Got a closer look at the cover on BGG

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/667546/talisman-the-highland-expansion?size=large

and the pirate is a woman!! Cool !

The evil looking female character may be a Vampire but I hope it is a brand new character like the Dark Cultist was.

It does look like she has fangs though....

There was a Dark Elf in 2nd ed (Dungeon expansion I think) so my money is on that.

I think that the characters are:

Highlander

Vampire

Valkyrie

Dark elf wizard

Sword fighter or pirate..

Sprite

That char on the lower-left doesn't have dark enough skin to be a Dark/Black Elf. Dungeon's Black Elf being the comparison.

Me thinks he's an Elven Fire Wizard judging by the looks of his staff

Tonkan said:

Not sure I have heard of an Elven Fire Wizard but could be a new character type.

From what I remember from other fantasy realms ( a long long time ago...) Dark Elves refered to Elves that had "turned from the Light" and

had nothing to do with their skin colour. I think that was Black Elves.

The artwork in the 2nd edition Talisman had the character with blue skin which was.... unusual....

With 3 female characters I would imagine that for balance they would spread amongst the alignments:

Vampiress :: Evil

Pirate :: Neutral (Evil in 2nd ed)

Valkyrie :: Good

that leaves

Sprite :: Good

Highlander :: Neutral

Elf type person :: Evil

Hence my ascertation that he is probably Evil and therefore a Dark Elf. (With a flame shaped staff)

To further predict the remaining 4 corners, I think the Forest will lead to... the Swamp (good place for Toads)

The remaining corner has only the City has a unique space so I would expect a City based board there.

On Talisman Island Jon uploaded front box image in 3D. We can see something on one of the sides of the box. It is some kind of guy with a rod or staff and helmet. Who he would be? Reaper featured reaper on side box, Dungeon LoD, and Frostmarch - Ice Queen. Most famoust characters then..

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that the Eagle King is a giant eagle now instead of a weird looking knight!

Definite coolness upgrade!

Out of interest, these are the 2ed equivalents. Copied verbatim ( I think) including the obvious mistakes.

Hopefully they will be a bit more balanced in this version. (Assuming it is these chartacter in the Highlands)

Highlander
Strength: 3
Craft: 3
Alignment: Neutral
Start: Crags

1. When you are in combat, you may decide to Charge into battle before you toll the die.
   This adds 2 points to your combat score, but you must miss your next turn while you recover your wits.
2. Whenever you end your move on the Hills or Crags you make take an extra move. You can only do this once per round.
3. You are safe on the Crags and the Chasm; you need not roll the die there.

Sprite
Strength: 1
Craft: 5
Alignment: Good
Start: Forest

1. You need not roll the die in the Forest; you are always safe there.
2. You begin the game with 2 spells.
3. During the game you always have at least 2 spells.
   Whenever playing a Spell reduces your total to less than two, draw another Spell immediately to replace it.
4. You may evade enemies in the Woods.

Valkyrie
Strength: 3
Craft: 4
Alignment: Good
Start: Graveyard

1. You are always safe on the Crags and the Chasm; do not roll the die when you are there.
2. Begin the game with 1 Spell
3. You may add 1 to your die roll when in Combat with Spirits
4. You may resurrect any human Enemy you defeat; they then become your Follower and add 1 to your Strength for one Combat only.
5. You may resurrect any killed Follower and take them for yourself.

Dark Elf
Strength: 3
Craft: 4
Alignment: Evil
Start: Graveyard

1. You may drain the life-force from any of your Followers. To do this, discard the Follower card and add 1 you your Lives
2. Whenever you defeat another character in Combat or Psychic Combat, you may force the character to lose 1 Strength point or 1 Craft point instead of a Life.
3. Note that you cannot take a character's score below it's starting level by this means, nor take any points from Followers or Magic Objects.
4. You begin the game with one Spell.
5. You are not affected by the Siren.

