Brass: Birmingham — Rules Manual

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Game: BRASS: BIRMINGHAM
Publisher: Roxley (2018)
Page 1: Rules summary front
Page 2: Rules summary back
Page 3: Player reference front x2
Page 4: Player reference back x2
v1.2
July 2019
Print on card (ensure you are printing at 100% scale) laminate and trim to size.
These sheets are intended only for the personal use of existing owners of the game for additional reference. The
Esoteric Order of Gamers makes no claim whatsoever to the rights of the publisher and copyright holder, and does
not directly benefit financially from this work. Artwork from the original game is copyrighted by the publisher and
used without permission. This PDF may not be re-posted online, sold or repurposed in any way.
Created by
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SETUP
Place the board on either the day or night side.
With less than 4 players, return to the box all cards and merchant tiles showing a player count greater than your number of players.
Separate the wild location and wild industry cards and place each deck faceup on two of the card draw areas. Shuffle the remaining cards (the draw deck) and place them facedown on the remaining card draw area.
Shuffle the remaining merchant tiles, and place 1 faceup on each of the merchant spaces marked with the number of players in your game. In a 2 player game, no merchant tiles are placed in Warrington and Nottingham; in a 3 player game, none are placed in Nottingham.
Place 1 beer barrel on each beer barrel space beside a non-blank merchant tile.
Place 1 black cube on each space of the coal market, leaving 1 of the £1 spaces free. Place 1 orange cube on each space of the iron market, leaving both of the £1 spaces free.
Place the remaining cubes and beer barrels beside the board as the general supply. This is limitless: if you need more of a resource, represent it with something else.
Place the money beside the board as the bank.
Each player takes a player mat and turns it to the day or night side as appropriate, takes £17 from the bank, chooses a coloured character tile, and places the matching coloured link tiles in their player area.
Stack your matching coloured industry tiles (cotton mills, coal mines, iron works, manufacturers, potteries, and breweries) on their appropriate slots on your player mat. The side of the tiles with the black top half should be facedown.
Place your hexagonal victory point (VP) marker on the 0 space of the progress track and your round income marker on the 10 space.
Draw 8 cards from the draw deck as your hand. Do not reveal your hand to other players. Draw 1 additional card from the draw deck and place it facedown in your player area as your discard pile.
Shuffle all players’ character tiles and place them in a random order on the turn order track.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY
The game is played over 2 eras: the Canal Era (1770-1830) and the Rail Era (1830-1870). VPs are scored at the end of each era.
Each era is played in rounds, in which players take turns in the order of their character tiles on the turn order track until both the draw deck and players’ hands are exhausted. There are exactly 8/9/10 rounds per era in a 4/3/2 players game.

PLAYER TURNS
On your turn, perform 2 actions.
During the first round of the Canal Era, each player performs only 1 action.
For each action you perform, you must discard a card from your hand and place it faceup on top of your discard pile. Wild cards are placed back onto their card draw areas.
After all of your actions have been completed, refill your hand back up to 8 cards with cards from the draw deck.
Place all money spent during your turn on top of your character tile on the turn order track.
Once the draw deck has been exhausted, your hand will decrease each round until you have no cards left.

ACTIONS
For each action, you may perform one of the following actions (you may perform the same action twice):
1. Build
2. Network
3. Develop
4. Sell
5. Loan
6. Scout
You may choose to pass instead of performing an action, but must still discard a card for each action you pass.

cards are placed back onto their card draw areas After all of your actions have been completed refill your hand back up to 8 cards with cards from the draw deck Place all money spent during your turn on top of your character tile on the turn order track Once the draw deck has been exhausted your hand will decrease each round until you have no cards left ACTIONS For each action you may perform one of the following actions you may perform the same action twice 1 Build 2 Network 3 Develop 4 Sell 5 Loan 6 Scout You may choose to pass instead of performing an action but must still discard a card for each action you pass

