By Blaze Aldrich | July 30, 2024
Reviewing The #1 Best Board Game Of All-Time (Brass: Birmingham)
Okay, you read the title and said to yourself "Brass: Birmingham is definitely not my all time favorite game". I get it, our favorite board games are subjective unless you think you're always right. And again, you're being subjective. Lol. The top ranked Brass: Birmingham comes from thousands of gamers rating this game on a website called boardgamegeek.com. As a collective, the board game community has ultimately chosen Brass: Birmingham to be the best of the best. If you never played this game, I will explain in detail why I think this game is ranked so high and where I rank it on my list.
Brass: Birmingham Details
(Cuddington, 2018)
Brass: Birmingham is a sequel to Brass: Lancashire designed by Gavan Brown, Matt Tolman, and Martin Wallace which was released in 2018. The game plays up to 4 players, but it's a phenomenal 2 player game. If you are playing it for the first time or you are playing with new players, the game can take up to 2hrs - 3hrs. In contrast, if everyone has played the game already, the gameplay may take 90 minutes. Well, unless you have a friend that has that one disease called "analysis paralysis". Then expect the game to take way longer. Why does the game take so long you ask? I mean you might not have asked that but I'll answer the question anyways.
Gameplay
(Sintsov, 2021)
Brass: Birmingham is not your grandma's board game. During the game, players have endless amount of options and actions at their disposal. Such as creating distinct networks with your trains or boats to provide ways to transport coal throughout towns. Coal is very important in this game...remember this. Not only that, but other industries such as breweries and Iron Works help you build other industries within the towns such as Cotton Mills, Manufacturers, and Potteries. To build or sell industries you are required to utilize breweries, others require you to use either coal or iron, and many require you to use both. On top of that, players may have to use money too. Luckily, if you own a brewery or Iron Works, you can easily use these to help build other industries (tiles) without any stipulations. Speaking of stipulations, coal is what makes it tough on players.
Coal
Coal makes this game incredible because not only do you have to strategize on what industries you can afford, where to build, and how to connect networks, but now players have to keep coal in mind. What do I mean by that? Well, during the game players use trains and boats to create a network to connect their industries and towns. Players can use Iron from their Iron Works or Beer from their Breweries without having their whole network connected to them. BUT for Coal, Players need to have a Coal Mine connected to whatever town they want to build which requires coal.
Example:
I want to build a Level II Cotton Mill in Tamworth. So in order for me build a Level II Cotton Mill I need to pay its cost which includes 14 Coins & 1 Coal (Picture Below). Remember in order to use a coal, Tamworth needs to be connected with a boat/train to any Coal Mine. In the Picture above, there's nothing connected to Tamworth and of course it's not connected to a Coal Mine in any way. So in this instance I couldn't build a Level II Cotton Mill. Too Bad So Sad! Now if all I needed was Iron, Tamworth doesn't have to be connected to Iron Works in any way to use Iron. So if I had the cash, I could then build it. Are you confused yet?
Coal Cont'
Being connected to a Coal Mine during the game is super important because later Coal is needed in many different ways. For example, building most higher tier Industry tiles cost coal. This includes, Manufacturing, Pottery, Iron Works, Cotton Mills, and building Trains. Building trains is crucial to get easy and quick points. So build Coal Mines! There you're welcome, you just won the game, JK, you've just learned how to play.
Player Interaction
Many gamers don't like player "take that" or combative games where your move can negatively impede someone else move. Don't get me wrong, I love being a saboteur and combative watching my competitor squirm in anguish, but my opponent sure doesn't. In Brass Birmingham, I can "steal"/ use a coal, iron, or beer from my opponents factories. This is a win-win situation in most cases for both me and the other player. I get to use their things for free with no cost and the owner of these factories gets Victory Points/Income. Now it can get combative at the end of the game. For example, there's only one Beer Barrel left at the end of the game and my opponent desperately needs it for one of their last moves to make Victory Points. However, I use it for my benefit which outweighs what they get for me using it. But overall, taking something from someone else usually benefits both players which a lot of gamers love. Lastly, players can utilize other players networks to build and use coal mines. The mechanics are seamless in this way and makes for an enjoyable experience.
Overall Thoughts
Surprisingly, I owned this game for 6 months before I played it. Simply, I was intimidated by Brass: Birmingham because I heard it was a heavy game. Heavy game meaning that there were many rules to learn and different mechanics I thought I wouldn't understand. Well, I regret not playing it sooner since Brass: Birmingham wasn't very heavy at all. Yes it's heavier than Catan and Ticket To Ride, but the gameplay is super simple to learn and understand. The player aid is self explanatory and its convenient if someone in your group has played it once before. I describe Brass: Birmingham as a puzzle where the more you play it, the better you become. The game has so much variability which allows players to experiment with different strategy approaches. The first time I played, I was instantly hooked and wanted to play again and again. I sucked at first, but eventually I totally understood the mechanics of using other people's resources or even making others use your resources. As an end result of players using your resources, you would get victory points and income.
Furthermore, the player interaction that I have already described is amazing. In one instance you are playing your own game, but eventually you'll have to interact with your opponents network or industries. When you use other peoples stuff, both players benefit. Brass: Birmingham is an economic board game where your industries create income for you in future rounds. It's so entertaining to figure out the best way to create the most money possible while balancing creating victory points. I forgot to mention, I am biased to economic games. In real life I love investing and creating passive income. So when I get to do that same thing in a board game, my entrepreneurial spirit shines and delights in that style of gaming.
Obviously, there's so much that goes on during Brass: Birmingham and I left out a lot about the gameplay and I didn't talk about strategy all that much. I wanted to summarize Brass: Birmingham in way where you didn't have to read for hours. I wanted to give you an opportunity to see a glimpse of how amazing this board game really is. Now I know this type of game won't be everyone's cup of tea. However, Brass: Birmingham is ranked 2nd best board games of all-time on my list. My rankings most likely will change with the more games I play. As of right now, it's going to be very difficult for any other board game to change that!
What are your thoughts of Brass: Birmingham? Where do you have it ranked if at all? Happy Gaming
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