TALISMAN!

I love Talisman. I think it is a glorious game, which always leaves you with a story to tell afterwards, even if you have the most mundane of games.

My friends and I played with both the Dungeon and the City expansion in one big game the other day and it was fantastic! I really felt that we, as players, had more control over our destinies than normal. Talisman is a game notorious for being almost completely luck based, but I would say it's moved on. For example, the city has shops that you don't need to roll the exact number to get to, as long as you have enough move you can walk into the shop and end your movement. Also, the different areas have clearly different characters and you move to that area having a good idea of what you will encounter. It has made me, more than ever, want to get the Highlands expansion, as it's a bit easier than the Dungeon and would act as a great area to go to before heading to the Dungeon.

Another big change aspect that I think affected the game was that I had sifted out a fair few cards from the main board's adventure deck, cards that I thought only slowed the game and didn't add any significant gameplay moments. This made the main game board far more productive and exciting and made moving between the corners less of a drag.

The one thing that really annoyed me though was the character I played, the Bounty Hunter. He was insanely powerful! I really cannot understand how a character like that was allowed to be put into the game, it's not like his abilities really epitomised a Bounty Hunter, they were just massively over powered! This is annoying in more than one way, not just that he was very powerful, but almost impossible to 'house rule' against, unlike the Dark Cultist who can easily be balanced by stopping them from using creatures as trophies if they decide to sacrifice them - easy. I think the Bounty Hunter is going to get a comfortable place at the bottom of my box, only to be used by novice players and on the odd occasion.

I'd like to conclude this post by stating, to all you Talisman nay-sayers, that the game is a toolset for you to enjoy! You don't have to play with every card, every time. Like so many games, if there are aspects that annoy you then take the parts out! I've done this with my Talisman set and it's made the game even better. I've got a nice little stack of unused cards in the bottom of my box, which I can re-integrate at any time, but until then, I'll keep adding to it until my adventure decks are filled with only exciting, perilous and non-time-wasting type cards. Just how I like it to be.