END OF ROUND
After all players have taken their turn, perform the following steps before moving on to the next round:
1. Determine turn order for the next round
Rearrange the character tiles on the turn order track. The player who spent the least money this round goes first next round and so on, while the player who spent the most will go last. If multiple players have spent an equal amount, their relative turn order remains the same.
Then return all money from the character tiles to the bank.
2. Take income
Take money from the bank equal to your income level. Income is not collected at the end of the final round of the game.
Your income level is the number displayed on the coin beside your income marker’s current location. If your income level is negative, you must pay that amount of money to the bank.
If you have a shortfall when paying negative income, you must acquire money by removing 1 or more of your industry tiles (not link tiles) from the board; each being worth half of its cost, rounded down. The removed tile is removed from the game. You keep any excess money.
You may remove any of your industry tiles, but must stop as soon as you have acquired enough money to cover the shortfall. You may not sell industry tiles for any reason other than paying for a shortfall.
If you have no way to pay a shortfall, lose 1 VP (if possible) for each £1 you are short.

END OF CANAL & RAIL ERAS
Each era ends following the round in which all players use the final cards in their hands. When this occurs, perform the following steps:
1. Score canal / rail links
For each of your link tiles, score 1 VP for each adjacent location (advance your VP marker along the progress track). Remove link tiles from the board as they are scored.
2. Score flipped industry tiles
After all players have removed their link tiles, score the VPs shown in the bottom left corner of your flipped industry tiles (those with a black top half) on the board (advance your VP marker along the progress track). Unflipped industry tiles do not score.
If you score more than 100 VPs, record the additional points by starting another loop of the progress track.

END OF CANAL ERA
Perform these extra steps at the end of the Canal Era:
3. Remove obsolete industries
Remove all level 1 industry tiles from the board (not from player mats), and return them to the box. All level 2 or greater industry tiles remain on the board.
4. Reset merchant beer
Place 1 beer barrel on each empty beer barrel space beside a (non-blank) merchant tile.
5. Shuffle draw deck
Shuffle all players’ discard piles together and place the cards facedown on the appropriate card draw area. Note that the bottom card of each discard pile will be facedown, and need turning over before shuffling (don’t start the Rail Era with a card facedown in your discard).
6. Draw new hands
Each player draws 8 cards from the newly shuffled draw deck.

Remove obsolete industries Remove all level 1 industry tiles from the board not from player mats and return them to the box All level 2 or greater industry tiles remain on the board 4 Reset merchant beer Place 1 beer barrel on each empty beer barrel space beside a non blank merchant tile 5 Shuffle draw deck Shuffle all players discard piles together and place the cards facedown on the appropriate card draw area Note that the bottom card of each discard pile will be facedown and need turning over before shuffling don t start the Rail Era with a card facedown in your discard 6 Draw new hands Each player draws 8 cards from the newly shuffled draw deck

