The Gauntlet- Be Warned

[Liquid ID]

To anyone who is toying with the Nether Realm, be aware of how game-crushing the Gauntlet can be. We played a 4-player game for over 4 hours tonight before everyone quit. Failing in the Gauntlet means you start from scratch with almost no chance of getting gear back.

With many of the Nether cards having instant kill effects, some with absolutely fatal odds (Nether Blight is nearly an instant kill to anyone if the Blight rolls a 6). Evading is often your only chance to get through the gauntlet the traditional route.
We used the dungeon and realized quickly that it was better to attempt a heavy attack on the Lord of Darkness and, if successful, be catapulted straight to the CoC.
However, two Nether creatures together on the CoC can bring the game to a deadlock quickly. We were hit with two extremely heavy craft creatures, meaning anyone with a craft less than 17 would be impotent against it. Since it had to be defeated to win...

We had bodies strewn about the Gauntlet.. chars with 12/10 str/craft... chars with 18 ste/10 craft... and after the Martyr died on the CoC with a str of 24 and a craft of 14 (Arcane Dragon punished Book of Lore and Changeling kept rolling high craft).. we all abandoned hope and quit the game.

So.... the lesson here is to be very very careful when playing the Gauntlet. Expect a loooong game. Expect complete BS to ruin 3-4 hours of game time. The Gauntlet is by far the most gruelling ending in the game. Do not approach it lightly.

Consider that you may run into a near unbeatable situation and noone will get any experience at all because there is no way to abandon a game with no winner, and no experience without finishing a game (even a finished game can yield 0 experience because devs)...

Talisman is already unforgiving. The Nether Realm is pure sadism and blatant abuse.

(PS. I like it. I just wish I could have something to show for it after it wrecked us)

[Borek]

"Can you survive the Nether Realm?
The Nether Realm, where the most terrible beasts of fairy tales and nightmares
live, once threatened to swallow up the world of men. Legends say that,
thousands of years ago, a mighty wizard sealed the Nether Realm in a great
golden box. But now, the box has been opened. The denizens of the Nether
Realm are free to cross into this world and plunge those brave few who seek
the Crown of Command into a living nightmare!"

[Leamsi]

hmmm... I think you were just extra unlucky? I've never found it to be that impassable. If you think about it, you kill four nethers for Hunt, so Gauntlet is only two if you go via LoD. Four if usimg Arknell or Feathers. But there are many hacks:
Use hopper to jump over the whole inner region and every enemy
Go via LoD with soul shatter/finger of death.
Energise and bolster.
Flail and bow/two bows
The baleful eye, etc.
toadify
freeze

It is unlikely someone with the stats you mention could not come up with a strategy that succeeds over two cards.

[Marcin Raelian]

I know some guys who like disable: Dungeon and Highland, because "Gantlet is too easy" with this expansions.

[Ragic]

that doesnt really make any sense. 2 random nether cards are potentially much harder than many other endings. so the dungeon + gauntlet isnt any easier than dungeon without gauntlet.

now is gauntlet + dungeon easier than gauntlet without dungeon? yeah probably. but anything + dungeon is easier. thats a problem with the dungeon not the gauntlet.

[vidal22]

you forgot astrolab or ♥♥♥♥♥ fortune seeing. Personnally, i have found both guantlet and the hunt to be not real easy, but not that bad-first couple of times i played i played it safe thinking it was tougher than it is.

[DeePee]

When we play the board game, there is a standing house rule that no matter how much you beat the LoD by in the dungeion, the farthest you can port to is the Plane of Peril. This makes the Gauntlet ending that much more dealdy as there is no way to avoid the run (minus hopper follower). I have yet to be stopped in DE doing Gauntlet but we have quit board games before and just started over, Consider it this way: Talisman won and we all lost the game.

My RL group believes the game of Talisman should remain about aquiring a talisman to get to CoC with no shortcuts.

I'd really like to see a DE house rule like that someday.

[Leamsi]

I love the different routes, LoD, inner region, Arknell. They create multiple strategies and keep the game open, so for instance in the cup game I just won, I won via LoD against a player in inner region. It was totally touch and go, and the more thrilling for it. He himself had just missed out on LoD route wkth me hot on his heels. The more strategies and tactics available the richer and more competitive and unexpected the game is for me.

[Don Julio]

Originally posted by Leamsi:

I love the different routes, LoD, inner region, Arknell. They create multiple strategies and keep the game open, so for instance in the cup game I just won, I won via LoD against a player in inner region. It was totally touch and go, and the more thrilling for it. He himself had just missed out on LoD route wkth me hot on his heels. The more strategies and tactics available the richer and more competitive and unexpected the game is for me.

I'll agree with this. The game changes with each expansion - and with each different combination of expansions used in any given game. Keeps the game fresh IMHO. :) And new experiences call for new strategies.

[Ragic]

this just happened to me. used the dungeon to bypass the gauntlet. crown space had nether torment (if your atk roll is lower you die) and mist dragon (roll 2 die, use the lower for your atk roll). insta kill.

[vidal22]

ouch

[ososober]

Originally posted by Ragic:

this just happened to me. used the dungeon to bypass the gauntlet. crown space had nether torment (if your atk roll is lower you die) and mist dragon (roll 2 die, use the lower for your atk roll). insta kill.

bolster may work :)

[Levistus]

The gauntlet is one of my favourite endings when i play in RL

[Fomalhaut]

Originally posted by ososober:

Originally posted by Ragic:

this just happened to me. used the dungeon to bypass the gauntlet. crown space had nether torment (if your atk roll is lower you die) and mist dragon (roll 2 die, use the lower for your atk roll). insta kill.

bolster may work :)

Attack roll and attack score aren't the same, unfortunately. You'd still be goosed.

[Leamsi]

Actually, flail makes you immune as long as one of the two dice is higher. Not sure if both dice are lower, because I cant remember my roll. But at least one was lower and I didn't die. I love how even after a lot of playing we are still discovering new tacfics, tricks and quirks.

[Ragic]

im sure there are a lot of ways to beat it. just saying the dungeon doesnt necessarily make the gauntlet ending easy. i beat the lod with an atk score of 36. i was feeling pretty cocky.