Brass Lancashire vs. Brass Birmingham: A Buyer's Guide

[@BoardOfItReviews]

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[@valeryalenine5461]

I like how you made a clear distinction between objective comments and your own thoughts on the game. Great job.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks so much!

[@kickouttv]

Lovely review! This was the best comparison I found between the 2 games. Thank you.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Glad to hear, thank you for watching!

[@Ben-um1cy]

Excellent review. I've only played Birmingham, but it's one of my favorite games ever so it was hard for me to justify going back and getting Lancashire

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Yea, I mean it's certainly worth playing Lancashire if you get the chance, but I don't think you need to run out and get it unless you really want to shake it up.

[@pm71241]

Thanks. I have BB, but not yet played it, but your comments wrt BL was exactly what my intuition told me about whether I had reason to buy the other. Nice to get it confirmed.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I think it also makes big difference which you play first...but sounds like time to get Birmingham on the table!

[@SBod43]

Thanks for making my mind up on which one to pick.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Which one??

[@lelandcheng7390]

Awesome review, and I totally agree. Lancashire is great, but the randomness from not only the card draw but also the cotton demand deck when selling to the export ports can be devastating if you draw that -4 tile and you just needed to sell that dang last cotton mill! Whereas with Birmingham, you can plan to have your beer available, but have to make sure that others don't go in and swipe your barrels before you can use them to sell. But that is at least something you have some control over. And the scout action has saved my rear end on more than one occasion when I had a bad card draw. So Lancashire is a great game, but Birmingham is truly a perfect iteration of the same theme and mechanisms but removes the randomness just enough to make it a flawless design.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Very well said! Couldn't agree more. Got so much love for both of them though. Thank you for the kind comment :)

[@jcheung5145]

I preordered Birmingham, but I managed to find a good deal on a used Lancashire. I'm excited to play Lancashire without the bias of playing Birmingham first!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Hahaha I think the problem is you'll always be biased by the one you play first! Or so it seems.

[@longtimeninerfan1309]

Excellent review and comparison!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thank you! Hope it helped.

[@jacktorrance3522]

I’ve played both of these new versions quite a bit now and while I do enjoy Birmingham I think some of the additions are pretty superfluous based on my plays with multiple different gaming groups. For instance, I’ve never seen anybody do well when choosing to put any real effort into the manufactured goods track. There just seems to be way too many tiles that you need to burn through to get to any decent scoring ones. I also think that the beer resource is a bit too overpowered as it’s linked to so many actions. Often we’ve seen that whoever controls the beer (or most of it) will win the game and usually by quite a large margin. And given that it’s such a limited resource it can feel quite restrictive and completely ruin your turn if a beer you need is used by someone else. The beer also makes the teach for Birmingham that bit more complex. There are some other things too like how taking loans is handled in Birmingham versus Lancashire with the former being more forgiving. We quite like the limitation of not being able to just keep taking loans right to the game end. Finally, I think the variable setup is good for replayability but sometimes the tile placement can just really hamper everyone around the table by sheer luck of the draw. I think that while Birmingham is the darling right now since it’s the new kid on the block the original will have continued staying power. Great comparison and review guys!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Thanks for the great discussion! We'd obviously disagree slightly :D since we love Birmingham more, but certainly none of your points are unfair. Really appreciate the comment though as it's very helpful for people trying to decided between one or the other.

[@Exozik]

Thank you for this comment. I am interested in Brass and I prefer tighter and mean games in general because it is more fun for me when games are like that. I want to buy the best of the two but I didn't liked the dark board of Birminghan. I think with your comment it is now pretty clear which one I should get.

[@neilgulati7918]

Its helpful to hear your personal opinions and especially that Birmingham is well designed and they are both in your top 10 games. I was reluctant to purchase because they both sound so complex to play but havnig heard your review I'm going to give Lancashire a go because I love that part of the country.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I certainly wouldn't worry too much about the complexity ;). Glad it helped!

[@timk8257]

I have played Lancashire 4 times and Birmingham once. Going to Birmingham after playing Lancashire a few times, I didn't find it more forgiving or flexible. I remember beer being very scarce, which was frustrating and limiting. Even when making beer, other players could use it before me so I still couldn't achieve my goals. That's just one game, but I was happy to go back to Lancashire.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Hi! When you say about the beer tokens, aren't you literally also describing exactly how the port tokens work in Lancashire? The difference is that you can build beer in the middle of nowhere, not connected to anything, which then only you can use whereas port tiles must always be connected to be used to sell, so there is still always a chance someone else will use it?

