Brass: Birmingham

Description

Brass: Birminghamis an economic strategy game sequel to Martin Wallace’s 2007 masterpiece,Brass.Birminghamtells the story of competing entrepreneurs in Birmingham during the industrial revolution, between the years of 1770-1870.

As in its predecessor, you must develop, build, and establish your industries and network, in an effort to exploit low or high market demands.

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: Birminghamalso 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 originalBrass.)

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.

Birminghamfeatures dynamic scoring canals/rails. Instead of each flipped industry tile giving a static 1 VP to all connected canals and rails, many industries give 0 or even 2 VPs. This provides players with the opportunity to score much higher value canals in the first era, and creates interesting strategy with industry placement.

Iron, coal, and cotton are three industries which appear in both the originalBrassas well as inBrass: Birmingham.

Description

As one of highlight releases in 2018, Brass Birmingham is a master class in economic strategy gaming. As a sequel to Martin Wallaces original game Brass, this release focuses on the industrial expansion across the midlands of the UK over 100 hundred years up until the end of the 19th Century.

The quality of the components in unquestionable and the double-sided board, featuring day and night time alternatives is stunning to look at. Roxleys Brass Birmingham is a gorgeously historic game that captivates and enthrals gamers looking for an involving dynamic strategy title.

The game is split into two halves, the Canal era and the rail era. This gives the player a chance to evolve their industry and claim victory points at the end of each half. The winner is the player with the most at the end of the second era.

As a sister release to Brass Lancashire, it takes original idea of building Iron, Coal and Cotton industries and also adds Brewing to the mix as beer is needed to move goods across the board. Reacting to the ebb and flow of market demands, players must maintain a close eye on the competition and take advantage of connections where possible. In Brass Birmingham, building new factories increases the network connections between cities to sell their manufactured goods. There are many subtle rule changes between this and the 2007s Brass, adding new options without impacting on the overall complexity. Possible paths to victory have been tweaked and tactics amended to allow for a completely new experience, even for veteran players.

As a companion to Brass Lancashire it offers a rewarding alternative whilst remaining a familiar journey. Fans of the original are spoilt for choice when it comes to playing these updated modern masterpieces.

Player Count: 2-4
Time: 60-120 Minutes
Age: 14+