BUILD ACTION
1. Discard an appropriate card. Unlike other actions, the Build action requires you to discard an appropriate card faceup onto your discard pile (place a wild card back onto its card draw area).
Location card: May be used to build any industry tile at the location named on the card, even if the location is not a part of your network.
Wild Location card: May be played as any location card. This does not include the 2 farm breweries.
Industry card: May be used to build the industry tile matching an icon shown in the top corner of the card, in a location that is a part of your network.
Wild Industry card: May be played as any industry card.
In 2 or 3 player games, all locations are still available to build in using wild and industry cards, even though some location cards have been removed from the game.
2. Take the lowest level tile of the chosen industry from your player mat and place it (the side with the black top half facedown) on an undeveloped space in your chosen build location.
If possible, place it on a space displaying only that industry’s icon. Otherwise, place it on a space displaying that industry’s icon with another industry’s icon.
If no undeveloped spaces display your industry’s icon, you may not place it in that location.
In the Canal Era, you may have a maximum of 1 industry tile per location, but may have a tile in the same location as other players. Industry tiles with a to the left of their slot on your player mat may not be built.
In the Rail Era, you may build multiple industry tiles in each location. Industry tiles with a to the left of their slot on your player mat may not be built. You must perform the Develop action to remove these tiles and access the higher-level tiles.
3. Pay the cost of the industry tile you are building (shown to the left of its slot on your player mat) onto your character tile on the turn order track, and consume any required coal and iron.
4a. If you built a coal mine or iron works, place coal or iron (from the general supply) onto the industry tile, equal to the quantity shown in the bottom right corner of the tile.
4b. If you built a brewery, place 1 beer barrel on the industry tile if it is built during the Canal Era, or 2 beer barrels if it is built during the Rail Era.
Moving coal and iron to the market
If you build either a:
Coal mine that is connected to any merchant space (even those without merchant tiles); or an Iron works, regardless of whether or not it is connected to a merchant space:
You must immediately move as many cubes as possible from the industry tile to available spaces in its associated market (filling the most expensive spaces first). For each cube moved, collect the corresponding amount of money displayed on the coin to the left side of its market space.
If the last cube is moved from your industry tile to its market, flip the industry tile and advance your income marker along the progress track by the number of spaces shown in the bottom right corner of the tile.
Coal and iron cubes may only be sold to their markets during the action when their industry tile is built. They are never sold to their markets in later turns.

BRASS
BIRMINGHAM

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Building if you have no tiles on the board
If you have no industry or link tiles on the board, you may also (as an action) discard an industry card to build the matching industry tile in any location with an undeveloped space displaying that industry’s icon; or any card to build a link tile on any undeveloped line on the board.

Farm breweries
The farm breweries are the 2 unnamed locations with 1 space showing a brewery icon. You may only build in these locations using a brewery industry card or a wild industry card.
A link tile is required to connect Cannock to the farm brewery to its left. A link tile placed between Kidderminster and Worcester also connects both locations to the farm brewery to their left. A second link tile is not required; nor may it be placed there.

Overbuilding
You may sometimes replace an already placed industry tile with a higher level tile of the same industry type (you must still pay the necessary build costs).
If the tile you are replacing is your own, you may overbuild any industry tile. If there are any iron / coal / beer on the tile being replaced, place them back into the general supply.
If the tile you are replacing is owned by an opponent, you may overbuild only a coal mine or an iron works. There must be no resource cubes on the entire board, including in its market, of the same type as the industry tile being replaced.
Remove overbuilt industry tiles from the game, and return them to the box (they will not score VPs). Players do not lose previously gained income or VPs if their industry tiles are overbuilt.

NETWORK ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand faceup onto your discard pile (place a wild card back onto its card draw area).
2. Place a link tile on an undeveloped line on the board. The placed link tile must be adjacent to a location that is a part of your network.
A location on the board is considered to be a part of your network if at least one of the following is true:
– the location contains 1 or more of your industry tiles;
– the location is adjacent to 1 or more of your link tiles.
If you have no industry or link tiles on the board, you may place a link tile on any undeveloped line (you must still consume coal if building a rail link).

NETWORK DURING THE CANAL ERA:
You may not build rail links. You may build canal links on undeveloped canal lines.
You may build a maximum of 1 canal link for £3.

NETWORK DURING THE RAIL ERA:
You may not build canal links. You may build rail links on undeveloped railroad lines.
You may build 1 rail link for £5.
In a single network action, you may build a maximum of 2 rail links for £15, if you also consume 1 beer.
This beer must be consumed from a brewery (not a merchant beer).
If consuming beer from another player’s brewery, it must be connected to the second rail link (after it is placed).
You must consume 1 coal for each rail link built.
Each rail link is placed separately and must be connected to a source of coal (after it is placed).

DEVELOP ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand faceup onto your discard pile (place a wild card back onto its card draw area).
2. Remove 1 or 2 industry tiles from your player mat, and return them to the box.
Each industry tile is removed separately and does not need to be of the same industry, but must be the lowest level tile of the chosen industry (as it is removed).
3. Consume 1 iron for each tile removed.

