Thank you for doing all these reviews, they are entertaining and clear! Even the branding of your channel has an old-school fantasy nostalgic flair - quite fitting for Talisman really!
I was introduced to Talisman the base game by a mate and fell in love with it. Your reviews have been extremely insightful into the other expansions. Its my birthday in 2 weeks and hoping for some more expansions as presents. You also inspired me to paint my figures too, adds another level of detail to the game. Look forward to more reviews.
+nintendo917 Was it a welcome random cameo by Tom Vasel? It's not really that random from our point of view. We're had some of our reviews on his channel and we've been interview on his breakfast show. Plus we do that on some of our other reviews. There's also a Sam Healy one on our Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition review. We meet them at the UK Games Expo.
Hi Ken, just found your channel yesterday, so new subscriber from New Zealand :) I have the old Talisman and expansions (2nd ed) and have thought about getting this over the years. Now it's going oop, time to act! :)
+Dunedin Comics Hi Dunedin, welcome to The Bottled Imp! Thanks for watching. So jealous you're in New Zealand! The home of Middle Earth filming! Have you been to the set? Yes, I'd jump right in and get the 4th revised edition before prices go up. We've reviewed all the expansions too, so that should help. Not sure what's going to happen to the game. Could be a 5th edition but it seems too soon as the 4th is still loved and played. Keep watching and help spread the word of the imp!
sadly I haven't got to the shire set yet but hope to take the family soon. I agree that a 5th Ed of Talisman seems unlikely for some time (but the $ may be too enticing to GW) if they do let's hope it's compatible with 4th. will definitely spread the good word of the Imp ☺
+Dunedin Comics Ah, that's a Mecca for me! We'll have to get a Kickstarter campaign going for The Bottled Imp New Zealand Shire Special Episode trip! Yes, money can do strange things! Thanking you very much!
This expansion wass just recently released in Digital Edition and I must say - it wrecks havoc on the board with those tokens. It's really funny if the Ifrit Sultan gets drawn early on and everybody runs away from him to the other regions.
Thank you for doing the Firelands expansion. I really enjoy your reviews and I was waiting for this review to see how it works before deciding to buy this expansion. Keep up the good work, thanks again.
Love your Talisman videos! Really impressed by the production values and Mr Boyter does a great job of presenting the information in an entertaining way.
Hi Ken. Love these reviews. Out of interest if you have this and the city expansion when you draw the 'city in flames' adventure card does that completely take the city expansion out of the game? Thanks
Well you've done it Mr. Imp! I've decided that playing at my computer is fine but after hours of hearing your "testimony to the tactile" I'm going to get Talisman and start sharing gaming's history with the uninitiated (meaning, well every one.) at our open game night which is usually your happy choice to be either a farmer, or a merchant or a different type of merchant or farmer. I merely suggested a game of Runebound and every one acted like I just let one go during an audience with the pope! Two things could help me out on this mad quest, imp! 1. A painting guide for the figures (because god do those people love art...*shudder* and if it's self-done and they can critique it? Yeah, they'll play just to do *that*. You do a great job on your mini's and you've been talking about it for awhile.... 2. Storage solution. I don't want to wow them, I want to knock their high-falutin', snooty, tooty, arty, farty, wine drinkin' (seriously? at a game store? who *does* that?) all program n' no thinkin' *socks off*! That means no-holds barred all expansions every game! Pack a boxed lunch kiddies cuz' here's where it gets *FUN*. Now I can either herald my entry to every open game night with the familiar claxon of a semi in reverse *or* I can create some kind of "Realms carry all" without resorting to some guy named Bigby and a rather questionable real estate venture......I assume you have the storage solution sorted? Oh! An' of course congratulations to both you and Nomad games for inspiring another devotee to the appropriately timeless ancestry of gaming!
Hi there, I bet you don't use all of these extensions when you play with friends. As someone who has all of them, would you mind sharing with us which out of the expansions are you using?
