Quick fixes from our commenters: 1) When taking a loan, you go down 3 income levels, NOT 2. 2) The person who spent the LEAST amount of money in the previous round will go first. This still doesn't change the interaction level! 3) When coal is taken, it needs to be closest to the building location -Ashton
@@grog3514 Just saw this! I would imagine it would be way more forgiving, yet I never found the loans to be very stressful. More stress comes from someone sniping your beer before ya can sell! -Ashton
Ah good ole Glow Kester, definitely a gem in Her Majesty's crown. :P Our first game of Brass B, playing the intro game, went over amazingly! Everyone loved it but then we played a full game with both eras and almost everyone in my group hated the second era.
The bit where you reeled off a few of the town's names, and concluded it not with a punchline but just that they sound cool to you, really made me smile. It was a simple little thing you shared with us, but it's not often I hear people from other countries talk about mine in such a light, positive way.
ahaha thanks man! The names just really do stick with me in this game, and I really can't say that about many games that don't have a previously established IP! Now I want to play again :) -Ashton
This game is on my list to buy. Because it sounds great and i have lived in the Black Country my whole life. You pronounce Gloucester- Gloster- by the way. I love your reviews. The best compliment i can give you, is that i will watch one of your in-depth videos even if I’m not interested in the game AT ALL. Your scoring system is unique and yourselves and No Pun Included are now the only Board game review channels i look forward to watching. Great to see my home town in a successful game.
hey awesome to hear mate! I have found out today that I have been pronouncing Gloucester wrong for quite some time ahaha. Cheers, see ya around! -Ashton
You guys are my new favorite gaming channel. I love the speed and efficiency of the videos yet still tossing in some humor. No rambling at all. I also like the more critical thoughts, not afraid to list cons which helps me make a decision to buy. I was iffy on this game for years, but am buying this today based off this video. You guys will be the #1 channel in due time. Congrats!!
I really enjoyed my plays of Brass Birmingham but find it hard to table because of the game length. But I can totally see its potential and why it’s so well rated and praised. On a random note, I would love to see you guys do a review of Inis/Seasons of Inis. It’s such a fun game and really excels at player interaction and clever card play.
I have to disagree. Without lets plays and how to play videos i would never have learned the rules correct. Fiddely rules. Explaining network last. I had tp read it 4x. Watching 1 lets play and a how to play twice. Not a game easy to learn. And NO WAY these rules are anyway thematic. Thats was not really helpful. 😅
@27:10 I played Brass Birmingham once, and it did feel punishing. It was a while ago, but I remember someone getting in my way and making things harder for me even though I was way in last place. The first place player was running away with the win, but the other player was saying that the cards she had didn't allow her to play against the winning player. So I was trying to keep my head above water while second place pounded on me and the rules-teacher skated to the W. But he was also one of those people who withhold some information during the teach so that he can maintain an edge. I remember asking a couple times how to do something, and he would not answer. Like I was trying to get him to reveal his deepest secrets. So maybe it was the teacher. Not the game?
heyo! That does certainly sound more of the case of the person affecting the experience. The game is still long, and rather complicated, so it will be the case that first games will still be rough. Would recommend giving it another go with any group if possible if the mechanics interested you! -Ashton
Yeah, that sounds like a miserable experience. There are way too many fiddly rules in Birmingham for the game teacher to withhold information like that. Eck. Would recommend you try it again. For an economic game and a sequel of sorts to Brass (which was notoriously unforgiving, I have heard), Birmingham is typically quite gentle with the players.
I have always had a great game sense (not calculating the game per say) to feel the flow of a game and figure out where and how things are going. This is probably the perfect game for me to feel out where the economy is going and take advantage without pissing others off (which in other games I do because its more direct confrontation).
I am the one, who really loved the rulebook and really wouldnt care for table of content, as it was really short one and every action was together, so i would find everything with a few seconds. And loved the ones they added at the end, becouse when new players want to check Connection thing, they can easly see it in the back. Only thing difficult is to teach new players that coal needs to be connected and iron not.. i have found that this is hardest part for new player to wrap their head around, and it really shows in the start of the railroad era, when railroads need coal 😁
I completely agree. And yes, I also found teaching how coal vs iron are accessed was probably the trickiest piece...but really not too bad at all. The rulebook worked great for me but I appreciated Ashtons points. He's right. For such a flawless game, it is kinda silly to have a less than flawless rulebook.
@@chimster1234 also those historical facts Are great for teaching mostly iron and coal one, people can wrap their heads around rules little bit easier 😊
Great review!! Love the pronunciations 🙂. To be fair though English place names can be difficult for non British. Birmingham is pronounced 'Birming-um'
@@Shelfside no way are you an idiot! It's just like a none American having trouble pronouncing 'Arkansas' if they'd never seen the word before! Good work on the video. Brilliant work as always.
