Thinking about buying Physical.

[Othello]

So a few friends and I enjoy the DE of the game (by that I mean it's simple and we can just chat and ♥♥♥♥♥ about RNGesus for a few hours.) We're having a party in a few days and I was thinking about potentially picking up the physical copy of the game (fourth edition: revised and several of the expansions.)

Question is, is it worth it? Considering the vast amount of storage and play space you need, as well as the cash required, how far I have to go out of my way to get it, and the fact that we don't see each other very often IRL and potentially for only a few hours; those last two aren't big factors for me going in.

Is the DE pretty much just an easier to manage physical edition? Or is there more enjoyable factors to physical that we would enjoy compared to DE?

Thanks,
Othello.

[Poelzi]

yes get it ...got it myself 1 month ago (again)..and it is a diffrent feeling but sometimes so much fun sitting around the table and play...and i also like to have the pieces and dice physically in my hands

[Ogmok]

The physical edition is worth it, especially with a few addons like the Reaper addon (there is *nothing* more satisfying than having an extremely strong friend being killed by the reaper - enjoy the rage on the table ^^ ).

I don't know the "late" addons in RL, but I think "Blood Moon" is quite nice and worth a try, too. "Highlands" is like a low level "Catacombs".

[Puppy Cat Underfoot]

Depends on what expansions you get. The basic board is fairly big, you need a decent table. Big expansions extend off the corners of the main board, requiring more table space. Mini-expansions give you more characters, more cards, and sometimes more rules.

That said, the basic board folds out and in, so it's easier to store. Each expansion of either size has a symbol: Howling Werewolf for Bloodmoon, Spiked "horseshoe" for Dungeon, Snowflake for Frostmarch, Skull for Reaper and so on. These symbols are on every card particular to those sets. There are more areas in the main box of the base game than for the things it comes with, so you could also store expansion cards in the main box. You can't add too many additional figures to the main figures bag though. On the other hand, you can play with 6 more more people with the physical game. The rules do thankfully warn you that more people = more play time.

[ToothlessNightFury]

If you do buy the board game, make sure you purchase some gaming sleeves to protect the cards. I'd recommend the Mini-American sleeves (FFG) for the smaller cards and Revised 4th Edition sleeves (Swan Panasia). See here[www.talismanisland.com] for more information.

[Othello]

Thanks for the intel guys. I'll likely pick up a physical copy soon if I can find one at a decent price and some of the expansions that I've heard were good. Cheers!

[Chief Druid]

We'd always recommend the physical version for sessions around a table with friends. DE is a great way to get familiar with the game and the rules. If you enjoy DE I am sure the physical versions with friends will not be a disappointment :O)

[Excrucian]

I may be biaised by the fact that I could sleep at night hugging my Talisman board, but I think the physical copy is one of the greatest board game ever made!

Now I've bought the 4th edition since it's release so the money I payed was, of course, spread out over the years. IF you want to buy the whole thing it will cost you an arm and a leg but if you buy it in multipls shots I'd suggest to go base game + Dungeon + Highlands + Reaper + Blood Moon + Sacred Pool. The last 3 are small box packs that costs a bit less and adds tons to the game.

I know it's still a lot, but that'll give you a LOT of good options and rules.

As for storage, I personally keep everything in 2 board boxes, the rest I threw away, and it all fits well. I kept all the little plastic bags that came with all packs and use them to store cards separately. I still got room for other packs. Oh, except the Dragon, I keep all the unique stuff in it's own box.

I never bought sleeves and everything is still good, but that depends on you and the kind of friends you have over lol.

Game lenght can go long, depending mostly on luck, but you can store each players in ziplock bags and note which cards were on which spaces and store it for next time (with everything, the space the boards take is rather huge). I often played at 6 and games can lasts up to 10 hours...

I know that was a brick of text, but I hope it helps a bit :)

[cpr4cpu]

Ironically, a friend was cleaning out his garage and found an old original Dune board game set.. complete and in almost perfect condition. He brought it over and gave it to me and over a few beers and some reminiscing about our favorite board games (and the fact that after 3 tries I STILL cant figure out how the hell the Dune mechanics work) I got a wild hair and dug out my old 2nd edition Talisman set I bought in the late 80's. I have all the expansions and game board add-ons.. it was a real blast form the past to set it all up and spend the better part of a night rolling, cursing, and drinking beer and still finding time to whine about my extremely bad luck. It was a lot of fun and I thought it would be great to "get back into Talisman".. and lo and behold, the very next day I get a message on Steam that there is a digital edition on sale.. complete with the dungeon add-on... talk about ironic. I couldn't Paypal Steam fast enough to get my digital version along with the season pass. All that said, I still prefer the older rules and the older add-ons like Timescape and my favorite game board expansion, the City. If there was a way to port the City xpansion into the 4th edition and create a new add-on for the digital edition I would probably not feel so compelled to pull out the old "hard copy" game and risk spilling beer all over it. Hope you and your friends find the physical game as much fun as my friends and I did back when we were in college, and I suggest checking out eBay as I have found some 4th edition complete sets, as well as a few of the older 1st and 2nd editions for very reasonable prices. Expect the "hinges" on the game boards to be torn, so some good old fashioned book binding tape (like the library uses to fix book spines) on the back of the board will fix it up good as new.

[Puppy Cat Underfoot]

My round kitchen table is just barely too small for the main board. The problem seems to be the roundness itself, if the table were square, it would be perfect for the board. Unfortunately, there's still be the problem of where everyhing else goes: I'd have room for cards, but not character sheets.

@talsimanamsilat, I'll have to check out that site. Given that I play games where food and drink are involved, protecting individual cards would be awesome.