How long does a typical game take, I don't ever trust what the boxes say, i trust what the players say.

It would depend on the how many expansions you have, but generally 1-3 hours was the timeframe for playing second edition with the GW released expansions (this is really dependant on your playing group), for the 4th edition alone probably an hour. We always play with a max of 4 players at a time though, with six it is even longer.

Ive played three player games that have lasted as long as three and a half hours.

it depends how you play (and how many people). if your a camper like me; i run around encountering adventure cards and am content with finding iteams and gold. the game can last forever. i have no zeal to go to the crown of command. i relay on the other person to go and shoulder that responsbilty. the game would usualy last 2-3 hours.

i rember back in the day playing with the board and the expansions (city,timscape,and dungeon) the game would sometimes last 9-13 hours. we would pick 3 charecters (1 current 2 backups to replace vanquished charecter). i miss those days. what a great game. my favorite place was the city. anyways i digress.

1-3 hours easy, ecspecially if had City and/or Dragons.

If you had timescape everyone would frantically enter when someone entered the crown... it was amazing how often the first player to enter the crown would lose as someone would come out of Timescape powered up and ready to fight!

Anyway enough reminiscing...

Base only on extensize play of 2nd editioin in the past, it is about 40-60 minutes per player if using no expansions that include and additional board. Don't know about 4th edition (revised or not). My wife and I played once only until one of us reached the Crown of Command: 2.75 hours. But we were still getting familiar with the game's new cosmetics.

LOL...We always thought this was funny on the back of the box for the 2nd edition the length of play was listed as 1+ hours. We always made jokes of this because its the biggest understatement of all time. Typical game for us usually lasted 6 hours. The longest game we ever had was with full players it lasted 16 hours...no one could make it into the middle, we were all highly competitive so PvP was going on in full force. Someone did finally reach the middle via The Dungeon and got the Horrible Black Void (LOL...snicker snicker)that happened around the 10 hour mark. It was a long game but one of the most memorable board game sessions I have ever had.

Just checking to see if anyone has new time reports (4th only) on hours versus number of players?

We usually play with about 5 or 6 players, and games go for 3-5 hours, depending on circumstances of course.

SubElement said:

Are your play sessions very social, slightly social, or processing turns at a steady clip? Talisman usually inspires some banter, especially with plenty of people, so I'm just wondering how much that might be a factor at times. I know it has been for us in the past... maybe why my own time estimates seem a bit more than others.

With 4th ed., when we get right down to playing to squeeze a game into limited time we can get a game in in about 1-1/2 to 2 hours with four players.

JCHendee said:

We play very socially, but the game moves at a decent pace.

Thanks for the input folks. I can only assume by our time required that we must just babble too much. Most of us are also into wandering and "adventuring" and in no hurry to the end-game. Often we just play until someone achieves the Crown of Command. Everyone else then has one turn to try to reach the portal of power. If someone does, play continues to see if anyone can get into the Crown to challenge ownership. We rarely play out the "Kill Everyone" nonsense - it's boring to us.

JCHendee said:

See, we play until the very last drawn out for 2 hours death. As long as your alive, there is a chance you can get there, and it hase happened before.

I played 4th revised with two new players and myself whom had some experience with 2nd edition many years ago and it took 3 and a half hours.

I will make slight modifications next time to speed up the game time.

A.) Lower the amount of trophies to obtain new craft/strength (This is even recommended in the manual as a method of speeding up the game)

B.) Item A does not help if the other players do not know when they have a shot at the crown. Inexperienced players have no idea how strong is strong enough to have a decent shot at the inner region. Next time I will point this out when I explain the game to level the playing field.

I have considered setting a time limit on allowing players to return to the game with a new character, or banning it from the start but I suspect that would turn the game into a kill the competition then worry about the crown game, which will end up a very different game.

Antony30bc

Four games with the wife on 4th Edition and they clocked on average 2 - 3 hours. We're Talisman vets of 2nd and 3rd editions, but tend to "overpower" our chars before going into the inner ring.

I think that the players attitude and experience play a lot of how long the game takes.

Do people build themselves up so much, that the inner region is a cake walk (auto wins)? or make a run the first chance when they get there Talisman.

Also if one person heads to the middle, are the other players passive, and stay out to see who lasts the longest? or are players aggressive and charge into the middle for a final battle?

PVP, are players attacking each other, or are they all playing a friendly game of "dont touch me"

And there are a few situations in the game that can make a difference. Sudden run of bad luck, kills a player right away.

IS the Dwarf in play? he will probably run the first chance he gets. This also means if the gnome is encountered early or not.

I play a lot of 2 player games. The games last from 30 minutes to 2 hours. So if you multiply that range by 4 players it can take...2-8 hours?

In other words, the game has a very big range of time on it. I dont think we will find the answer at all.

I have play the third edition with another player. For us it takes 5 to 7 hours if we level up for every 7 experience points

(including all expansions) (with dragon tower)

----------

I did a test with the 4th edition in my own to see how long it takes. i choose to level up for every 5 points of strenght or craft otherwise i am still playing the second day !!! lol;) i finish the game after 4 or 5 hours

3-player games get done in less than 2 hours around here. Fastest was a rush-Dwarf win in about 40-45 minutes. He just went up with 5/7 (Str/Craft) and even getting a Destroy Magic forced backtrack, that's all it took. 2+ hours seems really, really rare. Then again, 15 games with Upgrade + Reaper and the Adventure deck (194 cards) is yet to be exhausted. I think 19 cards left is the "record" so far.

With the Reaper expansion, the game is much quicker !

We play around 4 to 5 hours to finish the game.

With mostly experienced players and 1 or 2 newbies, our games are easy to estimate. 1 hour per player.

Exception: 2-3 player games with very experienced players (who know every card) can go as little as 30-45 minutes.

Today we have finish the game in 4 hours including Dungeon and Reaper expansion, plus both characters( me and oppponent where death, and we started with a new one.

I was killed by the Reaper and my opponent was killed by the Devil It has never been happen before

myomer said:

That is pretty lengthy for 2 players. Is that without expansions?

It usually comes out to about 40-60 minutes per player for us. We always trade in trophies at 5, though, and sometimes the game can be shorter than that if someone gets lucky. Last 2-player game I played, I won in 30 minutes!

Velhart said:

Cool