Talisman 2nd Edition solitaire experiment

Magical indeed!

 I've played Talisman 4th edition many times with my wife and my cousin and it's always been a blast! Some people hate the utter randomness of events but, if you're like me, you enjoy getting slapped around by drawing tough enemies with a weak character or seeing your enemies draw magic item after magic item as they systematically crush your dreams of getting to the Crown of Command (I've still yet to win a game against my wife or cousin!!!!). Call me sick and sadistic but it's just an all around fun game and I love a challenge. Best of all, it's a different game every time!

 Recently I was able to purchase a copy of Talisman 2nd Edition for relatively cheap. Being a sucker for old school games, I knew I had to have it if only to gaze upon its old dusky splendor. After receiving it and looking it over, I was impressed by how compact it was and I think it will make a great travel version as you can fit virtually everything (expansions and all!) in just the box the original game came in. Try that with the 4th edition version and all it's expansions!
  
                                My Solitaire Play Through

If you don't use the character sheets, it really is compact, I swear!

 

 I really wanted to test it out but with the wife off to work the rest of the week and no one to play with, I decided to devise a system where I could play solitaire. I threw together something simple; a "doom tracker" and a set of victory points. I set the doom tracker to 30 rounds and grabbed two characters at random (the Barbarian and the Spy). The victory points rules I envisioned as this:

At the end of 30 turns, each player tallies up their total victory points:
5 For being on the Crown of Command
2 For each Magical Object
1 For each object
1 For each follower
1 For each gold
1 For each craft and strength above the character's starting stats
1 For each remaining wound

Also, if the character dies, it's an automatic win for the living player. You may also win by normal scenario rules, i.e. you make it to the Crown of Command and kill off the other player.

There's no reason this can't be played with Talisman 4th Edition and it's expansions.

 Here are some other shots from the game!

The board was getting pretty cluttered with creatures!

The Barbarian attacks the Spy who was at 1 life and it literally blew up in his face because...

...He rolled a 1 with the Ancient Artifact and then tied the Spy leaving the Barb at 1 life!

Sadly, the Spy met his end after a snake bit his face off!

 If they had both survived and the game ended right then (only two turns left!) it would have looked like this:

Barbarian 7 victory points

Spy 4 victory points

Final Thoughts: I was surprised at how fun the game actually was solo. There's definitely a sense of tension with the "doom tracker" counting down and each encounter being a gamble since if you run out of lives, it's over with. I think 30 turns was a little on the short side but it was just an experiment and I wanted a quick game. All total, it probably took me less than an hour to set up and play.

 Concerning spells targeting other players, just use them logically. For instance, I had the Rod of Ruin with the Spy and used it to deduct 2 strength points from the Barbarian. Not only did it reduce his fighting strength from 7, it also deducted 2 victory points off his end total. Another important factor was losing turns. The Spy lost a lot of turns and it really cost him in the end. He even got toadified once! Poor guy but he did put up a fight to the very end until he was some giant snake's breakfast.

 Hopefully you enjoyed the read! Thanks!