POTTERIES AND THE LIGHTBULB ICON
Pottery tiles that show this icon may not be developed. These tiles may only be removed from your player mat through use of the build action. They must be removed before you can access the higher-level pottery tiles.

SELL ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand faceup onto your discard pile (place a wild card back onto its card draw area).
2. Choose 1 of your unflipped cotton mill, manufacturer, or pottery tiles that is connected to a merchant tile featuring that industry’s icon.
3. Consume the required amount of beer, shown in the top right corner of the industry tile.
If there is a beer barrel on the space beside the merchant tile you are selling to, you may consume this beer as part of the Sell action, and collect the merchant beer bonus.
You cannot perform the Sell action if you cannot consume the required beer.
4. Flip the industry tile and advance your income marker along the progress track by the number of spaces shown in the bottom right corner of the tile.
5. You may go back to step 2 and repeat the process for each of your unflipped industry tiles (including those of a different industry).

industry s icon 3 Consume the required amount of beer shown in the top right corner of the industry tile If there is a beer barrel on the space beside the merchant tile you are selling to you may consume this beer as part of the Sell action and collect the merchant beer bonus You cannot perform the Sell action if you cannot consume the required beer 4 Flip the industry tile and advance your income marker along the progress track by the number of spaces shown in the bottom right corner of the tile 5 You may go back to step 2 and repeat the process for each of your unflipped industry tiles including those of a different industry

MERCHANT BEER BONUSES
Merchant beer may only be consumed as part of a Sell action.
If you consume a merchant beer, you also receive the bonus displayed beside that merchant tile’s location:
Develop (Gloucester): Remove 1 of the lowest level tiles of any industry from your player mat (for no iron cost).
You cannot remove a pottery tile showing a icon.
Income (Oxford): Advance your income marker 2 spaces along the progress track.
Victory Points (Nottingham and Shrewsbury): Advance your VP Marker along the progress track by the number of spaces indicated.
Money (Warrington): Receive £5 from the bank.

LOAN ACTION
Loans are never repaid, but instead lower your income level. You cannot take a loan if it takes your income level below -10.
1. Discard any card from your hand faceup onto your discard pile (place a wild card back onto its card draw area).
2. Take £30 from the bank, and move your income marker 3 income levels (not spaces) backwards down the progress track. Place your income marker on the highest space within the new lower income level.

SCOUT ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand faceup onto your discard pile plus 2 additional cards, and place them face up onto your discard pile.
2. Take 1 wild location and 1 wild industry card.

RESOURCES
Consumed coal cubes, iron cubes, and beer barrels are placed back into the general supply.

CONSUMING COAL
To consume coal, a rail link or industry tile must be connected to a source of coal (after it is placed).
Coal must be consumed from:
1. The closest (fewest link tiles distant) connected unflipped coal mine (owned by any player). If multiple coal mines are equally close, choose one. If a coal mine runs out of coal, and you need more, choose the next closest coal mine. Consuming coal in this way is free.
2. If you are not connected to an unflipped coal mine, you can purchase coal from the coal market, starting at the cheapest price. This requires a connection to a icon (Warrington, Shrewsbury, Nottingham, Gloucester, and Oxford merchants). If the coal market is empty, you can still purchase coal for £8 / .

CONSUMING IRON
Iron is required to perform the Develop action, and to build certain industry tiles. To consume iron, an industry tile does not need a connection to a source of iron.
Iron must be consumed from:
1. Any unflipped iron works (owned by any player); it does not have to be the closest. If you need more than 1 iron, you can consume each iron from a different iron works. Consuming iron in this way is free.
2. If there are no unflipped iron works, you can purchase iron from the iron market, starting at the cheapest price. If the iron market is empty, you can still purchase iron for £6 / .

