by Wally Monk originally published 18 August 2024
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF “SECRET” BOXED ELEMENTS OF THE GAME. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. *** YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ***
It would be great to say that the first expansion for the 5th Edition Talisman: The Magical Quest Game knocked my expectations out of the park, but if I said that, I’d be lying. If you’re a completist and want to add four new characters and a sort of nifty gimmick figure to your collection, don’t hesitate to purchase Avalon Hill’s first expansion effort. So temper your expectations a bit and I think you’ll be pleased overall.
I am not enthusiastic about the contemporary novelty of cooperative gameplay. But adding a new mechanic to Talisman intrigued me, and I wanted to see how Avalon Hill carried it out. What we have here is a new and innovative expansion that’s a grist mill for player characters, a couple of exciting miniatures (a few not so much), and a box that likely will sit on your shelf and be largely unusable in regular games of Talisman. In fact, only a handful of cards can be permanently left in the main deck without causing problems in standard gameplay, and the bulk of the characters that are added are, well, meh.
What’s in the box?
Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons retails at $33,99 and includes 30 Starting Game Cards, a Doom Tracker, Doom Tracker Token, a Rulebook, 24 Double-Sided Strength/Craft Tokens, 5 Boxes with 5 Figures, 4 Envelopes with 20 Game Cards. For less than $35, it is an impressive value, even if the contents – especially the miniatures – are underwhelming.
The Good
TAFB (Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons) has a gameplay element which pits the players up against different “surprise” villain reveals instead of each other. Each of the reveals comes with a card which you flip from one side to another when rivals and tasks are ready to be challenged. To access said tasks, two talismans need to be placed in various places of power (city, castle, etc). Each of the boxes, one corresponding to five challenges, when opened, reveal a surprise miniature which corresponds to a new player character.
I won’t be sharing any pictures of the new miniatures here, at least not until the official release date. But I will tell you what they are.
The characters include the Will O’ Wisp, the Minotaur, the Centaur, the Amazon, and in the last box, a Minotoad. Yes, you read that correctly, the last box is a cross between the notorious Talisman toad and a minotaur. It is not a great reveal for the endgame, but clever and perhaps gimmicky enough to get even more people to pull the trigger on future co-op expansions. Can you imagine a growing list of different “character toads” to rival those of 2nd Edition in each expansion box? I’d be on board for that!
The Will O’ Wisp is amazingly creative, cast in translucent plastic or resin as you might imagine a wisp. It is easily my favorite of the bunch. This “wisp” looks more like a banshee or female ghost. The Minotaur looks far more menacing than the one found in the 4th Edition Revised game and can easily be used for other games like Heroquest or even D&D. Hardcore Talisman fans will likely find the addition of these 5 characters worth the price of acquisition.
This expansion provides a new element to Talisman, and for those looking for a change, it is a welcome addition. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a middle-aged Talisman enthusiast (aka a grognard) and I know that new generations of hobbyists enjoy things that aren’t personally appealing to me. That’s great. The beautiful thing about this game is that there are now FIVE different editions to choose from.
For others who might be jumping into Talisman for the first time, or people who are not fans of “go after your buddy” games, this expansion turns Talisman into a cooperative effort instead of an individual free-for-all.
The Bad
There’s not much bad to say about this expansion other than it’s not my preference for gameplay. A couple of the miniatures are sketchy, primarily the Amazon (her flimsy spear mirrors the flimsy spear of 4th Edition Revised) and the Centaur (which appears far too small when compared to the other characters, especially those in the 5th Edition Core Box).
The Minotoad was also a slight disappointment. I was hoping for a fifth character, but the quirkiness and novelty of more toad miniatures won me over in the end.
Unboxing Video by Gamer’s Quest
As always, I am –
Wally (AKA The Paint Monk)