Vanguard: Normandy goes live on Kickstarter on 5th November, so it’s the perfect time to take another look at the unique mechanics that make this awesome new board game tick! In this article we’ll be covering the key phases that determine the actions each player takes, and touching on some of the rules associated with each. Read on, and then get over to Kickstarter to sign up!
A game of Vanguard: Normandy is divided into rounds, consisting of 3 phases.
- The Planning Phase
- The Activation Phase
- The Scoring Phase
The Planning Phase is where you gain income from the resources you control and can spend it on powerful new units! We talked about how the recruitment process works in the previous article, and this is the stage of the game where it comes into play. You can also promote units to Veteran after you’ve finished recruiting units – to do this you must spend 1 Command plus Requisition equal to twice the unit’s supply level. Once that’s done, flip the unit’s card to its ‘Veteran’ side – and enjoy the increased stats and new abilities!
Next up we have the Activation Phase – this is where it all kicks off on the board, with units being ordered to perform actions. Fans of Bolt Action will recognise a key mechanic in this phase, as both players place a number of faction tokens in the activation bag equal to the number of unit cards on their army board. Tokens in a bag… one per unit… where on earth could we have gotten that idea from?! When you draw one of your tokens, you can activate one of your units, and order it to perform any of a number of available actions – we’ll go into these in more detail in another article. It is worth knowing, however, that if one of your units has 1 or more Pin tokens, it’ll need to pass a check before activating. Now where have we heard that one before?
Finally, we have the Scoring Phase – this one does what it says on the tin, but also has a number of other important roles in determining how the next turn will play out. These are predicated on which player is winning, and by how much, and how many total victory points have been scored. If a player is losing by enough victory points, they may become eligible for an Underdog Card. These offer a range of abilities and bonuses to the losing player, ensuring they have a chance to get back in the game! All of this depends on how many sectors are controlled by each player at each Scoring Phase, meaning you can’t just take key positions – you’ll need to hold them as well!
Vanguard: Normandy goes live on Kickstarter – November 5th! Make sure you’re signed up now!
Please note, this is an in-development board game. All photos are of pre-production prototypes – these do not necessarily reflect the quality of the final product.
Vanguard: Normandy goes live on Kickstarter 5th November! Make sure you’re signed up now!
Any backer who is also subscribed to the Vanguard: Normandy mailing list will also receive an exclusive dice tray featuring the boxes cover art upon the campaign’s fulfilment. Sign up to both so you don’t miss out!
