Why is Brass: Birmingham world's #1 board game?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2024
- #boardgames #review
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Got this game for my 35th birthday. I don't have that big of a collection, since I don't have a real regular group or that much time to play, but I've always wanted something a little weightier than what I was used to. Anyway, watched videos and "How tos" for about a week in prep to teach my wife how to play and do my first real playthrough. Friday night rolls around, we put the kid to bed and we both stay up for 3 hours just doing the first ERA, learning and trying to understand the mechanics. It was rough, but by the end, we both realized we were having a lot of fun understanding the mechanics and how they all "made sense" in a gameplay and real-life sort of way. The next night, we played AGAIN. It took three hours again to play through both ERAs this time, but we had a blast and she kicked my ass. lol. We took the next night off, but I'm excited to play again.
While I love NPI’s cultural analysis and background info, I do feel like they misrepresented the feel of the gameplay. One of my favorite things in all games is the endless challenge of making strategic decisions with randomness. The card distribution in this game make the puzzle of playing so fascinating. And unlike many other Euro’s it’s heavily dependent on other players actions while still avoiding direct conflict. I see possibilities and challenge, not a slow creep of hopelessness
It might be the people I play with but, I don't remember playing Brass: Birmingham and finding myself being presented with worse and worse options. I am usually predicting when coal and iron will be in more or less demand and plan accordingly. I have won a number of times with the other players saying, "It looks like focusing on iron and coal is how to win." or "Focusing on links is how to win."
I usually tell them that I did not pick any strategy. My strategy was to maximize what I could do with what I had. Some times that means I am supplying almost all of the coal and iron. While other times I am building a lot of rail. It is exploiting a niche that the other players are not or only exploiting.
You actually know how to play the game :)
Agree!
I honestly don't know what this video was trying to say about the game other than "the theme fits". Interesting, but left me head scratching
It was saying "watch me, watch me!"
I think he liked the way the mechanics tie together in a circular dependancy, as opposed to just the typical straight line in engine building games.
So, if you were to find a safe city in the Underground Layer of Zelda, would you consider that to be some sort of Gloom Haven?
Both Brass Birmingham and Tears of the Kingdom build on the efforts of a predecessor (Lancashire and Breath of the Wild), adding what can at first seem like slight tweaks but that lead to what are considered massive improvements to the systems. They are slightly more complex than their predecessors and therefore considered a richer experience. But are they better?
Welcome to Notts! Brought me great joy to find that you are local! Shame I haven't bumped into you in any of the local game stores! Love your unique style. Big fan.
I can say with confidence that Brass Birmingham is my favorite game.
Very high level of effort with this video. Thank you for sharing your insights and putting in the work.
Absolutely amazing video, y'all!!! A joy to watch!
The immersive sim-ness of TotK also links it to a board game-like motivation for trying out new things, exploring the implications of a relatively transparent set of rules. With Brass being quite open and obtuse, there's also the sense that there's always something I haven't seen yet, some approach I could try in the future
Your videos have truly gotten better and better over the years, and have become really engaging to watch! Thank you for all the work you put into these!
Great review! Always informative and entertaining!
Always love your videos and this was no exception; from beginning to end, a joy! Also, I love Brass Lancashire more, as well.
Would be helpful to understand what the key differences between Brass Birmingham & Brass Lancashire are that makes both of you prefer the latter.
@@a-c-m Lancashire is like Chess. Birmingham like Chess where the pawns can move in all eight directions.
@@a-c-m For me, having played both, I find Lancashire to be a much cleaner design. I certainly appreciate the added complexity of having Beer as a resource, but for me I'll prefer playing Lancashire always over Birmingham (or as I say when it comes out, "Beer-mingham")
This was a very interesting and thoughtful review, and I haven't even played either Brass yet. Kept my attention regardless.
I'm a pretty big fan of BB, and I think it's only real negatives are the amount of fiddly rules (i.e. keeping track of money spent to switch player order, constantly miscounting cards spent on actions and having to count back through time several times a game, when can I sell goods). The game itself is an awesome interaction and a great puzzle.
The best way to stop forgetting using cards is just give two cards each at the end of the round after being sure that every one only have 6 cards left.. also, it has a lot of rules, but it make sense with the theme so it's not hard to internalize them.
