This little (and I really mean little!) competition started it's life as a feature on how Games Workshop used to use Talisman as a marketing tool to assist in the selling of other games. Dragon Masters and Dungeonquest are good examples of this as they proudly carry the legend "From the makers of Talisman" on their boxes.

I wanted to obtain a copy of each game to satisfy my urge for collecting all things that relate to Talisman and eventually managed to. However, whilst I was hunting the games on Ebay, I noticed that Dragon Masters used art on it's cards that looked eerily familiar!

As well as the 40 or so cards that use art previously found in Talisman, there are 19 card types that use original artwork, though it may have been used in other Games Workshop publications.

Originally I was going to make some cards up to post on the site as some sort of "Lost Artwork" feature and give you the option of downloading them as a complete zip file, but why should I have all of the fun?

I will be posting these cards in five batches and will throw the card making over to visitors to Talisman Island. There will be a small prize involved for the best entry for each image. I will not be using a closing date as they will only be posted in small numbers so cards should not be too tricky to produce. When I feel there are enough entries I will publish the results and add another batch for you to go at. However, if there is not much interest I may end each heat after a couple of weeks or just post everything else at once, but I hope this won't be the case.

The prize for each winning card entry will be a much sought after "Talisman Island Competition Winner's Toad"! WOW!! I hear you shout... or was that OH NO!?

TICWT

Please note that the Toad will be unbased, unpainted and unofficial :)

If you want a closer look at him, go and check out the Alternates part of the Miniatures section.

When the competition is complete there MAY be a prize for the best overall entry... but I will have to see what I can come up with. It might not be much, but it will be slightly better than a "Talisman Island Competition Winner's Toad"!

UPDATE!!

You will be pleased to learn that I have managed to secure a Grand Prize for the overall winner of the competition!!

Robert Basine has kindly donated a copy of the "fabled" White Knight cards as a prize for the competition. If you have never seen them you should go and check out the Archives section and look at the Talisman Adventures site.

These cards are not official, but somebody using the name White Knight Enterprises produced a set of twenty new cards for Talisman. The special thing about them is that they have been professionally printed and die cut. They are indistinguishable from ordinary Adventure cards when they have been added to your card deck.

The story goes that Robert discovered these cards at some sort of garage sale (lucky bleeder!). There was a box with a job lot of these card sheets which he has been selling on and off via eBay. However, should any visitor to Talisman Island wish to purchase a sheet of these cards rather than trusting to luck in the competition you can simply contact Robert and he will tell you what you need to know.

THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER.... IT IS NOW!!! This is a slightly belated update, but a winner has been chosen!! It's with great pleasure I can announce that the winner of the Talisman Island Dragon Masters Competition is..... .....SeSim, with his great new character, the Buccaneer!! So a copy of the White Knight cards will be zooming via carrier pigeon over to Poland at the first opportunity! The masses voted (well, 21 of them at least!) and the results can be viewed here. A HUGE vote of thanks to all of you who entered the competition. I hope you enjoyed making the cards as much as I enjoyed judging them. I think it was a great experiment and was well worth it. Stay tuned to Talisman Island as I have another sheet of White Knight cards that needs a home. All I need to think of is a theme for a new competition!!!

ON WITH THE COMPETITION!

The entries for all of the rounds are in and all of the Heat Winners have been announced!

Now it's up to you lot! I have created a poll over a the Talisman Discussion Group to decide an overall winner for the competition. Plus if everyone who votes can send me an email with their very favourite card from ALL of the entries, there may be another winner of the "People's Choice" category!

Please go to the Talisman Discussion Group and show your preference by using the link here.

If you are not already a member of the group you will need to sign up, but it's free and you might just like it!

I was looking for something a little different with the bonus round cards, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. So, presenting some typical Talisman Insanity, here are the winners.

Alex Tsavalos wins the first bonus place with his homage to the Godfather! It was always either going to be this one or the Horse's Ass!

The second bonus place goes to David Dalley. I'm not sure where David got the inspiration for his Hot Air Balloon, but it's certainly made quite a useful card.

The entries were very interesting again this time, so thanks to everyone who entered.

You can download a 463KB zip file containing all of the entries for the Bonus Round here.

Would the winning entrants please email me with their mailing address so I can send out their Talisman Island Competition Winner's Toads. THANKYOU!!

Many apologies for the delay in judging Heat Four, but work has been a bit mental recently, plus I've been busying myself with a few new projects. But FINALLY, we have the winners!