Hey! I just discovered your channel and i'm so glad i did! :D we bought Talisman not long ago and, for my birthday, my friends got me The Dungeon, The City and The Dragon. I was thinking: is it possible to play the game with every existing expansion at once? How crazy does it get? xD
Hi there so did I! How are you finding the Dragon expansion? I'm having a hard time finding any raves but it looks like one I would love! One of my big hesitations is that it comes with the Amazon but isn't she in the HighLands expansion? I have the digital edition with all expansions and am just now starting to collect the physical stuff so I can spread the "joy" at open game night!
The Highlands expansions comes with the Alchemist, the Highlander, the Rogue, the Sprite, the Valkyrie and the Vampiress :o so no double Amazon! :P i only played a test game with my girlfriend using The Dragon, but it seems like we'll have A LOT of fun with that! xD although, as a new player, i found it pretty difficult, expecially in the early-game.
Thanks! I've heard people say the real game is a bit different with the characters but that sounds the same, I think I was getting the Dungeon and Highlands confused. So is the Dragon expansion rules heavy difficult or "Holy crap he's got a Craft of 10!!" difficult? 0_0
+mikejonesnoreally There are some New rules and mechanics to learn, but that's the easy part xD the New cards and monsters can be pretty unforgiving when you just started the game with your base character :P nothing impossible of course, but definitely a thing to jeep in mind!
Hi Ken I hope that you're keeping well. I have a question for you my friend. If I land on a firelands token, although it states that I lose a life, can I use a fate token instead... the rule leaflet doesn't mention
+Terry Bass Hi Terry, yes, I'm keeping well thanks. The rules state that if you END your turn on a space that has a Fireland token, you lose 1 life. It doesn't state anything about using Fate tokens to cancel that effect. So no, players can't use Fate tokens to save a life as Fate tokens are used after a roll of the die. Since there is no die roll, a Fate token can't be used. If you can remove the Fireland token by another means before the end of your turn, then you won't lose a life. Hope that helps.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. Like many, I made a bad mistake when I started into the Talisman world, as I found the whole game was so fascinating, that I purchased virtually ever expansion that was on offer (except the Dragon) and became totally overwhelmed. I had every box open and contents placed over the whole of the 8ft x 4ft board and I tried to learn EVERY expansion all at the same time and kind of frazzled my brain. I have since separated all of the cards, started with only the base game, played it a few times, then added the Reaper for a couple of games, then the Frostmarch which is really just topping up more cards and now I'm adding the Firelands expansion, which is kind of just adding the terrain cards and fire tokens, although they do surprisingly spice the whole game up and just like the Reaper, you soon learn that the game can go either way at any time. I do have all four corner expansions and understand that their rules are kind of similar to each other, but Ken, I'm 56 and my brain seems to struggle to take to much in at a time lol. I mainly play the game with my daughter and granddaughter and yesterday we took about 7 hours to complete it with the "Judged by Fate" hidden alternative ending card taking the roll of a 2 from my granddaughter and finishing her off on her first go following the turn of the card. Everything in moderation I guess and learning little by little now, is making game play much more enjoyable. Ken have a great day, thanks for your ever speedy reply and we'll speak soon I'm sure,
I haven't played Talisman for a long time (I bought my 4th edition when they had cardboard character tokens and bought an upgrade for the plastic figures). I really should get some of these expansions though!
How long should a typical game of Talisman take? Im having a bit of trouble with my group at the moment, as we can spend a good 6h+ and still have no end in sight on a single game! Are we just a bunch of hoarders and is simply playing the game wrong? Don't get me wrong, the journey is the greater part, but it would be nice if it ended at some point!
+andreas holm Lol, welcome to Talisman! Yes, the base game can take 5 or 6 hours. If players are focused in leveling up their Craft and Strength it can be shorter. I aim to get both Craft and Strength to 10 before trying to get a Talisman from the Warlock's Cave. Unless I find one or steal one from another player. Visit the Forest and the Crags as much as possible early on in the Outer Region and try to roll as many 6s as you can for instant Craft and Strength. Fight and beat as many creatures from the Adventure Deck to cash them in for Craft and Strength. You could always play that you need only 5 points on Enemies when cashing them in for Craft or Strength rather than 7 points. Plus you could shuffle a Talisman into the top 100 of the Adventure Deck so that one will certainly come up. Hope that helps. Let me know how you get on with your next game.
