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Brass: Birmingham

2-4 players 60-120 min 8.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game where entrepreneurs compete during Britain's industrial revolution across two eras: canal (1770-1830) and rail (1830-1870). Players take turns performing actions like building industries, expanding networks, developing assets, and selling goods. Victory goes to whoever accumulates the most points from canals, rails, and established industries by game's end.

Published 2018

Brass: Birmingham

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Set up the board
Place the board with either the Day or Night side face up
2
Adjust for player count
Remove all cards and Merchant tiles showing a higher player count than the current game
3
Location card limits
Remove specific colored Location cards from the Draw Deck based on player count (2P: blue & teal; 3P: teal; 4P: none)
4
Prepare card decks
Place Wild Location and Wild Industry cards face up in two Card Draw Areas, shuffle remaining cards into the Draw Deck
5
Set up Merchants
Shuffle Merchant tiles and place face up on Merchant spaces matching player count, then place 1 beer barrel next to each non-blank Merchant tile
6
Set up markets
Fill Coal Market with coal cubes leaving one £1 space empty, fill Iron Market with iron cubes leaving both £1 spaces empty
7
Create general supply and bank
Place remaining cubes and beer as the General Supply and money as the Bank
8
Player setup
Each player takes a Player Mat, £17, a Character tile, matching Link tiles, stacks Industry tiles face down by type, places VP marker on 0 and Income marker on 10
9
Draw starting cards
Each player draws 8 cards to hand and 1 card face down as their Discard Pile
10
Determine turn order
Shuffle Character tiles and place them randomly on the Turn Order Track

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Game structure
The game is played over two eras (Canal Era, Rail Era), each consisting of rounds until both the Draw Deck and players’ hands are exhausted
2
Turn order
Players act in the order shown on the Turn Order Track
3
Actions per turn
Perform 2 actions on your turn (only 1 action in the first round of the Canal Era)
4
Discarding cards
Discard 1 card for each action performed; only the Build action requires a specific card
5
Available actions
6
Build
Place an Industry tile by discarding an appropriate Location or Industry card, paying its cost, and consuming required coal or iron
7
Network
Place canal or rail Link tiles to expand your network, paying costs and consuming coal and sometimes beer depending on era
8
Develop
Remove 1–2 lowest-level Industry tiles from your Player Mat by discarding a card and consuming iron
9
Sell
Flip Cotton Mill, Manufacturer, or Pottery tiles by selling to a connected Merchant and consuming beer
10
Loan
Take £30 and move your Income Marker down 3 income levels
11
Scout
Discard 3 cards to gain 1 Wild Location and 1 Wild Industry card (only if you have no Wild cards)
12
Pass
Skip an action but still discard a card
13
Refill hand
After completing actions, draw cards to return your hand to 8 cards if possible
14
Spending money
Place all money spent on your Character tile to determine next round’s turn order
15
End of round
Reorder turn order by least to most money spent, then return all spent money to the Bank
16
End of era maintenance
17
Score links
Score 1 VP per adjacent location for each Link tile, then remove them
18
Score industries
Score VPs from flipped Industry tiles
19
Canal Era cleanup
Remove all level 1 Industry tiles from the board, reset Merchant beer, reshuffle discard piles into a new Draw Deck, and draw new hands

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
End of game
The game ends after the Rail Era scoring
2
Determine winner
The player with the most Victory Points wins
3
Tie breakers
Ties are broken by highest income, then most money remaining; remaining ties result in a shared victory

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

7 things I wish I knew before playing Brass Birmingham + difference between deluxe and retail editions of Brass games

7 things I wish I knew before playing Brass Birmingham + difference between deluxe and retail editions of Brass games

Instructional

How to Play Brass: Birmingham – All You Need to Know (Rules) | Board Game Shortcut

How to Play Brass: Birmingham – All You Need to Know (Rules) | Board Game Shortcut

Instructional

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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