Brass: Birmingham Openings: The First Three Rounds

Brass: Birmingham has no fixed openings. The merchants, the cards, and the turn order change every game. But the first round always starts from the same place, and that place has rules most players never notice. This lesson starts there.

What the first round looks like

Every player has £17, an income level of 0, and a hand of 8. Everyone takes one action, in a random order. And there are no links on the board.

That last fact shapes everything. Two locations are connected only through link tiles, so until someone places a canal, nothing is connected to anything. For the first players in the round, that means:

• Market coal is out of reach. Buying coal from the market needs a connection to a merchant location. A tile that needs coal can only use a coal mine in the same town, zero links away, or one a canal placed earlier this round now connects.
• A new coal mine keeps its coal. Coal moves to the market only from a mine connected to a merchant, so a first-round mine holds its cubes for whoever is closest later.
• Iron still works. Iron needs no connection. With no iron works on the board, you buy from the iron market, where both £1 spaces start empty, so the first cube costs £2.
• Any card can open the map. Until you have a tile or link on the board, an industry card may build its industry in any town with a free matching space, and any card may place a link on any open line.

What a first action costs

The level 1 pottery costs £17 plus 1 iron, more than you have without a loan. The level 1 iron works and level 1 manufacturer each need coal, so in round one they are only possible where a coal mine built earlier this round is connected, or where a rival’s first canal reaches a merchant for market coal.

Three opening shapes

The income start. A level 1 coal mine or level 1 brewery. Both are cheap, both will flip when their cubes or barrel are used, and both add 2 link icons to their town once flipped. The brewery also gives you beer of your own for later sales.

The development start. A Develop that clears two tiles, often level 1 tiles you do not plan to build. It spends little money, so it tends to put you early in round two, and it moves you toward level 2 tiles that survive the Canal Era.

The loan start. A loan gives you £47 to work with and spends nothing, so you will act early next round. The cost is real: with 4 players, a first-round loan gives up £45 of income over the game, as the loans lesson shows. Take it when you have a specific use for the money in round two.

None of these is always right. The board decides. A merchant that buys cotton next to a town you hold a card for changes the math, and so does a rival’s coal mine you could share.

Round one sets round two

After round one, the player who spent least goes first, and ties keep their order. Because everyone took one action, spending gaps are small and easy to read. Watch the money on the character tiles before your turn: you can often see exactly where you will land.

If you act last in round one and spend the least, you act first in round two. That is three actions in a row with nobody in between: one now, two next round. Use it to build and connect, or to build and sell, before a rival can answer.

Rounds two and three

With two actions per turn, the opening widens. A few habits help:

• Connect what you built. A canal from your first tile toward a merchant makes market coal reachable, and later lets you sell.
• Start one goods plan. Know which merchant will buy it and where its beer comes from. The selling lesson covers both.
• Think about the era break already. Every level 1 tile you build now will leave the board when the Canal Era ends. Pair your cheap early builds with a path to at least one level 2 tile.

Read the cards you hold

Your opening hand is the strongest hint. Location cards for towns near merchants that buy your goods, or towns with a free brewery space, point toward a plan. Industry cards are at their most flexible on your very first action, when they can build anywhere. After that, they only build in your network, so a hand heavy in industry cards wants its first tile placed where your network should grow.