Vanguard Exiles calls itself "a boardgame that can't be a boardgame."
The latest game from Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield is coming to early access on March 11, says development studio The Tea Division. Vanguard Exiles is a collaboration between Garfield and the studio, an autobattler that it says is “revolutionary” in the genre and will be “a competitive strategy gameplay experience unlike any other, offering new scenarios in each round ensuring no two turns are ever alike.”
The interface is a bit muddy, but given their description I can tell there’s a heck of a lot going on here. Every single round the game board rearranges itself, with you taking your squad through each one to try and hold enough territory to survive. It’s a complex ruleset but the delight of the autobattler is that you don’t have to understand every nuance to get going—and, hilariously, the game tells you your chances of victory after a round.
It’s worth the look on the designer alone, to be frank. I haven’t played them all, but I have played quite a few, and I’ve never played a just straight-up bad Richard Garfield game.
“Vanguard Exiles combines tabletop design with digital design into a unique and eclectic gameplay experience,” said Garfield in a press release. “The variety offered by the game is exciting, and skillful play introduces all sorts of unexpected novelty. My favorite thing in game design is having an interesting space to explore—like with Magic: the Gathering and Keyforge. Like those games, Vanguard Exiles is deeply interesting, and I am delighted to share it with a broader audience!”
There’s currently a demo of Vanguard Exiles out on Steam where you can battle an AI opponent in order to learn the basics of combat and familiarize yourself with all the units and associated actions you can take. The PvP mode, alongside the full roster of units, will release with the early access version on March 11.
You can find Vanguard Exiles on Steam.
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