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Over the summer I watched Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny I was reminded of this photograph I took of the Talisman Adventurer metal model in a Egyptian setting.
The background was a printed backdrop. I used some sand flock to represent the sand. The wooden cases were resin models from Alternative Armies.
The Adventurer was a metal model that was release for the Talisman Timescape expansion.
I have been playing Talisman ever since it came out in 1983. I own the second edition and this is still played regularly. I also enjoy the digital version on my iPad.
Back in the 1980s I had this idea of building a three dimensional version of the board. In the late 1980s I also managed to purchase all the metal Talisman miniatures in one of Games Workshop’s amazing sales. I had the parts, I had the idea, but like most of my ideas, it stayed an idea. I eventually sold virtually all the miniatures on eBay, keeping a couple I had painted and really liked.
The idea was still there, but I doubted it was ever going to happen…
The other day though I saw this tweet.
Family game night! Tonight we’re playing TALISMAN… on steroids!!
Last year, my friend John gifted me a hand painted set of 3-D terrain for the Talisman 4th edition board game, which is not only the staple game we play in between RPGs but also our family game.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/2AJbh5PxrF
— Levi Combs (@PlanetXGamesCo) December 28, 2022
Doing some further clicking I discovered that Spare Oom Studio were selling STL files of 3D models for use with Talisman.
I really like these, but alas I don’t have a 3D printer. I think if I ever get a 3D printer I might get some, or see if I can get some printed. Need to check how they fit on the second edition board.
I really like Talisman, I have been playing it since the first edition came out in 1983. The game was very much set in a fantasy world.
One thing I have seen recently are themed versions of Talisman: Harry Potter, Star Wars and Batman.
I do like the Talisman mechanics, so not having to learn new rules upfront, certainly makes this game an attractive proposition. This game is a no-brainer if you like Batman and Talisman.
So today I realised I had been playing one of the cards in Talisman “wrong” for nearly forty years.
I first played Talisman back in 1983 when the first edition was released, back when there was black and white adventure cards. A friend in our gaming group back then had bought a copy of the game.
Can’t quite believe that was 38 years ago…
We would play the game quite a bit and as with most games I played back then I was quite reliant on the interpretation of the rules so followed their lead.
When the second edition was released, which was a colourised version fo the first edition (and the game board was changed from a single folded unit to four interlocking pieces) I took the time to read the rules.
One rule was this one on gaining craft.
2.4 Craft can only be gained as a result of Encounters.
You could gain strength by “cashing in” Enemy cards and with every seven enemy strength points you would gain one strength. We would play a similar rule for gaining craft by “cashing in” Enemy cards where the enemy would use craft.
I am not sure if we changed our gameplay as a result and kept a house rule where you could collect enemy cards and cash them in for craft, as you could for strength.
I never understood why you could cash in strength but not craft, as this was a real disadvantage for those characters who were stronger in craft than strength.
Those who play Fourth Edition will know that is now the norm.
It’s funny how when you play a game, sometimes your interpretation of rules or assumptions you make become normalised and you don’t realise you’ve been playing it wrong.
Playing Talisman today I realised I had been playing one of the cards in Talisman “wrong” for nearly forty years.
That card is one of the best weapons in Talisman, the Runesword.
This weapon would add one to your strength in combat and if you win the combat and cause a loss of life, you would gain a life.
Or so I thought…
I was playing the game today and my character, the Halfling, managed to pick up the Runesword. It was then reading the card that I realised I had been playing the card wrong for nearly forty years.
I had been playing that if I used the Runesword in combat against any Enemy (or a Character) and took a life, my character would gain a life.
However if you actually read the card it says:
2. When you use it in Combat to defeat a Monster or another player and then cause them to lose a Life, you gain 1 Life.
So in the second edition, the Runesword would only work against Enemy Monsters. You wouldn’t gain a life when fighting animals or dragons.
I have been playing it wrong all these years.
Not much to see here….
I quite like the idea of a digital version of Talisman. What about you?
Games Workshop have released an iOS version of Talisman.
The legend begins with a single-player series of adventures designed to invite both veterans and newcomers to explore the land of Talisman. While multiplayer gameplay will be available in upcoming expansions, Talisman Prologue focuses on creating narrative depth through its single-player campaigns. The story unfolds as the player rolls dice to move around the outer, middle, and inner regions of the board. Each space will require the player to draw a card or resolve a special effect, leading your hero to encounter monsters, discover friendly followers, and gather treasure.
