Brass: Birmingham | Rahdo's Final Thoughts

Help Rahdo Run: / rahdo ❤️ Code of conduct: conduct.rahdo.com 🙂 And now...
A video outlining gameplay for the boardgame Brass: Birmingham
For more game info, boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2...
Part I: Gameplay Runthrough
• Rahdo Runs Through►►► ...
• Rahdo Runs Through►►► ... (STATIC CAMERA)
Part II: Final Thoughts
• Brass: Birmingham | Ra...

[@bobnetherton4957]

Completely agree with your final thoughts on this one. Brass: Lancashire is a faithful recreation of one of the cornerstone games in our hobby with the kind of graphic aesthetics that it so greatly deserves. Birmingham is that same game if it were designed today, showing the experience of an additional decade of game design and player expectation. Because of its setup, Birmingham will have the longer shelf life, but there is certainly a place for both. Roxley did an amazing job bringing these two to the market so that we can both honor a classic game as well as play a game that is as good as anything published today.

[@Kratzy974]

Thank you. I only read so much about the difference, that the Birmingham version is more complex, but no one shows the difference in difficulty. That helped a lot for the decission between those both games.

[@KamranZaffar]

Thanks for this. Completely agree that it’s more forgiving.

[@ocarrollcian]

I am very grateful to Roxley for believing that the world's shelf was big enough for both, and to Martin Wallace for revisiting his design with two others to make Birmingham together - likely not an easy thing. Part of my initial interest in this version was simply a family connection to the city, but what I heard of Birmingham's play made it clear it would be "my" Brass. Thanks for the review and the inspiration to get it off my shelf! I'll have to find the time and the audience, but it looks well worth it.

[@bugscheese]

I love them both. They each deliver a unique take on a brilliant design platform that is unlike anything else out there. I'm glad I got both of Roxley's beautiful productions. They are both instant treasures in my collection.

[@KSweeney36]

I prefer the sound of the game of Birmingham. But being that I live in Manchester and was born in Bolton, it had to be Lancashire for me. Not often you get your home region in a game.

[@jasonlong3168]

Rahdo, I so want to sit in that room, amongst all those games (and shelves), at that table with you, playing games! Keep up the terrific work, and thanks for all you do.

[@rahdo]

with all the camera tripods and stuff, there's barely room for me! (we play in games in the next room) :)

[@jasonlong3168]

@@rahdo Haha! Of course. Well, you do a great job of making that little space look inviting.

[@AlexNguyen]

Great run through !

[@sandrabasel1545]

Very helpful! Thank you.

[@Pikkabuu]

Thanks for the thoughtful comparison. Really been torn apart between these two versions but I think you settled the deal of which to get first. Now if only this game would have a new print. Oh well Boardgamegeek it is.

[@bushibayushi]

Excellent observations Richard, very good analysis of both systems.

[@rahdo]

i forgot to add that the distant market for coal & iron is deeper as well, so there's less change of your oppoents squeezing you out at a bad moment! :)

[@bushibayushi]

@@rahdo yes it's much harder to overbuild right now. But you also get more money from refilling the market with your coal/iron and this feels very satisfying ;). At first I thought that Birmingham would be "the Caverna of Brass", but fortunately it isn't, it just allows for some more creative moves without being sandboxy.

[@Ogrecrusher]

Being able to take loans inside the last 4 turns really helps it feel less punishing too.

[@bushibayushi]

Yes, but the reason why the loans are now allowed even in the last round is the fact that money does not score you any VPs. In Lancashire money was worth VPs so the limit on loans prevented some abusive strategies.

[@Exozik]

As always, incredible review of a game.

[@bluebooper]

Amazing review. Thanks

[@ecirelli]

This is an amazing game! It moved its way into my number 3

[@MafiulRobin]

Are you Mr. BGG!!

[@matthewgraham2619]

Sounds great, but it's been sold out everywhere since before Christmas. When is it coming back in print?

[@Samscheetah]

You can buy the deluxe version straight from roxley's backerkit page before these versions are out of stock. In the future there will be only retail ones.

[@kipel1563]

Great!

[@Carpetslipper]

Agree. This is a wonderful game. Looks great, plays great. Plenty of depth but a rule set you can comfortably get your head around. AAA product.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Interesting, rahdo... From a lot of the Final Thoughts which I have watched of your videos, most of the time you prefer one game over another BECAUSE of how harsh a puzzle the game presents - in this one, it is just the opposite. Is there something about Martin Wallace’s designs - such as rules complexity/added rules complexity, which make you prefer his more easy going designs to the harsher puzzles (for example, you prefer Railways Of The World to Age Of Steam - or even Steam)?

[@rahdo]

brass is sooo heavy (and long) this time i appreciate a little bit more leeway :)

[@johnunderwood4953]

Like the "Joe Verses the Volcano" reference :)

[@willbeplayin]

Birmingham was my GOTY 2018. I've played it 12 times now and it's our groups #1 game and one of the rare games that has gotten a rating of 10 from more than two people in our group. Whilst Lancashire is gruesome, I don't think Brass: Birmingham is a forgiving game at all. It gets very, very cutthroat when people are fencing for position on the turn order track or building iron/coal/railroads just before you or if you make mistakes leaving beer on the table etc.

