Interesting that many people seem to prefer the 2nd edition over revised 4th. I still own the 2nd edition (unfortunately the components have degraded somewhat; I didn't used to be so careful in storing my boardgames as I am now) with all expansions except Dragons, and I find that revised 4th offers more variety. The board expansions for revised 4th, whist essentially reworkings of those from previous editions (Dungeon from 2nd and 3rd, Highlands = Mountains from 3rd), are larger, contain more cards and actually feel more like their own regions to me. There's a greater variety of spells and many more magic weapons and items. I do kind of miss the Timescape though; for all it's craziness and broken rules it was kind of fun.

vandimar77 said:

I'm with you, I much prefer 4th ed. I loved 2nd ed in its day, but 4th outdoes 2nd in almost every respect, for my money. The only thing it's missing is a City expansion

I have to respectfully disagree about Timescape, though. I disliked that one, but I respect your opinion. =)

I pretty much enjoy the 2nd and the 4th ed. What I did like in the 2nd edition was the city expansion and getting the high mage. Only expansion im missing from the 2nd is the Dragons expansion .

Having played 2nd edition 100s of times I was so excited when FFG came out with Talisman... it is, by far, one of the best & faithful editions of any board game I have played. Sure there are some differences, and annoyances in 4th... no game is gonna be perfect, but this version of Talisman is rock solid.. it has a little bit of everything for everyone.. both my daughters.. 8 and 11.. absolutely LOVE this game and ask me to play it with them on a weekly basis. I love the alternate endings.. ALL of them.. we have played each of them and they each change the end game enough to make them enjoyable.. the only thing I miss.. and could have sworn I saw a picture of it.. was the alternate ending The Void.. like in old 2nd edition Timescape.. sometimes you pulled the card that sucked you into the warp and then the next person who landed on CoC got the next ending.. Sacred Pool is pretty cool.. I like the stables, it adds a fun element for movement and combat... Well.. that's all I got for now.. PEACE!!

_RennyD

crimhead said:

11/18 only if you are playing very defensively. If you are rerolling 2 and 3, chances for toad are 5/6. Without fate it is 4/6

Similarly, sorceress in town (don't know if she is called enchantress - I play different language talisman version) - one would say chances for toad are 1/36. I say, if you do not play defensively, you will reroll 1,2,3 resulting in 1/12 chance.

We rarely see a game without a toad. But maybe it is because we all take risks.

Been playing with 4th and all the expansions and I like it.

There are different strategies against different characters and different characters need to use different strategies. You just aren't as likely to toad a Dwarf, a Monk, a Minstrel or a Priest thanks to their high fate. The Dark Cultist, Dread Knight, Gladiator, Knight, Magus, Ogre Chieftain, Sprite, Troll, Warlock or Warrior runs a higher risk, regardless if they are toaded or have to waste a fate to not be one.

If you can get hold of Cheat Fate it's going to hurt a Dwarf, Monk, Minstrel or Priest quite a lot, although I aknowledge that there's just one of those in the deck.

I've had Talisman for about a year and a half now, though we barely played it in 2010 due to my wife working a lot. i did play a reasonable amount of 1ed/2ed as a kid and really enjoyed it (i remember the Prophetess? being lethal, esp with long spell chains). the only two things that i miss are the Raiders taking gold and objects (which im going to house rule soon) and the original CoC having to pick a person to target each turn, rather than zarking everyone, which meant the end play could get a bit more tactical.

It does feel like Toading happens less often. also not sure i like that the graveyard no longer heals evil characters but replenishes fate. why wouldnt evil gods heal their minions. Also ive noticed less usage of spells in this version, though that may be more my group. Regardless overall i enjoy Talisman, i never owned the original version but played my friends a lot.

I have The Reaper and The Dungeon expansions (though yet to put in play the actual Reaper) and the other expansions are on order.

I loved my original copy of Talisman, which was the second edition, but I think the 4th is getting a bad rap here. The expansions fit with the board better, and I love the larger main board. The Highland area is really neat as well. Love the concept. Timescape and the original Dungeon expansion weren't that great in my opinion. I haven't gotten any of the expansions that don't include a new board, so I can't comment there. I can see what people are saying about some of the characters not being balanced in relation to each other, but overall I'm really happy with my new edition. Now if I can only find some local people to play with!

tarasis said:

Slight correction to myself, it seems I played Talisman 1st edition as a kid, but using some of the 2nd edition expansions. So having grabbed the 1st Ed & 2nd Ed rules from Talisman island, I see that they changed the behaviour of CoC between the 2 editions. In the first you chose a target for the spell and in the 2nd everyone got zarked.

What I've also just realised is that the guy (well older lad) that taught me, his brother and a friend Talisman didn't teach us the gaining experience by collecting trophies from combat.

Actually, early copies of 2nd Edition still had the "target one person" rule. I used to own a copy that had it. Then it was changed in a subsequent printing...

It was a typo early on, it was always meant to target every other player.

I started playing talisman as soon as the 2nd ed got out, it was a lot of fun then, but what you seem to like so much about it was its randomness, which I dont find that appealing now when the R4th is out. Yeah, you were quite more often likely to die, but its not a computer game, you dont have to challenge yourself, youre supposed to have fun, and so are the others.

What I like so much about the R4th is that you can scheme a lot, plan ahead and be tactical. In the 2nd, all you could do, was to choose whether to try the dungeon, or travel the normal way, or, when the City was out, to get a magic object and become the Archmage (which we scrapped immediately as a house rule).

Now, depending, on the character, and the circumstances, you can play your steps one by one, youre troll and you immediately enter the highland, hoping to get strong enough to defeat the eagle king to get an advantage fast, so you know from the start what to do. You dont just wander around hoping to get the upper hand as it was in the 2nd ed.

To put it simply, in 2nd edition a newbie could come and win solely because of luck, nowadays, I win every game, whatever character I have, because I play on my own terms.

That will change if you ever play me or my fiancee!

Ell.

The truth is that all whom I play is my sister-in-law, my son or my wife, and theyre all quite dumb:)