@@mealessi It is a deep game, but compared to other deep games I think the rules are very difficult to teach, leading to somewhat poor first plays, then if you don't play very soon after, these rules will have to be scoured from the rulebook.
We never had problems with this. I think the reason is that we use quite strict routines to help us with those processes. I.e. All the money spend by a player during a turn is put onto the turn order track for that player. So at the end of the round it's easy to see who spent the most.
@@sarumon17 Your second comment describes the situation I am in. With my first self-taught game I wasn't able to pick up on any of the nuances described in this review.
You're meant to put your coins spent on the left side of the board. At the end of the round you just look at who spent the most coins. Don't see how that is difficult personally
Brass is a game so good you play it twice every time you play it once. Seriously though, I like brass but it out-says it’s welcome for me.
The video and the critical insight I didn’t know I needed but far out is this a satisfying analysis
I hear so much about this game, wish I could play it
Of course NPI was able to link Martin Wallace to Shigeru Miyamoto. It has to be done!
would it be an NPI video without strenuous connections that only make sense to us?
@NoPunIncluded it would be a TH-cam video period if it were not made connect to something else that had buzz. Metatags pointing to the latest Zelda game are a must. MUST have Martin Wallace discovered by Nintendo fans.
Funny thing, I thought Birmingham in the game was connected to United States. And I own the game.
I'm not sure how much zelda metatags would help because not many a zelda fan is interested in this.
Me and Elaine have just been playing a lot of Zelda in the evenings lately, and I thought, isn't it funny how both of these games have a circular convoluted game loop but implement it in a totally opposite way. And how that's informed by the tone of the game.
It's a tenuous connection but an illustrative one and I think that's kinda neat.
@@NoPunIncluded more likely to generate views from Zelda Metatags than Martin Wallace ones.
Interesting perspective, maybe it also explains why I really didn't like Brass Birmingham at all! 😊
Thanks for your fun yet informative videos, I love your editing style and humour. 👍
I like it because to get ahead you have to help your opponents by flipping their resources or by building them rail networks
It might be the people I play with but, I find that I do the best when I am full filling demands. Am I foreseeing a lack of iron and/or coal on the board? Then I will start building ironworks and strategic coal mines. Am I foreseeing a glut of iron and/or coal? Then I will start to build production buildings.
Great timing! Just last week I checked BGG’s top 100 for the first time in a long time and… Brass Birmingham was at the top? Wasn’t it just at #4? Didn’t it come out in 2018 (5 years ago)? Suffice it to say, I was confused. Thanks for explaining a bit about the game (beyond just a review), it helps to understand why others would push it up to #1.
Being uk… and a Lancastrian, 🎉 for a deep insight into our English industrial stress. You’re a star.
I was surprised this is bgg #1. This position should be for Brass Lancashire
Why? I've seen the opinions both ways in comments, but no actual reasons given.
I have had this question for a long time! Thank you for answering.
You are a genius at this, kind person.
I don’t think anything has ever made me happier than the last five words of this video 😂
And - what an irony - they are absolutely wrong 🤣
I've never actually been up to Bestwood Park (despite it being pretty nearby on the bus), so I think I'll go and have a look based on your recommendation!
It's real good. There's a place called The Forge Mill nearby that does a pretty decent cup of coffee and a reasonable scone.
This intro was so spot on I can't see straight
I played brass first before it split into a new version of the original (Brass Lancashire) and the newer tweaked versión (Brass Birmingham) , my love for the original Brass and Lancashire makes them unequivocally the best (for me) however since Birmingham is a bit less punishing i have found that is a game that i can pitch and game with new players easierly, so i currently own only Birmingham (deluxe version) as its the one that gives me back more for the value i paid in first place in terms of gaming time ...in the other hand for example i own Lisboa and i absolutely love that game but is so hard to pitch it and find gamers willing to play it so i get very few gaming session in a year so is harder for me to justify the value of it, as much as i love it is not paying off on gaming time 😢
Interesting video, however I'm surprised you did not mention the fact that large number of Brass fans organized a movement which started giving Gloomhaven (at the time number one on the list) 1s to make it go lower in the ranking. That had a funny result of Brass dethroning the GH and moving it into 3rd spot. That's true love when you like a game so much you start acting like a true adolescent moron in the name of it's praise...
That's pretty crazy. Do you have any links by the way to where this was organised? Cheers.
