Dear @bugeyedearl ,

bugeyedearl wrote

does port forwarding work if you assign an ip in a different vlan or does it have to be in the LAN network?

Yes, it can work, you just need to make sure the internal IP address is correct.

Here is the article about port forwarding you may refer:

How to set up Port Forwarding feature on TP-Link SMB Router?

Best Regards!