Last night, we dined on Brass!

Last night we played Brass. Right on cue, Shannon Applecline wrote another excellent article on Martin Wallace and his games.

Here is a link to the article

I have enjoyed his series of reviews and strategy articles and I would highly recommend them if you are interested in some insight into Martin's games. In this latest installment, Shannon discusses some of the key aspects of Martin?s economics games. Particularly timely was his discussion of the Economic Modeling that is used in Brass. To directly quote the article: "Brass instead approaches things from the opposite direction. Herein buildings aren't objects to be exploited, but rather are liabilities that don't have value until they're actually linked in to the economy. As you flip your buildings by locking in their iron and coal supplies or by linking factories and ports, you're creating an economic network."

Brass is one of my favorite games. I have now logged 15 plays, although perhaps 10 were played online. The reason why I like it so much is that each game is inherently different as you are forced to utilize the cards you are given. A recent article on the geek discussed primary strategies to the game. I did read seriously read the article, but I do not doubt that particular strategies do exist. I often go after a strategy of developing through my Cotton Mills so that I can build the best by the end of the game. Nothing special here, but it is a plan that requires certain cards to work. If, at the start of the game, I don't see this plan working, I will try for something else. Last night, in particular, I was awed my Mike's early ramp up the income track via shipping cotton to the external market. Next game, I would really like to try that out, and then build a tremendous amount of links in the second half of the game.

Oh yeah, but what about the commentary that I quoted. It's correct, and it makes the game really cool. Your buildings are worthless unless they are connect to the rest of the game. A solitary coal mine gives you nothing! But once you (or someone else) has connected it, then BAM!, it is suddenly valuable. And supply and demand is not missing from this little model. No sir. When Coal is low or Iron is low, it is incredibly beneficial to be that player that builds the Iron Mill, fills the external market, grabs the quick cash, and probably flips their tile.

Alright, so what about the game last night. This was Dan?s second game, my 15th, and Jef and Mike's first. I was able to give both Jef and Mike good instruction for the game, though by the time Dan arrived, I must admit that I was a bit tired and my teaching stunk. Sorry. Anyhow, as I mentioned above, Mike came out strong in the Canal era and did some quick cotton shipments that really ramped him up on the income track. I build a strong network of Tech 2 and 3 buildings as well as a number of Cotton Mills that I neglected to ship in the canal era. Dan took the Shipyard strategy and had a Tech 1 yard built before the end of the era.

Scores at the end of the Canal Era were:

Brad - 28
Jef - 27
Dan - 41
Mike - 25

In the Rail Era, I continued with my plan to ship tons of cotton. I build a number of ports and continued to build a couple more cotton mills. Dan amazed all of us with a quick build of 2 shipyards in one turn! Arrgh. This really swung the game. I don't think that Mike really capitalized off of his income position and I bet that he could have built a stronger network of rails. Jef played a strong resource game, though I was able to jump in on some key iron and coal builds due to turn order. In the end, Dan was able to win, but it was close. I had a super turn that involved shipping cotton from 4 mills to 3 ports, but this was not enough.

Final Scores Were:
Brad - 136
Jef - 115
Dan - 139
Mike - 103

Brass may see play again next week, as it is simply too difficult to teach to warrant only one play. And it is so much fun!