Brass (board game)


Brass is a board game set in Lancashire, England during the Industrial Revolution. 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 period and the rail period. Victory points are scored at the end of each period.

Details

The game supports 2-4 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 Games, Wallace's publishing company. It was later published by Pegasus Spiele as Kohle - Mit Volldampf zum Reichtum with additional artwork by Eckhard Freytag, and under its original name by Eagle Games and FRED Distribution, White Goblin Games and Wargames Club Publishing
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 and Germany along with an official expansion adding Japan and Minnesota.

2018 reprint and successor

In 2017, Canadian publisher Roxley Games launched a Kickstarter 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. 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.

Honours

Brass: Birmingham