...It's time to Rock and Roll!

An entry by one of the Polish Magia I Miecz players wins this time!! SeSim has produced rather an interesting character. Well, he's certainly a colourful one!

David Dalley's first foray into the competition brings us a devastating global event.

Sam Wallace's collection of cards add something of a quest to the game. Collect the whole set for a cool bonus!

John Rosen's Uprising makes the final spot this round. A nice random event to deal with.

Runner up spot this time goes to Peter Hansson for his new Amulet, kind of a "Get out of Jail free" card for Talisman!

Thanks again for all of the entries, and once again, apologies for the delay in announcing the winners!

As usual, you can download a 4980KB zip file containing all of the entries for Heat Four here.

Heat Three was another tough round to judge and, without further ado, here are the winning entries and a MASTERLY runner up.

...Lead on, Adventurer! Your quest awaits!

Malechi takes us into the Woods again this round! At least it's only bad for your enemies this time though!

An unusual card from Timothy Pulver in the form of a lovely picture! Now that's thinking laterally!

John Rosen, a.k.a. Nodgenesor, has come up with an irksome card which will have you cursing, especially if you are not keen on visiting the Chasm to get your gear back.

The poor chappie in Peter Hansson's card looks like he could do with some vitamin supplements. Bless...

Sam Wallace's idea for the Artificer comes in runner up spot this time around. He's a useful magic wielding, object carrying chappie and no mistake. Just don't fall foul of John's Flying Bandit card :)

I was quite pleased with the turn out for this round, though I do hope that Heat Four gets some more new blood into the competition.

Again, you can download a 2338KB zip file containing all of the entries for Heat Three here.

Heat Two was particularly difficult to judge as so many great cards were submitted. I hope you will all agree that those selected this time are worthy winners. Again, a runners up prize has been awarded to another fine entry.

...and here they are...

Malechi's Wood Ogres grab the first spot this time. A bit of a surprise for anyone having a picnic in a Woods space!

Every now and again in Talisman the board gets a little clogged up with Adventure cards and Timothy Pulver's Tidal Wave should help in that regard.

The Black Knight seems to have been a little careless and has dropped his dagger. Finding it would be a boon if you were Evil, but not so for the Good guys! A good new Magic Object from Bloodrabbit.

Sam Wallace's Ballista takes the last winner's position in this Heat. There were a few similar ideas with this image, but I think this one has the right balance of Object penalty and Combat bonus.

The runner's up prize for this Heat goes to Peter Hansson's Treeman character. He may seem a little strong at first, but he also has a couple of limitations which should even him out a bit.

Thanks again for all the great entries. Hopefully we'll get a few more for the next heat which should make the judging even more difficult!!

As usual you can download a 2832KB zip file containing all of the entries for Heat Two, plus a couple of late entries for Heat One here.

Entries for Heat One are now closed and the arduous task of judging has finally been completed by a distinguished panel of me. It was very difficult to choose between a lot of the cards as they were themed quite closely, but I think the cards that were chosen in each category reflect the "feel" of Talisman, with one notable exception, which won because it made me laugh :) It's also been decided to add an additional prize for one card which was very close to winning.

So.... without further delay we present the winning entries... CUE FANFARE!!!

First up we have the Saboteur by Peter Hansson. Though there were many similar cards it was thought that the ability to close Places was the best choice for this card.

Next we have Thomas Erix's Tame Dragon spell. It's a pretty powerful one to have, but luckily it is (more than likely) a one-shot deal :)

A pair of cards here from Alex Tsavalos. I particularly liked the fact that he'd not gone for the obvious choice with the Taint spell plus you get a card that would be really annoying if you had 6 Strength worth of Trophies in your collection! (ONLY ONE TOAD THOUGH I'M AFRAID ALEX!!)

Hmmm... what can I say here? Timothy Pulver has come up with a nice pair of trousers to wear into battle! You have to have a bit of a laugh when playing Talisman to get through the marathon sessions sometimes. Remember Trent D. Lovegroover anyone?

Finally we have a close second from Malechi. It's a great, no-nonsense region wide event. A solid entry.

Thanks to all the above for your entries and, of course, to those who were not so lucky this time. I hope that nobody is put off and indeed hope that other people may be encouraged to enter the next round!

To show off the entries and to give an example of what type of thing to make for the next round, a 1475KB zip file containing all of the entries for Heat One can be found here.