Which is Greater? Episode 15: Brass Lancashire v Brass Birmingham

Grab a beer and get ready to head down the mines. There might not be much coal left, but maybe we'll find something golden!

Season 3 begins with the greatest comparison of the last year. Brass! New or old? Light or dark? Lancashire or Birmingham?

[honesthonest]

"...puddles outside of pubs, you know what they are made of don't you?! Regardles of which county urin..." ... I just spilled coffee all over

[TabletopGamesBlog]

Yay! Another episode of "Which is Greater"! I can now choose the right version of Brass with confidence. Thank you. :)

[dillenbeck]

Interesting - my wife and I found Brass Birmingham to be much more cut throat due to the ability to undercut an opponents beer to undo their strategy, while Brass Lancashire is less cutthroat because you only need a low cost easily accessible port or distant market (if distant market tiles are still available) to sell goods at.

Another thing? If you are familiar with the original Brass, well there was a "successor" game called Age of Industry which Brass Birmingham borrowed some elements from. Thus while everyone else seems to be going "oooh, beer and manufactured goods are so new an inviting" we were like "oh, I've seen some of this before - its like Pandemic Legacy Season 1 after playing all the expansion content of the original."

So why do I think Brass Lancashire is greater? Purity of play an elegance. The game stays engaging without all the gimmicky market tiles and beer restrictions that make the game more about undercutting an opponents opportunity ("Ha! You can't sell now or build because you don't have any beer - I drank it all!") and more about enticing your opponent to help you outperform them. Remember that whole link argument? Links are all about getting your opponents to score you points - they spend a fortune on industries to flip them for a moderate benefit, and you invest pennies to get a small reward; but in the end, your return-on-investment rate is way better than theirs, and you win by links. You didn't undercut or stop your opponent, you worked with them.

So which is greater? It depends on your group. If you are the type of person who can only have fun by stopping your opponents from accomplishing anything, then Brass Birmingham is greater. However, it you are wonderfully passive aggressive and like to pretend you're helping someone accomplish their goals when really you are making them your unwitting minion on your path to victory, Brass Lancashire (and the GMT COIN series) are greater. So my game of choice is Brass and Brass Lancashire (I like the tiles and no need of a massive space wasting industry board in the original, plus the cards with the star location to find it on the map quickly... oh, and the metal coins from the deluxe version along with its tile tray with lid and its brighter colors for my aging eyes and... well you get the point; but Brass Lancashire has pretty color zones and the cards can be fanned to the left or right, so its got that going for it, ... oh, I'm ranting again; sorry). Also, top hats beat beer.


Thanks for another entertaining video! Look forward to seeing more in the future.

[Vadimaster]

I prefer Lancashire, but I have been playing Brass for years, so Lancashire is like my first love. Once I’ve indoctrinated new players to Brass through Birmingham, I put them through the ringer with Lancashire. The better tacticians will always come out on top in Lancashire.

[ivandjokic]

I'd pitch in that the breweries outside of cities are easier to steal from, as you generally have to connect to them to even build there.


Good stuff, otherwise.

[andygrant]

Enjoyed that thanks, yet to play brassbrum but ill get there

[aminzarei]

Lancashire players really pushing hard to convince everybody that birmingham is really fine but lancashire is just better!😂

[emmaplaysgreen]

A great start to the new series!

I just can't get past the name of the games because it always takes me back to the ITV series that was made in the 80s.

Also, the complete erasure of Wales does somewhat annoy seeing as Cardiff and then Newport were the world's largest ports during that period due to the export of Welsh coal.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿😉

[wellsy]

Welcome back. A strong start to the series. Clearly Brass: Birmingham is superior because it is set in the Midlands (albeit the west midlands) rather than the north (where it is apparently grim) or the south (which is apparently quite soft).

[ObakuZenCenter]

"Until Brexit hits and all the petrol runs out." Welcome to two years later.

[judemartin]

That petrol joke... Are you guys time travelers?

[Cons]

Cant seem to find Birmingham, only lancanshire (I’m new, so I’m not familiar with other stores)

[sim]

So few likes compared with the views. I disagree with the bimingham victory, but the video was great as usual :D.

[tripnix]

Lol @ When Brexit hits and the petrol runs out... True to this day.

[haribhaipatel]

I have Lancashire. Is it a good choice ? Plse anybody reply.

[anaelseiyoku]

Surviving in Midlands requires beer.... hm...