Hello,

First post on the Talisman boards.

I have been keeping a tabs on the lastest incarnation of Talisman for a while now and think I am ready to take the plunge. Talisman has a special place in my heart as really the first fantasy RP exposure as a young child, principally down to my older Brother. I still own first edition and we play it once every blue moon.

I have been very impressed with FFG since they took over Dark Heresy and have therefore decided to invest in one of their board games, which seem to mirror the high qulaity treatment given to their roleplaying games.

Now lead contender is 4th edition revised Talisman, but for a few pounds cheaper I can probably source the Black Industries 4th edition Talisman. I am not too interested in the expansions, so as a stand alone version which one would you go for given the choice?

Furthermore, and now drifting away from Talisman specifically, if you had one FFG boardgame to buy which one would you go for? Arkham Horror looks very interesting but I have read reviews that is can be quite complex. I also used to play Warrior Knights (still have the GW original). I would get them all but in reality I really need to limit myself to one.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi Replicant,

The choice is easily for me, if i must choose between the black industries version or the FFG version.

The revised edition from FFG offers character figures, fate tokens, the cards are smaller and better protected, and all the other card expansions are from the same format.

If you buy the black industry version, then you regret it maybe later , if you ever want to buy the upgrade pack from FFG

If you want to do that in the future, then you miss the new texts on the board ( the board from BI is also smaller)

The characters in the BI version are from cardboard including the toads etc

So actually, you are only limiting yourself if you buy the Black industries version. ( believe me, it's not worth to do that..

Greetings,

~Velhart~

I'm with Velhart. I haven't got the revised 4th edition yet, but I am waiting for it to be delivered. There simply was no choice as far as I was concerned when I learned what FFG have done in the revised edition. It is apparently overall better balanced between characters, strength and craft etc. Plus, and this is a big plus, you can get the Reaper and Dungeon expansions for the revised edition which includes more adventure cards etc. As Velhart said, the expansions will only work with the FFG one as the cards are the same. I have ordered the Reaper expansion myself already, and am awaiting delivery of that along with the main game.

If you want more info on what FFG have made changes to in the revised edition, read the news section for this game on this site. It explains why they have made changes to some of the squares and characters, and it makes sense why they did so.

As for other FFG games, don't they all just look superb? I mean WOW! However, I will wait and play the FFG Talisman and get some gaming out of that before I buy any more. I am really interested in the look of Runebound and its expansions, but am a little concerned it won't be as fun as Talisman as well as the length of time it takes for players to take their turn (I wouldn't want players to get bored, which I know they won't with Talisman). We'll see.

Best game : Arkham.

But if you don't want to invest at all : Talisman (FFG's).

Anyway, follow your heart, dammit ! You have to pick up your side, Apollo !

wastedyuthe said:

That is debatable. Priest got worse (and he was a bottom-feeder to begin with), Assassin was granted Godhood if you go by RAW, Thief got boosted as well, since he can steal Mules from Village, though I like the Thief for the screwage factor. Warrior and Dwarf got +1 Life and the Dwarf weighs in at 5 Fate, but he was already a good character to begin with, so he just got boosted more. With Reaper, Warrior can get +3 Str and Craft in combat.

Hmm. I will have to see how it plays when I get it myself. My choice still stands though. Going back to the op's question, how about you Dam- would you still pick the FFG version over the BI?

wastedyuthe said:

Well, I have the BI version, but since I wanted get expansion eventually, I have the Upgrade Pack as well. If playing just the base game, I would prefer BI, but since it doesn't support expansions, FFG version is what we play. Though we still use the BI board (so no Fate replenish) and use the BI Raiders wording. Oh, yeah, and Assassin RAW got houseruled out SO fast.

Could you explain what you mean by Assassin "RAW" please- as I said, I am still waiting for it to be delivered.

wastedyuthe said:

He can use his Assassinate ability (opponent doesn't roll a die in battle) on Adventure cards he draws. In all previous versions (don't know about 3rd), he could only use it on cards already face up. No Strength Creature ever gets to roll a die when against Assassin, only time he can't use that power is when another char attacks him.

I do have the 3rd edition, but that character isn't in the base characters- don't know if he is in one of the expansions for it.

I agree with you that using his power on any cards he draws as well as ones already face up is completely over-powering him. If he assassinates a monster in this way, does he earn trophy points for it?

wastedyuthe said:

Normal trophy. He still beat it in "battle".

Dam said:

Well then that definitely IS making him too powerful. I am assuming he can use his power in the inner region too, right? Why in God's name did they do that to him? Seems a very silly decision.

Assassin third edition

strength 3/ craft 3/ lives 4/ 1 gold

start in village

1": take a broadsword from the purchase deck at the start of the game

2: you may never have any followers. even creatures like the hag, jester and poltergeist will not become your follower

3 whenever you are involved in a battle ( not a psychic combat) you may attempt a sneak attack.