[@feliperodrigues8273]

This video was very helpful and made me decide that I really just want Brass Lancashire as I prefere a more tight and cutthroat experience, dont know if I like the way beer works. Birm also seems to have a longer setup and gameplay time which would make us play it less. Thanks for the video!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Glad it was helpful! I think all your points are correct RE: setup and gameplay. I think I personally prefer beer over ports, but I also think that which game you play first has a big impact on your thinking.

[@feliperodrigues8273]

@@BoardOfItReviews By looking at your comparison, Birm is clearly the game with more content and more diffetent strategies, seems to be an excelent game too. Maybe not the version for me but I can see how it could be better for a lot of people

[@timstikkers7581]

If you really like abstracts like Chess or Go it could be a good indicator that you will prefer Lancashire. It’s a cleaner, simpler design that puts a focus on ‘the right move’. Like in many abstracts there are many (more) points in the game where you can lose the game if you don’t look ahead far enough or calculate your assets. To me that is incredibly enganging and stimulating. Like Chess. Fun though, it is not. I think Birmingham puts more fun and variety in Brass’ system. With regards to the theme, I think Lancashire feels closer. With regards to it being a fun and still cutthroat, experience for most people though, Birmingham is the way to go. I think it is the right choice for most people.

[@thijsschipper6406]

After a dozen or so games of each, for me it really just comes down to: what makes Brass, Brass? If you ask me it's the jostling for best spaces and connections, predicting and dealing with others' placements and needs, playing around the scarcity and abundance of the different resources. When I look at those aspects, I think Lancashire is the clear winner. Most of the stuff Birmingham adds serves to take the focus AWAY from them and make sure everyone can get along and do nice Euro-y feelgood stuff. But that's not why I play Brass. Brass Lancashire is the most Brass of the two, hence why I'd always rather play that.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Fair one. Which one did you play first? I've found it very very often comes down to which was played first as to the "ultimate" Brass and I always am interested to ask.

[@thijsschipper6406]

@@BoardOfItReviews Good question! I played Birmingham first, three times before I played Lancashire. I enjoyed those plays but I always felt a bit like I was missing something. The core of the game was great but execution seemed a bit ... eh? Then when I finally read the description of Lancashire I was sold and bought my own copy. I can see the advantage of some of what Birmingham adds (variation from one game to the next, primarily) but the (from my pov) downsides aren't worth the trade (reduced player interaction and reliance, increased complexity).

[@TeutonicSpeedracer]

Brass Birmingham! Top 3 game of mine. Barrage #1.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

I like your number 1 ;)

[@haribhaipatel6891]

I have Lancashire. Is it a good choice ? Plse anybody reply.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Both are good.

[@looktothefuture84]

Why do you need someone else's opinion to justify your purchase? If you play it and enjoy it, that's really all that matters 😊 If you don't, sell it on and use the cash to buy something else.

[@quinterx]

We play only as 2p (me and my wife), I already bought Birmingham (because looks awesome from design and gameplay side), but after this review. I am not sure if i bought right game, and if Birmingham is right for us, and if Lancashire wasnt better choose. Oh my oh my.... conufusion lvl 9000

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Get both ;)

[@quinterx]

@@BoardOfItReviews yea 😆 maby

[@jeffersonwu952]

errr, which one would you recommend for 2 players? Also, you mention that they are not subpar at 2 players. But are they any good at 2P? Thank you!

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Well, we've put both of them on our videos of "the best board games for two players that aren't specifically for two players" so both good to go at two 😀. Hard to say which is better tho...Lancashire is more geared towards two, but in our opinion Brass: Birmingham is the better game.

[@aaronnatera3685]

I own both of these. I like them so much I 'm tempted to buy them again. (Which is completely bonkers but that's how much I like them.)

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Hahaha I could see that. Our Brass: Birmingham cards got a bit ragged from use so it was the first game we sleeved, and I can see us buying another copy one day for those pristine cards!

[@bearhustler]

Birmingham is amazing, one of my favourites ever. Lancashire I find much crueller and less fun. Lancashire can horrible if the layout comes out awkwardly.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

We love Birimingham too!

[@jamesstovall1391]

I liked the video, but I like Brass Lancashire better. I dislike the beer mechanic in Birmingham.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

Heathen. ;)

[@jamesstovall1391]

@@BoardOfItReviews Ha. I wonder if you played one of these versions first, that might bias you to which you prefer. I feel like I'm building this great industrial business, and instead of building more rail lines I have to stop my main agenda to worry about connecting to a beer facility for beers for the crew? It feels out of the theme to me, and I don't like having to plan or compete for another resource to deliver.

[@BoardOfItReviews]

@jamesstovall1391 100% believe you prefer whichever you play first! Well tbf, you only need to connect to beer if it's someone else's, so if you make your own no worrying about connections!