold for the City.

My group really likes the Nether Realm we have purposefully chosen it for at least 3-4 games, as well as the possibility of it being a random ending many other times.

As for Day/night. I am changing how I play it, I am gonna keep day/night but ignore the +1/-1 effect in my own home rules, but in my group where I mostly play, they play with the full effect and all the cards.

Reaper + Dungeon. I would hold off on the City for a while, maybe even go in release order and get Highlands before City (not a huge fan of the board), just so you'll learn to play without the Flail . Once the City is in, Flail is in and it's a whole new (ball)game.

Yeah, I agree the flail is a game changer. But so is the Woodland. The last three games or so have seen a lot of players camping in the woods for us. The major reason is you have a large chance of surviving the Woodland and even if you don't, destiny cards transfer to your next character. Also, once you have a destiny card you will find it is much easier to manage your fate, which further increases your survivability in the Woodland.

In it's own way, I remember the Dungeon being very much a game changer as well, since defeating the Dungeon Lord can get you straight to the top even without a Talisman. In essence, I think any of the boards are going to have a pretty big impact on the game, even though like DomaGB says, some of them are suitable at different times in the game. The greater question would therefore be what flavour most interests a new player.

The two boards that probably change the basic game the least is the Highland and the Dungeon. Particularly the Highland sort of blends in with the main board, having a similar difficulty/reward. Perhaps a slightly higher reward rate for low-level characters actually, what with all those trinkets lying about. So, if you want the basic game but more of it, I'd get the Highland first and then the Dungeon. If you want somewhere to spend all your gold (on flails), get the City and if you want something that changes the game a lot, get the Woodland. Or the Dragon because that really changes the game a lot as well. Be aware that the Dragon is generally considered the least liked expansion even though it certainly has its charms.

As far as the smaller expansions go, they tend to blur together for me. The Reaper stands out because, well, the Reaper suddenly wanders around the board (which is one of the best additions to the game, period!). The Blood Moon, to me, feels a little like the Reaper's freaky cousin but if you're into werewolves and can't get enough NPCs, go for it. The Firelands changes things as well but I have the same experience as DomaGB: I play with everything so the Firelands has yet to make a big impression, being a bit lost in the hundreds of cards.

The two Realms expansions are really good but I can't quite shake the feeling that they are for more advanced play. It's not that they are difficult to play or understand but I suppose they are more subtle.

The remaining small expansions add a lot in terms of characters, spells, endings, etc. But if you are on a budget or timeline, they add less flavour and can therefore perhaps unfairly be picked up last.

Those are my thoughts anyway.

Reaper + Dungeon. I would hold off on the City for a while, maybe even go in release order and get Highlands before City (not a huge fan of the board), just so you'll learn to play without the Flail . Once the City is in, Flail is in and it's a whole new (ball)game.

I think this is great advice, personally. Some of the expansions you might like the best are probably the ones you should get later. Release order is my recommendation too. The three I mentioned you certainly would want to get later!

1. Dungeon

2. City

3. Reaper

4. Sacred Pool

5. Deep realm

6. Netherrealm

7. Bloodmoon

8. Frostmarch

9. firelands

10. Woodland

11. Highlands

12. dragon

If I were to buy this game from scratch, knowing what I do now?

I would buy all the small expansions in the following order and shuffle them into the main game.

1. Frost March

2.Sacred Pool

3.Blood Moon

4.Reaper

5. Nether Realm

6. Firelands (one of my favorite but changes the game)

I would then buy the Dragon expansion.

7. Dragon: Changes the game a LOT but without the corner expansions is a great game and allows the players to utilize it more easily since the board stays the same size.

After that I would start purchasing the corner expansions since they add SIZE to the playing area.

8.Highlands

9. Dungeon

10. Woodlands

11. City

The city is quite nice but has some serious balance issues ( Scribe, Barterer, Black market, Assassin spread in a really thin adventure card deck).
I'd would never recommend it as a first corner.

Just like JediKnightAmoeba I'd also recommend starting with a few small boxes.