You've given some great ideas here Ken, I seem to forget about making the rules flexible as long as everyone agrees. Being slow to play the game whilst learning does make it very long, so only 5 points on Enemies when cashing them in seems a brilliant idea and once we've played about 10 games, we can always revert back to the 7 points.
Good review, but like others we really disliked this one. We introduced a friend to Talisman with this expansion (as well as corner exps) and for about 10 turns in a row we burnt cards, unburned cards and burnt them again before giving up.
I liked your Talisman expansion review, but why do I have to see Tom Vasel aka The Goldfish in this review... I completely renounced watching The Dice Tower several month ago and I am never going back..
+Bailey Reno Thanks Bailey. Glad you liked our review. We were at the UK Games Expo and asked a few people to say our tag line to cut into some of our shows.
That was great! Now I want to hear Total Biscuit say it, god that would be brilliant! (I bet he loves Talisman too although he only claims the obscure Gorka Morka and Battle Fleet Gothic stuff usually.) An' what's wrong with Tom? What did the Dice Tower ever do to you to so raise thy ire? Are you the guy that has to actually *make* the little cubes for Dice Masters or something?
We bought this expansion and were dissappointed, now we only play the new characters and cards. Too bad we didn't bought 'Frostmarch' or 'Blood moon', they look much better. We bought 'The reaper' as the first one, and that was a great decision. Good review, though, although I disagree. So now there's only one more expansion to review, right?
+Itay Bashan Shame you were dissappointed. What didn't you like? The Terrain Cards? Yeah, The Reaper is a great first expansion. If you like that one, Blood Moon will hit the spot for you too. Frostmarch is good too. Glad you liked our review. 2 left to review. The mini mini expansions Nether Realm and Deep Realms. We've reviewed all the others so check them out too.
Yeah I checked them all, now i'm gonna check your other board game reviews, just for fun. Right, we didn't like the terrain cards, but even more the 'burn' symbols, and also and some of the adventure cards. We can't use the alternate endings because they're connected to the 'burn'.
I can't wait for your Nether Realms review, I just played the Pandora's box alternate and wow that did *not* work the way I thought it would having read the ending. (The alternate card says that whoever reaches the Crown of Command first draws six cards from the Nether deck for each player and six for themselves but it never says that the cards you draw "for yourself" you don't encounter, but use against the other players just as you do the ones you drew for them. I bet *that* gets ruled a bit differently when it isn't on the computer!) I lost but it was still awesome and now I think I know what to do differently. Ah tangential learning. Just another reason to love Talisman!
![เป็นไปได้ไหม - WanMai [Teaser] | 05-12-24](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/P5Uto6e453w/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you for doing all these reviews, they are entertaining and clear! Even the branding of your channel has an old-school fantasy nostalgic flair - quite fitting for Talisman really!
Our pleasure! Glad you like them.
I was introduced to Talisman the base game by a mate and fell in love with it. Your reviews have been extremely insightful into the other expansions. Its my birthday in 2 weeks and hoping for some more expansions as presents. You also inspired me to paint my figures too, adds another level of detail to the game. Look forward to more reviews.
What a random cameo by Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower
+nintendo917
Was it a welcome random cameo by Tom Vasel? It's not really that random from our point of view. We're had some of our reviews on his channel and we've been interview on his breakfast show. Plus we do that on some of our other reviews. There's also a Sam Healy one on our Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition review. We meet them at the UK Games Expo.
I just meant it was random in a sense that I wasn't even expecting it in the first place
+nintendo917
Lol, ah, I see! Hope it was a pleasant surprise?
Yes, nice to see this. However, Tom wouldn't be glad when he finds out which game was reviewed. He hates this game to the bone.
