This Then That

17/06/2025

Getting ready to film a How To Play for Florilegium and I'm absolutely over the moon with this giant neoprene playmat made by Custom Patriot at Patriot Games!

I'm sure the video can wait a couple of days whilst I get distracted with a little solo gaming in my evenings... 😉 I'm open to suggestions but might start with some SAS - Rogue Regiment 💪

31/05/2025

Day 2 of UKGE! I'm demoing SAS - Rogue Regiment with Rob today but am right next to the Florilegium stand 😁

Even mighty space warriors need a flowery card game!

30/05/2025

Come say hi at UKGE! Just getting warmed up here for a very full looking day 🌺🌹🌸

15/04/2025

Who said grizzled wargamers don't love flowery card games? ☺️🪖🌸🌼

This Then That 'Florilegium' offers a moment of botanical bliss at . Artist Elaine Shimwell's stunning illustrations provide the perfect palate-cleansing breath of fresh air. In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only flor(al). I'll get my coat. https://l.d20.ninja/2p95jbe2

22/03/2025

CHILLCON has been amazing so far! Really great atmosphere and Florilegium is going down really well 😁🌱🌿🌺

I've added a couple of SAS - Rogue Regiment anti-air guns in case an enemy plane comes over from Robb Butler next door 😉

21/03/2025

Getting ready to bring a stack of Florilegium to CHILLCON tomorrow and I can't wait! Just finished building the boxes and shrink wrapping them with super-skilled Glenn and Leigh 👌

With a new improved logo and a gloss covered box which makes the colours really pop, Florilegium is looking better than ever!

If you get chance to visit Chillcon at Hillsborough College tomorrow, come say hi!

01/02/2025

Having a great time at Message Social Gaming in Manchester today 😁 this event is raising money for a great cause and there are loads of lovely people here with plenty of extra space for gaming.

If you're free, pop down to Message Trust M22 4RG and join us! I've got space at my table for demoing Florilegium and saying hi!

Great to see Fan Boy Three and Outside The Box Board Game Cafe here and other familiar faces 😁

19/11/2024

Here's a sneak peak of the updated card back as Florilegium gets ready to go live on Kickstarter! The different marks are actually all colour/brush test strokes from artist Elaine's sketchbook.

Every millimetre of illustration you see in the game is 100% Elaine's handiwork (although I don't think Elaine has ever laid out her testing marks quite like this before!)

I'll let you know as soon as I have a link for the Kickstarter page, it's on its way!

30/07/2024

It's so cool to see Florilegium in such a beautiful setting!

𝗙𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘂𝗺 (This Then That)

There's a 'chicken or egg' 'which came first?' riddle behind this game from This Then That. There's little doubt tho' that it's Elaine Shinwell's beautiful botanical drawings that are at the heart of Florilegium. Designer James Hitchmough was inspired by the art and has built a 2-4 player card game around it.

Florilegium comprises a deck of large-format cards, each of which shows the drawing of a plant, a points value and one or more 'seasons'. Players each start with a row of five face-down cards in front of them, and it's the position on this row that corresponds to each of the seasons. From your hand of cards, you either discard a card or place a card in its appropriate season. If you are placing it on a face-down card, that card is flipped and discarded. If that season already has a face-up card in place, your new card goes on top, but you can only play it if its value is higher than the card already there. You draw a card at the start of your turn, and that can either be the face-down card on the top of the draw deck or the face-up card on top of the discard pile.

The rules suggest playing over three rounds. A round ends when either the draw pile is exhausted or when a player has no cards left in hand. The aim is to have the 𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵 score at the end of a round. When a round ends, any remaining face-down cards in your five season tableau are flipped. Your score is the total value of all the cards in your hand plus the total of the five cards on the top of each of your five seasons - except that when two or more of these are duplicates, then they count as zero.

This then is a light hand management game that plays quickly: rounds usually run to around 10 minutes. You need high-scoring cards to be able to play onto cards already in your seasons row but you want to end up with matching cards so that their scores get zeroed, and you certainly don't want to be caught with high-scoring cards in your hand when the round ends. There's much nervous glancing at the draw pile as players try to estimate how long they have before the end of a round. And it's not always wise to dump those high-value cards to the discard pile because the card you are junking might be just what an opponent needs to zero their high-scorer...

But at the end of the day, Florilegium is all about the art.

02/06/2024

What an awesome start to our last day UK Games Expo! We've almost sold out :O so much great feedback both for Elaine's art and for the game :D

Come grab your copy at the Dice Sports stand in Hall 1 - 219

01/06/2024

Welcome to UK Games Expo before the public are allowed in! We're at the Dice Sports stand in Hall 1 - stand 219.

Florilegium has gone down so well! We've only got a few left :O on sale for £15 including the promo card!

Come see us at H1-219 (and check out Kosmos Games UK on the way, they're awesome)

31/05/2024

Are you at UK Games Expo this year? We're on the Dice Sports stand in Hall 1!

Come say hi at H1-219 🍁🌹🌺

Florilegium has been finally shared with the world and we've had our first customers! We're here all weekend :D

You can buy Florilegium for £15 - this first little print run has a promo card in it - supermarket flowers :)