Talisman in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. That pretty much sums it up, though this lavish-looking beer-and-pretzels game features a few new mechanics to shake up the basic roll-and-move formula a bit. But it’s still long on playing time and long and luck, and you’ll love it or hate it depending on how attached you are to the original Talisman.
I enjoyed Talisman when it first came out because it was unlike anything else around at the time, but time has not been kind to the basic mechanics of the game. Still, it’s fun from a nostalgiac, turn-your-brain-off perspective, even though a session outstays any reasonable welcome past the two hour mark. I haven’t yet played Relic, but I appreciate the extra touches they’ve added to the basic system to make it a bit more interesting: dice rolls explode on a 6 for example, allowing you to add another roll, and you can collect Corruption cards that may give you benefits but also take you closer to becoming completely corrupted and removed from the game. You can also use certain cards to substitute for die rolls, mitigating a bit of the luck. But the game is still a long way from today’s strategy game standards. As long as you know that when you go in, and everyone is in the right frame of mind, I’m sure it can be a lot of fun. I’ll probably pick up a copy because of the theme and the excellent artwork alone.