Looking at the ratings breakdown of Gloomhaven, this doesnt really seem to check out, as they seem perfectly organic.
How is this so perfect😮. I just ordered Brass Birmingham this morning 😅😅😅
TBH i only bought brass because i also live in the midlands it's the only game i know of that has my hometown as a location
You are a tabletop gaming afficionado and you didn't mention Games Workshop when listing things you associate with Nottingham? That's surprising!
listen I.... nevermind
Which game is shown at 3:15 with the black, teal, magenta, and beige playing pieces?
Barrage
thanks for this video, I really enjoyed it
Love this guy's videos - this one....was a stretch.
Uttoxeter Uttoxeter Uttoxeter!
Edit: Final point of the video is completely what my comment was going to be before I decided to pronounce Uttoxeter three different ways.
Love for Leek.
I still don't get why Zelda was mentioned, or the other tangents- not NPI's best video.
And videos like this are the reason I'm a patron. Thanks for an excellent video!
Nice last shot.
The important note is this is the #1 game according to BGG users who rank games - which isn't at all like saying it is the #1 board game. Sequels (improvements?) to previous games result in fewer lovers with more intensity - i.e. less scores with higher averages. There's a joke in there somewhere.
Really enjoyed your analysis. I am a brass fanatic and appreciate the profound analogy (alalogies actually), I am of the opinion that the game designers did not intend this parallelism to current real life any more than the developer of abomination drew parallels to building frankenstein to real life post-mortem examination and harvesting of body parts but I have no idea behind the motivation or intent of the game designers. But i really enjoyed your insight.
Played it 500 times, and made a definitive strategy guide.
Isn't the BIC strategy the meta of this game?
@@ExozikThose are just the resources in the game. There's a lot more to it that that.
@@zga042 No, it is the name of a strategy that was publish by a veteran player on bgg forum. From what I've read whn I looked into it last year, this was the ultimate strategy.
What are the high scores after that many plays?
@@dylanwatson6761 241 in 2P
Is it possible to know what is the brand of your sleeves?
No idea, bought these like five years ago? I don't really use sleeves anymore.
Amazing video!!!
This was a great video! I have been wondering why brass has been popping off so hard and you did a great job!
simple suggestion for the video thumbnail, if you are going to mention Legend of Zelda Tears for Fears, you should include Link's face or the game title in the thumbnail shot. This would boost the video in the algorithm and imminently generate interest in the user who reads 'Why is Brass: Birmingham world's #1 board game?' and sees Link's face. Once again I loved this video!
Great video! This is exactly how I felt playing Brass. It really tests your brass.
Yep, Brass: Lancashire for the win. Particularly for newer players. So much going on in Birmingham it is hard to know where to begin.
Genius move brother. Bravo. 👏👏👏
How's the assymetrical "take that" of, say... Hansa Teutonica compare to this? Both games seem to have a newbie, "first few turns are predetermined, boo" or "just focus on this to win, boo" reactions that are balked at a smidge by the veterans.
I see what you did there with "Brasseurs"". 😉🍻
Hi Brass fans. Can anyone explain me what does the beer represent in the game thematically? I never understood it. Why would I need beer to trade goods or build railroads? Never understood whats the point of it...
The Navvies, who built Britain's railways were provided with a constant supply of calorie rich food and beer which they consumed in copious quantities as they worked. We actually have a video that explains this th-cam.com/video/bzNMsAvgaLk/w-d-xo.html
When you come for a Brass review and instead watching Zelda and history about Robin Hood and woods around. 11/10
I love Brass (Lancashire); I have yet to play BB. And I feel a slight twinge of conscience as I create my industrialist hellscape. All that aside, it seems like you could have said "What has Brass Birmingham to do with Zelda? Must I paint you a picture?" Another fun & insightful video from NPI.
And "BB" is also a reference to Billy Bragg, whose album "Workers' Playtime" is visible in the video and features the song "Must I Paint You a Picture". Nice!
Misread the title as saying Brass Birmingham was the worlds first board game and was like wow, bold claims
I’ll be honest this to me was a bit of a weaker video and felt more like you wanted to connect two things your enjoying at the moment in gaming than saying anything super meaningful. Still nice audio and love both of these things so enjoyable but if your usual videos are 9 or 10’s out of 10 this was more of a 7. But hey happy you have been enjoying Zelda.
This video is genius Sir!