If you do so, your opponent does not roll a dice for the battle.

Instead, you roll one dice, and if you roll a 4,5,6 you win the combat.

But if you roll a 1,2,3 you lose

-----------

I must say that the special ability from this assassin is far more better than the one from the 4th edition !

The assassin was included in the City expansion

wastedyuthe said:

Because it's the only power he got !

Every character has his own strong power.

The assassin's power cannot be used against craft enemies too.

Don''t underestimate the power of other characters

But the power of the assassin is a little boring to me. What's the fun if you can defeat a enemie right away because it's no need to roll the dices because you can assassinate him directly...

The special ability from third edition is far more better than this ! ( i have never take a look at the third edition assassin actually...

Velhart said:

So, in the 3rd edition, he can't have followers which is a big disadvantage for him, which is good. However, attempting to assassinate someone basically means it's a 1 in 2 chance of you winning the battle, which isn't particularly good in my opinion, unless of course he is fighting something much stronger than he is.

In the 4th, if he wants to assassinate them, must he still roll the dice and add that to his strength for his score against the enemies strength? If so, you would be more inclined to use this power against weaker enemies compared to the assassin in the 3rd edition, where you would just rather have a normal battle than risk a 1 in 2 chance of losing.

So basically, the 3rd edition adds more strategy as to when you want to use your skill, as you may not want to use it every time. In the revised 4th, you may as well just use it every time as there is no disadvantage in doing so.

However, if the assassin rule is the only advantageous rule he has, and actually has other rules (such as not allowing followers) that are disadvantageous, then I suppose that makes up for it.

wastedyuthe said:

well, i must say that the ability from 3th edition is not bad ( it's actually 50% chance to assassinate someone.

You don't have to use it against low strength enemies to take that risk. So this is better than 4th edition.

----

With 4th edition, you know that you can win right away !

yes, the assassin rolls a die too ( for example) the assassin draws a snake of strength 4. ( he is self strength 3. he rolls the die and the snake may not roll a die, so if he rolls higher than 1, then the snake is already defeated !

If the assassin is stronger, let's say strength 7, then he can easily add the dragon to his trophy list without fighting it !

On the other hand, if the assassin was only to be able to use his power on cards already on the board, wouldn't that make him too weak a character, if he can't have any followers too?

Perhaps they should have kept the rules from the 3rd edition as it at least gives the player a bit of required thought as to if they want to assassinate an enemy or have a normal battle.

wastedyuthe said:

Yeah that would make him totally weak.

I think that the assassin from third edition is the best one.

As you say, it add some thoughts if you want to assassinate or not and then it is not too overpowered. Actually it looks more fun to me than the 4th edition assassin.

And to add that you may not have followers, then the assassin has a good balance in my eyes..

------------

Actually, every character in 4th edition can win.

The gladiator for example is pretty powerful . He get's a +1 strength for every follower ( even for mules etc) how do you think of that

The dark cultist can roll a die everytime she defeat a enemie. If you rolls a 4 or 5, she get's a strength or craft counter right away !!

On top of that, she can keep the trophy's too !!

Velhart said:

I think I hear the Priest somewhere, weeping. Only other char I can think of that doesn't have a power worth having is the Troll , but he's got other assets.

Dam said:

I still want to play with the priest, but i never draw him..

Then i can try him out, if i like him or not..

Velhart said:

Fear the day you draw him ! Fear is the path to the dark side.

Dam said:

haha

well, i think i am more than happy if i draw him

Then i can find a way to win with the priest. If i win, then i don't have to fear him

IF the Priest gets a huge break and draws Colossus and/or Warhorse very early on, he can make nice boosts in Strength. But then again, +2 to Str in battle (Colossus) helps everybody. FFG really should've allowed him (and the Monk) to use Magical Objects, even if they are Weapons. Currently, he can get +2 to Craft in Psychic Combat, oh wait, he very, very rarely has to do Psychic Combat, as he can use his ability on most Craft Enemies.

Dam said:

The priest must rely on his pray ability and his fate.

A priest is not made for fighting.

He does only pray to the gods and use his cross to ban all evil out of this world.

so you must pray to get yourself stronger

this means: hit the temple, hit the chapel for spells and hit the enchantress( at the beginning of the game) and use low spirits to get spells

Still need Strength to get past the Pits, unless you're going crazy and taking his Str 2 ass into the Dungeon to take on the LoD with Craft . Temple is still at best once every two turns thing and he has to get there first. Getting tons of Spells doesn't help, if you already have Spells you can't get rid of filling your quota. Even with Reaper in the mix, Spirits aren't as common a draw as the Priest would like. When Goblin's are kicking your ass, need more than praying.