[@c.w.2000]

Rahdo, why is Lancashire is on your owned list, but not Birmingham? It seems you would rate Birmingham higher. Also, Is the two-player experience any better or worse? I'm glad to see you finally receive a copy to review this; I would not buy until I heard your comments.

[@rahdo]

i have birmingham listed as "preordered" which is how i classify expansions and also standalone products that to me feel like expansions. so you'll see that's how i've labelled dominion: intrigue, pandemic spinoffs, etc. the rating i gave for lancashire is actaully reflective of how i feel about both games combined. as such birmingham has raised the ranking of brass overall because i do rate it higher than the original by itself. by the same token, pandemic is my #1 ranked game, but that's taking into account all of the various expansions and spinoffs. pandemic solely by itself wouldn't make the top spot :)

[@keseph7749]

I ended up sticking with Brass Birmingham. Because it has more possibilities it just feels less scripted than Brass Lancashire. That was my only issue with the original Brass. It felt like if you didn't do a couple of things at a specific time you had no chance, whilst Birmingham gives players a little more room to play a bit of a different game each time and still have success.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

Do you think there is a place to have both Brasses, or would it be mostly duplication and a waste (of space)? If you were only going to get one Brass, the consensus (outside of Rahdo Runs Through) is that if you are a new player, go for Lancashire as it does not have as much rules complexity as Birmingham and it is still meaty enough. Birmingham has the added complexity of the rules for beer, manufactured goods and pottery. Whereas if you have played before, you should go for Birmingham because it will give you some extra meat on the bone. However, I see another issue, coming out of your final thoughts. Do you think despite the added rules complexity, it would be better to introduce someone to Birmingham since there are always choices, as opposed to Lancashire, where due to the tightness of the board, new players could get blocked out of taking actions which they had planned on? I know some people may like Lancashire due to that tightness, and I could eventually become that kind of player. However, I have never played the game before - and was wondering if that could become an issue (with myself as well as people I would be playing with).

[@rahdo]

yes, that was my point. lanc is a harsh and cruel simulation, where one wrong step can ruin you, and you've got 2+ hours more to go in that ruined state. birmingham is much more flexible and forgiving. so to me, it's a no brainer to introduce with birm... the additional rules add barely, maybe 10% complexity, but they give you so much more freedom it's worth it.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

@@rahdo That makes sense... BTW, I am sorry, I should have rewatched your Final Thoughts video. I didn't mean for you to have to sound like a broken record.

[@MarianoTufro]

Greetings from London. Great review and thanks for doing it. Don’t take this the wrong way, but the “h” is silent in Birmingham. Keep up the good work!

[@lokihve6591]

I wouldnt exactly agree 100% with you Rahdo but close to what you are saying. Basicall in Brass: Birmingham you have ways to always be in a game somewhat or at least feel you can get back, but does that make it easier? I wouldnt say so, it makes it less harsh and unforgiving, but in this case you are in a sense still competing with all the players not just those who didnt get themselves eliminated already and you have a bit more options to think about and so do your opponents which makes it I believe a bit more interesting, but I do agree that Brass Birmingham is definitely a game where you can get yourself in a pinch and get out of, which I personally find COOL and game wise amazing, some could even say better for strategy purposes as it allows you visit more allys. I for instance in my last game went for loans straight off but got royally screwed on some other spots and was in a money pinch. The other two players were making around 10 per round already and I was in a minus 6 or something, so some serious pinch...but in the end I got out of that jam, when my lvl 2 buildings kicked in positioning wise those resources started materializing. So I ended up winning. And he feeling to make it after you saw yourself half in the grave already is really rewarding, rewards the long run planning and is not so tight as to tell you what way you need to go, otherwise your legs will get swept beneath you.

[@rahdo]

bear in mind, everything i say if from a 2 player perspective. so it's much harder to find yourself round out on the coal/iron market for instance, that it would be with more players :)

[@lokihve6591]

@@rahdo Indeed. Also I agree with you that I do enjoy Brass: Birmingham more than Lancashire or rather find it a better game for me personally

[@Mark-OutWest]

Why couldn't they just have a rules tweak instead of two separate boxed games?

[@gmpenatti]

Wow, I can see you have Merlin in you collection. I didnt think you would like it. I also have it but I dont think it plays well with 2 players. Nice review btw. Keep up the good work. :)

[@rahdo]

we loved merlin! i did a video for it back when i first got it :)

[@cabalpaxiarch7239]

I personally find Birmingham more constricting. I know that's a fringe opinion but the fact that you're obligated to connect to specific places on the map seems exhausting to me. I much prefer just building ports wherever I can. It also places a huge emphasis on trains which, combined with the fact that some buildings offer two points to each train now whereas in Lancashire they all just gave one, makes strategizing around trains an imperative and that's a little oppressive for me. In Lancashire I feel like I can persue whatever strategy I like, ignore trains if I want and figure out how to optimize my hand.

[@Toneloke-3000]

Is it just me or does this game look really dark and Moody?

[@Steevo1977]

Well it is set during the industrial revolution after all and a large part of that map is an area known to us to this day as "The Black Country" in the UK.

[@MohamadSobh]

The boards are double sided and can be played on their lighter day side