The box everything connects to
ISS Vanguard (Base Game / Core Box)
Solo and two-player gamers who want a gorgeous, slow-burn sci-fi exploration campaign with a best-in-class box.
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Puzzlewick universe aisle · 5 exact products · reviewed August 24, 2026
ISS Vanguard, arranged like someone plays it.
ISS Vanguard is Awaken Realms at their most ambitious: a sci-fi exploration campaign where you crew a ship, land on hostile worlds, and spend roughly half your evening putting the ship back in order afterwards. In 2026 it is also an object lesson in crowdfunded distribution — five of six expansion pages on the publisher's own US store now return 404, and the one expansion still findable in stock cannot be played without a box nobody can buy. The good news is that the core box was never incomplete.
What belongs here
Core boxes, useful expansions, collector objects, and the gear that serves the game.
This aisle is assembled from Puzzlewick’s published buying guides and verified catalog stock. A product appears because it belongs to this world and has a direct exact-product path, not because an algorithm found a matching word. Prices and availability live on the retailer page and are never baked into this shelf.
The playable product family
ISS Vanguard, connected.
The shelf leader connects to the right foundation, meaningful expansions, and support gear. Follow only the branch that solves the decision in front of you.
Read the ISS Vanguard universeMove 01
Start here
A playable first purchase or the box the rest expects.
Move 02
Expand the game
New decks, campaigns, armies, or sealed releases that add real play.
Margo · The Archivist · on counter duty
Margo can help you leave with a playable table, not a pile of maybes.
A complete 50–85 hour campaign, and an expansion shelf that has become a museum.
ISS Vanguard shelves
5 exact products, grouped by what they do. Open a live listing to confirm current availability and the exact edition.
Games, expansions, and featured boxes
ISS Vanguard (Base Game / Core Box)Awaken RealmsSolo and two-player gamers who want a gorgeous, slow-burn sci-fi exploration campaign with a best-in-class box.
See it on AmazonWhy we picked it →
Tainted Grail: Kings of Ruin — Core BoxAwaken Realms / AsmodeeI reserve "grail" for objects where a studio's whole lineage of craft lands in one box, and this is that — Awaken Realms at its most refined, with the build quality as the story. Save up for it the way you'd save for a keeper, not a flip.
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ISS Vanguard: The Lost Fleet ExpansionAwaken RealmsPlayers who finished the core campaign and want a longer, more intricate continuation of the saga.
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ISS Vanguard: Galactic Almanac ExpansionAwaken RealmsDevoted captains who finished the base game AND Lost Fleet and want the largest additional campaign available.
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The King's DilemmaHorrible Guild (Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva)Bigger, talky social groups (best at 5) who love negotiation, secret agendas, and politics
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Research before the cart
Why these boxes earned a place.
buying-guideISS Vanguard Buyer's Guide (2026): Retail vs All-In, and Why One Expansion Cannot Be Played Without AnotherRead the field guide →deep-diveISS Vanguard Review: Is This Massive Sci-Fi Campaign Worth It?Read the field guide →deep-diveTainted Grail: Kings of Ruin — Awaken Realms' Dark Arthurian Campaign at Full Production LavishnessRead the field guide →best-ofBest Legacy & Campaign Board Games, Ranked (2026)Read the field guide →guide10 Best Solo RPG Board Games in 2026: The Grail Ladder From Beginner to HardcoreRead the field guide →