Sorry Willaim for not replying sooner. I missed your last comment. Yes, that's why we did it! A little in joke!
Hi Ken, just found your channel yesterday, so new subscriber from New Zealand :) I have the old Talisman and expansions (2nd ed) and have thought about getting this over the years. Now it's going oop, time to act! :)
+Dunedin Comics
Hi Dunedin, welcome to The Bottled Imp! Thanks for watching. So jealous you're in New Zealand! The home of Middle Earth filming! Have you been to the set?
Yes, I'd jump right in and get the 4th revised edition before prices go up. We've reviewed all the expansions too, so that should help. Not sure what's going to happen to the game. Could be a 5th edition but it seems too soon as the 4th is still loved and played. Keep watching and help spread the word of the imp!
sadly I haven't got to the shire set yet but hope to take the family soon.
I agree that a 5th Ed of Talisman seems unlikely for some time (but the $ may be too enticing to GW) if they do let's hope it's compatible with 4th.
will definitely spread the good word of the Imp ☺
+Dunedin Comics
Ah, that's a Mecca for me! We'll have to get a Kickstarter campaign going for The Bottled Imp New Zealand Shire Special Episode trip!
Yes, money can do strange things! Thanking you very much!
Very detailed explanation. I was wondering what those terrain and flame tokens do. Now I know everything. Great review. Thanks a lot!
This expansion wass just recently released in Digital Edition and I must say - it wrecks havoc on the board with those tokens. It's really funny if the Ifrit Sultan gets drawn early on and everybody runs away from him to the other regions.
+Gaweł Gawlan
Lol, yes, pretty much the same chaos on the actual board game too!
@thebottledimp, Sir thank you so much for these video tutorials.
Thank you for doing the Firelands expansion. I really enjoy your reviews and I was waiting for this review to see how it works before deciding to buy this expansion. Keep up the good work, thanks again.
Our pleasure Jason and thank you for watching and your kind words! Let me know if you buy 'The Firelands' and how you get on with it.
Love your Talisman videos! Really impressed by the production values and Mr Boyter does a great job of presenting the information in an entertaining way.
Awesome review as always!
Hi Ken. Love these reviews. Out of interest if you have this and the city expansion when you draw the 'city in flames' adventure card does that completely take the city expansion out of the game? Thanks
Thank you again Mr. Imp.
Well you've done it Mr. Imp! I've decided that playing at my computer is fine but after hours of hearing your "testimony to the tactile" I'm going to get Talisman and start sharing gaming's history with the uninitiated (meaning, well every one.) at our open game night which is usually your happy choice to be either a farmer, or a merchant or a different type of merchant or farmer. I merely suggested a game of Runebound and every one acted like I just let one go during an audience with the pope! Two things could help me out on this mad quest, imp! 1. A painting guide for the figures (because god do those people love art...*shudder* and if it's self-done and they can critique it? Yeah, they'll play just to do *that*. You do a great job on your mini's and you've been talking about it for awhile.... 2. Storage solution. I don't want to wow them, I want to knock their high-falutin', snooty, tooty, arty, farty, wine drinkin' (seriously? at a game store? who *does* that?) all program n' no thinkin' *socks off*! That means no-holds barred all expansions every game! Pack a boxed lunch kiddies cuz' here's where it gets *FUN*. Now I can either herald my entry to every open game night with the familiar claxon of a semi in reverse *or* I can create some kind of "Realms carry all" without resorting to some guy named Bigby and a rather questionable real estate venture......I assume you have the storage solution sorted? Oh! An' of course congratulations to both you and Nomad games for inspiring another devotee to the appropriately timeless ancestry of gaming!
I wasn't sure whether I should get Frostmarch or this. You totally helped me decide, definitely buying this one.
Thanks a lot!
Ah, fantastic. Glad we to be of help. Thanks for watching the Imp! Have fun with The Firelands!
Hi there,
I bet you don't use all of these extensions when you play with friends.
