''Brass'' is a

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

set in

Lancashire, England Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

. It was developed by Martin Wallace. The goal of the game is accrue the most victory points by building mines, cotton factories, ports, canals and rail links, and establishing trade routes. The game is divided into two historical periods: the

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

period and the

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fil ...

period.

Victory point ''Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers - The Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan'' is a nonfiction book by author Ed Darack published in hardcover in 2009 and in paperback in 2010 by The Berkley Publishing Group, an imprint ...

s are scored at the end of each.

Details

The game supports 3-4 players, with a playing time of 1-2 hours. The game's suggested age range is 14 and up.

Publisher

The game was published in 2007 by Warfrog (now Treefrog) Games, Wallace's publishing company. It was later published by Pegasus Spiele as ''Kohle - Mit Volldampf zum Reichtum'' ('Coal - Full Steam Ahead to Riches') with additional artwork by Eckhard Freytag, and under its original name by

Eagle Games Eagle Games, now known as Eagle-Gryphon games, is a board game publisher. Background Eagle Games was founded in 2001 by Glenn Drover, and was bought by Ashland, Oregon-based FRED Distribution, Inc. doing business as Gryphon Games in 2007. From 2 ...

and FRED Distribution (USA), White Goblin Games (France) and Wargames Club Publishing (China) Age of Industry Wallace followed ''Brass'' with a streamlined version known as ''Age of Industry''. This version removes the earlier canal era, shortens playtime, and allows for two-player play. ''Age of Industry'' also featured multiple maps, with the base game including both

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

along with an official expansion adding

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

2018 reprint and successor

In 2017, Canadian publisher Roxley Games launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign to fund a reprint of the game retitled ''Brass: Lancashire'', featuring new artwork and components as well as slightly modified rules. Roxley also announced a successor, ''Brass: Birmingham'', adding Gavan Brown and Matt Tolman to the design team and featuring new mechanisms while keeping the same core rule-set. The campaign succeeded, reaching 1.7m

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

. Both games received retail releases in 2018. In February 2023, ''Brass: Birmingham'' reached the spot as the top rated board game on leading website

BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition t ...

Honours

*2007 Jogo do Ano Winner *2007 Jogo do Ano Nominee *2007 Meeples' Choice Award *2008 Golden Geek Best Gamer's Board Game Nominee *2008 International Gamers Awards - General Strategy; Multi-player Nominee *2008 Tric Trac Nominee *2010 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Nominee Brass: Birmingham * 2018: Golden Geek Best Strategy Board Game * 2018: Board Game Quest Awards Best Production Values * 2018: Meeples’ Choice Award * 2018: The Golden Elephant Award Best Heavy Board Game * 2018: The Golden Elephant Award People's Choice * 2020: Gra Roku Advanced Game of the Year * 2020: Gra Roku Game of the Year

References

External links

* *{{bgg, 224517, Brass: Birmingham Board games introduced in 2007 Martin Wallace (game designer) games