You got it so good right there my man: you’re mired further and further into bad options and the only motivating factor is profit. This videos is so good. You’re able to make these connections.
Lovely game - agree it's the best non-campaign board game - maybe Feast for Odin.
If only the first plays were that simple 😂
12:15 It’s funny that you called brass players brasseurs. A brasseur in french is a brewer so it works well for this game.
I love a good bi-lingual pun
Greetings from Kidderminster. Another place on the game board and another place gutted when the carpet industry collapsed. Love your videos
Honestly, I didnt come into this video expecting to actually learn some interesting analysis on the game. but you blew me away with the comparison with Zelda's game design and the historical context of Birmingham itself. Keep up the great work.
A game I've never played! Thanks, NPI
Still my favourite and does not get to the table as often as I would like so I have not had time to form a coherent strategy 😢. And I also live in a place on the board, Redditch. Its alright..... 😂
I’ve played brass a few times but never been able to understand it enough to get the sense of doom. I think the thing it has in common with Zelda games is I don’t understand them and never will, even though I have an honours degree in mathematics. Frustrating.
I wanted to love Brass. I owned the original version when it was first released and I've played the new versions, about 10 times total between them all. After 7 plays of the original, I realized I was trying too hard to like it and I hadn't actually enjoyed a single game of it. My last 3 plays just confirmed it. I gave it it's due diligence and I just refuse to play it again. I love heavy games but it's still not for me.
I’m in a similar boat, though after 1 play of Lanc and 2 of Birm I don’t feel the need to play it anymore times to confirm it. There’s so many other great heavy euros that are great on every play for me to want to spend anymore time trying to understand why this is ranked so high.
who would win in a fight, the sword that sealed the darkness or the oppressive industrial machine of capitalism?
"Coal and ion" 🙂
The first half dozen plays are awesome. Then you realize that the game is very unbalanced and whole tech paths are near garbage while certain plays/moves are 98% always the best move reducing choice.
Zelda … wow … I didn’t see that coming.
And still, my favorite video game saga and my favorite board game being part of the same review (although I’m more a Lancashire guy). Amazing.
Great video 👏🏽
You are not alone on that one. Even Efkar agrees 😉
I hate to say this given the Robin Hood revelations, but Nottingham Forest are not in Nottingham either. The City Ground is in West Bridgford.
A bit of a reach.....by the way have I ever told you why Food Chain Magnate is the best Starcraft 2 board game ever made?
I agree with your points as to why it first got close to the top spot, but in terms of what actually pushed it to #1 I feel like there was a concerted effort to just dethrone Gloomhaven.
Ayo he started talking about Nottingham
Very disappointed that you can't just get four cans of Foster's from the premier
would you event want to?
Hi Efka, I know you don't want your comments forum to be just a social media echo chamber of praise. Wow, this review was just hard work, I also got bored in the over long section about Nottingham. This didn't really feel like your normal well thought through & presented review. Perhaps I need to watch it again, twice more... or more than that. Then I may get that you have hit on some really interring points. Phew... well I'll have at least one more run though, you guys deserve that!
BGGs popularity rating system is deeply flawed. Tons of people go around giving 1’s or 10’s for games they’ve never played before based on any number of preconceived notions they have.
You should only be allowed to post a rating for a game if you provide a photo of you playing the game with government issues ID and a copy of todays newspaper in the picture.
Just skip that, there should be a junta of ineffectuals /hrumpf!/ intellectuals who just periodically tell us what's best, what to think and like, etc.
Brass Birmingham is ranked #1 on boardgame geek because of an unexplained quirk of the geek rating algorithm that put Gloomhaven behind two games that each have fewer votes and a lower average rating.
Here's the thing about that. I think it's pretty telling that Gloomhaven started going down when Frosthaven came out. People who own both and prefer Frosthaven ranked Gloomhaven down to emphasize that Frosthaven is better. Sure, that probably made a difference.
But I think focusing on the minutae of the rankings system also kinda unfairly detracts from the fact that Brass Birmingham has been out for yonks and slowly and steadily climbed to the top. That's kinda neat.
And you know me, I loooooove Gloomhaven.
@@NoPunIncluded Yeah, any game in the top hundred is worth checking out - there are currently 24547 ranked games (with Tic-Tac-Toe at the bottom) so the top hundred are less than half of one percent of the ranked games, themselves just over a sixth of the games listed on the site. I'm mostly annoyed at not understanding how the geek rating works...