It’s a pity that it is a single player game, as the real fun with Talisman is that it was for multiple players. There are no AI players either. However at £2.99 this is nice and cheap and certainly good value for money.
Get Talisman in the App Store.
I got the original Talisman back in the 1980s, and one expansion that I always enjoyed was the Talisman Timescape which introduced a science fiction (okay science fantasy) element to the game.
Though intrigued by the new version of Talisman from Fantasy Flight Games, I’ve never bought a copy. Even so I am quite interested in their new game, Relic, which is based on the Talisman Game System.
If you look at the board, you will see it seems very familiar to those who have played Talisman.
I think this could be a fun game.
Though we know it wasn’t real, and though we know that there was no actual historical version of it; I am sure most of us who have thought about recreating the Indiana Jones films on the table have wanted to use that tank.
Yes the tank from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
It appears at first glance to be a Mark VIII with a turret, the reality was that it was built specially for the film and was built up from an excavator.
Mechanical effects supervisor George Gibbs said this movie was the most difficult one of his career. He visited a museum to negotiate renting a small French World War I tank, but decided he wanted to make one. The tank was based on the tank Mark VIII, which was thirty-six feet (eleven meters) long, and weighed twenty-five tons. Gibbs built the tank over the framework of a twenty-five ton excavator, and added 6.4 ton tracks, that were driven by two automatic hydraulic pumps, each connected to a Range Rover V8 engine. Gibbs built the tank from steel, rather than aluminum or fiberglass, because it would allow the realistically suspensionless vehicle to endure the rocky surfaces. Unlike its historical counterpart, which had only the two side guns, the tank had a turret gun added as well. It took four months to build, and was transported to Almería on a Short Belfast plane, and then a low loader truck.
Now regular readers of my blog may remember this photo.
The Talisman Archaeologist from Talisman Timescape is very much an Indy lookalike and many years ago I started to formulate a series of rules and background for creating games in an Indiana Jones style universe that was called Tally Ho!
I always wanted to get a World War One era tank to fit into the game and recreate that battle with the tank from the Last Crusade film.
Well now I can get a 28mm tank just like that one from the film. Copplestone Castings have released the K64 Mark IX Beast Super-Heavy Tank and Accessory Pack.
This is an almost perfect replica of that tank from that film.
Really impressed with the look and quality, might get one. As for rules, well I will probably mash up the rules from The Great War with the Old West. Or even just the Great War rules.
As well as the Archaeologist I also have the Talisman Barbarian.
These are the only two Talisman miniatures in my collection, I did at one point have all of them, but after realising ten years after buying them that I was never going to get them painted, sold them on eBay.
I don’t know about you, but occasionally I find a game that I think just makes me go “woah!” and I just have to have it.
I remember playing Talisman (1st Edition) for the first time and thinking what an amazing boardgame. I had before playing Talisman only played boardgames like Monopoly, and Talisman was so very different. That was nearly thirty years ago…
Since then other games that have had a similar impact include Car Wars, Twilight 2000 and Space 1889. I really enjoyed playing Car Wars and spent many hours designing vehicles and playing it back in the 1980s. I loved the concept behind Twilight 2000 and though I never really got a chance to play it for a lengthy campaign, I did enjoy reading articles and scenarios for it. Space 1889 was one of those ideas that I hadn’t really considered before and was my first introduction to Victorian Science Fiction (well the First Men in the Moon aside). Since then I have really enjoyed VSF and steampunk, I really liked the Difference Engine
So a few months back when I was a gaming shop in Birmingham and noticed the Dystopian Wars, I was like a moth to a candle! This was one of those games that I just had to have and would have to play.
Imagine a world similar to our own, but subtly different. Now imagine the year is 1870 and the Industrial Revolution occurred decades earlier than in our own world. Technology is far advanced, and in many cases, unrecognisable, which has led to the development of fantastic naval vessels, hulking land ships and terror from the skies in the form of airships and war balloons.
Looking at the models, unfortunately the rules had sold out, there was one model that caught my eye and that was the model I had to have and would set me down the path of the Dystopian Wars. It was the Prussian Sky Fortress
Having decided that this was a definite purchase, I realised that I would also need an opponent and looking at the boxed sets, I decided to go with the Kingdom of Britannia
A few weeks later I managed to get hold of the rulebook
So time to get painting.