Pirate
Strength: 4
Craft: 2
Alignment: Evil
Start: Tavern

1. Whenever you are in the game any other character who pays the Doctor in the City, the Healer in the Village or the Royal Doctor in the Castle must leave the gold counters on the appropriate space.
   No player but you may pick up those counters. Whenever you land on the City,Village or Castle you may "plunder" it and take any Gold which has been left there.
2. You may Capture any Stranger you land on except the Witch, Leper, Judge, Outlaw or Siren.
   The Captive stays with you like a Follower, but neither you nor any player may make use of a Captive.
   When you free your Captive, leave the card behind, face up on the board.
   You may only have one Captive at a time.
3. You may build a raft in the Woods or Forest without needing an axe.

Nemomon said:

Maybe that it is possible that the Eagle King is human?

He looks a bit like the third edition mountain boss..

But if that would be true, who is the big bird then...

Velhart said:

I agree Nemomon and Velhart. It is more likely the Eagle King on the sides. The bird on front is probaly just like one of those in the background. There is also a big dragon on the main Talisman game cover, but no dragon like this in game.

Anyway, he looks very cool from a distant..

It looks like he has a golden pickaxe in his hand.. and a golden helmet on his head

Velhart said:

Looks pretty cool to me too. I have no problem that Eagle King is not a big eagle.

I hope that there are some adventure cards for the mainboard. ( inlcuding Harpies

Looking at the Harpy card, this one is for the mountains

Velhart said:

I think there will be some adventure cards similar to the amount in the Dungeon - adventure cards that relate to the mountain.

Mr. Brogger said:

If we look to the Dungeon expansion, there are 2 trapdoors for the mainboard, so maybe that the Mountain expansion offers 2 Harpies for the mainboard..

But the differences are that the harpies for mountains is keyworded as a monster, while the Harpies from the third edition for the mainboard are a event.

so i hope that they will be a event then.. for the mainboard..

You can easily defeat a craft 4 enemy..

Velhart said:

But 2nd edition Harpy = R4th Harpy.

Dam said:

Ah oke

That makes sense.

Anyway, if FFG will add some Harpy's for the mainboard, and they have not the mechanic from third edition, then i can alsways use a house rule..

They will likely not be a event then.. This are the sort of things that i miss in this edition..(just sending the character to a draw 3 space in the mountains)

Velhart said:

I agree, the harpies will be more interesting as event. Especialy if there are very few cards for the main board. It will be boring just to have some more monsters added to the rest. Unles they have some kind of moutain related effect.

Well, Harpies aren't Trap Door, they "only" you to Crags (where I assume the Mountain board access will be).

Mr. Brogger said:

Indeed.

Anyway, there's still the question if FFG will include some Harpy's for the mainboard. If they are not included, then i can forget this idea, unless i use homebrew cards. But i don;t like that

Dam said:

well,.. in third edition, the Harpies and the trapdoor have the same mechanic.

With the Harpies, you must roll with 2 dice under your strength, if you fail to roll, then they pick you up, and drops you in the Lost City in the mountains

Dam said:

Dam said:

Dam said:

Okey, I see. That is just fine with me as long as they are mountain related - and they are a bit even they aren't realy dangerous.

They are not so meaningfull to me that I will homebrew them. I do not like homebrew so munv either... only Toad King

Mr. Brogger said:

With a craft 4, they are not dangerous..

On top of that, the Crags is also not dangerous...

I am getting a bit tired of talking how weak the events are in 4th revised edition..

The third edition Harpies and trapdoors have probably copyright on it. That would explain, why they are not the same..

PS: I don't like homebrew neither except if i can use original text from older editions..

Well this looks just dandy! And my birthday is in March

I noticed a brief mention of what a Dark Elf might be. It all depends on what story they are taken from.

In Tolkien they were the heroic good guys that stayed behind after evil took over the world in the first age (or was it second?). In any case...good guys.

It looks good in any case, maybe I can talk the wife into a game tonight!

Mr. Brogger said:

I agree most of the Talisman miniatures have been great. I just hope this expansion gets the scale right. The Frostmarch miniatures are way to small.