Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 4th edition

by Fantasy Flight Games

Product Features

• The classic quest game featuring revised rules
• Includes finely detailed miniatures
• Age: 9+
• Number of Players: 2 - 6
• Playing Time: 90 min.

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3 x 11.8 x 11.8 inches ; 14.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: 1589944623
• Item model number: TM02
• Manufacturer recommended age: 9 years and up
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,552 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Talisman takes you on a journey through magical lands, as you endeavor to reclaim the Crown of Command. Each turn will see your hero advancing, battling, gaining knowledge and power necessary to defeat the guardians lurking between the Portal of Power and the Valley of Fire. For 2-6 players playable in 1-2 hours. Game includes:•Revised Rulebook•6-fold game board•14 Character Cards with matching plastic character figures •Over 100 Adventure cards•24 Spell cards•28 Purchase cards•4 Talisman cards•4 Toad cards•4 Plastic Toad figures •4 Alignment cards•6 Six-sided die•40 Strength Counters •40 Craft Counters •40 Life Counters •36 Fate Tokens•30 Gold Coins

Product Description

Talisman takes you on a journey through magical lands, as you endeavor to reclaim the Crown of Command. Each turn will see your hero advancing, battling, gaining knowledge and power necessary to defeat the guardians lurking between the Portal of Power and the Valley of Fire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The same, but better, February 12, 2010

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

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This review is from: Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 4th edition (Kitchen)

The board game "Talisman" has a well-deserved reputation as one of the best fantasy board games ever made. I have been a die hard fan ever since picking up the Second Edition boxset back in the late 1980s, and I couldn't even imagine how many hours I have spent vying for the Crown of Command. I still have all of the Second Edition expansions, from the Dungeon and City up to the Timescape and Dragons, including the cut-out special characters from Games Workshop's "White Dwarf" magazine.

Because I love the original so much, (I ignored the Third Edition, which tried to updated things to make the game more in-line with RPGs including things like "Experience Points" and connecting Talisman even further to the Games Workshop "Warhammer Universe.") it took me awhile to give this Fourth Edition of "Talisman" a try. I finally gave it a chance at a local gaming convention and was hooked again.

This Fourth Edition takes a basic "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to this classic boardgame, keeping the Second Edition essentially intact but introducing some of the better fixes from the Third Edition. The board itself is identical, although enlarged and with updated artwork. The card text is almost unchanged (including characters who "plod off to the discard pile") although none of the original art was retained.

Probably the most notable change was making "Life" a variable starting number, just like Strength and Craft. Some of the characters start with five (Warrior) or even six (Troll) life instead of the standard four. The Prophetess, one of the most powerful characters in the Second Edition, has been de-powered a bit. She can now draw one card, and then chose to either keep that card or discard it and draw another, which she must encounter. That was a nice edition as in the old version The Prophetess was so powerful she was boring to play. An additional element called "fate counters" has been added which allow for the re-rolling of a single die if you pay a counter. Craft-defeated monsters can also be cashed-in now in the same way as Strength-defeated monsters.

Fantasy Flight games has done a tremendous job with the production values of this version of "Talisman." Aside from the updated artwork, the counters are all hard-plastic with the Strength, Craft and Life counters being colored cones that come in 1-count and 5-count versions. The cards are on laminated cardstock which will last through repeated shuffling and drink-spilling. Really, everything has gone through a major upgrade.

If I had any disappointments with this Fourth Edition they are minor. The game board itself is too huge, taking up my entire kitchen table, which means that when I pick up any future expansions (of which I hope there will be many after Reaper, The Dungeonand Frostmarch) I will have to move to the floor in order to have a space large enough to play.

I also would have appreciated it if Fantasy Flight had balanced out the gender ration of characters when commissioning the new artwork. This was something I wouldn't have noticed except when I was playing with my wife she wanted to play a female character and all that was available was The Sorceress and The Prophetess. Several characters, like the Assassin, the Thief, the Warrior, the Elf, etc...could have easily been made female in the artwork without changing the game-play in any way.

I have great hopes for this new Fourth Edition of "Talisman," and hope that great things are forth coming. I would love to see some old favorites appear, like the "Champion of Chaos" and the "Horrible Black Void," along with some new ideas and expansions.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars As fun as it ever was... but some mechanical flaws, March 15, 2010

By 

outcast - See all my reviews

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

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This review is from: Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 4th edition (Kitchen)

Revisted this old favorite (played with the initial release many moons ago) as an addition to the game night choices. The game itself is basically same as I recall wrt content and playability. All the other points from other 3 reviewers syncs with my impression of this latest edition (4th).

What I will add are cautions around the game pieces themselves ...

Everything's been miniaturized

It's as if there was a top-down edict to shrink everything (saving material costs maybe?!?)
- The game cards are a third of the original editions making it hard to read
- The monochromatic gray plastic figurines are hard to distinguish (time to break out the old paint set)
- The provided dice are in a color that blends into the board (it's as if an invisibility spell
was cast on them as soon as you roll the dice) making it hard to see where the die is
- The cone counters are too small and the smooth plastic finish makes it almost as challenging to
pick up/hold as ice cubes

perhaps this is a reflection of my age (ugh) or the target market are dwarfs, halflings and other non-large creatures.

Don't get me wrong:

thumbs up for this game classic
*bzzzt* for trying to squeeze production costs out so much it distracts/detracts from game enjoyment

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless (and time-absorbing!) Dungeon Crawl Mayhem, August 6, 2009

By 

J. Shurin "carnivore" (London) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 4th edition (Kitchen)

Talisman has undergone a lot of editions over a lot of years, but has a good grip on its essential charm.

The players (and you can have loads) take over the role of archetypical fantasy characters (Seer, Elf, Warrior, Wizard, etc. etc.) and meander around the gameboard, fighting beasties and trying to make it to the center of the board to claim the Crown of MacGuffin.

It isn't a particularly competitive game (although my Assassin did lay the smack down on my friend's Troll once), nor is it cooperative. Instead, everyone sort of benignly ignores the other players while on their individual quest for glory. A strange dynamic, but a fun one. The result is a pleasant, surprisingly absorbing, game that will swallow the evening without your noticing...