ISS Vanguard is a 1-4 player co-operative campaign Board Game. It will bring players right into epic Sci-Fi adventure, as they will play as 4 sections (security, recon, science, engineering) onboard the first human ship with the potential to reach outer space. The campaign will introduce the unique story written by Krzysztof Piskorski (Tainted Grail) full of hard player choices, twists and branching storylines. The game comes with over 100 different Crew members, each with unique characteristics.
 
A game session takes you through a Ship Management phase (using a large binder with printed sleeves) in which you choose your destination for your ship then research technologies, produce equipment, recruit crewmembers and resolve situations, and then commence a Planetary Exploration phase. During said Planetary Exploration phase you will proceed with a daring landing procedure with your Lander, explore the planet for information or resources, fighting back a barrage of threats as well as a running timer of supplies depletion before you have to run back to the Lander to lift off back to ISS Vanguard. What follows is the remainder of the Ship Management phase, which takes you through unloading discoveries and resources from the Lander, healing or memorialising crewmembers and taking apart the game board and recording changes to the planet on which you've just conducted your Planetary Exploration on, preserving its status for when you will want or need to return to it.
 
The Ship Management phase works allows players to make strategic decisions as to their resources and a way forward in the unknown galaxy chasing the mystery encoded in human's DNA. The Planetary Exploration draws the focus to the tactical, as players decide on cards, dice, crewmembers and equipment to bring to fulfill dice checks on the planet's Places of Interest. The players also decide which of the variety of specialised Landers they want to use and how to outfit their Lander for the perilous descent into the chosen planet's atmosphere (or lack thereof). Throughout the game, the narrative system relies on a web of structured and linked Mission Logs, often snippets of journal entries or dialogue, to provide gameplay choices and storyline information as well as keep track of progress throughout the universe.
 
KS edition including the Lost Fleet Expansion
Many years after Vanguard’s initial journey, the global government is shocked by frightening news: Earth’s most modern ships have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The sole remaining interstellar spaceship, the good-old Vanguard, is swiftly refitted to embark on a rescue mission. Little do the crew know that they are about to stumble upon one of the Universe’s darkest secrets.
 
The Lost Fleet campaign increases the replayability and variance of ISS Vanguard. This Stretch Goal campaign takes place decades after the original Vanguard mission. With three much newer Earth's star ships mysteriously gone, it is up to the ageing ISS Vanguard to take flight once again in a daring mission on the far fringes of the known galaxy.
 
Includes:
- New System Maps book with 10 Outer Arm Star Systems with over 35 places to visit
- New 26-page Planetopedia with new and exciting planet types to play on
- Logbook - a 58-page journal with a thrilling story full of investigation, adventure and narrow escapes
- New Threats
- New 9 high-quality custom dice
- New equipment and abilities
- New technology and discoveries
- Ship Book upgrades
- New Projects
 
Expansions (sold separately):
ISS Vanguard: Close Encounters miniatures expansion
ISS Vanguard: Deadly Frontier
 
Recommended Card Sleeves (sold separately):
Arthur x 387 (8 packs)
Percival x 974 (18 packs)
Kai x 135 (3 packs)
Gaheris x 62 (2 packs)