Seems relaxing and an all-around great game, just worried about the interactivity since it just seems to friendly which does not seem very conducive to the moments I look forward to in gaming...tense action, sudden surprise moves placing your opponent in jeopardy, narrow escapes and lots of LAUGHTER!
thanks! TI4, Brass Birmingham, Civilization, and Mansions of Madness are 10/10 with the right player count for me right now. Still on the lookout for the next 10/10s -Ashton
Bought Brass Lancashire and Brass Birmingham combined for 150% and sold Lancashire for 100%. This means i got the KS-version at half price, with Iron Clays. Played the old version of Brass also. The new rulebook is a god gift compared to the old one. That was one ongoing text.
I actually thought the rulebook for Brass was good. I recommend people to start with Lancashire which is still amazing and trims down the rules a bit while still teaching the core game. It also plays in a shorter time. You might consider this one yourself! Also, nothing feels better than orchestrating 4 actions in a row by taking two cheaper actions than everyone else followed by two more great ones. Get wrecked! If you want the game to look/sound/feel even better, grab yourself a set of Iron Clays.
Great review. Details and entertaining. As a British guy, I love how you nailed pronouncing the weird British cities' names. Im gonna back you for making content as engaging and informative as this.
Thanks man! I'm fairly certain I got Gloucester incorrectly, but the rest I have my fingers crossed! It's just so fun saying them while playing -Ashton
It’s the best game. Period. However it’s so tense that I don’t feel like playing it often. You have to plan so much. So I disagree. It was a HUGE brain burner for us
There is Your Favorite Game. There IS no "best" game, unless you are going to list a series of objective criteria that EVERYONE agrees makes one game better than another.
A couple of Fantasy Flight Games nail this pretty well with their reference sheet, like Eldritch Horror, Unfathomable. The Law of Root for Root also does a pretty good job. -Ashton
Me at the start of the video: 'lol haha that's not what people from Birmingham sound like, but I get it, they're American, they're doing a bit, no harm done' Me at 2:35: 'Glow... kester? GLOWKESTER? GOD FUCKING DAMMIT'
This is a really nice video 👍👍. However I am unable to decide between this brass and well known 2 player games namely 7 wonders duel and santorini. Though they recommended at 2 player counts, I am afraid they might be too shallow and short, because I am actually looking for a deeper game that can still be enjoyed at 2 players! Would like to know if brass is still feasible!
Thanks matthew! I haven't played santorini, I've played 7 wonders duel once. But those are gonna be a lot simpler than Brass Birmingham, by at least a multitude of a couple of hours ahaha. Brass works great at 2 players for sure! The economy isn't as diverse/wide as 3/4p, but the back and forth is really gripping. Lemme know if you have any other questions -Ashton
In your tier list video from 4 months ago, you rated Brass Birmingham as A tier, possibly because you admitted that you had not played the game that many times. Now, after many plays, would this game still be in your A tier or has it moved to S tier?
definitely S tier. At that point in time, I had only played it twice 2 player, and needed to test it multiplayer to see if it really made the cut. And it did, this game is pure amazing :) -Ashton
It just has a certain magic to it- it doesn't necessarily look that interesting from afar, but the money just flows so smoothly, the economic gears just click into place... mmm! what a game. -Ashton
I really want to get this game but how long are turns? I play with some heavy AP players and I hate waiting a lot and then when they finally do their turn they miss 1 buck and they have to reset everything (looking at you rummy)
this definitely can be a concern for AP prone players, but that is probably the case with games for more complexity in general. If you really want to go HARD in thinking in BB, you could keep re-thinking the usage of every card in your hand -Ashton
Your reviews are top tier. You really explain the details in such a succint way; you really paint a picture as ti how the game would pan out. Fantastic work.
This is one I would like to try at some point with others that know the game well. I don't think my usual game group would be interested in this, so can't justify buying it first just because I want to try the 3rd ranked game of all time (on BGG). And the theme isn't exactly fun.. it looks thematic and historic, but not a fun theme for me. Hopefully some day I will play this
You'll definitely be able to play with people at some point since the game is so popular! Good of you not buying into things just because of their ranking though, hope you get to play it soon! -Ashton
that's interesting! I bought the game in early 2021, and from what I recall, has the same exact wording as the one on Roxley's website. Unfortunately the website is down right now, but ping me again here if there's more questions that come up! -Ashton
"It is interactive but not cutthroaty." - Agreed! I think this is why it is such a hit with me and my brother. We love interaction and economics, but we usually game at 2 players, and definitely prefer them less on the mean side. As such I think I'd recommend Birmingham at two players (in addition to 3-4) - which I probably would not do for any other economic game (though take my recommendation with a grain of salt as I don't think BGG agrees with me on this!) Also, you are spot on with the rulebook. Looks gorgeous and is well-written. But the organization is all over the place. I think they repeat some rules 3 or 4 times. I thought I was going crazy reading it.
Cheers man! My first game of BB was actually at 2p, and I fell in love immediately. Yeah the rulebook is really irritating giving the overall delight of the game. -Ashton
I own poker chips and substituted those in for the currency. It works beautifully, made handling money much less clunky, and made the experience even better.
