Here's my usual, highly subjective account of the latest Talisman expansion set, The Highland. Thanks for reading.

I won't cover areas which have been discussed in depth on other threads (Characters, Eagle King, Alternative Endings, Relics and the Board) all of which are great in my opinion. I would have preferred six Relics instead of four.

General Overview

The Highland is strong on flavour, with a recurrent theme of birds and bird-related encounters (owls, eagles and crows). It is a little different from the usual, stereotypical fantasy mountain setting - there are no trolls, only one goblin and few dwarfs. There are some great innovations on the board, with the Characters, and individual cards. However, as with The Frostmarch, the Enemies are not as varied and imaginative as I had hoped. Again, there is some arbitrary duplication of Enemies which have different names but are functionally identical in every aspect including sub-category. Places, Strangers, Followers and Events are in greater abundance than usual - a good thing in my book. Alignment is nowhere to be seen on the Highland or Adventure cards. I hope a future expansion will really bring Alignment to the fore.

Production

Production on the board and cards is up to the usual high standard. The biggest disappointment with this expansion is the plastic figures. They are small and very flimsy, with bent weapons and limbs. I can only suppose that FFG are trying to keep production costs down. As with The Dungeon, the box is far bigger than necessary.

Characters (6)

The Characters have been discussed in detail on other threads. I would just like to say that Rogue is a great remodelling of the 2nd edition version - not only is He now a She, the special abilities are much more flavourful and distinctive. Great to see my favourite 2nd edition Character back - Sprite. She is almost identical to the original, with just a slight tweak to her evasion abilities and the addition of 1 Fate. Special props to FFG for the boost in female Character numbers.

Adventure Cards (12)

The Adventure cards for the main board comprise 5 Events, 2 Animals, 1 Elemental and 4 Places. Excluding duplicates there are seven different cards. There are two Rune Gates (reprinted from The Dungeon). Earth Elemental and Landslide are both reprints from previous editions, though changed. All the Adventure cards help to integrate The Highland with the main board, similarly to the Adventure cards in The Dungeon. The artwork for Magic Gateway reuses the art from the Magic Portal spell (something similar was done in The Dungeon set). Several of these Adventure cards also occur in the main Highland deck.

Spells (10)

There are five new Spells, each of which occurs twice. They include reprints of Mind Steal and Lightning Bolt from 2nd Edition. Lightning Bolt now only affects other Characters. Soul Shatter is a cousin to Finger of Death. Simulacrum is defensive and Eyes of the Hawk is a movement enabler. I think the move to reduce the number of Spells is a good one - this an area of the game with relatively little design space left. I expect future expansions to have generally fewer new Spells, 6-12 being optimum.

Highland Cards (142)

There are a fair few reprints from the other three Revised 4th Edition expansions and a couple from the base set. Notable reprints from 2nd Edition include Cyclops (the Expansion), Dragon Blood (Dragons) and Electrical Storm (Dragons). 3rd Edition reprints include Hidden Chasm (= Horse Thief) and Prospector. Most of the reprints are flavourful, particularly the Frostmarch crew. A few appear to filler (eg the two Lucky Charms).

Events (12 including a couple of reprints): Some good levellers here, helping you rid yourself of all that pesky gold and those annoying followers and horses that insist on coming along for the adventure. Only two of the Events are beneficial.

Places (12 including a few reprints): The extra Rune Gates are great board integrators. Eagle's Nest is based on 2nd Edition Eagle's Lair (Dragons). Highlights are the new variants on the magic pools, streams etc. Instead of 4 craft, 4 strength etc, you now have a choice of 2 life tokens and 2 of another attribute. Gong of War is a more useful version of 2nd Edition Dungeon's Gong - you can now summon another Character from any Region!

Strangers (12): There are two Prospectors and ten unique Strangers. There's a Hermit who appears to be the identical twin of the base set's Hermit, but hangs out in different locations. Most of the Strangers are beneficial. There are, however, three fickle types who can turn you into a Toad (yay!) or increase/decrease your life, fate or gold. Astrologer is a neat little PVP enabler. Cyclops returns from 2nd Edition unchanged.

Followers (12): Miner is a reprint from The Dungeon. There are two Trailblazers. Vagabond is a welcome addition to that little group of annoying types (Hag, Poltergeist etc), although he is rather too easy to get rid of. Personal favourite new card is Magpie. Wayfarer is a contender for weakest ever Follower. Overall a good showing with a lot of innovation and twists on old themes.

Enemies (50): Dungeon had about 1/2 Enemies, Highland has a little over 1/3. When time permits I will be doing a comparative statistical analysis of the various card decks. First impression of the Enemies is that a few more with special abilities would have been preferable. I have the same feeling as I did with Frostmarch - too many weak Enemies, too many of which are just the same as existing cards except for name. Name changes are fine for flavour reasons, but this isn't always apparent (eg Phantasm and Revenant are just more vanilla C1 Spirits with nothing 'Highlandish' about them). Carrion Crows stands out for me as a poor design; the flavour is good but the ability is underpowered - if you lose against it (S1) you lose your trophies, but how often is that going to happen? You are only likely to lose against it if you encounter it very early in the game and have a low Strength yourself - at which point you probably haven't got many trophies. The ability is great but would be better on a more powerful creature.

