Brass: Birmingham Review

Some games sit at the top of the rankings because of hype. Brass: Birmingham sits there because a dozen plays in, you're still discovering it. This is an economic network game about building industries in 1770s England, and it is the most elegant brutal game — or the most brutal elegant game — we've ever reviewed.

How it plays

Each turn you play two cards from your hand to take actions: build an industry, link cities with canals (later, rails), develop your tech, sell goods, or take loans. The card system is the genius bit — cards limit where you can build, so every hand is a puzzle about sequencing and compromise.

The game plays out over two eras. Halfway through, all your canals are wiped from the board and the rail era begins — a structural reset that turns your early game into groundwork rather than guaranteed advantage. Few games handle a mid-game pivot this cleanly.

What makes it shine

Brass is interactive in a way most euros only pretend to be. Your opponents' industries consume your coal, flip your iron, and drink your beer — sometimes helping you, sometimes stealing the sale you'd banked on. Reading the board means reading the players.

And Roxley's production is the industry benchmark: moody Dickensian art, thick tiles, poker-weight chips. It's a game that makes people stop at the table and ask what you're playing.

Where it stumbles

The rulebook front-loads pain: your first play will be a fog of loans, beer icons and flipped tiles, and someone at the table will be half-lost until era two. It also demands the right group — with slow, analysis-prone players the back half can drag.

Who it's for

Strategy gamers, full stop. If your group finishes Catan wanting something meatier, there is a ladder — Ticket to Ride, then Wingspan, then this. Climb it, because at the top is the best pure strategy experience in the hobby.