1. Reaper - The game feels incomplete without it
   Warlock Quest Cards (!!), The Reaper NPC, Solid characters
2. Sacred pool - The game feels incomplete without it
   Warlock Quest Rewards, The Judgement Day Alternative ending, Solid characters
3. Frostmarch - The game feels incomplete without it
   Warlock Quest Cards, Th e Crown and Sceptre alternative ending, Solid characters
4. The Forest, the Dungeon and/or the Highlands
   You'd want a big big box by now. All three are great so make the choice based on what you prefer.
   The Forest changes the game quite a bit with dark/light fate but when I think of it I would like to have had this from early on.
5. What you feel like:
   Firelands - Makes the game harder
   Great alternative endings, great characters and game mechanics.
   I'm a big fan (I have two to make it less dilute) but I wouldn't recommend adding it early on.
   Bloodmoon - Adds day/night
   and more..
   Another big box (4.)
6. The City
   Lots of things/functions that was previously hard to acquire are now readily available in shops.
   It definitely doesn't have or should be the last expansion you buy but I'd say get at least two other big boxes first.

...The dragon

This is not as much of an expansion as it is a complete game-changer.
If you really like T alisman (of course you do ) I'd still recommend giving it a try at some point. Just think set your expectations on game-changer not expansion .
It comes out every now and then around here, probably next game actually since a friend asked for it.

Lots of well thought out answers here.

I feel like the Reaper expansion fell highly on most lists and I do like the idea of grabbing some of the smaller expansions... mainly for the fact that I don't have unlimited table space. I've always been excited about The City but I do worry about some of the unbalancing effects that I have heard about while reading around. It also seems like going in expansion release order is highly recommended, so I'll have to look into that too.

Yes there are some unbalanced city parts, but you can remove certain cards from play rather than lose the whole city! Also some of those city components could end up as a reward in the Deep Realms, and thus must be won by combat.

I think a lot of what makes an expansion favored is how it actually works in *your* play style. Since I only play with one person and we're not terribly competitive with each other, the game plays more like treasure hunting, adventure and danger, with little interaction between us as characters. We do cast spells against each other, but have rare interactions or challenges. When she rolls the '1' that moves the Werewolf and the Reaper (oh, we do use all expansions, even the Dragon, which is modified a little for our game) she chooses to move them into or towards the Dungeon (since that is the expansion she least explores, generally). But I do move the NPCs towards her character, so there is that!

Dilution of any one expansion seems to change from game to game, so that almost every play session is pretty unique. For a while, after Blood Moon, it seemed like day and night constantly changed and more supernatural menace appeared on the board. Well, Blood Moon did give us a big amount of cards for the main deck! Since Firelands that has changed; though at first we ran through more Ifrit terror at first. Everyone has their own method of shuffling and mixing, but some expansions cards do seem to stay closer together, than others.

When we first got the City, this was a game changer. Being 2 of us, we did not find that the Scribe was always overpowering. The Flail on the other hand was closer to that concept. And my co-player often went to buy one has soon as she could. But she hates meandering around the City and if I do it, she thinks I'm avoiding the "real" game. Deep Realms has changed her opinion, because over time she has become braver about setting foot in the Dungeon (even if she sent the Reaper and Werewolf there previously). Give a character a mighty weapon and... well too much like real life perhaps? But we do live near Detroit with its reputation for danger and gun violence.

The Woodlands is a great set for us, but like others we don't always get all the way through. We have though. ** I personally will be excited to see if some 'Realm' set bridges Woodlands and Highlands, but I would also be quite pleased if the next Realm set throws a curve and is as different from Deep, as Deep is from Nether Realms {{{ I would personally love if the next 'Realm' ties in more with Blood Moon, or supernatural themes, since its placement would be near the Graveyard on the main board }}}.

Adding, playing and gaining competence in any of the expansions will change game play or style, at least for us. My co player (wifey!) used to set out for the Highlands in the early game... gotta get those trinkets, you know, but these days not so fast.

In some ways, the complete, more-or-less, game we have now, has made us appreciate the main board more. Just the feel of balance between all the expansions and realms. For us, winning is not quite as important as the tapestry of the adventure. Using all expansions truly makes our games unique to each other. I could not guarantee this works for all players, especially since I'm pretty sure that more than 2, or 3 players changes many dynamics, creates more avenues to winning, etc.

The Dragon expansion adds a more direct and 'other-worldly' effect on our games. They seem to be the true power and threat to any player winning, or even getting into the Inner Region. Since we always use alt endings, too, Dragons may be seen as a preamble or 'partner' to what lies at the Crown.

