The Eternal Crown

I had a weekend trip a while ago and visited some friends. It has been a while since I got to play Talisman. That changed a total of four times during my stay.

All games were three player games. All games were played with Cataclysm board. We had none of the side boards, which had me worried because of Harbinger. "Everyone loses" is a bit bland ending to a game like Talisman.

First game we didn't use any special ending or the Harbinger, though.

Characters were the Knight, Bounty Hunter and Ogre Chieftain. Bounty Hunter died early in the game thanks to some bad luck and was replaced with Ancient Oak.

I have some trouble remembering any interesting details about this match. Ogre Chieftain was the first to reach Crown of Command, and after a few turns of failing to cast the Command Spell he finally got the hang of it and won.


Second game we had Harbinger with the terrain altering prophecy and Warlock Quests ending. We house ruled first three Warlock Quests to give a quest reward card.

This game, on the other hand, was a memorable one. And record breaking. Starting characters were Highlander, Dread Knight and Dervish. But when game ended, the lineup was something entirely else - most of us having had their characters killed multiple times.

Dread Knight was the first one to die. Graveyard was the first board space to become altered, so Dread Knight wasn't able to get a new warhorse. Thus crippled he was no match for just about any drawn monsters. But Dread Knight's legacy passed on when Arcane Scion entered game.

Dervish and Highlander died soon after, with Scout and Mutant making their appearance.

Key to Hades killed Scout and made him Jin Blooded, and the Arcane Scion grew up to be Philosopher. Mutant looked like the only real contender to Crown of Command, but was stuck in some Warlock Quest.

But the real winner here seemed to be Harbinger. Omens were juggled back and forth, but the progress went towards the inevitable doom. Philosopher did find Apocrypha that would give him the victory if last omen is discarded. But he died, or perhaps was thoroughly corrupted by the Apocrypha - next character was Possessed.

Due to some luck the Possessed managed to pick up the Apocrypha where Philosopher had ditched them, and the last omen was discarded. A cheaty victory for the Possessed.

But the game was record-breaking in many ways. First, for a three player game it involved seven different characters. One of the players made this record of playing four characters - and still winning the game. Granted, it was a very non-standard way of winning. So much so, that winning with Apocrypha has never happened before. That's another record.

This was also the first game for Arcane Scion, Scout, Mutant and Jin Blooded.



Third game we had End of Days ending and Stars Align prophecy.

Characters were Scavenger, Totem Warrior and Leprechaun. Scavenger had terrible luck, as she picked this card that reduced life value for each spell she had - and Stars Align increases spell limit regardless of Craft.

As a result, Scavenger died. Next in line was Cleric.

Cleric and Leprechaun struggled with character progress, but Totem Warrior had a major snowball effect when he received this follower that enables a teleport to face-up enemy in region in place of move. And with End of Days ending enemies were not in short supply...

I was sure that this game would end in Harbinger's victory, though. Omens were getting discarded at an alarming rate. But for some reason it all stopped for the late part of the game. Not a single event was drawn for ages.

But once game was nearing end, Harbinger hasted pace. In fact when Totem Warrior faced The Beast, everyone would lose if Totem Warrior lost the fight. Last omen was face-up, and End of Days would discard top omen if someone lost a combat with the Beast.

Totem Warrior didn't lose. He had Strength of twenty or twenty-one, so odds were in his favor. But there was a chance to lose.


Last game we had The Eternal Crown ending and Armageddon prophecy.

Characters were Chivalric Knight, Necromancer and Warlord. Once again none of the starting characters were alive at the end of the game.

All characters died so early in the game that it might be more accurate to list Spider Queen, Vampiress and Cat Burglar as the initial draw. Warlord's death was a pity, since she had an amazing start. I forget what actually killed her, but Cat Burglar had great animosity towards Vampiress, who cast this binding spell and made Cat Burglar pick up Key of Hades. Cat Burglar was able to et rid of it, but the spirits of vengeance had been summoned. They were fighting over The Ring and Unicorn, and Cat Burglar made Vampiress to lose all craft.

Necromancer was used as a sacrifice to banish Harbinger from the board. Good riddance.

But in the end Vampiress took some risk and tried to enter Crown of Command with Strength 10. It took a couple of tries, but succeeded. She didn't roll 1-2 even once, so it took four or five turns on the crown to achieve victory.

Had Cat Burglar been fast enough, Vampiress would not have stood a chance. Burglar had Strength and Craft 13 both - in stat points only, not counting the gear.


All of the games were rather interesting. Seems like Harbinger ups the body count in dead characters quite spectacularly, but still all of these games ended in player victory. And perhaps losing a character isn't that depressing when everyone else is losing them, too.