CONSUMING BEER
You may need to consume beer when selling cotton, manufactured goods, or pottery; or when performing the Network action during the rail era. The amount required is shown in the top right corner of the industry tile.
Beer may be consumed from any of the following sources:
1. Your unflipped breweries. These do not need to be connected to the location where the beer is required.
2. An opponent’s unflipped brewery. These must be connected to the location where the beer is required.
3. The space beside a merchant tile you are selling to.
When multiple beer barrels are required, each may be consumed from a different source.

is empty you can still purchase iron for 6 CONSUMING BEER You may need to consume beer when selling cotton manufactured goods or pottery or when performing the Network action during the rail era The amount required is shown in the top right corner of the industry tile Beer may be consumed from any of the following sources 1 Your unflipped breweries These do not need to be connected to the location where the beer is required 2 An opponent s unflipped brewery These must be connected to the location where the beer is required 3 The space beside a merchant tile you are selling to When multiple beer barrels are required each may be consumed from a different source

OTHER
Flipping industry tiles
At the end of each era, flipped industry tiles score VPs. When flipped, they have a black top half and a VP icon in the bottom left corner. Different Industry tiles are flipped in different ways:
Cotton mills, manufacturers, and potteries: Flip when you perform a Sell action.
Coal mines, iron works, and breweries: Flip when the last resource is removed from the tile. This often happens during an opponent’s turn.
Connected locations Two locations are considered connected to each other if you can trace a route of link tiles (owned by any player) from one location to the other.
Increasing your income Whenever one of your industry tiles is flipped, increase your income: immediately advance your income marker along the progress track by the number of spaces (not income levels) shown. You cannot increase your income level above level 30.

WINNING THE GAME
After performing Rail Era scoring, the player with the most VPs is the winner. Ties are broken, first by the highest income, and then by the most money remaining. If still tied, those players draw.

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PLAYER TURNS
On your turn, perform 2 actions. Each action, you must discard a card (wild cards go back on their draw areas).
During the first round of the Canal Era, each player performs only 1 action.
Place all the money you spend on your character tile.
Finally, draw back up to 8 cards.

ACTIONS
For each action:
1. Build 3. Develop 5. Loan
2. Network 4. Sell 6. Scout
You may pass an action, but must still discard a card.

END OF ROUND
After all players have taken their turn:
1. Rearrange character tiles on the turn order track
The player who spent the least money this round goes first next round and so on. Then return all money from the character tiles to the bank.
2. Take money from the bank = income level
(do not take money so at the end of the final round).
If your income level is negative, pay to the bank.

END OF CANAL & RAIL ERAS
Each era ends following the round in which all players use the final cards in their hands. Then:
1. Score canal / rail links
For each of your link tiles, score 1 VP for each [barrel icon] in adjacent locations. Remove tiles as they are scored.
2. Score flipped industry tiles
Score VPs shown in the bottom left corner of your flipped industry tiles. Unflipped tiles do not score.

Perform these extra steps at the end of the Canal Era:
3. Remove all level 1 industry tiles from the game.
4. Place 1 beer barrel on each empty beer barrel space beside a (non-blank) merchant tile.
5. Shuffle all discards to form a new draw deck.
6. Each player draws 8 cards from the draw deck.

BUILD ACTION
1. Discard an appropriate card:
Location: Build any industry tile there, even if it is not a part of your network. You may play a wild location as any location card (not including the 2 farm breweries).
Industry: Build the industry tile matching an icon on the card, in a location that is part of your network. You may play a wild industry card as any industry card.
In 2/3 player games, all locations are still available for building using wild and industry cards, even though some location cards have been removed from the game.

2. Take the lowest level tile of the chosen industry from your player mat and place it (black top half side facedown) on an undeveloped space in your chosen location that shows only that industry’s icon (or, if not possible, one that shares its icon with another industry).
Canal Era: max 1 tile per location, but may have a tile in the same location as other players. Tiles with a [barrel icon] may not be built.
Rail Era: may build multiple tiles in each location. Tiles with a [barrel icon] may not be built.

