Talisman or Relic

[Anery]

Which to buy? Talisman or Relic?

Talisman is the original game with several expansions now available, 2 - 6 players in a fantasy setting

Relic is set in the 40K universe, has no expansions, 2 - 4 players and uses basically same ruleset.

[Joose]

I voted for Spaaaaaace, because Spaaaace. There's a bunch of decent fantasy themed games out there, and not so many 40k games.

That being said, if the choice had been there I would have voted none of the above. There's a quote in Ian M Banks' Player of Games that goes something along the lines of "the best games are those that balance skill with luck". If a game has too little luck involved there isn't enough randomness, meaning you can theoretically just learn the winning moves (tic tac toe being the classic example). If there is too much luck, too much randomness, then the players skill is no longer rewarded (worst example I can think of being Game of Life, where the player has literally no control over the game). Talisman skews a little too hard towards the luck end of the spectrum for my tastes, combining roll and move with random card drawing. It's very easy for the game to completely screw you through no fault of your own, and I hate that.

I feel like I should be makin an alternative recommendation rather than just shouting NOPE. It's too early to martial helpful thoughts though, so I shall have to get back to you.

[HereComesPete]

I voted for relic it's 40k and you have fuckpiles of extraneous lore to pull stuff from plus the stuff you get in the box looks much better. Talisman looks like a.n.other fantasy game.

[spoodie]

Talisman is a classic and has a place in my heart, but as Joose said it's very luck-based. There's not much skill and the game will randomly punish you. Although that can be a positive if you want a more casual game, for people that don't want to get their head round too many complex rules.

[Joose]

Oooh, there's that WoW boardgame. Similar concept, much less random luck biased. Apparently its pretty good (a lot better than you would expect for an MMO tie-in certainly) but I've not actually played it myself.

[Anery]

I've been looking on BoardGameGeek and there are many versions of a wow boardgame - which one is it? might order it at a later date.

Ordering Relic for now.

Speaking of Skill vs Luck. Has anyone tried Death Angel? that can be a right bastard if you fail to get some of the rolls you need.

[Dog Pants]

Rab reviews Relic on RPS and is rather taken. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04 ... ren-relic/

[Anery]

Probably need a new board games fred, but I bought Relic and also this mostly because I am a Pratchett fan and I knew the missus would play.

[Joose]

I've been eyeing up that DW game myself, do let us know if its any good.

[friznit]

I have no idea but I voted space cos I'm a sheep following the herd.

[Anery]

So, Relic first.
Not a bad game, sure the dice can be unkind and turn almost certain victory into defeat but so can any game with dice - BloodBowl can be particularly cruel sometimes - but the wargear and relics really help in this respect adding bonuses for battle and skill rolls independantly as well as the odd health boost.
The components are all good quality, the models are good enough to paint and the board and card artwork is very nice. As for game time, I played with the missus and a game lasted nearly 3 hours, I guess with more players the time gets extended but also shortened if you are used to the rules or have somebody there who knows them.

Discworld
Whilst the pieces in this game are just painted wood and lack any kind of detail whatsoever they are never the less, nicely constructed and do the job they are supposed to do very well. The gameboard is a cracking piece of art and the cards too.
Gameplay is difficult at first but then starts to flow very easily.
The only thing I would say against this game is that in order to stand any chance of winning you need to make sure that you are familiar with ALL the win conditions, as each person will have different ones depending on which character they picked (at random and secretly) but then even that can go to pot if their character becomes schizophrenic and they swap personalities (again, randomly and secretly)
This was a funny game with lots of backstabbing, very quickly you come into conflict with other players (whereas Relic you spend most of the game in your own private struggle whilst still trying to get to the end first) and high jinx ensue. Game time is about 45 minutes for 2 players but could easily extend to double that with 4 players backstabbing and undermining each other.

[shot2bits]

Discworld
Whilst the pieces in this game are just painted wood and lack any kind of detail whatsoever they are never the less, nicely constructed and do the job they are supposed to do very well. The gameboard is a cracking piece of art and the cards too.
Gameplay is difficult at first but then starts to flow very easily.
The only thing I would say against this game is that in order to stand any chance of winning you need to make sure that you are familiar with ALL the win conditions, as each person will have different ones depending on which character they picked (at random and secretly) but then even that can go to pot if their character becomes schizophrenic and they swap personalities (again, randomly and secretly)
This was a funny game with lots of backstabbing, very quickly you come into conflict with other players (whereas Relic you spend most of the game in your own private struggle whilst still trying to get to the end first) and high jinx ensue. Game time is about 45 minutes for 2 players but could easily extend to double that with 4 players backstabbing and undermining each other.

This sounds rather good especially after reading a few customer reviews, being a sucker for anything Pratchett helps too.

Plus at the £25-£30 mark its seems very reasonable for a proper board game so i may have to pick this up sometime

[Anery]

So, Talisman is going digital in the best of ways - on Steam and online multiplayer. At the moment it doesn't seem to have online MP, local only, but they assure us that it is going in. Is anybody going to be buying this?
If Relic is anything to go by, games may take some time to complete (and then Pants will come along and steal everything anyway, but I'm not bitter) but hopefully there will be a save function.

Anyone thinking about it? or are digital board games removing the enjoyable aspect of sitting around a table with three other folks?



Edited because I'm a cupcake...they're, their, there...

[spoodie]

Interesting. It might be okay if you can play it on the TV, but there's no controller support currently. The board game can be a pain if you don't have enough table space, especially if you add any expansions. It says they're adding the expansions to the video game.

[Dog Pants]

I'll be getting it I expect. I have it on the iPad and it's pretty good, but it isn't multiplayer.

[Joose]

Anyone thinking about it? or are digital board games removing the enjoyable aspect of sitting around a table with three other folks?

Not at all. The social aspect is a bonus for playing "proper" board games, but really board games are just turn based games that you don't need a computer for. Theres no reason that a board game cant make an excellent computer game, as the loss of the social side is made up for by the convenience of playing over tinternet and the fact you no longer have to worry about remembering the rules.

Blood Bowl the computer game is almost identical to Blood Bowl the board game, and remains excellent fun. X-Com apparently started development being created as a board game so they could iron out the rules and such before worrying about the technical aspects. I've played Small World, Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne using my iPad. Board games can work very well on a computer.

I will probably pick this up as long as a) its not too costly and b) I can play the multiplayer with you spazzes. If they can add asynchronous multiplayer then I will be all over that shit.