Totally agree with this review. Definitely one of my favourites, only being dethroned by Gaia Project. But Gaia project is a massive pain to setup, so for a quick easy euro Brass is my go-to.
Talking about train building games I’ve always seen ticket to ride next to dominion but I’ve never seen you mention it except for one second in the snob . So what is your opinion on ticket to ride and why do you not talk about it
heyo! I've only played TTR once actually, I actually want to make a video on it one day for sure. It just never comes up in discussions for our group :) -Ashton
Also, the DiceTroyers organizer for this game is absolutely awesome. With it setup takes 5 minutes instead of 25. Tear down takes almost the same because you have to re-order the tiles. But man, if you use the game a lot it will be a big time-saver. Useless to say I love the game, but I have doubts on 4 player (tried twice, played a lot in 2)
sweet! I'll have to take a look, since I play this game quite a bit. Was there just too much downtime in 4P? Or not enough control of the map/economy? -Ashton
@@Shelfside Yeah, more down-time + the less actions (probably because I was used to the 39 actions that you get in 2 vs the 27 ((I hope i did the math right)) that you get in 4). But still, it's an awesome game and 3 might be the sweet-spot. Sadly I still have to try it in 3.... Also, the game is more a challenge with yourself than with the enemies, so more players = less actions = harder challenge 😂
Great review, some small errors but you know how to tell a good story. Brass Birmingham, the best boardgame to date imo. I think to rulebook is great, had no problem with it at all. Level 1 industry problem in the canal era? Use overbuild, problem solved. 7:49, you need to take coal closest to the building location. 10:56, the less money you spent the earlier you go in the next round. 14:10, dropping 3 income levels.
Thank you mate! I did not know about the coal closest to the building location, I will put that in the pinned comment with the error corrections. Overbuilding is something we have to play around with- when we tried it in our first couple of games, it seemed inefficient, but hey, I can totally see it working under the right circumstances. -Ashton
@@Shelfside Coal and iron closest to the building location gives the game an extra layer of hard decision making to the game. If both resources on the board are the same distance away you may choose which to take. In my first plays the overbuild also seemed inefficient but it can be a powerfull move. Sometimes you need to have a fast coal/irom/beer resource and build the level 1 industry (a develop action may not be the best option to take at the moment). The benefit of overbuilding is that it can raise your income fast in the game if flipped. Overbuilding will add new resources on the same location and if it's a strategical location for the train era you won't loose the industry on that location. If you are also able to flip the level 2 industry before the ending of the canal era you will gain income a second time. The only downside is that you won't gain the points of the level 1 industry tile at the ending of the canal era.
Oh man, I've got this one on my shelf of opportunity (not shame yet only had it for a few weeks) and its next on the list to get played, also picked up the iron clays for other economic games we have. Great Review!
@@Shelfside definitely will, watched a bunch of rules videos, printed out 3rd party player Guides, but starting with the Canal Era only introduction section first is great advice. Thank you
11:00 its actually whoever makes the least amount of money goes first. I like to take 2 loans on the last round at the end of the canal era, that way Im juiced up and ready to go AND get first choice in the rail era.
heyo! I'm just going off of page 6 in the rulebook that says whoever spent the least money this round will go first in the next round. Cheers man! -Ashton
@@ryanjackson4888 oh, I see what you mean! I can't believe I didn't catch that, I will put this in the pinned comment to help everyone! Cheers man! -Ashton
Great video. I love this game, I went for the deluxe with the poker chip money! Rules were difficult, watched Rodney's video like 3 times. I recommend small individual bags for every type of tile separated by color and industry for easier setup.
@@Shelfside The largest benefit of the deluxe version is the Iron Clays to replace the cardboard money, which you can buy separately! I picked some up and they quickly became my favorite board game upgrade, I use them as often as possible with any game that involves currency in matching denominations.
I couldn't fall in love with this game as much as I wanted to. It's absolutely beautiful, the box fits everything so nicely, but I just don't feel anything playing it.
awesome to hear! Can't wait to play to this game again :) -ashton
3 года назад
Superb review guys, like always super informative and fun, i was not sure to get this because the full "Euro" game stigma, but after seeing that it actually have player interaction in a meaningful way and not crazy book keeping, I'm getting it, thank for this and keep the good work.
@ Maybe in the US. I'm in Europe, where it's in reverse: when I bring even euro-ey dudes on a map games (like Inis), I might get weird glances, at least at first. And nearly everyone wants to avoid 'confrontational" games.
@ it's sad how "euro" is synonymous with "weak interaction and crazy bookkeeping" nowadays, considering early 2000s Eurogames were known for being the opposite. Same happened with worker placement, which went from "the mildly interactive cut-throat euro mechanism" to regular complaints like "I hate worker placement because they're not interactive" nowadays Sure multiplayer solitaire and spreadsheet simulators are fine given the rise of cozy gamers or brain burn addicts, but when they dominate the scene with barely any counter to the stigma...