As someone who has all of them, would you mind sharing with us which out of the expansions are you using?
Are you doing the Nether Realm and Deap Realms expansions as well, or didn't you include the POD expansions in your series?
Hey! I just discovered your channel and i'm so glad i did! :D we bought Talisman not long ago and, for my birthday, my friends got me The Dungeon, The City and The Dragon. I was thinking: is it possible to play the game with every existing expansion at once? How crazy does it get? xD
Hi there so did I! How are you finding the Dragon expansion? I'm having a hard time finding any raves but it looks like one I would love! One of my big hesitations is that it comes with the Amazon but isn't she in the HighLands expansion? I have the digital edition with all expansions and am just now starting to collect the physical stuff so I can spread the "joy" at open game night!
The Highlands expansions comes with the Alchemist, the Highlander, the Rogue, the Sprite, the Valkyrie and the Vampiress :o so no double Amazon! :P i only played a test game with my girlfriend using The Dragon, but it seems like we'll have A LOT of fun with that! xD although, as a new player, i found it pretty difficult, expecially in the early-game.
Thanks! I've heard people say the real game is a bit different with the characters but that sounds the same, I think I was getting the Dungeon and Highlands confused. So is the Dragon expansion rules heavy difficult or "Holy crap he's got a Craft of 10!!" difficult? 0_0
+mikejonesnoreally There are some New rules and mechanics to learn, but that's the easy part xD the New cards and monsters can be pretty unforgiving when you just started the game with your base character :P nothing impossible of course, but definitely a thing to jeep in mind!
+Emanuele Vecchiolini *keep in mind.
@08:30 That's actually a sun and not a star. 🤓
loving the cameo
+Geeky Games N Stuff
Good stuff!
Hi Ken I hope that you're keeping well. I have a question for you my friend.
If I land on a firelands token, although it states that I lose a life, can I use a fate token instead... the rule leaflet doesn't mention
+Terry Bass
Hi Terry, yes, I'm keeping well thanks. The rules state that if you END your turn on a space that has a Fireland token, you lose 1 life. It doesn't state anything about using Fate tokens to cancel that effect. So no, players can't use Fate tokens to save a life as Fate tokens are used after a roll of the die. Since there is no die roll, a Fate token can't be used. If you can remove the Fireland token by another means before the end of your turn, then you won't lose a life. Hope that helps.
Thanks for clearing that up for me. Like many, I made a bad mistake when I started into the Talisman world, as I found the whole game was so fascinating, that I purchased virtually ever expansion that was on offer (except the Dragon) and became totally overwhelmed.
I had every box open and contents placed over the whole of the 8ft x 4ft board and I tried to learn EVERY expansion all at the same time and kind of frazzled my brain. I have since separated all of the cards, started with only the base game, played it a few times, then added the Reaper for a couple of games, then the Frostmarch which is really just topping up more cards and now I'm adding the Firelands expansion, which is kind of just adding the terrain cards and fire tokens, although they do surprisingly spice the whole game up and just like the Reaper, you soon learn that the game can go either way at any time.
I do have all four corner expansions and understand that their rules are kind of similar to each other, but Ken, I'm 56 and my brain seems to struggle to take to much in at a time lol.
I mainly play the game with my daughter and granddaughter and yesterday we took about 7 hours to complete it with the "Judged by Fate" hidden alternative ending card taking the roll of a 2 from my granddaughter and finishing her off on her first go following the turn of the card.
Everything in moderation I guess and learning little by little now, is making game play much more enjoyable.
Ken have a great day, thanks for your ever speedy reply and we'll speak soon I'm sure,
I haven't played Talisman for a long time (I bought my 4th edition when they had cardboard character tokens and bought an upgrade for the plastic figures). I really should get some of these expansions though!
At least the Highlands and the Brokenness, yes!
How long should a typical game of Talisman take? Im having a bit of trouble with my group at the moment, as we can spend a good 6h+ and still have no end in sight on a single game! Are we just a bunch of hoarders and is simply playing the game wrong? Don't get me wrong, the journey is the greater part, but it would be nice if it ended at some point!