Enemy - Constructs (0) - Hope The Dungeon isn't the last we see of them.

Enemy - Dragons (5)! - Four are reprints from Frostmarch or 2nd Edition Dragons. Two of them have breath weapons... Strength 4-8.

Enemy - Cultists (2) - Storm Caller and Cryomancer, great cards but both reprints. No new Cultists. Craft 2 or 3.

Enemy - Elementals (4) - I have high hopes for the future of this category of Enemy (first appeared in Frostmarch); only Earth Elemental (also in the Adventure deck) has a special ability. More please. Craft 3-8.

Enemy - Animals (10) - Another somewhat disappointing group. Only three have special abilities (including the aforementioned Carrion Crows). Crag Crawler is yet another spider which can't spin webs. Strength 1-5.

Enemy - Spirits (15) - Nine of these have no special abilities, the only new thing about them is their names and artwork. Of the 6 with special abilities, 2 are reprints from Frostmarch. The most powerful new Spirit is the Felclaw, a Spirit equivalent of the Eastern Dragon (Encounter 1; Craft 6, Strength 6). A couple more new abilities would have been welcome. Craft 1-6.

Enemy - Monsters (14) - As with the Spirits there is a strong avian subtheme and some good new names and artwork. However, there is little new in the way of special abilities. Only 3 of the monsters have an ability. The two Harpies have Craft instead of Strength; they are similar to 2nd and 3rd edition versions. There are three reprints from other 4th Edition sets. Manticore is the same as 3rd Edition, but, like Chimera in The Reaper, it's a highly fantastical monster given no flavourful ability; a wasted opportunity. Strength 1-6.

Objects (non-magical) (21); magical (23); there are 31 Trinkets, 3 Weapons and 2 Armour cards.

The Objects make a strong showing in number and variety, ranging from useful to powerful. Personally, I prefer fewer Objects and more Enemies.

Lodestone is a welcome addition to the small number of 'cursed' objects, taking up valuable carrying space. Reprints include two Lucky Charms, Treasure Map and Treasure Chest (all last seen in Frostmarch). Magic Shield, Magic Helmet, Magic Mace, Dragon's Teeth and Dragon's Blood are all from 2nd Edition Dragons. Spellsword and Lightning Hammer have new abilities.

The Trinkets include the gemstones from 3rd Edition Mountain. There are four types now: 5 x Opal (1G), 4 x Emerald (2G), 3 x Ruby (3G) and 2 x Diamond (4G). All the other Trinkets are Magic Objects. They include various dragon body parts, potions, stones and miscellaneous objects. The three magic stones are based on 3rd Edition Mountain's Dawnstone. Ring of Protection is also from 3rd Edition. Renewal Potion is a valuable solution to the problem of unwanted Spells. Unstable Potion is another Toad risk. Most of the Trinkets are discarded for use; Ice Sceptre is an example of a Trinket you can keep and reuse… The Trinkets are one of The Highland's best innovations. Some are as good as the normal Magic Objects but with the added advantage of having no carrying capacity, surely making them a powerful reason for exploring The Highland. I hope that Trinkets don't become too common in the future though as the single use ones somewhat overlap the characteristics of Spells.

There are no Bag of Gold cards and no Talisman cards!

Conclusion

Overall, I rate The Highland 8.5 out of 10. I realise some of my comments have been a bit negative. Having been a fan since 1983 (1st Edition) I'm greedy for constant innovation. I just have that same feeling of missed opportunity with the Enemies as I had with Frostmarch. Still, there is a lot of really great stuff in the cards, board, Characters and endings. All Talisman fans will find some lovely new toys here and some much loved old favourites. I place Highland as better than Frostmarch, though not as good as Dungeon, with Reaper being my favourite expansion to date. I am particularly pleased to see lots of new Events, Places, Followers and Strangers.

Thanks again for reading this far and may your Toadings be few yet strangely fun

Thanks for the review, very accurate

Cheers

I totally agree with the disappointment in the plastic figures. They look way out of proportion with the figures from the initial game. The Sprite is very flimsy and can be easily separated from the base. The Highlander is tiny in comparison to the Merchant.

Much obliged, A.D.! You effort in the rundown is greatly appreciated. Overall, you've alleviated concerns and fulfilled curiosity. Sounds like the Highlands is a very worthy purchase overall.

I can see where you come from wanting more innovation. The WoW Adventure Game is like that in this regard. But glancing over the abilities of the Ogre and other similar characters that have the ability to control animals and followers as "pets/tools", I think FFG realized they need to add weaker creatures for those types of characters early in the game. Monsters that are simple to fight with little to worry about not gaining as followers.

