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Brass: Birmingham box art

Base game

Brass: Birmingham

Kritiku rating

Early

7.3

Published
2018
Reach
Widely known
Players
2–4
Play time
60–120 min
Weight
Medium heavy
Ratings
1

How it plays

Build industries and transport networks, then sell goods to flip tiles, raise income, and earn victory points. On your turn, take two actions, usually discarding cards to build, extend canals or rails, develop technology, sell goods, take a loan, or gain wild cards. Score flipped industries and network links after each era; after the rail era, the most points wins.

Main mechanics

  • Hand management
  • Engine building
  • Tile laying
  • Hand management: Timing which card to spend is the core puzzle.
  • Engine building: Small early moves compound into a machine that does the work later.
  • Tile laying: You build a shared or personal board tile by tile.
Full publisher description

Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game sequel to Martin Wallace's 2007 masterpiece, Brass . Brass: Birmingham tells the story of competing entrepreneurs in Birmingham during the industrial revolution between the years of 1770 and 1870. It offers a very different story arc and experience from its predecessor. As in its predecessor, you must develop, build and establish your industries and network in an effort to exploit low or high market demands. The game is played over two halves: the canal era (years 1770-1830) and the rail era (years 1830-1870). To win the game, score the most VPs. VPs are counted at the end of each half for the canals, rails and established (flipped) industry tiles. Each round, players take turns according to the turn order track, receiving two actions to perform any of the following actions (found in the original game): 1) Build - Pay required resources and place an industry tile. 2) Network - Add a rail / canal link, expanding your network. 3) Develop - Increase the VP value of an industry. 4) Sell - Sell your cotton, manufactured goods and pottery. 5) Loan - Take a 30 loan and reduce your income. Brass: Birmingham also features a new sixth action: 6) Scout - Discard three cards and take a wild location and wild industry card. (This action replaces Double Action Build in original Brass .)

Criterion breakdown

ComplexityDepthSkillInteractionTable ExpProduction
  • Kritiku average
Criterion
Kritiku
Complexity

Heavy

4.0
Depth

Intricate

4.0
Luck vs Skill

Pure Skill

5.0
Player Interaction

Solitary

1.0
Table Experience

Painful

1.0
Production

Solid

3.0