Objective of the Game

Welcome to the Industrial Revolution, my friends! In Brass, you're not just playing a game; you're building an empire across 18th-century Lancashire. Your ultimate goal? To become the most influential industrialist by accumulating the most Victory Points (VP)!

How do you do that, you ask? Simple:

1. Build awesome industry tiles and then get them up and running (we call that "flipping" them).
2. Forge crucial links (canals and railways) between bustling locations.
3. And, because money talks, you'll even snag 1 VP for every 10 money you're holding onto at the very end of the game.

So, get ready to strategize, build, and outmaneuver your opponents to claim your place in history!

Preparation (Setup)

Alright, let's get this industrial machine humming! Here's how to set up your game of Brass:

General Setup:

1. First things first, let's figure out who goes first! Randomize the turn order for all players.
2. Next, we need to stock the markets. Fill the external markets with their respective resources.
3. Set the distant market demand to its highest level (the top space).
4. Give those demand tiles a good shuffle and place them face down.
5. Finally, grab the main card deck, shuffle it thoroughly, and then remove a specific number of cards based on your player count:
   • For 3 players: Remove 9 cards.
   • For 4 players: Remove 6 cards.

Each Player:

Now, for your personal starting kit:

1. Draw 8 cards from the shuffled deck. These are your starting hand!
2. Take a cool 30 money from the bank. You'll need it!
3. Organize your personal industry tiles into neat stacks. Make sure the lowest tech level is always on top, ready to be built.
4. Place your income marker on the "10" space of the Income/VP track. Your VP markers, however, should be kept separate for now.

The Turn of Play

Alright, listen up! A game of Brass unfolds over two distinct eras: the Canal Era and the Rail Era. Each era has its own rhythm, but the core turn structure remains consistent. Let's break down what happens on your turn:

Turn Structure:

1. Collect Income: First, check your income marker on the Income/VP track. You'll collect money from the bank equal to your current income level. Cha-ching!
2. Perform 2 Actions: Now's your time to shine! In turn order, each player performs two actions. The first player takes both their actions, then the next player takes both of theirs, and so on. Any money you spend during these actions goes into your personal "spent" box.
3. Redo Turn Order: After everyone has taken their actions, it's time to shake things up! The new turn order is determined by who spent the least money in the previous round. The player who spent the least goes first. If there's a tie, the previous turn order is maintained among those tied players.
4. Empty "Spent" Boxes and Refill Hands: Finally, empty all the "spent" boxes back into the bank, and if possible, draw cards to refill your hand back to 8 cards.

Available Actions:

During your turn, you can choose from a variety of powerful actions. Remember, you get two actions per turn!

A. Build Industry

This is where you start building your empire! To build an industry, you need to play the appropriate card in one of three ways:

1. Play a location card that exactly matches the location where you want to build.
2. If the location is already part of your personal network, you can play a matching industry card.
3. Feeling flexible? You can spend 2 actions to discard any 2 cards and build an industry anywhere on the map!

Don't forget to pay the required money and consume any necessary iron or coal. You must always build the top tile from your chosen industry stack onto a matching industry location.

• Building Iron: When you build an iron industry, add the supplied iron cubes to the tile. If the external market isn't full, move some iron from your tile to the external market and take money from the bank for each slot you fill.
• Building Coal: Similar to iron, but with a twist! You must be linked to any port to move coal to the external market. If your coal mine is initially isolated but later gets linked to a port, the coal cubes do not move to the external market.

B. Sell Cotton

Time to get those cotton mills productive! Discard any card to perform this action.

Choose one of your unflipped cotton mills. Now, you have a choice:

1. Connect to a Port: Choose an unflipped port that is connected to your mill. Flip both your mill and that port tile! Both owners immediately get the listed income increases. (The port doesn't even have to be yours!)
2. Sell to the Distant Market: If your mill is connected to *any* kind of port and the distant market hasn't bottomed out, you can try selling there. Flip a market tile and lower the demand.
   • If the demand bottoms out, your action immediately ends, and your mill doesn't flip. Bummer!
   • If demand remains, then flip your mill and gain additional income equal to the remaining demand. Sweet!

You can repeat this choice for as many unflipped mills as you have in this single action. But remember, if you try the distant market and it bottoms out, your action is over right then and there!

C. Take a Loan

Need some quick cash? Discard any card and take 10, 20, or 30 money from the bank. Be warned, though: for every 10 money you take, your income marker drops one income band!

D. Develop

Upgrade your tech! Discard any card. You can develop up to twice in this action. Each time you develop, you must consume an iron and then remove the top tile from one of your industry stacks. You can choose different stacks if you develop twice in the same action.