@@rmsgrey From the FAQ:
"BGG Rating (aka Geek Rating): BoardGameGeek's ranking charts are ordered using the BGG Rating, which is based on the Average Rating, but with some alterations. To prevent games with relatively few votes climbing to the top of the BGG Ranks, artificial "dummy" votes are added to the User Ratings. These votes are currently thought to be 100 votes equal to the mid range of the voting scale: 5.5, but the actual algorithm is kept secret to avoid manipulation. The effect of adding these dummy votes is to pull BGG Ratings toward the mid range. Games with a large number of votes will see their BGG Rating alter very little from their Average Rating, but games with relatively few user ratings will see their BGG Rating move considerably toward 5.5. This is known as "Bayesian averaging" and a quick search of both BGG and/or the Web will reveal much discussion on the topic. You will see this rating listed in advanced searches, your game collection, and near the top, most right corner of game pages.
The "User Rating" is arguably the one you will use the most, and the "Average Rating" will be the most helpful when looking for a good, well received game. With both of these rating systems you will see a number between 1 and 10. Each user is encouraged to rate games based on their own opinion of the game. As such, different users may assign different meanings to the 1-10 scale. There is no official or set algorithm in place by which users are expected to follow."
@@rmsgrey Also, I assume they have a time weighting in there, Ie newer ratings might count more than older ratings (which then fade out over time). That is one possible explanation for the fact that some games rank ahead of others despite both more votes and higher average rating for the lower ranked one.
@@a-c-m Yeah, there's speculation about a time weighting on votes, but there's also speculation about something based on the distribution of votes. It's also been suggested that there is some sort of system in place to suppress bad faith votes, and that there may be direct manual intervention in some cases.
Just started this video and it’s great.
............So what does this have to do with Tears of the Kingdom, again?
They are both well-designed games, apparently.
EDIT: Not that I disagree, I just felt like being reductive.
You forgot to mention it is the wargames capital of the UK (possibly the world). Sadly GW don't build philanthropic parks and housing for their employees.
The real answer is Isaac said BLM :)
Nah but seriously I greatly respect Brass Brimingham, not my kind of game but I'd say it is one of the greats
Depending on your playstyle (especially when it comes to weapon mixing and zonaite hoarding), one's a super thinky efficiency simulator and the other is Brass Birmingham.
I still think Twilight Struggle, the previous king of #1 on BGG, is a tighter, better experience but Brass Birmingham is definitely most excellent.
This pseudo-review totally misses the mark from my perspective. Brass Birmingham is a super interactive game brilliantly blending reactive short term opportunism with longer term strategy. Your hand of cards must be navigated carefully for optimum effect, aces kept in hand for a sneaky iron sale etc, but with access to wilds there is almost always a way to achieve your plans at the cost of a little efficiency. The battle for turn order at critical moments is incredibly tense and an early loan or cheap develop action can be used to promote your long term goals. NPI needs to play this game again with an open mind - maybe with some people who get the game and can demonstrate /teach the ways it can be opened up. To write off the best ranked game on BGG do dismissively doesn’t seem to give much credit to wider gaming community opinions.
I have no interest in playing this game but the fact that users who like this game and hate GH banded together to knock Gloomhaven down 2 spots kind of poisons this as being an achievement. I'm sure the game earns its accolades from some but the #1 spot on BGG means less to me now.
Gloomhaven doesn’t belong there either.
Great review
I’m sure it is technically impressive, but I can’t get past the theme. Not at all enticing
i lived in Nottingham a decade ago, the poverty and social degradation was brutal. it wasn't the people's fault, but a city that doesn't have much of a purpose any more.
This video makes me want to play Tears of the Kingdom
It's real good you can make a flying sled with a homing cannon
I disagree. Try not going for building links in the canal era and you'll find out what makes this game great.
Lancashire is better game. Agree
Birmingham Bucks!
Let me see what Brass Birmingham is about. Or, I guess we can talk about Zelda?
That was a long setup for the punchline.
I don't think I've ever ran out and bought my own copy of a board game as fast as I did when I played BB for the first time in a boardgame cafe. But even so, I'm puzzled to see it in the top spot on BBG.
Shouldn’t you have said “now we’re cooking with petrol”?