ISS Vanguard Review

ISS Vanguard board game lets you discover new planets and technologies, and most of all.. roll some dice for checks... and then roll some more... Watch our review of ISS Vanguard from Awaken Realms.

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In this video:

0:00 Intro
0:20 Rules
3:16 For Who?
4:29 Top 3 Things
8:01 Not for you?
12:20 Honeymoon
13:01 Alternative
13:57 Final Rating

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#ISSVanguard #BoardGameHangover #awakenrealms

[michaldurovic]

This ISS officially my favourite channel. 😂🔥😎

[hismonkeybusiness]

The ISS joke with the straight face after the intro, so funny. It's why I'm subbed

[viesturskokarevics]

Must have for me. Excited about upcomming 2 expansions in second wave. Story is amazing, same as Tainted grail. And I like this ship book and dice mechanic, I hope they will use it in some of upcomming games.

[Madgaar]

105% agree with everything you said. Only point to add: don't get the minis unless you want them to paint. Value is just not there otherwise. You use then so seldom

[vladimirshlapakov]

Almost finished campaign - one of the best adventure board games for me! Dice system is simple, but not bad. Maybe, if it would be more complicated mechanic - game will be overwhelming and too long (for now each session is about 3 hours). And still, AR can improve it in upcoming expansions.

[coltainward]

I binge-watched a lot of videos on your channel a while ago, I have watched this a few times because it's very much in my niche of gameplay. I finally decided to drop the ball and buy-in on the 2nd wave getting all the content they have. Even though I don't have it yet, thank you for getting me addicted to this game!

[cardiner-lv]

Cool review :)
With some of the things i totally agree, what I would have added is solo and group experience differences, because yes, when it comes to some of the bookkeeping it is definitely better solo, but the story and mystery is so cool to experience with others that it is not worth not sharing, the conversations this game sparked was incredible, also when you play solo dice main game loop gets boring quickly, but when you are playing with a group it actually is nice that it is simple enough so it does not get in a way.

[MyAlex]

The ship book looks great, really suitable for collection. And your format of review is really enjoyable!

[iansutton]

Many thanks for the review. I ended up backing it, but haven't yet tabled it. You've certainly picked out the two areas that I spent most time concerned about, before eventually (late) pledging:
- Dice rolling / mitigation / management. Whilst I rather enjoy 'playing the odds', enjoying probability as much as pure logic, I was concerned whether this mechanism would hold my interest. I don't yet know the answer.
- Ship book. In the original campaign, this absolutely felt like a solo experience, perhaps best suited to those that love character building in D&D etc. That was a problem for me, as I much prefer gaming with others, as I find solo feels uncomfortably inconsequential. The changes after the campaign, including the ditching of the visually appealing ship dials, came out of playtester feedback, and for me at least, those changes feel very good indeed (and a friend who is already well into the game, thinks this is done exceptionally well).

With this War of Mine being the game I'm most glad I own (and I know you like it as well), I smiled at the reference to Awaken Realms and the way their games emphasise players having to survive challenges where luck can play a strong part. I'm absolutely cool with this, and indeed believe it was a brilliant decision to make This War of Mine so brutally and haphazardly punishing. That and putting the 'based on first hand accounts' narrative to the fore (yet choosing a fictional setting) worked so wonderfully IMO. Compared to that, I'm expecting ISS Vanguard to feel just 'slightly' dangerous.

Unsettled certainly seems like a good alternative, and one that might appeal a little more to a euro/puzzle style gamer, but also those with a wry / anarchic style of humour.

[alastairbishop]

Great video as always. Looking forward to my single-wave shipping.

[algernonftw]

With my experience thus far, I don't really have complaints about the dice mechanics. There are lots of ways to modify your outcomes - from teammate assistance, to equipment, to dice combo effects on your section cards, or even your crew abilities. I think they give you a fair chance at success with the dice mechanic, without making it *too* easy.

[ewok-breath]

Thanks guys for making me laugh first thing in the morning 😃. Love you guys!

[beaglegod]

One of THE best gaming channels. You guys Rock

[hariszark]

The modern board game designers think that a good game is a HUGE game with tones of tokens, big character sheets with a lot of dice or tokens areas with all kinds of upgrades, with complex mechanisms and rule books about 50 pages that feels like giving an exam at college or something, with a bunch of plastic minis, and need about 3-6 hours (or more) to play, coming in a HUGE box you need a dedicated place to store and about 3-4 expansions that adds to all that pile of plastic and

NO!
That is NOT what a good game needs.
We NEED less tokens, less rules, less complexity, less set up and put in time, smaller boxes that can be stored easily, smaller rule books that we can learn faster, smaller games that we don't have to spend a whole night playing, smaller maps to take less area on the table because we don't have a palace to live in., and lower prices because not everyone in the world makes a every month.
And we need more story, more immersion, more atmosphere and theme. More random events to make the games more repayable.
Do not base your games in the components but in the feeling of the game. The story and the events.
It's like playing a pen and paper RPG. You don't need a bunch of pieces and components. You just need interesting story and events for the people that adventure in your game world.
Take a look at Star Trek TOS.
So simple and basic in most episodes. Just the story and the events.
It's not the "how you did it" more important in the series but "Why you do it".

[wishmeheaven]

Cool review format!
Only found out about you now.
Like the honesty, sooo...
Subscribed!

[k.p.]

I had Sleeping Gods but sold it. I found it boring and did not really like the art too much.
I totally love this one :)
I like the dice puzzle. If the dice puzzle would be too brain burny the game would suffer imo.
Unsettled looks good too.
Great review.

[freek]

"Where is the keeping of the book?!" hahaha xD

[YoSo]

I am guessing you guys really do love campaign games. All of the latest reviews are in the fantastic realm.

[eastargamemanufacturing]

Thanks for sharing! All the questions are useful.

[Dwigii]

Can you run multiple campaigns at the same time with different groups/solo players with just one copy? Or there is a lot of organizational admin work over the components that does not allow for that?