We played our first Talisman game with the Highland expansion last night. 3 players, (Vampriss, Alchemist, and Valkeryie)

Game length 2.5 hrs

Random end game Battle Royal. We roll a die after the first player reaches the crown.

Vampriss wins the game by going through the Dungeon and heading straight to the crown (ya for energize!)

Alchemist dies with no Talisman, Valkeryie is transported to the Crown of command from the Valley of Fire. One space away from winning if battle royal is drawn. Neither Alchemist or Vampriss have Talismans.

We liked that the highland gives another area to at low to mid level chrs to explore. Trinkets seem to be really easy to find.

The fantasy feel of the highland was good and played like you where in the mountains. We like!

Most of all are play group like the alternate endings and the unique abilites of the new chars. Oh, and it was fun!

What are your thoughts?

BillStivers said:

My FLGS lists it as arriving ca. 29 May, I'll let you know in June . On the other hand, game #101 of R4th today, so it's not like Talisman hasn't seen playtime. Hoping to get still 3-4 games in, then include Highland.

We played a game with all six new characters and th Highland board (no dungeon). We played with the standard ending.

Due to the novelty of it, everyone went for the Highlands as soon as they had leveled up once or twice and gotten a couple of objects. I have to say the Highlands is shaping up to be my favorite expansion. The characters are all very fun to play. Nobody was disappointed when they got dealt theirs. No reactions like you might get from being dealt the Priest. Plus the cards in the Highlands itself are really interesting. Sure I could use a little more variety in the enemies, but the events, places, objects, and followers are some of the best from any expansion.

A few interesting occurances:

The Vampiress had all four Mules from the Market deck at one point due to stealing them from other players. But a bad run of luck with enemies forced her to drink the blood of all but one of them, so the Valkyrie had three mules.

The Arnkell relic (Discard to teleport to any space in the same region) didn't seem to be very useful. But the Rogue was the first one to defeat the Eagle King and drew the Arnkell from the Relic deck. She then teleported to the portal of power. But her strength was not nearly high enough to get through the mines. But then we realized what she had already figured out. The Arnkell does not specify that it can't be used in the inner region. So you can discard it to teleport directly from the plain of peril to the crown of command!

Fortunately the Sprite had the Shatter spell and destroyed the Arnkell before the Rogue could use it. But the Rogue decided to continue on despite the loss and miraculously rolled 3 twos at the Mines. Everyone else raced to try to get enough counters to make it to the crown, but we needed have worried. The Rogue had apparently used up all her luck at the Mines because she proceeded to spend ten turns dicing with Death tying or losing life until she died.

It was then a madcap race for the crown as everyone rushed through the highlands to get to the crown (except for the Alchemist who had had some bad luck in the highlands and retreated to puttering around the outer region for most of the game). The sprite made it there first but was only able to cast 1 succesful command spell before the Valkyrie caught up with her and was able to beat her pretty easily with strength. The lack of an ability to initiate psychic combat really hurts the Sprite.

But the Valkyrie's victory was shortlived because the Alchemist had been able to pull a turn around and attacked the Crown. As they deuled, the Vampiress was able to make it to the crown and kill them both. But then, the Highlander, who everyone had thought was the worst of the new characters, arrived at the crown and killed the Vampiress, ending the game with the Highlander victorious. I think this was the first game I've played were the final kill was made through battle and not by the command spell.

We played with the traditional ending, all 4 expansions and 5 players: Sprite, Vampiress, Alchemist, Gypsy and Druid. (All drawn randomly). In our past games, whenever teh Gypsy has been drawn, she has won (Up to this point 3 out of 3 games).

The Game started @ 1pm, The Gypsy headed strait to the Dungeon, the Alchemist headed for the Highlands and the other 3 hung out in the Outer Region. The Alchemist spend the entire game in the Highlands, exiting one to visit the City then returned to the Highlands. Here he collected trinkets and items, alternating between making a mound of gold (at one point having over 20 coin) and burning the Gold to replenish Fate, Spells and Life. The Gypsy belined the Dungeon, leveling up Strength and Craft quickly but lost to the Shadow Lord and was teleported to the Crags, where she proceeded to follow the Alchemist until she was teleported to the Warlocks Cave. By this time the Sprite had collected the Arnkell Relic, a Talisman and had Crafted past the Portal. At this poitn we all realized she could use it to teleport straight to the Crown. It took the Gypsy 8 rounds to get there as well, only 3 life had been lost in the process from the Crown. The battle between the two started @ 3:15 pm and ended 45 minutes later as the other 3 characters kept both alive while they scrambled about the board (The Druid and Vamp looking for a Tatlisman, the Alchemist finding said item and turning them to Gold...) with the Gypsy squishing the poor Sprit to death. After 3 turns of smacking the Alchemist (and others) with the Crown, the Gyspsy left the Corwn to hunt the Alchemist ina more direct manner... because the Alchemist was making gold faster thatn the Crown could damage him. At 6pm the game was called with the Druid also dead, the Vampiress still looking for a Talisman, the Gypsy back on the Crown and the Alchemist sitting on 25 coin, full Health, full Fate and 8 items in pocket (2 were trinkets and he had the Miner carrying 2 other items).

Game was a Draw due to time ran out for us, but I can say the Alchemist is annoying when played as a foil.

-Salute

Shadw, how did the Gypsy leave the Crown?

I know it's just one game, but sounds eerily similar to what I've been fearing with regard to the Alchemist since his preview came up .

We played with the Vampiress, Sprite, and Rogue. I was the Vampiress and headed straight for the Highland...there I collected trinkets galore, and almost no actual objects. My rolls were abominable, unfortunately, and I soon got toaded TWICE, leaving piles of gold all over the place for the $%^! Rogue to swoop in and pick up, and making me wish that I had chosen the Alchemist so that I could power up more quickly with my vast fortune that I kept losing. The worst part was that I actually forgot I had the Twist of Fate spell, so I needn't have croaked that second time at all. I drained a few followers and then lost a ton of life to random events like the volcano, languishing in the Highlands trying to power up, which I never managed: my one Strength point I gathered was stolen (again by the Rogue), and the Sprite, who was getting ridiculously Craft-heavy by this time, made a dash for the Crown. The Rogue gave chase, and I (having had my Talisman stolen AGAIN), continued to languish in the Highlands. We all had only a couple of life by this point. The Rogue had a couple of shots at the Mines, and caught up with the Sprite, where she dispatched the winged creature in a couple of rounds of battle (I'd been zapped out of my remaining Life by that time). We liked the expansion; I'll have to try again and hope that I don't manage to roll the same number of ones in a row that I did this game. I'm half tempted to try to calculate the odds against rolling as badly as I did all that evening. That's what I love about this game, though: the randomness of the gameplay makes it a different story every time. The new board and cards just allow for even more twists in the interesting narratives that come out of playing.

Dam said:

Exited the Crown to the valley of fire and moved back around to the crypts, then the plains, then the portal and out.

-salute

You know by the rules you can't move out of the CoC normally once you're there, right?

Dam said:

House rule: We allow characters to leave the CoC if they choose.

-Salute