Brass: Birmingham - How To Play

For those interested in the differences between Brass: Birmingham and Brass: Lanchashire, here is a list. (Please comment if I've missed something or gotten something wrong.) This list is copied from the reply thread to J. Bertels's comment.

In Lancashire:
1) The only commodity is cotton. There is no pottery, nor manufactured goods.
2) There are no breweries, nor beer. Double rail actions cost 15 pounds and two coal, but no beer.
3) Players can also build ports and shipyards. Shipyards are high point-value industries that flip immediately after being built. Shipyards with a lock symbol on them cannot be built in any era; they must be developed away. Ports are used to sell cotton.
4) Cotton can be sold either to any player's unflipped port (which flips both the port and the cotton mill) or to the distant market (special fixed locations around the edge of the board, or any player's flipped or unflipped port.) When selling to the distant market, players must turn over a distant market tile, reduce the distant market marker by the number on the tile, and then receive the income bonus on the new distant market spot (in addition to the income received from flipping the cotton mill.) If the distant market marker reaches the bottom of the track, the sale is canceled and no further sales to the distant market are possible that era. The distant market track is reset and market tiles reshuffled at the beginning of the rail era.
5) There are no wild cards. Instead, players may discard two cards (using both of their actions for a turn) in order to perform a build action at any location.
6) Players are not allowed to take loans in the final two rounds of the game. There's a placard placed in the draw deck during rail phase setup to remind players of this.
7) Players score 1VP per 10 pounds left in their player area at the end of the game.

When do you get to flip the merchant tiles and what do they do?

I know this is silly, but you said Lancashire and Birmingham correctly, and I really appreciate that 👍🏻😂

Thanks

Please could you do the Lancashire one of this??! :)

I were just thinking before starting the video... How will you flip the box this time xD

The reference card shows we need to discard 2 cards in order to perform the scout action but in the video it says 3 cards. Which is correct?

Lord please keep Rodney with us for many more years, he is a necessity to this hobby.

Man, this was an amazing video. Thanks a bunch for letting me not having chaos the first time me and my family play the game. Great stuff!

Greaat game, greater instructor ❤

If not for you I would never be into board games, you've helped me learn terraforming mars which made me fall in love with board games. Thank you for all your content

Does the crew of watch it played only consist of Rodney? Or is there more people working in the background

Thanks, Rodney. That was helpful! :)

Great video. Many thanks! I have a quick question: beer placed on farm breweries cannot be consumed by other players, right?

I always go to find Rodney's videos before anything else. He's helped me make informed purchases by watching the videos and getting a clear idea of the rules and finding out if a game will be right for me. Thank you so much.

Help me please
If im overbuild one of my own already fliped industry tiles am i still get points for it at end of the game?

Excellent video! I’m learning on Tabletop Sim until I can find a copy of this great game. I’ve noticed that the Tabletop Sim versions have the beer icon on the industry tiles not crossed out. Is that an official change or something that added in the modding process? If anyone knows..

God bless Rodney Smith. Peak teach

Anyone else here since it's now the #1 game on BGG?

The highlight was Rodney pronouncing era as error.

I played Lancashire a week ago for the first time. This video is also perfect for repeating the rules while learning Birmingham at the same time. Thank you very much.

This game has been on my shelf of shame for a year… I just don’t understand 🙈

Here we go I’m trying again!!

Rodney plz!!!
Between the two (Lancashire and Birmingham)
Which one do you suggest and why.

Perfect instruction. So clear and ordered, makes it easy to memorize rules of the game. There are a few, but you made it sound simple. Thank you.

thank you!

u convinced me to buy it:)

Very clear and helpful video, saved me a lot of trouble! Grats, looking forward to play it!

I read the rules, then watched this and I feel ready to go! Thanks for the excellent work!

Thanks for so detailed video! It is one of my favourite games and you really helped so it become so!
In last play we got 3 strange situations not described in rulebook and I did not find answer on bgg forum, maybe you can help?
1) Is player limited in canals and railroads by his starting stock (14 per player)?
2) If so then if player in the rail era has only one rail in his supply, can he perform a double rail action, paying in full (15 gold, 2 coals and a beer) but placing only 1 rail he has?
3) Sell action. I have a pottery lvl 3, which need 2 beers to be flipped. This pottery is connected to a market, where are 2 merchants with pottery (one universal, one specific), both with a beer barrel. Can I flip this pottery consuming two beers from that market? If so, do I get both bonuses?

thank you!!!

I only learned about this game recently, looks great! It's very strange to see my little home town on an international board game haha

Nailed it, as always. You are so good at this, Rodney! Thanks for all your effort.

Hey Rodney, had a quick question. What happens if a particular resource from the general supply ever runs out? Does this mean you can't build anymore of that particular industry because there aren't enough cubes to be placed? Or do we just find a suitable replacement? (Do you know where I can find my nearest coalmine? Lol just kidding.)

Damn we played wrong overbuilding - whenever player wanted and had a card (and higher level mine). Also we played wrong sell action - only one sell per card and action

I moved to Birmingham recently, and I am going to play this game tomorrow. Your tutorial is just perfect, clear and organized! Thank you so much!

Great tutorial as always! Greetings from Łódź/Poland :).

Thanks for an excellent tutorial. Concise and wonderfully presented. Much appreciated.

When you remove tiles from your player board do you gain the income/vp to the right of the tile right away?

Love itt

My game group is going to be playing this and my only thought was thank god Rodney has a video for this game

The only downside of Rodney doing such a great job is, it’s costing me a fortune to buy these games because I want them all 😂

Seriously, great job again. I’ve been debating getting this game for some time and, yet again, you’ve sold it to me.
Keep up the excellent work Rodney.

I've never heard anyone pronounce iron like that. Where are you from?

For the overbuild action do we need to use the card which matches the location where we want to overbuild?

You do a god job of explaining the game. Very easy and clear. Thx

Great tutorial! What happens with the coal/iron/beer cubes when you have to return an industry tile because you cannot pay your negative income? Do these cubes go back to the market or...? Thank you!

I got another question which I just noticed wasnt clear to me from the video after watching it again: Why do Breweries from level 2 and up show 1/2 beer barrels? Do they only get 1 if I build them in the canal era and 2 only if I build them in the rail era?

You are always a big help Rodney. We are a very small group of people playing these new world board games in India. It's a start.
We always see your video first and then start the game. Thanks for the good work....