The Forest changes the game quite a bit with dark/light fate but when I think of it I would like to have had this from early on.

Excellent point! We waited so long for the explanation for the two-sided fate tokens and it felt like there was always a mechanic missing somewhere. If I was purchasing from scratch, this would be the first big box I would buy.

I suppose that could be the case; the potential was always there, but to me, it seemed that a number of folks, including me, were coming up with ideas on the use of Fate of both colors, in the year or so run-up to Woodlands. I am not saying that 'fans' created or seeded the eventual creation of 'light/dark Fate', but it seemed like just when fans were asking the question the most - why do the Fate tokens have a light and dark side - that is when the answer began to appear.

Of course it could be as you say, but I believe in the real magic of the real world. And I believe that sometimes, synergy just happens. Thoughts can eventually become 'things'. However it happened, I do agree that Woodland would probably elevate to a higher rank (though I previously may not have said that!)

I've put some effort in making a post about Talisman Expansions on BGG once, so I'll copy and paste it here adding a word about the Deep Realms :

There are many good suggestions in this thread, but I think there are several other things that a newbie should know.

Talisman expansions are made of:
- new Adventure cards
- new Character cards + minis
- new Spell cards
- new Alternative Ending cards (starting with Frostmarch)
- new special cards and components
- new mechanics and rules
- additional board (big box only)
- a special deck to use with the board (big box only)

The first expansions (Reaper, Dungeon, Frostmarch, Highland, Sacred Pool) are much more important for what they add to the base game. There are recent expansions that add more quality to the game, but Spells, Characters and Adventure cards found in earlier expansions are more basic, numerous and somewhat essential to Talisman 4th edition.

Getting the more advanced expansions like the City, the Firelands and even the Woodland might not address the need for a more varied base game (more Spells, more basic Characters). Firelands played alone with the base game gets brutal and can even put you off if you're not prepared.

In general, it is recommended buying the expansions in the order they were published. Over the years the expansions have been designed with an eye at what fans were expecting, so they ended up filling gaps of the game as soon as they have been reported by players.

This is the story so far:

Reaper is a basic expansion, without a specific theme to it. It was designed just to expand the basic game after reissue by FFG and adds a NPC figure (the Reaper), which was generally well received.

Dungeon is the first new Region and is made to speed up character levelling and give a new challenging way to reach the Crown of Command. Characters and Spells provided in this expansion are super-essential, even more than the Reaper ones.

Frostmarch left some people disappointed because it was not full of even bigger challenges but diluted the current Adventure deck with many "lame" cards. At the time I thought it balanced the Adventure deck nicely, because it was filled with cool stuff and tough Enemies, so adding some ordinary stuff and lesser creatures was balancing the content a bit. Characters are not among my favourites, but they're ok. Spells are a must and so are the first 3 Alternative Endings.

Highland has fewer Spells and adds an interesting new Region for early game exploration, where you find a lot of Objects and gold you cannot spend. Characters are excellent, except for the OP Alchemist who's still waiting for a nerf.

Sacred Pool has some very special content, like the Misfortune Spell, and makes the first attempt to give more ways to spend gold with Stable cards. Characters are slowly getting less basic and more complex than before.

Dragon is an epic level expansion that somehow replaces the base game with many many Dragons. It might sound great but the mechanics are all but flawless. There are some nice variants around the web about how to make the game with Dragon more enjoyable.

Blood Moon adds a big bunch of Adventure cards, some good characters and a few Spells that are not so interesting. Some of the content requires the use of a new mechanic, the Time Card, which affects all creatures in the game but will be required in all your games unless you want to trim the deck.

City adds a Region which is all about earning and spending gold to gain excellent power-ups. Characters are very good but a bit more complex to handle.

Nether Realm is the first print on demand expansion for Talisman and adds a small deck of lethal cards to be used with 3 Alternative Endings. It's just a nice way to spice up the game if you already have enough variety of components.

Firelands adds some more danger to the Adventure deck and a great variety of new Spells and characters with Arabian Nights flavour. Terrain Cards are probably the most relevant addition from this expansion.

