Ms T Meeple 😉

This month’s #boardsandbooks prompt pretty much asks what’s in your ‘To be played/read’ pile? Here are two from mine: the latest R. F Kuang book ‘Katabasis’ fresh from the local library; and @postcurious ‘Ministry of Lost Things’ which was delivered a while ago and I’ve yet to play. The important question is what to do first: read or play?! Which would you choose?

Warning: this post features AI… Amazing Invertebrates! Took this token from Hermit* to the fantastic @crabmuseum to learn more about crabs, climate change, capitalism** and the concept of truth. Quirky, educational and free - definitely worth checking out if you’re ever in the Margate area 🦀 * Hermit is a solo card game where you try to help the crab back into the sea by replicating card patterns before the wave disappears **the gift shop is great tho

This month in #boardsandbooks @smallfriesgames asks us ‘WHODUNNIT?!’ So grab your thinking caps and let’s get sleuthing. 🕵️ Book: Hemlock Bay by Martin Edwards is his fifth to feature the most excellent, amateur criminologist Rachel Savernake. This time we follow her to a seaside resort in the North of England after she heard of a fortune teller predicting a murder there - which turns out to be accurate. But who did it?! 👀 Set in the 1930s, this gives all the Golden Age of crime feels as Edwards dots clues through the story so you can have a go and solving the many mysteries alongside Savernake. One of my favourite book series! ⭐️ Board game: Wally the walrus has been murdered and you must scour the streets of a seaside Welsh town for his killer… is NOT the premise of Tenby by @cosycub.games AT ALL. But it is a game about a seaside town and one of my favourites at the moment so felt an appropriate choice to me. 💁‍♀️ In Tenby, what you’re actually doing is trying to gain the most points by strategically building your town - houses, businesses, piers and attractions - and fulfilling resident goals. As you can see, the game has delightful art and puns galore. It’s also got a solo gameplay with tricky challenges - always great when a fun multiplayer has a satisfying solo mode too! 🏖️ Have you read Hemlock Bay or played Tenby? Share your thoughts below - and also any good historical crime recommendations too pls! ⬇️ And don’t forget to check out the other posts under #boardsandbooks 📖 The theme changes on the 15th of the month - next month’s theme will be COOKING 🍳

My flabber is well and truly ghasted by Vicious Gardens from @popsbejougames and @atlasgamesinsta - look at the gorgeous artwork! Also it is so mean it bullied me into picking it for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 (created by @kay_plays_games )😭 My KS arrived this week and I’ve played it almost everyday since. It’s pretty quick and straightforward to play: plant gardens, harvest said gardens to claim victory cards, once a gardener has three victory cards the season ends, most points at the end of season wins 🪴 HOWEVER you play specialist cards which gives you an advantage and/or messes up another player’s garden, AND just because you get three victory cards and the end of season token it doesn’t mean you’ll be the person with the most points 🫠 This game clearly plays best at multiplayer but also has a good solo mode where you’re trying to get more points than the ghost of the OG Master Gardener, Fern 👻 Also this art and design by @rossbruggink is superb - part of why I backed it in the first place 🥇 So what do you think? Does it look like your kind of game? Have you already played it? Let me know!

恭喜發財! Chinese New Year seems like a good fit for this month’s #boardsandbooks theme of NEW (chosen by @gameswithbeany ) 🧧 To celebrate the start of Year of the Snake, Snake has gone out for some dim sum… can you guess which Asian city he is in? 🐍 👀 Happy New Year to anyone celebrating Chinese or Lunar New Year this week! Boardgame: Steam Up Deluxe Edition @hotbananagame Book: City Atlas @wideeyededitions

I was inspired by @mostly.solo to post a FIRST 🎆 LAST of my own: playing Kompromat for the first time on the last day of the year! Happy New Year! Hope 2025 bring you lots of gaming opportunities! 🥳

@smallfriesgames and @zeebeevee have brought back #secretsantaofboardgames with the theme of Ugly Christmas photo ⛄️ I’ve taken a very basic approach for my gift to @emotional.cyborg - I had to include a snowman so I popped an ugly jumper on him, courtesy of the yarn balls from Arch Ravels 🧶 Can you guess which game the snowman is from though? 👀 Let me know below!

It is not @gamingoverboard fault that I did not enjoy Dinogenics. It was my own poor decisions. Lee did point out that only having herbivores would do me no favours and he was absolutely correct. They are practically worthless when it comes to accumulating VP round on round in Dinogenics. 🦕 The general aim of Dinogenics is to build the successful Jurassic Park - collect DNA, create dinos, build enclosures, acquire goats, build hotels, attract visitors, hope they don’t get killed in a rampage etc etc. It didn’t help that the third player in our game got lucky with the DNA early on and crafted a FREAKING T-REX. Then used manipulation cards to great effect, generally having a fun time and winning loads of points. 🦖 I am obviously being a sore loser. The components are wonderful: wooden dinosaurs for every type! Teeny wooden fences! Goats! And now I understand that the aim of the game is to try and get carnivores - and stop others from generally getting an advantage - I *think* I’ll have a better experience next time. And will also take a better photo 😜 #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 (created by @kay_plays_games )

Has anyone else played Wondrous Creatures? It’s still on my mind after @gamingoverboard taught me how to play it (and beat him at it) this weekend. The components are ridiculously nice - sure, some of that is because it’s the deluxe version but even the standard ones are lovely. Unfortunately I only took this one photo but I think you get the idea 😅 Before you accuse me of being shallow (which is fair and not completely inaccurate…), I also enjoyed the game play. Pretty straightforward in some ways - gather material, build tableau, achieve objectives - but with some little twists like asymmetry, chaining cards, and flipping eggs. Also did I mention that I won? 🏆 I enjoyed playing it and I hear there’s a decent solo mode. Do I need it in my collection? Fortunately no because I can play Lee’s copy - but it is suuuuuper tempting 🦀

‘The horses are restless’* so it must be time for this month’s #boardsandbooks - the prompt is HORSE, suggested by @nane_spielt_in_ffm 🐴 Book: Lord of the Rings. Nuff said 💅 Board game: Yes, I have climbed on the Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle-earth bandwagon and I love it here! I wasn’t a massive fan of 7W Duel - maybe because I never won? - but I really enjoy this LotR version of it. The theme definitely helps. I honestly wouldn’t have bought it otherwise and the components are fantastic. Also hello Vincent Dutrait art 💕 Having now played it a few times, I really enjoy the three different ways you can win. You can get the Ring to Mt Doom/catch the Hobbits, gain area control of Middle-earth, or get all the races on your side 😎 I have yet to play a game where the first condition has been the winning one… but I’ll throw that Ring in the lava one day! This theme will run for a month so there’s plenty of time to join in. You can also follow the hashtag for more info on monthly themes and to see relevant posts - next month’s theme is SNOWMAN ☃️ *IYKYK

Little My in a rose because why not? #hanafuda

As soon as I saw this chrysanthemum, I thought of the sake cup card in hanafuda. The colours are just right! Which set would you play with? #hanafuda