Second, you have to take a step back and look at how FFG sells this game and how Talisman has been sold in the other editions. It's a modular and friendly game. They can't have one expansion out do the others because not everyone can afford all of them. They make sure to keep them equally as interesting and I feel they have done amazing in that department.

When you review this game you can't compare the expansion to the other expansions in the way of which is the "better" one. Instead, I feel, a person should only compare the expansions by what they offer to the BASE game. So, you say 8.5 out of 10. However, you have no scaling chart. What, for example, do you rank the others as stand alones. Also, for comparison, what would an expansion need to include in order to earn a 10 from you?

As a stand alone I love the theme that the highlands provides. Reminds me of the Link: Wind Waker mountain theme with all the birds. I feel that this theme is very appropriate for a region ruled by an Eagle King. The original moutains had the dwarf theme, iirc ,because they set the game in the Warhammer world. This is FFG's Talisman setting now and I love the direction they took.

Going back to the simplistic cards...I can see how a person with each expansion would grumble, however for a person that only has highlands and the core game, I feel they won't have that issue. Less adventure cards means more chance of interaction with the highlands. It separates players less than including all of the regions. Having said that, for the record, I use all of the expansions and totally recommend doing that for the the people that can afford all of them. Using all of the expansions at once makes the game seem more epic and provides more options for the players to create a unique tale of their character's journey to the crown of command...or demise.

I honestly feel though, even though I mix each expansion together, that FFG created multiple cards with the same effects and stats so that players could customize the game more. For many people playing Talsiman is not just playing monopoly with a DND flare. All of the games I have seen or participated in remind me of a bunch of kids telling a cool story for a hero that thought of.

This further reflects in Capcom's choice to pull the DLC game of Talisman they were making for xbox live. The CEO said they wanted it to succeed and so did GW, however as the devs (whom many had never even heard of the game) played it, they realized it's not the game play or rules that make Talisman one of the (if not the) greatest games of all time. Instead, it is the interaction players can get only when sitting around the table. They realized they could not achieve the creation of such a game in an online game. Online players can't interact the same way. Certain moments become personal to the group playing the game and would not carry over the same to the next group of players. Some players may not find the idea of the Leprechaun finding a lucky charm as funny as other players that don't get the cereal references for example.

For years I tried to figure out why Talisman gets played more than any other board game and video game I own when family or friends are visiting. I finally realized that it is the easy setup, simple rules, and amazingly quick customization options it provides to cater the game to the interest of the group playing it.

Anyways...sorry to kinda hijack your review with a counter view of my own. I just felt it was better for players that are new to the game and wanting to find the "best" expansion to get to see the game I think it was meant to be seen.

Thanks for the comments and the alternative viewpoints. As I said in my intro, this is a highly personal opinion, not an objective assessment, so challenges are much appreciated. I agree that the increasing volume of cards and other components makes Talisman great for customising; for example, I tend to take out the Talisman cards and low powered Enemies from the decks and also add in extra copies of cards which encourage PVP.

Regarding allocation of points - my 8.5 could very well be equal to some else's 10; whenever I allocate numerical values to non-numerical things, I hover around the mid-range, seldom if ever awarding the minimum or maximum possible. I would give The Reaper 10 out of 10 though, based largely on my delight at discovering so many classic reprints from 2nd edition and some excellent new cards.

Just an extra bit of info - I noticed on closer examination that the Cave, Treasure Map and Treasure Chest are NOT reprints. Like the Hermit, they have the same name and artwork as previously printed cards, but different game effects.

Can You then provide the game text for all three Treasure cards? Treasure Map, Treasure Chest and Treasure Hunter? Thanks.

Also about the Opal, DIamont &c. Burst is saying:

Diamond (T)
Opal (T) 4x
Ruby (T) 2x
Emerald (T) 3x

You are saying:

Diamond 2x (T)
Opal (T) 5x
Ruby (T) 3x
Emerald (T) 4x

So, who is correct?

Nemomon said:

Hi Nemomon

I have in front of me 2 Diamonds, 3 Rubies, 4 Emeralds and 5 Opals.

The text for Treasure Hunter (Follower) is: 'If you move into a space that contains one or more Objects, you may end your move there, instead of moving the full distance as indicated by the die roll. // The Treasure Hunter departs to the discard pile if you lose a battle or psychic combat.'

Treasure Map: 'Whenever you exchange any Bag of Gold card, you gain 1 additional gold. // You may discard the Treasure Map at the Crags to gain 2 gold.' This is similar to the Gold Seeker from The Dungeon, though not quite as powerful.

Treasure Chest: 'You may discard the Chest during your turn to roll 1 die and gain that much gold. If you have the Treasure Map, you may roll 1 additional die and gain that much gold.' Somewhat confusingly, this is similar to the Treasure Map from The Frostmarch, minus the last sentence.

Thanks for Your help, Archdruid

So Treasure objects are different than their counterparts from Frostmarch. Do You think that in the next big expansion we will see them again, and again with another effects? Or there will be a mechanics about "treasure" cards?

I imagine that it is likely that you will see more variations on that theme...