I don’t like feeding meeples!

by Caroline Black

Meeples don’t need feeding. They are made of wood. There are just so many games when you are required to feed your people. I like tight games and I get that this is a mechanic that keeps a break on a game. It makes for some tricky decisions. My board game group always ask two questions. Is there a T-Rex and do you have to feed your people?



Agricola is my favourite game and I have played it hundreds of times. But you have to set up a feeding engine otherwise you have had it. This makes it difficult to play with newbies.



In the expansion Agricola: Farmers of the Moor you also have to keep your workers warm otherwise then end up in the infirmary.



Agricola Mark II Caverna: The Cave Farmers softens the feeding. Caverna dwarfs eat raw meat and they can find food lurking around in their caves or in their pastures.

In fact this is one of the reasons I really like Lowlands It’s like Agricola with only the fun bits and each pair of sheep breeds. I don’t mind not feeding my workers and in fact I am quite happy for them to toil away building a dame.



I first came across feeding you people in Le Havre. You have to build ships to help feed them. That or smoke fish, bake bread or use the abattoir. The feeding escalates each round. After a while you are taking out loans.

In Walnut Grove not only do you have to feed your workers but it has to be a particularly type of food depending on their colour. Also you expected to keep them warm and house them.



In Peloponnes there are random feeding phases that come along in the rounds. If you can’t feed your population you lose the ones you can’t feed. Oh and they are subject to plague, drought, earthquakes and various other disasters.

One game where I don’t mind the feeding is Little Town. I love this game. It just provides a little extra wrinkle and you can always pay with coins.



Recently I have been playing Underwater Cities. In this game a whole city can survive on one piece of kelp!! It’s a superfood.

Of course Grand Austria Hotel is all about feeding. Somehow is doesn’t feel onerous when it’s cake and coffee.



In Tokaido you weary travels need feeding when they get to the inn. They require a meal that haven’t eaten before. So you had better have saved up as it might be the most expensive meal on the menu. Still there is a bonus for the most well fed traveler.



A la carte is all about feeding.

Some of the delicious meals in this game include Trompe d’Elephant aux Epinards (elephant trunk) and Hippo au Pot. Yum.