3. Pay the tile’s cost and consume any required coal or iron.

4a. If you built a coal mine or iron works, place coal or iron (bottom right hand corner of the tile) from the general supply onto the tile.
4b. If you built a brewery, place 1 beer barrel on the tile (Canal Era) or 2 beer barrels (Rail Era).

Moving coal and iron to the market
If you build either a coal mine (connected to any merchant space) or an iron works, immediately move as many cubes as possible from the industry tile to available spaces in its market (most expensive spaces first). For each cube moved, collect the corresponding amount of money.
If the last cube is moved from your tile to its market, flip the tile and advance your income marker.

Overbuilding
If the tile you are replacing is your own, you may overbuild any industry tile. Place any resources on the tile back into the general supply.
If the tile you are replacing is owned by an opponent, you may overbuild only a coal mine or an iron works. There must be no resources on the board, including the market, of the same type as the tile being replaced.

NETWORK ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand.
2. Place a link tile on an undeveloped line. It must be adjacent to a location that is part of your network.
During the Canal Era you may only build canal links on undeveloped canal lines. 1 canal link costs £3.
During the Rail Era you may only build rail links on undeveloped railroad lines. 1 rail link costs £5 and 1 coal.
In one network action, you may build 2 rail links for £15, if you also consume 1 beer from a brewery (not a merchant beer). If it is from another player’s brewery, it must be connected to the second rail link (after it is placed). Each rail link is placed separately and must be connected to a source of coal (after it is placed).

BRASS BIRMINGHAM

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DEVELOP ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand.
2. Remove 1 or 2 industry tiles from your player mat (lowest level tile of the chosen industry) and return them to the box. Pottery tiles with a lightbulb icon cannot be developed.
3. Consume 1 iron for each tile removed.

SELL ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand.
2. Choose 1 of your unflipped cotton mill, manufacturer, or pottery tiles that is connected to a merchant tile with that industry’s icon.
3. Consume the required amount of beer (top right corner of the industry tile). If there is a beer barrel on the space next to the merchant tile you are selling to, you may consume this beer as part of the Sell action, and collect the merchant beer bonus.
4. Flip the tile and advance your income marker.
5. You may go back to step 2 and repeat the process for each of your unflipped industry tiles.

LOAN ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand.
2. Take £30 from the bank, and move your income marker 3 income levels (not spaces) backwards down the progress track. Place your income marker on the highest space within the new lower income level.

SCOUT ACTION
1. Discard any card from your hand faceup onto your discard pile plus 2 additional cards.
2. Take 1 wild location and 1 wild industry card.

CONSUMING COAL
To consume coal, a rail link or industry tile must be connected to a source of coal (after it is placed).
Coal must be consumed from:
1. The closest (fewest link tiles distant) connected unflipped coal mine (owned by any player). If multiple mines are equally close, choose one. If a mine runs out of coal, and you need more, choose the next closest mine.
2. If you are not connected to an unflipped coal mine, you can purchase coal from the coal market, starting at the cheapest price. This requires a connection to a [icon].
If the coal market is empty, you can still purchase coal for £8 / [icon].

CONSUMING IRON
To consume iron, an industry tile does not need a connection to a source of iron.
Iron must be consumed from:
1. Any unflipped iron works (owned by any player); it does not have to be the closest. If you need more than 1 iron, you can consume each iron from a different iron works.
2. If there are no unflipped iron works, you can purchase iron from the iron market, starting at the cheapest price.
If the iron market is empty, you can still purchase iron for £6 / [icon].

CONSUMING BEER
Beer may be consumed from:
1. Your unflipped breweries. These do not need to be connected to the location where the beer is required.
2. An opponent’s unflipped brewery. These must be connected to the location where the beer is required.
3. The space beside a merchant tile you are selling to.
Multiple beer barrels may each be consumed from a different source.

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