Talisman: The Horus Heresy

Review

The galaxy is sent into chaos . . . the famous Horus Lupercal, first Imperial Warmaster, has his eyes firmly set on Terra, once the favourite son of the Emperor of Mankind, now the biggest traitor of all. Who are you going to support? Will you help Horus in his quest or will you assist the Emperor to successfully eliminate the greatest Warmaster and traitor of Mankind? The choice is yours!

Talisman: The Horus Heresy is a strategy/fantasy/board game set in the Warhammer 40K universe. At the start of the game, you will have to choose which side you will back up - the loyalist or the traitor?  Then you will have to decide how many warlords (including yourself) will be part of the game - 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2. After laying out how many players will be part of the game, it will be time to determine which warlord to be. All Warlords have different abilities, but share six statistics, which are – resolve, fate, resources, close combat, range combat and strategy. A number is attached to each statistic to determine which are the strengths and weaknesses of your warlords.

Now you will be presented with a board of forty nine squares. The grid, or galaxy, will be divided into three parts – the outer, the middle and the centre. Your goal is to find first the Talisman and to make your way to the centre of the galaxy; to board the Vengeful Spirits and eliminate either the Emperor or Horus. You will have to roll the dice to move your character (a Hologram) on the board. As you land on a square, you can investigate the sector and possibly find useful resources. Units might join your cause, find spies or assassins, and a lot more.

Eventually you will land on a square with either an enemy unit, or in the worst case scenario, an enemy Warlord. Sometimes it will be a close battle and other times it will be a long range battle. The winner of the battle will be determined with a roll of the dice, in addition to any modifying ability you acquired during the game.

When you lose a battle, one of your resolve points will be deducted. If it was your last resolve point and you are defeated in that battle, your hero will die. However, if you win, it will either increase the close or range combat statistics. If the result of the battle was not kind to you (in other words, you lose), you can re-roll the dice and hope you get a higher number.  For that you must have a point in your fate statistics.

Ultimately, this is a really good board game based, and whether or not you know about the Warhammer 40K universe, I am sure you will enjoy it!