A Practice Plan for Tournament Brass: Birmingham

Brass: Birmingham rewards preparation more than most games. The rules are fixed, the deck is fixed by player count, and the decisions that win games repeat. This plan turns the earlier lessons of the course into six weeks of practice. Use it before a tournament, or simply when you want to climb a level.

What to practice

Three kinds of practice, each with a different job:

• Games. Mostly four-player, since that is the format of a WBC final and the most crowded version of the board.
• Drills. Short habits you run inside a normal game. Each one targets one skill.
• Reviews. Ten minutes after the game, using the score split from the review lesson.

Four drills

The source call. Before every Build, Sell, and rail, say where each coal, iron, and beer comes from. It sounds basic. At tournament speed, it is what keeps you from building toward a coal source you are not connected to.

The link count. Before every link, say its value: the icons in both locations now, plus the flips you expect before the era ends. The link scoring lesson has the method.

The era-end list. Two rounds before each era ends, list every unflipped tile you own and how it will flip. Anything without an answer gets one, or gets left alone.

The next player. Before each of your turns, name what the player after you will probably do. Check yourself at the end of their turn. The reading the table lesson shows what to watch.

The six weeks

Weeks 1 and 2: foundations. At least two full games a week. Run the source call and the link count every game. Review every game, and start a one-line log: your four score numbers, unflipped tiles at each era’s end, money at the end, and the swing.

Weeks 3 and 4: the clock. Play on a visible timer, aiming to finish four-player games inside three hours, using the habits from the pacing lesson. Add the era-end list. Plan your turns during other players’ turns, and note where the time went.

Week 5: the format. Play every game as if it were a heat. Decide your target result before you start, a win or a strong finish, and notice the moment in each game where that target changed your move. Add the next-player drill.

Week 6: sharpen and rest. Fewer games, more review. Read your log from week 1 to week 5 and pick the one leak that shows up most. Play two or three games focused only on that. Then stop a few days early and arrive at the event rested.

What to measure

Keep four numbers from week to week:

• Rail Era link VPs, a quick gauge of whether your rails reach busy towns.
• Unflipped tiles at the end of each era. The target is zero.
• Money at the end of the game. The target is close to zero.
• Minutes per game in clocked practice.

If your link VPs climb and your leftovers shrink, the plan is working, whatever your results in any one game.

When you cannot get four players

Two-player and three-player games still help, as long as you know what they do not practice. They train the source call, the link count, and the era-end list well. They train contested merchant beer, forced coal from rivals, and crowded towns less well. Save those for your four-player games.

The people across the table

Six weeks of practice games are six weeks of evenings with other people who love a demanding game. Thank your practice partners. Share what you learn. Bring a new player in when someone drops out. The table that helps you get better is the best part of getting better.

That is the end of the course. You can teach the game and play both eras with every resource right; sell on purpose, time loans and turn order, and count a link before you place it; open with a plan, manage your cards, and read the table; play the endgame to the action and finish on time; and walk into a WBC heat knowing how it scores. The game is the reason. The people across the table are the point.