Woodland greatly expands the use of fate and offers a new corner Region with a completely different balance if compared to Dungeon and Highland. It's fresh and unpredictable, with fate always playing a primary role in all what happens. Destiny cards can be great game changers. It's more complex than previous corner expansions, characters included (they use special tokens for some abilities).

Deep Realms is another print on demand expansion and provides a connection between two of the previous expansions, Dungeon and City. It uses material from those expansions as a reward for the challenges within. It is nice to rebalance the City expansion by randomly removing powerful Objects from purchase options and gives an alternative way to get Treasure cards.

If you want a recommendation, either follow the chronological order above or make a selection based on exp. content, taking care of the following warnings:

- If you want Sacred Pool, you'd better add either Reaper or Frostmarch to have many Warlock Quests to gain Quest Rewards from. Beware that Misfortune Spell (Sacred Pool) makes the Reaper deadly, especially with a thin Spell deck.

- If you want the Highland, the Blood Moon or the Woodland, you'd better add at least Reaper or Frostmarch expansion to have a bigger Spell deck and a wider character choice. The Dungeon would be ok as well.

- If you want the City, you'd better have the Highland as well to have a place that grants a lot of gold. Frostmarch adds lots of Bag of Gold cards as well, but they're a bit boring. City has no extra Spells, so it's advisable to throw in the mix one or 2 other expansions.

- If you want the Firelands, make sure you have at least another small expansion to dilute the otherwise harsh Adventure deck, or a corner Region where characters can escape if things get out of control on the main board.

- If you want the Deep Realms, remember it requires both Dungeon and City expansion to play, unless you adopt some house rule

This was great reading, many of you make interesting points!

I always recommend Frostmarch and Sacred Pool (together) before the Reaper expansion. Although the reaper is the most basic expansion and the Reaper itself is nice I like the extra stuff you get from Frostmarch and Sacred Pool better. I think the Reaper is a great basic expansion but that the real reason why it's gotten so popular is that it was first and we got to play it alone with the base game for quite some time before other things were added. Then again, as I've mentioned before, I never, or rarely, use adventure cards from more than one small box (except when playing with the Firelands) and I think all expansion decks are well balanced.

I always recommend Frostmarch and Sacred Pool (together) before the Reaper expansion. Although the reaper is the most basic expansion and the Reaper itself is nice I like the extra stuff you get from Frostmarch and Sacred Pool better. I think the Reaper is a great basic expansion but that the real reason why it's gotten so popular is that it was first and we got to play it alone with the base game for quite some time before other things were added. Then again, as I've mentioned before, I never, or rarely, use adventure cards from more than one small box (except when playing with the Firelands) and I think all expansion decks are well balanced.

I do the same as you, except that I always play with 2 small boxes (except with Blood Moon, which adds a ton of cards and gets often used with base game only). After several years of this, I came exactly to the same conclusions: 1) the various expansion decks are well balanced; 2) Frostmarch and Sacred Pool Adventure Cards are more interesting over Reaper's.

I like all expansions for what they add to the game, but if I have to answer with just a preference rating as requested, this will be my top-down list:

1. The Firelands Expansion

2. The Woodland Expansion

3. The Sacred Pool Expansion

4. The Dungeon Expansion

5. The Nether Realm Expansion

6. The Highland Expansion

7. The Frostmarch Expansion

8. The Reaper Expansion

9. The City Expansion

10. The Blood Moon Expansion

11. The Dragon Expansion

Of the expansions I own:

Hope my opinions help!

Interesting views.

Me and my friend have had several gaming seshes with all expansions and have our own views/ideas.

Reaper: The main highlight were the extra adventure and spell cards, and the Reaper added some extra tension ("Please, not a 1!")

Dungeon: Rather challenging unless your levels are high, although defeating the Lord of Darkness with high strength/craft makes the Middle and Inner Regions and Warlock Quests obsolete, and if taking on a Dragon King or boss type alternate ending, it's auto-win!

Frostmarch: Mostly just extra cards but more variety in types of Warlock Quests. The introduction of Alternate Endings introduces some variety, as my friend is not fond of the standard Command Spell.

Highland: An easier version of the Dungeon. The Eagle King's rewards aren't impressive (compared to cards from later expansions) but you can gain fortune if you defeat the Eagle King and have picked up a lot of Trinkets that could be traded in for gold at the City, which you can use to purchase items from the City Expansion.

