Brass: Birmingham

With a few slight changes, Brass Birmingham adds to an already great classic.

Gameplay/replay

Brass Birmingham is played over 2 eras, the canal era, where each player may only build one building per city, and the rail era, where those shackles come off and the more expensive rails start replacing canals to link shipping between cities. Each round, players take 2 actions by playing the cards they have. These actions include

Build: Discard a card with the city you are building in, or the building type that matches a building symbol in a city you are connected to

Ship: discard a card and flip a manufacture, textile, or pottery by paying the shipping cost in available beer

Take wild cards: discard 3 cards (one to take your action, 2 to be replaced) and take a wild city and wild building card, you my never have more than one of each in hand

Build rail/canal: discard a card and pay the cost for a canal (3 money) or rail (5 money and a coal for one, 15 money, 2 coal and a beer for 2)

Take a loan: discard a card, take 30 money, move your income marker back 3 full units

Develop: discard a card and remove up to 2 tiles on your building mat to access more advanced buildings

When your turn ends draw 2 more cards (if available)

When a round ends you either take income or pay debt, when you have no cards left the era ends that round.

When the era ends you score flipped buildings (shipped or fully emptied goods buildings) and connection points per rail or canal you built. The game ends after the rail era scoring is done

The Bad

This is an overwhelming game when you first learn it. Once it clicks you realize it isn’t that complex rules wise (turns are always discard a card and take an action) but for novice hobby boardgamers this always seems to overwhelm them initially

In Conclusion

I highly recommend you learn this one, it is one of the best board games ever created