Talisman: The Magical Quest Game has been around since 1983 with new versions about every decade. The summer of 2024, Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 5th Edition was released. I previously reviewed this great game. Now an expansion has been released. Rather than just adding more hero characters, spells, and adventures, Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons also offers for the first time a new way to play the game: cooperatively. No longer do players try to defeat each other. Instead, they must now work together to complete five trials and win the game.
What Is Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons?
Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons is a cooperative expansion for Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 5th Edition (this game is required to play the expansion) for 2-6 players, ages 12 and up, and takes about 90-120 minutes to play. Players take on roles of different adventurers to explore a magical land, encountering creatures and treasures along the way, working together to achieve their ultimate victory. It’s currently available from your friendly local game store as well as online retailers such as Amazon with a suggested retail price of $33.99 for a copy of the game.
Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons was designed by Dave Chalker and Craig Van Ness and published by Avalon Hill.
Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons Components
Here is what you get in the box:
- 30 Starting game cards
- 1 Doom Tracker
- 1 Doom Tracker token
- 1 Rulebook
- 24 Double-sided strength/craft tokens
- 5 Boxes with 5 figures
- 4 Envelopes with 20 game cards
When setting up the game of Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons, you remove some of the original spell and adventure cards from their respective decks and add some of the new starting game cards. This consist of 11 new Spell cards. Many of these new cards are for working with other players. There are also 19 new Adventure cards. 16 of these are villain characters which you add into the Adventure deck.
The doom tracker represents how the world around you becomes more dangerous as the game progresses. When a hero character loses their last life or the game prompts you, such as by a Trial Event, advance the doom token along the doom track. The track adds additional strength and craft to villain character cards, making them deadlier.
The strength and craft tokens are placed on active villain cards to represent the bonus they receive as the result of the doom tracker.
The five boxes each contain a figure. Each box can be opened only after you complete one of the five trials.
Each of the four envelopes are only opened when you complete one of the first four trials. They contain cards that will be added to the game.
How to Play Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons
The Goal
The goal of the game is overcome all five trials by defeating the adversary of each trial.
Setup
When playing Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons, you setup the game similarly to the base game with a few exceptions. You will remove 10 spell cards listed in the game manual and 26 adventure cards. Then add the 11 spell cards from the expansion along with the 3 adventure cards and then 2-4 villain character adventure cards depending on the number of players. Two talisman cards and the villain cards are then shuffled into the adventure deck. Place the doom tracker next to the gameboard with the doom token on the 0 space. After players have chosen their hero characters, take the gold purchase deck from the base game and shuffle it. Draw a number of these cards equal to the number of players and divide them among yourselves however you wish. Finally, place the trial card on the board with the sealed side face up.
Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 5th Edition, with a few exceptions. Fate is shared rather than individual. Since you can only use one fate token per turn, if one player uses a fate token, no others may use one during that same turn. If there are more than one hero character on a space, they can combine their strength or craft to try to defeat an enemy.
Trial events take place whenever you draw or discard a villain character card. The trial card explains what to do when this occurs. Villain cards, when revealed, are placed in the starting space listed on their card. Villains may move as a result of a trial event. When characters encounter a villain, they must attack the villain. The strength of the villain is listed on their card and the strength/craft token added to the card by the doom tracker is added to their values. If defeated by a villain, each hero character involved in the fight loses a life. If a villain loses a fight, they lose one life. Some have more than one life. When a villain loses its last life, the card can be taken as a trophy. Any tokens on the card are returned to the pile and do not add to the value of it as a trophy for trading for increased strength or craft for a player character .
In order to advance to the inner region, you must unseal the Portal of Power. To do this, you must find two Talismans and then bury them under different Places of Power which are the four corner spaces in the outer region–Tavern, Village, City, and Chapel. To do this, place a talisman card under the board at that space, once two Talisman are buried at these locations, then flip the trial card to the unsealed side and follow the directions. This will reveal the adversary that the players must defeat in order to win the game.
Game End
The game ends when you defeat the adversary of the current trial.
Why You Should Play Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons
Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons really adds a new dimension to playing Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 5th Edition. I have always enjoyed playing cooperative games, therefore, it was fun to play a game that has always been competitive in a new way. Since the players work together, this is a great way to introduce new players to the game and help them understand the concepts since that are pretty much the same as the original game with a few exceptions. This expansion also has the feel of a legacy game in that as you complete the first trial, you get to open an envelope and a box. You now have a new hero character you can play as in addition to a new trial card and some additional new cards. By the time you finish the five trials, you now have five additional hero characters you can add to the regular game along with new adventure cards. The rulebook also contains instructions on how to reset the expansion by returning components to boxes and envelopes so you can play the five trials again.
In previous editions of Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, players received only new characters and cards. I really like how Avalon Hill not only added these, but a new way to play cooperatively. This really adds more to the game than just new choices. This is only the first expansion for Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 5th Edition, and if it is like the other editions, there will be many more expansions. I hope they do something similar and create a mini campaign where players unlock new hero characters, spells, and adventures. If you already have a copy of Talisman: The Magical Quest Game, 5th Edition, then I highly recommend getting Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons. You will not be disappointed. However, if you have not played this game yet, start of with the base game and then get this expansion.
For more information, visit the Talisman Alliances: Fate Beckons page!
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Disclosure: GeekDad received a copy of this game for review purposes.