+andreas holm
Lol, welcome to Talisman! Yes, the base game can take 5 or 6 hours. If players are focused in leveling up their Craft and Strength it can be shorter. I aim to get both Craft and Strength to 10 before trying to get a Talisman from the Warlock's Cave. Unless I find one or steal one from another player. Visit the Forest and the Crags as much as possible early on in the Outer Region and try to roll as many 6s as you can for instant Craft and Strength. Fight and beat as many creatures from the Adventure Deck to cash them in for Craft and Strength. You could always play that you need only 5 points on Enemies when cashing them in for Craft or Strength rather than 7 points. Plus you could shuffle a Talisman into the top 100 of the Adventure Deck so that one will certainly come up. Hope that helps. Let me know how you get on with your next game.
You've given some great ideas here Ken, I seem to forget about making the rules flexible as long as everyone agrees. Being slow to play the game whilst learning does make it very long, so only 5 points on Enemies when cashing them in seems a brilliant idea and once we've played about 10 games, we can always revert back to the 7 points.
Nice review, thank you :)
+JemyM
Thanks Jemy. Glad you liked it.
Good review, but like others we really disliked this one. We introduced a friend to Talisman with this expansion (as well as corner exps) and for about 10 turns in a row we burnt cards, unburned cards and burnt them again before giving up.
Thanks James. Yeah, can understand that. It's pretty brutal so would advise to play without this one if new to the game.
great review!
Thanks White Piano. Glad you enjoyed it.
Were you aware that the total number of Adventure Cards, including all expansions, is 621?
That is in fact a gigantic stack!
Yes! Epic adventures await!
I liked your Talisman expansion review, but why do I have to see Tom Vasel aka The Goldfish in this review... I completely renounced watching The Dice Tower several month ago and I am never going back..
+Bailey Reno
Thanks Bailey. Glad you liked our review. We were at the UK Games Expo and asked a few people to say our tag line to cut into some of our shows.
That was great! Now I want to hear Total Biscuit say it, god that would be brilliant! (I bet he loves Talisman too although he only claims the obscure Gorka Morka and Battle Fleet Gothic stuff usually.) An' what's wrong with Tom? What did the Dice Tower ever do to you to so raise thy ire? Are you the guy that has to actually *make* the little cubes for Dice Masters or something?
We bought this expansion and were dissappointed, now we only play the new characters and cards. Too bad we didn't bought 'Frostmarch' or 'Blood moon', they look much better. We bought 'The reaper' as the first one, and that was a great decision.
Good review, though, although I disagree. So now there's only one more expansion to review, right?
+Itay Bashan
Shame you were dissappointed. What didn't you like? The Terrain Cards? Yeah, The Reaper is a great first expansion. If you like that one, Blood Moon will hit the spot for you too. Frostmarch is good too. Glad you liked our review. 2 left to review. The mini mini expansions Nether Realm and Deep Realms. We've reviewed all the others so check them out too.
Yeah I checked them all, now i'm gonna check your other board game reviews, just for fun. Right, we didn't like the terrain cards, but even more the 'burn' symbols, and also and some of the adventure cards. We can't use the alternate endings because they're connected to the 'burn'.
I can't wait for your Nether Realms review, I just played the Pandora's box alternate and wow that did *not* work the way I thought it would having read the ending. (The alternate card says that whoever reaches the Crown of Command first draws six cards from the Nether deck for each player and six for themselves but it never says that the cards you draw "for yourself" you don't encounter, but use against the other players just as you do the ones you drew for them. I bet *that* gets ruled a bit differently when it isn't on the computer!) I lost but it was still awesome and now I think I know what to do differently. Ah tangential learning. Just another reason to love Talisman!
Cool! Yes, I've not played that expansion yet. I've got it so can't wait to get to play it for review. It seems an intriguing little expansion.
Yes, some people don't get on with the burning of the cards as it's too serve and the Terrain Cards can alter the game too much for them.