Ever since I got into the hobby of “modern board games” quite some time ago, I find myself drawn to games themed around farming. I got into this hobby sometime around 2012, but I can’t remember exactly when because delicious beer is no good for my memory.

Anyway, I digress, this isn’t a post about beer, even if I do wish there were more great games with a theme about beer.

So what is it about farming? Do I come from a farming background? Nope. Do I enjoy running a micro-farm as a hobby? Nope. I’m pretty alergic to horses, and I get hayfever, so whilst I love the outdoors, farming isn’t something on my list of things that excite me.

So why do you see me posting with the hashtag #IfYouAintFarmingYouAintGaming (so much so I’m known for it)? Well, it happens to be I love board games about farming. Agricola was for quite some time my favourite game of all time. Whilst that game has dropped out my top ten now, Fields of Arle has been in it since the release of the game in 2014, and nothing has come close to toppling Arle from that top spot. Arkwright, sitting proudly in the number two spot, is the closets any other game has got, and I’ll cover that game in another post.

So, why farming? Here’s what I think draws me to farming games. I enjoy fantasy and science fiction books but don’t like orcs and spaceships in my board games that much, but more than my wife does. I think little spaceship miniatures would kill her interest in a heartbeat. Did I say I play games mostly two-player with my wife? Well I do, and I’m not going to make her play a game she doesn’t like - the hobby for us is about fun!

So rule out science fiction, so that leaves fantasy. We both adore Lords of Waterdeep, but that game doesn’t have a million orc miniatures and handfuls of dice. So that rules out a lot of fantasy games (not all of them before you get your pitchforks out)

So we circle back to farming. As a theme, it is relaxing and nice? Little horse meeples, watching your fields grow, enjoying watching your opponent crumble under the oppressive weight of 30+ action spots (oh hello Arle!)

Honestly, I think my reason for loving farming as a theme is it far removed from my day job that it helps me relax when board gaming. That’s what board gaming is about, even if that ‘relaxation’ is playing a game that is a knife fight in a phone box disguised as a worker placement game about farming. Fields of Arle can often go down to half a point between winning or losing for us.

Told you #IfYouAintFarmingYouAintGaming