ISS Vanguard

Let’s touch on a topic that I talked about at the end. Is this a good solo game?

My answer is yes, I do think that this is a good solo board game. But I suspect that it might be a better with more players. There are a few reasons for it, mainly surrounding the idea that it’s a pretty big concept game and story. So I think that more minds keeping track of everything will hold the story better.

I also wonder about controlling more things. This reminds me a bit of Tainted Grail or Gloomhaven. I think both are good solo, but I prefer them multiplayer. Why, because there is just enough upkeep that it helps to have more people. Running the ship book, dealing with the planets, all of those things will be slightly easier with more people.

The difference with that is how supplies are used up on the ships. You play with more total dice in play so you can split up and get more done faster that way. But to travel distances, that spends dice and requires refreshing of dice. There are ways around it, but I think you’d get more done, but might have less ability to all swarm locations, if that makes sense.

So, ISS Vanguard is a game I would consider playing with four people. Not always the case with campaign games. I also would play three or two player and probably play two handed if we had two to make sure all four characters are in use. It’d change the same some, but I think in a good way.

Upcoming Streams

So next Wednesday that is going ot be up in the air. I potentially will be starting Isofarian Guard, that’s likely my next campaign game. But there is also a strong chance I won’t have a chance to learn the rules yet for Isofarian Guard over this weekend. If that’s the case, it might be the time where I actually open up the Pokemon cards. Or I might be playing a game, I’ll try and get that figured out by the time I stream on Monday.

And Monday is going to be more My City Roll and Build, and yes I did mess up my scoring at the end there. But I’ll be playing more of that. It’ll be continuing where we left off. And I’m excited to play My City Roll and Build. So join me on Malts and Meeples at 8:30 PM Central time for that gaming.

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ISS Vanguard vs Stars of Akarios

Going down to, or not going down to a planet. Let’s talk about how it went going down to a planet this time. And in all fairness we knew that it wasn’t likely that we’d be able to do much. It tells you that much as you are planning. But it is an interesting twist on the game.

Not A Planet

Firstly, it’s clearly a way to block off content. It gives you stuff to do over there. And I’ll be spending energy to get some of those done next time. But it basically says, this content is meant for when you are playing further in the game. So even though you tried to get to it now, you won’t be able to. But it does in a way that is thematic to the game. There is a storyline reason as to why not.

Ship Phase

And I think that is smart. Now it’s interesting because I just wrapped up a ship phase. And I did a lot in the ship phase to show off what can happen. That said, now I get to go back and do it again. I think for some people that is going to be disappointing. The ship phase, which I flew through this last session, doesn’t have as much story. So is it worth it getting through it again.

There are some areas where I feel only like kind of. Can I recruit more crew, I’m not sure. I’ll probably see about doubling up and going back to some places again, if that is allowed. But I have four command tokens, so that is what I’d prefer to do. Maybe the situation room, but for sure research and production to see what we can find. Because completing research or a new production project is kind of the most interesting thing.

This, I think, is where having more players would be interesting for the game. Planetary exploration, sure, it’d be fun to share the story and decision making. But I feel like I know what I want to do and make that part go quicker because of that. On the flip side, when it comes to the ship. I think discussing with more people would make that part feel more important. It is important, but it’d make it feel more important which would lean into that bigger feeling of the game.

Upcoming Streams

Like I said, ISS Vanguard wraps up next week. The plan is to explore some of the other options in our system and see what happens. It’ll be a bit sad to put this down, but it’s now a game that I know I really want to share with other people. 8 PM Central Time on Wednesdays. Though the easiest way to know is by subscribing and clicking that notification bell to know when I put up something new.

And then on Mondays I stream at 8:30 PM normally. That is the goal, anyways, sometimes it shifts a little bit because of podcast recording or editing. I think my plan will be to start playing through My City – Roll and Build. I’m not sure how long the games will take, so it might be a couple of games a stream or just one a stream, we’ll have to see.

And, again, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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ISS Vanguard Sessions

This isn’t a breakdown of all of the previous sessions, you can check those out over on Malts and Meeples. And I will try and organize things soon over there so that there are playlists that you can go through. But I want to talk about the two phases and what to expect in a gaming session of ISS Vanguard.

How I play it on stream is different than how most people will play it. Most people will probably do a ship phase and a planetary exploration in one evening. And I also think that the speed which I play at is something else to note. Your game sessions, are going to be longer.

Combined Phases

Firstly, the ship phase and planet phase likely will be together. You won’t want to sit down and just do the ship phase and spend an hour doing that but then end up with it being mainly the bookkeeping side of things. Maybe you’ll want to sit down and do a planet by itself, if it takes longer, but not a ship phase.

I also think that in some planet situations, take Brimstone for example, I went back there twice. Why, because it made sense. And I don’t know if I would want to leave and then come back in a whole new sit down session if I weren’t play it on stream the way that I am.

Decision Making

The other thing is that I make decisions quickly. This is generally true in my gaming but very true for ISS Vanguard. There are moments where I slow down, but mainly I make a decision and I complete the actions. Multiplayer is going to take longer. You will discuss what you want to try and do in a round.