Sacred Pool: Quest Rewards give extra incentive to complete extra Warlock Quests although these have been hardly drawn at our games. This expansion does give extra balance to neutral characters (objects they can only use, characters can turn neutral).

Dragon: My friend's personal favourite and adds extra variety, as well as changing the gameplay. On average, a game with this expansion adds an extra hour of playing time. Purchased a dice bag for the tokens, and some of the extra rules can easily be forgotten (reminding each other to draw tokens, and remembering any scales we gain can cancel Dragon Rage). The Dragon Inner Region is preferred over the Tower, but either side results in the loss of the Black Knight's head!

Blood Moon: Has a Hallowe'en feel (the irony is that I received this on October 31st and first used this on the same day). Time Card can be challenging, especially at Night. Lycanthropy is considered beneficial at Night but it can be a double-edged sword (killed if you encouter the Peasant Mob). The Werewolf is not as dangerous as the Reaper (no instant kill) and similar to the Reaper's "You!" (as per the rulesheet), we sometimes go "Woof."

City: Interesting expansion that works well if using the Highland, turning the trinkets into Gold, which is vital to benefit from the items up for sale, but the cards can be deadly if you are on your basic levels. Did notice that the Rogues Guild/Guildmaster space is no use for the Knight and Dark Cultist (who can't change alignment). Only issue is that you have to land on the City Gates to be able to claim bounty. Also, if one is sent to jail, I tend to say "Do not pass Go. Do not collect Gold."

Nether Realm: First observations were the material of the cards being different and that it can only be used if one of the expansion's alternate endings was used. I like the Gauntlet and we use this as a house rule for the Inner Region, usually when playing with all expansions around the game's anniversary. Some of the cards are evil as at least two of them can result in an instant kill (unless you're the Assassin and not on the Crown of Command)

Firelands: If this expansion's cards are in close proximity to each other, rather than being sparsely apart, in the Adventure deck, the game will be more difficult but can be rewarding. The Terrain mechanic could make getting to the Crown of Command a bit easier and the Ifrit cards allow you to exchange them for either Strength or Craft. Some enemies are too powerful especially when starting with a new character, and the Fireland tokens can make choice of spaces to land on more limited. The Old Man of the Sea card is probably the most evil, especially if you have no strength or craft counters.

Woodland: Makes good use of the light and dark fate that affects the outcome of some cards. When gaining/replenishing/setting up fate, I use light for good, dark for evil and an equal amount of both for neutral, unless instructed. Sounds more logical for light/dark bound (similar to the light and dark side of the Force) but only using light fate to reroll your own die rolls can be challenging. Character tokens and how they are used can be a bit complicated (my friend once reckoned the Spider Queen's tokens are more of a help than a hindrance to others).

Deep Realms: Had a couple of games with this and provides an interesting challenge, especially with the Tunnel cards, but it can be an easier (or free) way to get the rewards at the end. Not too sure about bridge cards getting shuffled back in, despite some cards saying they will remain on the board (maybe a future expansion that allows them to be moved to other region spaces?) and my friend overthinking with regards to being able to press on on th bridge despite losing to enemies (yes, you can press on!). Only gripe is that it creates less space for my character's play area (my friend prefers playing on the Sentinel side).

In summary, each expansion is good, and challenging, in their own rights but the most recent ones have introduced new game mechanics that can be overwhelming and can be a struggle to remember.

I think I can safely say that the Dragon is my friend's favourite, mostly due to the extra rules and extra variety from three decks.

But for me, I would say the Reaper as that expansion's cards didn't have to rely on a specific theme and could easily blend in with the core game (even though the character cards' artwork looked different) as well as the Reaper adding a bit of tension (1=instant death).

Many points have been made.
I think as many have said that amout of spells is important. The game really does not feel complete without at least one expansion. Some don't include spells or a lot of spells.

I bought what expansions appealed to me, and I've bought, and thus I rank them higher than the others.


I gotta go:
1.Reaper
2. Dungeon
3. Firelands
4. Woodland
5. Highland
6. City
7. Deep realms

I have not got the others, but rating by tier Id go:

Sacred pool - frostmarch
Dragon
Wolf Bloodthing
Harbringer- netherrealm