Brass: Birmingham

Overview

Brass: Birmingham is an economic strategy game set during the Industrial Revolution in England’s West Midlands (1770-1870). Players build and develop industries (Cotton Mills, Coal Mines, Iron Works, Manufacturers, Potteries, Breweries), establish canal and rail networks, and sell goods to earn victory points. The game plays over two eras (Canal and Rail), with scoring at the end of each. The player with the most VPs after the Rail Era wins.

Components

1 Game Board
4 Player Mats
4 Character tiles
4 Income Markers, 4 VP Markers
64 Location and Industry cards
8 Wild cards (4 Wild Location, 4 Wild Industry)
4 Player Aids
180 Industry tiles (45 per color)
56 Link tiles (14 per color)
30 Coal cubes, 18 Iron cubes, 15 Beer barrels
9 Merchant tiles
67 Money tokens
Turn Order Track

Setup

Place board, set up Merchant tiles, fill Coal Market and Iron Market.
Each player takes: Player Mat, 17 pounds, Character tile, Link tiles, Industry tiles (stacked on mat slots with black side down), VP marker on 0, Income marker on 10.
Deal 8 cards to each player.
Draw 1 additional card facedown (Scout pile) in Birmingham variant.
Shuffle Character tiles randomly on Turn Order Track.
Remove Location cards by player count: 2P remove blue + teal; 3P remove teal; 4P use all.

Turn Structure

Eras and Rounds

Canal Era then Rail Era, each played in rounds.
Rounds per era: 4P = 8 rounds, 3P = 9 rounds, 2P = 10 rounds.
First round of Canal Era: each player performs only 1 action (exception to normal 2).

Player Turn

Perform 2 actions (discarding 1 card per action from hand).
Place all money spent on your Character tile (for turn order).
Refill hand to 8 cards from Draw Deck.

End of Round

Rearrange turn order: least money spent goes first; ties keep relative order.
Return spent money to Bank.
Collect income (positive or negative based on Income Marker position).
Exception: No income after final round of the game.

Actions

Build

Place an Industry tile from your Player Mat onto a location on the board.

Requires discarding a Location card (build at named location, even outside network) or Industry card (build matching industry at a location in your network).
Pay money cost shown on Player Mat.
Consume required coal (must be connected to coal source) and/or iron (from any source).
Coal Mines and Iron Works: place resource cubes on tile.
Breweries: place 1 beer barrel (Canal Era) or 2 (Rail Era).
Must build on matching industry space icons.

Network

Place a Link tile to expand your canal (Canal Era) or rail (Rail Era) network.

Canal: costs 3 pounds. 1 Link per canal route.
Rail: costs 5 pounds + 1 coal. 1 or 2 Links per rail route.

Develop

Remove 1 or 2 Industry tiles from your Player Mat (consuming iron), advancing to higher-level industries.

Sell

Flip Cotton Mills, Manufacturers, and/or Potteries by selling to connected Merchants.

Must consume beer for each sell action (from your breweries or connected breweries).
Some Merchant tiles require specific goods.

Loan

Take 30 pounds from the Bank. Move Income Marker back 3 income levels.

Scout

Discard 2 cards from hand. Receive 1 Wild Industry + 1 Wild Location card.

Cannot use if you already have a Wild card in hand.

Pass

Skip an action but must still discard a card.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Scoring occurs at the end of each era:

Score Links: Each Link tile scores 1 VP per beer barrel icon in adjacent locations. Remove Links from board after scoring.
Score Flipped Industry Tiles: Score VPs shown on bottom-left of flipped tiles. Unflipped tiles score nothing.

End of Canal Era additional steps:

Remove all level 1 Industry tiles from the board (not from Player Mats).
Reset Merchant beer. Shuffle discard piles into new Draw Deck.

End of Rail Era: Score as above, then declare winner.

Winner: Most VPs. Tiebreaker: highest income level, then most money remaining. Still tied = shared victory.

How Tiles Flip (Score)

When flipped, advance Income Marker by the number of spaces shown on the tile.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Connected Locations

Two locations are connected if a route of Link tiles (any player’s) connects them. Connections matter for building with Industry cards, consuming coal, and selling.

Coal Consumption

Must consume from closest connected unflipped Coal Mine (free).
If not connected to a Coal Mine, purchase from Coal Market (requires connection to a Merchant space).

Iron Consumption

From any Iron Works on the board (no connection needed, free).
If none available, purchase from Iron Market.

Beer Consumption

Required for Sell actions and certain Merchant tiles.
Consumed from your own breweries or connected breweries (any player’s).

Overbuilding

You may build a higher-level Industry tile on top of an existing tile (yours or opponent’s) if certain conditions are met (must be your own tile or a lower-level tile).

Negative Income

If your income is negative, you must pay that amount. If unable, sell Industry tiles from board at half cost. If still short, lose 1 VP per pound short.

Farm Breweries

Two special brewery locations that cannot be built with Wild Location cards.

Market Mechanics

When Coal Mines or Iron Works are built connected to markets, cubes move to market spaces (most expensive first), earning money for the builder.

Player Reference

Turn Summary:

Perform 2 actions (1 card discarded per action)
Place spent money on Character tile
Refill hand to 8 cards

Starting Resources: 17 pounds, Income level 10, 0 VP

Action Quick Reference:

Action	Cost	Card Required
Build	Tile cost + resources	Location or Industry card
Network (Canal)	3 pounds	Any card
Network (Rail)	5 pounds + 1 coal	Any card
Develop	Iron (1-2)	Any card
Sell	Beer	Any card
Loan	-3 income levels	Any card
Scout	2 extra cards	Any card
Pass	Nothing	Any card (still discard)

Rounds per Era: 2P=10, 3P=9, 4P=8