E. Build Link

Connect the world! Discard any card to build a link. Remember these general rules:

• The link must connect to your personal network.
• Only one player can ever build on a given link.

Canal Era:

• You can only build on blue links.
• You can only build a single canal per action.
• Pay 3 money to the bank.

Rail Era:

• You can only build on brown links.
• You can build 1 or 2 tracks in a single action.
  • For one track: Pay 5 money to the bank and consume one coal.
  • For two tracks: Pay 15 money to the bank and consume two coals. (These tracks don't have to be built on consecutive links!)

Important Mechanisms:

• Flipping Industry Tiles: This is key to income and VPs!
  • Cotton and Ports: Flip during a "Sell Cotton" action.
  • Iron and Coal: Flip when they are completely emptied of their resources.
  • Shipyards: These bad boys flip immediately when they are built!
  Once a tile is flipped, immediately move your income marker up the Income/VP track, and you'll score its VPs at the end of the era.
• Consuming Iron:
  1. If there's iron on tiles in your network, take it from any tile for free. If you remove the last iron from a tile, it flips and scores!
  2. If no iron is available on tiles, take it from the external market and pay the appropriate price to the bank.
  3. If the external market is empty, you can still get iron from the bank, but you'll pay 5 money for it.
• Consuming Coal: Coal needs to be *transported*!
  1. If your building site is connected to a tile with coal, take it from there for free. Always take from the closest source (if equidistant, you choose!). If it's the last coal, that tile flips!
  2. If not connected to coal, but connected to *any* port, you can take coal from the external market and pay its price. (If the external market is empty, take from the bank and pay 5.)
  3. If you're not connected to coal *or* any port, sorry, no coal for you!
• Personal Networks: A location is part of your personal network if you have an industry tile there or a link connected to it. This matters because:
  • You can only build new links that touch your personal networks.
  • You can only use industry cards to build in locations that are part of your personal networks.
  For all other connection or transport purposes, any player's links will do!

End of Game and Scoring

The game unfolds in two exciting eras: the Canal Era and the Rail Era. Each has its own end conditions and scoring moments.

Canal Era:

1. The Canal Era continues until both the draw deck and all players' hands are completely exhausted.
2. Time for a mid-game score! You'll score VP for all your flipped industry tiles and for your canals.
3. Canals score for each gold circle in their connected locations. (Each flipped industry tile has a single gold circle, and additional ones are printed directly on the board.)
4. Keep track of your score using your VP marker on the Income/VP track. (Remember, your VP and Income markers stay separate!)
5. After scoring, all canals and all level 1 tiles are removed from the board. The distant cotton market is reset, and the demand tiles are reshuffled.

Rail Era:

1. Kick off the Rail Era by dealing out 8 cards to each player and removing the appropriate number of cards from the draw deck (same as setup: 9 for 3 players, 6 for 4 players).
2. The Rail Era plays out just like the Canal Era, continuing until the draw deck and all players' hands are exhausted.
3. It's final scoring time! Score VP for all your flipped industry tiles and for your rail tracks. Plus, you get a bonus 1 VP for every 10 money you're holding onto.
4. The player with the most VP wins! In case of a tie, the tie-breaker goes to the player with the highest income, then the most money, and finally, the player who would have gone next in turn order.

Tips for Winning

Alright, future tycoons, here are a few nuggets of wisdom to get you started on the path to industrial domination:

1. Canal Era - Get That Income Flowing Early!

   For new players, a fantastic opening move in the Canal Era is to build a cotton mill, connect it to any port (even an opponent's!), and then immediately perform a "Sell Cotton" action. This is a straightforward way to boost your income into the positive quickly and sets you up for future growth. Don't be afraid to take a loan if you need the capital to get this engine running!

2. Rail Era - Coal is King!

   As the Canal Era winds down, try to position yourself to have some coal sitting on the board at the beginning of the Rail Era. This means building a tech level 2 or higher coal mine towards the end of the Canal Era. Why? Because all tracks require coal, there will be a massive demand for it when the Rail Era begins. Supplying that demand (or having your own ready) will give you a huge advantage!

3. Watch Supply and Demand - Build What's Needed!

   This is a fundamental principle in Brass. Keep an eye on what's in short supply on the board and in the external markets. If there are many unflipped cotton mills, build some ports. If there are many unflipped ports, build some cotton mills. If the external coal or iron market is low, build some of those industries! By concentrating on building what's in demand, you'll be able to flip your industries quicker, securing both income and those precious VPs faster.