Brass Birmingham (NL)

Brass: Birmingham

This is the Dutch-language edition. Brass: Birmingham is the sequel to the 2007 economic strategy game Brass by Martin Wallace. It takes place in Birmingham during the industrial revolution, from 1770 to 1870. Just like in the original game, it is all about developing, building and establishing industries and networks to meet market demand.
Each round, players take turns doing actions following the turn order track.

They can choose two actions from the following options:

• Build - Pay the required resources and place an industry tile.
• Network - Add a rail or canal link to expand your network.
• Develop - Increase the VP value of an industry
• Sell - Sell cotton, manufactured goods and pottery.
• Loan - Take a loan of £30 and lower your income.
• Scout - Discard three cards and take a wild location card and a wild industry card. (replaces the Double Action Build from the original game)

Trade by canal and by rail

The game has two halves: the canal era (1770-1830) and the rail era (1830-1870). To win, you need to score the most VP (victory points). VP are awarded at the end of each half based on canals, rails and flipped industry tiles. In Birmingham, canals and rails have a dynamic point value. Many industries give 0 or even 2 VP instead of the static 1 VP from the original game. This creates strategic options to build valuable canals and asks for smart placement of industries. The iron, coal and cotton industries appear in both the original Brass and Brass: Birmingham.

New selling system

Brewing plays an important role in Birmingham. To sell your products, you have to trade with merchants along the edge of the board. Each merchant is looking for a specific type of good. To sell cotton, pottery or manufactured goods to these merchants, you need to consume beer to keep your industries running. For example, a level 1 cotton mill needs one beer to work.
As an incentive to sell early, the first player to sell to a merchant receives free beer.

Birmingham introduces three new types of industry:

• Brewery - Produces valuable barrels of beer that you need in order to sell goods.
• Manufactured goods - Works like cotton, but has eight levels. Each level offers unique rewards instead of only increasing VP, which makes it a more versatile path than cotton (but possibly harder).
• Pottery - These big buildings in Birmingham give huge VP, but they cost a lot and require planning.

There is also a bigger market for coal and iron, where the price can rise to £8 per cube, which is not unusual. Brass: Birmingham is a sequel to Brass, but it offers a very different story and play experience than its predecessor

How to play Brass: Birmingham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vn1b_WrEfg