What does this all mean? It is just fair warning that your sessions will be longer. And that is fine and expected. Just know that when it comes to ISS Vanguard there will be differences in how you experience the game.

Upcoming Streams

Like I said, ISS Vanguard will be wrapping up here pretty soon. I think. I still love what the game is doing. But the next two weeks for sure will be ISS Vanguard and we’ll see where the story and adventure takes us. 8 PM Central Time on Wednesdays. Though the easiest way to know is by subscribing and clicking that notification bell to know when I put up something new.

And then on Mondays I stream at 8:30 PM normally. I missed this past week because we had to adjust for podcast recording. But the plan is to be back and I want to play Skytear Horde. So expect to see that one getting to the table. And eventually after that a playthrough of My City – Roll and Build as an upcoming stream.

And, again, if you want to know when I go live or a new video goes up (it’s basically always live), please consider subscribing. You can do that here. And click that notification bell on the channel and you’ll always know when I go live.

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ISS Vanguard – Game Play

So let’s talk a bit about Brimstone because it is the first planet that we really chose to go to. The rest of them have walked us through them, but Brimstone, we decided to go there. And is it the right one to go to first, who knows, but it’s offered some new and interesting things.

Firstly, let’s talk about the hazard on the planet. That dirt storm is pretty interesting. It basically bounces around specific parts of the map making it much harder to get through there. It’s really something where I need to time up how I move to be able to avoid it. There is a short cut one way, but that means on the way back you need to avoid it which is interesting.

I also think it’s interesting, and I need to see how it plays out, that I likely won’t find what I need on this planet. The first two planets, again, you can’t go back to, it doesn’t save the state. But with Brimstone, I keep it where I left it. So things that I didn’t do will still be left undone. And more importantly, the things I have completed, I don’t need to go back and do again. So part of me wonders about ditching the planet right now in an attempt to leave with no crew dying.

The other part of me thinks, it is a tough planet to land on. So let’s do what I can while I’m down here. I suspect that it won’t be that tough a planet to land in reality, but we’ll have to see. I might go to another planet that they recommend at the start or from what I’ve seen thus far. But they might just be spots where I need to come back to a couple of times as well.

Upcoming Streams

Hopefully next week it will be back to normal. But I know the cold and cough have hung around for my kid and wife for a while. I really want it to be gone, as do they, so we’ll see. But the plan is next Monday to stream at 8:30 PM central time. If I have the time my goal it to learn Skytear Horde. That can be played solo or two player, so learn the solo obviously.

Then on Wednesday, let’s see what happens again on Brimstone. I suspect it’ll be racing to the lander and lifting off, hoping not to get knocked out or killed on the planet. One survivor seems likely, but can I get two? That is going to be at 8 PM Central time. The video link isn’t up for that yet.

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ISS Vanguard Setup

Let’s talk about the setup for ISS Vanguard. You got to see the finishing touches as I start the stream. But that isn’t all of the setup for this game. In fact, there is a fair amount to go through and get ready. But, like something like Lands of Galzyr, I didn’t find it too bad.

Pregame Setup

The biggest thing you are doing is getting the cards in the right order. So that means that you sort the cards, really sort the chunks of cards, by their type into numerical order. You maybe saw how many “Point of Interest” cards there are, don’t worry, you don’t go through and get them in numerical order. They are already in that, just wrapped in four different packs of sleeves. That is what I mean by sort.

The one negative I will say about sorting everything or getting them to go where they should, is that you are told what order the dividers go in, that’s great. Then you are told what card goes with them, also great. Except, it’s just telling. Some of them are really obvious, unique discovery, I know what is. It says unique discovery on the back. Some of the others you need to flip back and forth from the setup page to this is everything in the box page.

Starting Setup

For the most part, though, it is a very slick setup. And you can make it even slicker by just playing the tutorial. It’s the same planet I start on, same bits of story, same events even. But the difference is certain things, like picking your crew, they don’t happen like I did it. So the game picks for you already, probably ideal really, but not what we are doing. There are more videos walking through the tutorial anyways.

And it’s worth noting that no matter how many times you play ISS Vanguard, the pregame setup still needs to happen. I still pick out the characters I want to play with. So there is always some setup but it’d be much faster subsequent times.

Exploration

And then, next week I expect it to be basically planet exploration. How do I balance my exploring of the planet with completing the objectives. Since we are on the outside of a giant sphere bigger than our solar system, we aren’t coming back tot he same spot. So I want to see what is here, but not at the cost of failing the mission.

Upcoming Streams

Next week I am back to my normal time. That means Wednesday stream will be at 8 PM Central time. You can find the link for that here. The plan is to wrap up exploration if possible. Though, while I suspect I’ll be able to this time. In future streams some of the planetary exploration might take longer to complete. But join me for that and for the ship phase as well as I stream.

And then next Monday, I keep on promising smaller games. I have a couple new roll and writes I could try or other smaller games to get to the table. So that’s going to be the plan, it might even be revisiting a roll and write which I’ve already enjoyed. But I think, and this is just a gut feeling a few days out, I’ll be playing Bargain Basement Bathysphere again.

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